Omar Alghabra

[Minister of Public Safety, March 23rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it is the public safety minister's job to ensure the integrity and independence of the RCMP.

Serious allegations have surfaced that when the minister was leader of the opposition his officials appeared to have designed an illegal buy-out to pave the way for the minister to run in a safe riding.

Because these allegations lead directly to the minister and suggest he may have known in advance of the scheme, will he do the prudent thing and step aside while the RCMP looks into this serious matter?

[Health Care, March 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health, another of the Harris triplets, is the honorary president of the wait times guarantee broken promise club.

The minister was ousted from power in Ontario after his stint firing nurses and closing hospitals. Ontario taxpayers especially did not like the huge $25,000 per month contracts handed to personal friends like Gordon Haugh.

Today the minister is up to his old tricks in Ottawa, handing yet another $25,000 contract to Gordon Haugh.

Maybe the health minister does not realize that he has an obvious priority that has yet to be fulfilled.

Perhaps we will see in today's budget if he has actually been able to get something, anything, done on the Conservative promise to take action on wait times and do something positive for the health care system in Canada. Or, is that triplet going to remain as ineffective in Ottawa as he was in Ontario?

[Canada Labour Code, March 1st, 2007]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-409, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (illness or injury).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a bill entitled, “An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (illness or injury)”. The bill would amend the Canada Labour Code to extend from 12 to 52 weeks the period during which an employee may be absent from work due to illness or injury without being dismissed, suspended, laid off, demoted or disciplined by an employer.

Extending this 12 week provision would have a direct impact on those federal employees who are covered under the Canada Labour Code who may fall seriously ill or incur a serious non-work related injury and do not have a benefit package that protects them. This would allow such employees to focus on their recovery with peace of mind knowing that their employment would not be in jeopardy.

I trust that members in the House will see the value of supporting the bill.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Immigration and Refugee Board, February 26th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Prime Minister is bent on stacking the judiciary to suit his own ideological partisan agenda. It now appears that Mr. Fleury and the IRB are victims of Conservative bullying as well.

How can Canadians be comfortable with the fairness of the IRB process when the Prime Minister wants to use it as a tool for Conservative social engineering?

[Immigration and Refugee Board, February 26th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Jean-Guy Fleury has served Canada with distinction for over 40 years, including holding senior positions at the Public Service Commission, CSIS and the Treasury Board.

Could the government confirm to the House the status of Mr. Fleury as chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada? Has he in fact resigned?

[Business of Supply, February 22nd, 2007]

No, Mr. Speaker.

[Business of Supply, February 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the House that I am very amused by the hon. member's attitude and perception of reality. I guess he is entitled to feel good about himself, otherwise, what else could he do, resign from his parliamentary secretary role?

The minister himself admitted in committee when he was there that the Conservatives cut the $20 million that was set aside to review that Citizenship Act. He was there when the minister said the Conservatives had no plans to fix that problem.

For him to stand up and accuse us of doing nothing is shameless and hypocritical. He should go back to his minister and tell her that we have to fix this problem. We cannot just stand aside and do nothing about it.

[Business of Supply, February 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my hon. colleague that we all have to accept responsibility. As parliamentarians, we must confront the challenges that our society is facing. I am very proud to say that the previous Liberal government and the Liberal Party were and are willing to take on that responsibility and have implemented a lot of steps to do so.

Are we there yet? No, but I can say one thing: with the current government we are rolling back the clock. We are rolling back the clock and setting back by at least 30 years every social development and creative initiative that has been implemented over the last few years.

It took Liberals years to clean up the mess after the previous Mulroney government, to clear the debt and the $40 billion deficit that previous Conservative governments left us with. We started making progress and seeing signs of improvement. The government now is setting back the clock on all of that.

[Business of Supply, February 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, how cheap can one get? First, it was the previous government that cancelled that program. Second, I have no problem with telling the hon. member that if the Conservatives have no plan or vision, they should step aside. The Liberal Party is ready to take over and implement all of these plans to help immigrants and new Canadians integrate better into this society, not just for their benefit but for the benefit of our country, our nation and the collective well-being of all Canadians.

[Business of Supply, February 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I understand what the hon. member is saying, but for the record I want to let her know that the lowest minimum wages in this country are in provinces that are governed by NDP governments.

Having said that, I also understand that she needed a podium to express her rhetorical position, but at the end of the day I know that she agrees with me and that she and her party will be supporting the motion that the Conservative government has not served immigrants in our country well and has no plan or vision to help new Canadian immigrants better integrate into our society.