Mike Allen

[The Budget, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member commented that one of the positive aspects for infrastructure was the indexation of the gas tax. I also want to comment on one of the things referenced on page 173, which is that the list of eligible investment categories will be expanded to include highways, local regional airports, short-line rail, short sea shipping, disaster mitigation, broadband connectivity, and brownfield development. I know many of the municipalities in my riding have done a lot of work on water and waste water and have now moved beyond that to other projects. Could the member talk about the importance of the flexibility of this for municipalities?

[World Pond Hockey Championship, February 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this Thursday, Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, will host the 12th annual World Pond Hockey Championship. The event, often copied but never duplicated, will see 132 men's and women's teams descend on the Tobique for a weekend of fun and good old-fashioned hospitality.

Tournament chair Danny Braun and his organizing committee and hundreds of volunteers deserve special credit for making this event truly a world showcase. Teams will come from all over the U.S. and Canada and hockey hot-bed spots like the Cayman Islands and Puerto Rico to take part. Over the weekend, this little village of 1,100 people will see its population double. It anticipates 8,000 visitors.

World Pond Hockey has contributed significant dollars to community organizations, like the volunteer firefighters, school scholarships and the construction of a new arena.

This year my colleagues from Barrie, Westlock—St. Paul, Fundy Royal and Saint John will join me in New Brunswick as we take on the world on Roulston Lake in an effort to win but, more important, to not get hurt.

I thank all the people who give so much of their time to make this event a great success. I hope to see everyone on the pond, the way hockey was meant to be played.

[Women's Institute Home, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, this Saturday, December 1, the world's only Women's Institute Home will celebrate its diamond jubilee anniversary. I am proud to say that this highly respected home for senior women is located in Woodstock in my riding of Tobique—Mactaquac.

I wish to congratulate Marion Briand, who has served as the home's matron for 17 years, as well as the entire network of Women's Institutes in New Brunswick and across Canada for their fine work. More than 60 years ago, WIs throughout New Brunswick raised money to purchase a home and on December 1, 1952, the grand Victorian structure on Chapel Street welcomed its first resident. While originally intended for WI members, the home is now open to senior women. Currently, there are 19 residents and a capacity for 21.

In honour of its diamond jubilee, the Women's Institute Home will hold a high tea this Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., carrying on the Women's Institute tradition of working together for home, community and country.

All of my colleagues and I send best wishes to the home for a successful event. I wish to thank the facility for its past six decades.

[Gary Foster, October 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, last week, our region paid its final respects to long-time potato farmer, community and family man, Gary Foster of Moose Mountain, New Brunswick.

Gary was a contract grower for McCain foods for 40 years. He also served on various committees, including the negotiating committee and the national safety net committee. He also was a very recent inductee into the New Brunswick Potato World Hall of Recognition.

Ever the person to lobby on behalf of growers, Gary was always well-informed on the issues and impossible to trip up on the numbers. Gary took great pride in getting things done and, behind the scenes in his very unassuming manner, worked hard for his community.

Gary lived by the Winston Churchill saying, “You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give”.

The stories at the Hall of Recognition ceremony and at his funeral recounted his strong work ethic. When people were not quite performing or up to date on their files, well sometimes they just needed a GSU, a general sharpening up, but that was always for their betterment and the people around them.

Gary will certainly be missed by his family, the community and the industry in general. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Dorothy, his children, Al and Kelly, and the entire Foster family.

[New Denmark Founder's Day, June 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, this coming weekend, the community of New Denmark, the oldest Danish community in Canada, will be celebrating the 140th anniversary of its Founder's Day. The community was settled in 1872 by a handful of families. The initial Danish settlers left Denmark starving from a crop failure. Promised farmland and accessible roads and available shelters, they arrived to something very different, a hilly, desolate area of northwestern New Brunswick and a land covered by virgin forest and not-so-open fields. Facing this hardship, these pioneers built a life in New Brunswick. They carved out an agricultural community through hard work and determination. Their descendants have spread into many neighbouring communities.

