Mike Allen

[National Anthem, January 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians were outraged to learn that the principal of a New Brunswick school banned the playing and singing of O Canada. Apparently he wanted to be inclusive.

This is political correctness run wild. There is nothing more inclusive than O Canada. It is a song that belongs to each and every Canadian.

The singing of O Canada is an expression of our collective pride in being citizens of one of the most prosperous and peaceful nations the world has ever known.

I hope that we can come together to convince the principal to reverse his decision and give O Canada back to the students in his school.

This will demonstrate the importance of our national anthem as a symbol of our respect for this great country and the people who helped to build it.

[Bullying, January 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, bullying is a problem that Canadians have faced for generations. Today one in four kids is bullied, one in five is a bully and 282,000 high school kids are attacked each month nationally.

Bullying has changed over the years. While there are still bullies in the schoolyards, advances such as the Internet and text messaging allow bullying to happen anytime, anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Sadly, once there is a habit of childhood bullying, this behaviour can continue into the workplace.

However, bullyingcanada.ca and individuals like Katie Neu and Rob Frenette are working to change that with the recognition of December 17 as blue day, our stand against bullying.

I am proud to be working with my colleague from Acadie—Bathurst and all of the organizers across Canada to promote this initiative in the House of Commons by means of a petition to be tabled very soon.

Please join us in doing what needs to be done to keep our young people and our communities safe.

[Economic and Fiscal Statement, December 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Sydney—Victoria is another Atlantic Canadian MP. He talked about the auto industry and infrastructure. Those are a couple of areas on which I want to ask him questions.

He talked about speeding this up and said that we had to get this to the next day. I would like to ask him a few questions on practicalities.

First, as we know, the auto industry executives went down to the U.S. last week, cap in hand, with no plan and asked for $25 billion. What does he believe is a comprehensive and reasonable business case for companies? We now have given them until Friday to come up with something, not just a back of the envelope calculation.

The other question is on infrastructure. As the member would well know, most of these fundings are either fifty-fifty or they are triple. Each level of government contributes to the infrastructure. Is he sure and has he worked out with the provinces that they are ready with their money in every case to contribute to these infrastructure projects?

[The Economy, December 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to protecting Canada's economy, actions speak louder than words.

While opposition parties talk down Canada's economy and scheme to exploit a global recession for their own political gain, we are injecting $200 billion back into the Canadian economy through lower taxes for people and business.

While the NDP was spending weeks scheming with the separatists about ways to manufacture a political crisis, we were protecting Canada's financial system by injecting $75 billion into Canada's credit markets, guaranteeing loan insurance and making it easier for business to obtain loans.

While the Liberals, NDP and separatists are negotiating a backroom deal that would allow them to seize power without earning it in an election, we are accelerating investment in infrastructure, protecting seniors and working with the provinces and our G20 partners to inject even more stimulus into the Canadian economy.

While the Liberals and NDP are proving they will do whatever it takes to seize power, we are doing whatever it takes to protect people, their savings and their jobs. If necessary, we are prepared to defend our record and plan in a new election, but do not expect those parties to take up this challenge—

[Petitions, November 24th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition today on behalf of the St. Mary of the Angels Parish Council of the Catholic Women's League of Canada and numerous other residents of my riding of Tobique—Mactaquac.

The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the serious concerns with respect to the safety of children from being sexually exploited over the Internet.

They call upon the Minister of Public Safety and Parliament as a whole to take whatever means necessary to halt all future occurrences of this exploitation.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, November 20th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the leader of the NDP on his re-election. As well, we honestly hope and pray for the folks on the bus coming here that they arrive safely.

I listened intently to his comments, quite a number of which were about how government would intervene in the economy and about raising taxes for business.

The hon. member misses the point. Of the tax breaks that were given, over three-quarters of them went to small businesses and families, the type of people he is trying to support.

He also talks about a knock on the tax breaks against these businesses, including the energy development in the west. He knows full well that many of the benefits accrue to many other parts of the country, including Ontario, and also manufacturing in my riding of Tobique—Mactaquac, which does work for the western provinces as well.

How does the leader of the NDP believe that raising taxes to business in this environment is going to help? We really need to lower these taxes to encourage companies to innovate, just as he said he wanted to do, and encourage them to grow, and is a benefit to small businesses. He would hamper that and it would force businesses to go to other countries. That is not what we want.

[Nuclear Liability and compensation Act, June 19th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I know the member said that we were taking what he called a rather circuitous route to get there, but I am still trying to find the relevance to Bill C-5, nuclear liability, in the comments the hon. member is making. I am sure he has some great things to say about the bill. I just wish he would talk about the bill.

[Nuclear Liability and compensation Act, June 19th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I believe the topic that we are talking about here is Bill C-5, nuclear liability.

We have had a number of discussions at our natural resources committee about the greening of electricity in Canada, and I was beginning to think that the member was a member of our natural resources committee and was talking about the greening of electricity in Canada.

I would suggest we get back to the topic of third reading debate on Bill C-5, nuclear liability.

[The Environment, June 9th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, last week the Minister of the Environment visited Atlantic Canada and demonstrated further proof that this government was committed to protecting and preserving our environment in Atlantic Canada by announcing the creation of a national wildlife area and improving weather forecasting on Sable Island.

The minister also met with his provincial counterparts to discuss action on the environment.

Could the minister update the House on the details of those meetings?

[Price of Petroleum Products, May 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, we have already talked about the impact and the many studies that have been done in this area and the fact that no collusion has been found. We also know there are many opportunities and tools out there to gauge the usage and the pricing and what the companies are doing.

I think what the member has forgotten, too, is this. If he looked at the analysis of the returns of some of these companies over the last number of years, he would also know that the oil companies were behind the major stock indices for the last 10 to 15 years. It has just been in the last couple that they have been beyond. He might also remember who some of the major stockholders in these companies are, and their pension funds and their seniors as well.