Mike Wallace

[Petitions, February 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I have an additional petition this morning regarding leadership that the petitioners would like to see in the area of HIV-AIDS prevention. The petitioners urge the Parliament of Canada to take a leadership role, not only here at home but around the world, on the prevention, treatment and care of those who are afflicted with HIV-AIDS.

[Petitions, February 7th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions this morning that I would like to present to the House.

The first petition says: “We the undersigned citizens of Canada, draw the attention to the House to the following: whereas the trafficking of women and children across international borders for the purposes of sexual exploitation should be condemned; and whereas it is the duty of Parliament to protect the most vulnerable members of society from harm, those being the victims of human trafficking, therefore your petitioners request that the government continue its work to combat trafficking of persons worldwide”.

This is a petition from my riding. I want to thank the leadership of the member for Kildonan—St. Paul on this particular issue.

[Afghanistan, February 4th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, last week at the foreign affairs and national defence committees, the government members proposed joint committee meetings to study the Manley report.

Canadians deserve a frank and constructive dialogue on this extremely important issue. Shockingly, the Liberals and the other opposition members voted against openness, frankness and transparency. Are those members concerned that the testimony of panellists would reveal that their positions on the Afghan mission simply are not feasible?

Could the Minister of National Defence explain to the Liberals and to the other opposition members why they should reconsider allowing for public hearings on the Manley report?

[Death Penalty, January 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad I have the ability to follow up because I was not sure of the answer that I received to my previous question to the hon. member. I am going to make it as simple as possible.

If clemency was contingent on a murderer being brought back to Canada, would you still support us bringing back convicted murderers if they are not facing the death penalty in whatever jurisdiction they are being kept if that is the only contingency that is available?

[Death Penalty, January 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I have one question for the member and I hope she will be able to clearly answer it for us in the House.

Would she support the government seeking clemency if it were contingent on murderers being brought back to Canada to either serve their sentences in Canada or to be released?

[Justice, January 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to remind Canadians that this government is taking action on tackling violent crime. Bill C-2 is our comprehensive legislation that will finally get tough on crime.

The proposed bill will impose mandatory jail time for serious gun crimes. It will toughen bail rules when a gun is used to commit crimes. It will increase the age of protection. The bill cracks down on drug-impaired driving. It ensures that dangerous offenders face tougher sentencing.

Liberals pretend to support this legislation, but the Liberal-dominated Senate is stalling, delaying and obstructing this much needed legislation, and the Liberal leader does nothing. It is time he got up off his hands and stood up for something. He does not listen to the Liberal Premier of Ontario. He does not listen to the people of Canada. His concerns about crime are all smoke and mirrors. It simply—

[The Environment, December 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change is being held in Indonesia this week and next, where nations are meeting to chart a path for negotiating a post-2012 agreement on fighting climate change. Our environment minister will be there leading the Canadian delegation and showing leadership on the world stage.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment tell this House what Canada's goals are for this conference?

[Business of Supply, December 6th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed the presentation by my colleague across the way. I spent 13 years as a municipal councillor in the city of Burlington in the region of Halton. Infrastructure problems are not new to the municipalities. They have been dealing with them for years.

In my own municipality of Burlington, I was on council when we added a 1% increase to the tax base strictly for infrastructure use. We have a complete understanding of what the needs are for infrastructure.

It did not happen in the last 22 months that this deficit came about. It happened long before that. Municipalities have been talking to the federal government for years and years. Finally, this government has put together a package of $33 billion to help municipalities meet their needs. Our government is taking action. We are not simply talking about it.

The municipalities are a function of the province. In actual fact, the province, with a piece of legislation, can completely wipe municipalities out. We are having trouble with provinces such as Ontario after signing the deal to ensure we are able to flow the $33 billion to the provinces.

What is the Liberal Party doing to ensure its parties at the provincial level are signing on with us to ensure those infrastructure dollars will actually flow to the municipalities as we want them to?

[Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007, December 3rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Western Arctic for his intervention on this very important bill. The bill does a lot of things for a lot of Canadians, including lowering the GST, which would affect all consumers in this country no matter what their income level.

He said he was in favour of corporate tax cuts, which is something that I was shocked but happy to hear. Then he went on to say that he wanted them targeted and he gave an example. If he reads the bill, the corporate tax cuts being offered go to companies that need it today.

We hear from the New Democratic Party that the government is not standing up enough for manufacturing. At every meeting I have attended recently to talk about what we are doing in terms of manufacturing in Ontario, and we hear plenty from the automotive manufacturing organizations in this province, all were in favour of what we are doing on corporate tax cuts.

Did the member for Western Arctic mean that he supports this government doing things for the manufacturing sector through lowering corporate tax cuts? Is that what he means by the kind of targeting he would like to see? Is that not a target that we should be going after?

[Phthalate Control Act, November 23rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I concluded my conversation on the bill that my party and I will be supporting when it comes to a vote.