Mike Wallace

[Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, April 26th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his speech and for presenting this bill to the House. As a member of the finance committee, we are now in the midst of a study on pensions. We have had a tremendous number of individuals and organizations come to see us.

I want a small clarification on the bill. The people who have come to see us have been asking for legislation to move from unsecured individuals or creditors as pensioners to preferred secured, not oversecured and not super ahead of creditors. There is a request for preferred status whereby a group of employees would receive their wages owed first, then the secured creditors, then the other creditors. Is this bill moving them ahead of the secured status to the super secured status, or is it doing what people have been asking for, which is preferred status, below secured?

[Burlington Business Excellence Awards, April 15th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, last week the Burlington Chamber of Commerce and the Burlington Economic Development Corporation hosted their 2009 Business Excellence Awards.

I would like to express my congratulations to the following winners: the Young Entrepreneur award went to Mr. Neil Madden of ECS Coffee. The Service Industry award went to Karp Namisniak Yamamoto Architects. The Manufacturer award went to Eco Waste Solutions. Mountain Equipment Co-op won the Retail/Wholesale award. Exotic Woods Inc. won the Small Business Award. CPC Pumps International won the New Business Investment award. The Business Expansion award went to Cogeco Cable Canada. The Business Exports award went to Xiris Automation and the Tourism Ambassador award went to Mr. Ako Matsubayashi. The Mayor's Community Service award went to Pepperwoods Restaurants and Burlington Professional Firefighters Association.

I thank all the winners and all the nominees for making Burlington a stronger place to do business and a fantastic community in which to live and raise a family.

[Points of Order, April 15th, 2010]

It is not a point of order; it is debate.

[Taxation, April 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, one year ago today, the Liberal leader issued his pledge to raise Canadians' taxes and kill jobs. The Liberal leader called for higher taxes on all Canadians. He has been joined by key Liberal spokespersons like the members for Parkdale—High Park and Dartmouth—Cole Harbour.

Can the Minister of Finance please inform the House how many jobs the Liberal leader's GST hike will kill?

[Jobs and Economic Growth Act, April 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I take exception to the member using the bank salaries and then criticizing the shareholders for having a say. They are the owners. By the way, the rules on the bank system in this country need to be widely held, including the member's CPP account, which has a tremendous amount of bank stock.

Could the member answer the question as to whether the CAW president has the UAW rank and file members decide on what his or her salary will be in a year?

[Jobs and Economic Growth Act, March 31st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. parliamentary secretary for the fine work he has been doing for the Minister of Finance, not only today but in the committee as well. He is a great leader in committee.

The budget is titled, “Leading the Way on Jobs and Growth”. Would the parliamentary secretary comment on this? This past weekend we heard the Leader of the Opposition talk about increasing corporate taxes. Why is increasing corporate taxes the wrong approach and why is not included in this budget?

[Income Tax Act, March 25th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am on the finance committee that reviewed the bill that is before us and I take some exception to the characterization that this is partisan. I really want to encourage our colleagues from the other parties to really look at this.

My question for the sponsor of the bill is, how does she consider the bill fair? Does she not believe in fairness in the tax system, where we compare students who happen to be from an area that has over 200,000 people to those students who are from areas that do not have 200,000 people? How is the Canadian tax system fair when we give a tax bonus to students beginning their careers just because they are from a larger urban centre than those who are not?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, March 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy the speeches of my hon. colleague from the Liberal benches. He is here quite often and he speaks quite a bit. I appreciate the efforts he puts in here. However, the member really did not speak about the throne speech.

I have a question for him. A colleague of his from his party has put forward a private member's bill that would reduce the requirement for someone to live in Canada from 10 years to 3 years before he or she could collect money as a senior? Is the member supportive of the change in that private member's bill?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, March 22nd, 2010]

There is 6% for health care and 3.5% for social services.

[Business of Supply, March 15th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the hon. member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, but in his own statement he says that we all do it. Over the last number of months, there have been over six or seven Liberal ten percenters in my riding, but that is not why I am standing.

With health care, unemployment, the economy, the environment, productivity, the long list of all the issues that we could properly debate in the House, on a day when the Liberals have an opportunity to put forward any suggestions they may have, any concept they would like to discuss about the country, they pick the ten percenter program. Are they not embarrassed that they are wasting our taxpayer dollars today on this item?