A symbol of their skiing heritage, and a fact not well known outside the community, was the construction of a ski jump in the 1930s called the “Big Hill” overlooking Salmon River. While the ski hill does not operate today, and like many other rural communities the community has undergone changes, one only has to attend Founder's Day to see the pride the residents have in their pioneers.

I know that all members of the House will join me in congratulating New Denmark on its 140th Founder's Day. I thank them for their contribution to the fabric of our region and our country.

[Business of Supply, May 31st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, in listening to the member's response in the House and his speech before, I know he methodically approaches his task and does his research.

During the downturn in the economy the unemployment rate was just slightly over 8%, which probably masked the underlying issue of a shortage of labour. As he would well know, there are about a quarter of a million positions open. A lot of the positions are not advertised at job banks or other places. Probably only about 20% of the jobs in Canada are advertised yet a lot of small businesses and others are looking for people.

Could the member give me his comments on some of the things we are thinking about in this reform, where it looks at making investments in helping people match up their skills to those jobs and to get some of those good jobs that are maybe not necessarily advertised? Does he see these investments as positive reform to make sure people have an opportunity to look at those job opportunities to see what might be there to match their skills?

[Business of Supply, May 31st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for her speech and comments, as well as for elaborating a bit on the local level.

When she talked to some of the points in her speech, I wondered if she has read some of the outlines for the reforms we will be talking about, because the fact is that in places of high unemployment where there are no jobs, EI is going to be there.

Then she talked about something that is very important, that being that the unemployed people who need it will get it. That is very simple. We have said that.

She also said that it is the employees' money. A certain portion of the money that goes into the EI pool is the employees' money, but there is a match on that as well that is made by the employers, which is a multiple of the employees' contributions.

The reforms we are speaking of are about finding jobs for people as well as making sure we have Canadians working before we bring in temporary foreign workers.

I would like to ask her if, when she talks about all the things she would change about the EI program, she has assessed the cost of what that would be. Has she assessed what the additional premiums would be that would be coming out of employees' and employers' pockets to pay for those extra premiums?

[Tobique-Mactaquac volunteer firefighters, April 24th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, over the last few weeks, I have had an opportunity to attend fundraising campaigns and presentations celebrating the long years of service of volunteer fire brigades in the community of Tobique—Mactaquac.

Volunteer firefighters provide tremendous protection for our rural communities. On a regular basis, they hold fundraisers to purchase new equipment and, in some cases, including this past weekend in Meductic, to help their own in dealing with challenging life situations.

I want to thank each and every one of these brave individuals for their long-term dedication to public safety and to their families whose thoughts and prayers travel with them each time they are called upon for an emergency.

It was a tremendous honour as a member of Parliament to present the Governor General's long service awards for 20 years and 30 years of service and see the pride in the faces of these long-time volunteers, not to mention the incentive of this recognition, along with initiatives like the volunteer firefighter tax credit provided to young volunteers.

These folks are true heroes. I know that all members in the House will join with me in commending our volunteer firefighters for helping to make our rural communities dynamic and strong.

[Canada Pension Plan, April 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, although sometimes it was hard to hear my colleague's comments because of all the noise, I appreciate his persevering through it. I appreciate his bringing up the budgeting issues and other aspects for seniors. He raised some good points.

The member talked about the Parliamentary Budget Officer. I think that with any bill we consider we would want to consider the cost of it as well. The member indicated in his comments that the PBO said that it was not fiscally significant. The PBO is usually not unreserved in issuing his numbers. I wonder if the member might give us an indication as to what that number was when it was not fiscally significant.

[Foreign Affairs, April 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased and thankful that my constituent, Henk Tepper, was released from detention in Lebanon over the weekend and is now home in New Brunswick. I know first-hand how anxious and hopeful his family and home town were as they anticipated his return.

I want to thank the minister responsible for consular affairs and her team of dedicated officials for their tireless efforts to bring Henk home.

Could the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs, Americas and Consular Affairs please provide the House with an update on the efforts in Mr. Tepper's case?