Pablo Rodriguez

[Sustaining Canada's Economic Recovery Act, October 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond to the hon. member's last comments. He is always talking about “us” and “them”. There is always this discourse about exclusion and differences, as though it were impossible to be different, yet equal. He always seems to want things to be mutually exclusive, suggesting that Canadians outside of Quebec think one way, while people in Quebec think another way. Yet we share many values, goals and ideals.

I wonder if my hon. colleague thinks that a federalist Quebecker like me is less of a Quebecker than he is.

[Census, October 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is quite the magician. He snaps his fingers and hides all of the problems he does not want to see. The needs of francophone communities? Poof, they are gone. Investments in education and social housing? Poof, they are gone too. Poverty? Poof, it is gone. Now he is going to hide his record over the past five years. No census, no record. Poof, it is gone.

He must have a really terrible record to want to hide it like that.

[Census, October 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, once again, he completely avoided answering the question. It is not just municipalities, provinces and SMEs that will lose important information, but our cultural sector will as well. We will lose a lot of data that are absolutely essential. What is the average income of our artists? Which of our cultural programs work? Where should we invest money? Without that information, how will we help our artists and creators? We need that information. How will we support our culture? Yes, I said our culture.

[Census, September 30th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Maurice Duplessis could have given the Prime Minister a few lessons on democracy. Even those would be useful.

We know that Canada is under the rule of law, not a dictatorship. We also know that there is no reason to scrap the long form census, unless the Prime Minister's goal is to hide information. Perhaps he is thinking that if there is no information on poverty and social injustice he will not have to deal with them.

Is that his logic?

[Census, September 30th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, just like the movie Groundhog Day, this is déjà vu all over again. The Prime Minister has ignored the will of Parliament regarding the registry. He has basically shut down Parliament whenever he wanted to. Now, he is ignoring the will of Parliament regarding the census.

Will the Conservatives ever respect Parliament? Will they reverse their decision, which, by the way, is completely stupid?

Will the Prime Minister keep on acting like a tin-pot dictator who ignores democracy?

[Census, September 29th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, reaction about the census is extremely clear. We know that the list of organizations that disagree with the government's decision is growing every day. Here are some more: the Association des statisticiens et statisticiennes du Québec, the Canadian Bar Association, the Association des Soeurs du Canada, the Association canadienne-française pour l'avancement des sciences, the Association féminine d'éducation et d'action sociale, the Association francophone pour le savoir, the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives—there are still more—the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Association of Educational Researchers of Ontario, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, Quebec's Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages.

And that is only a fraction, only some of the organizations that are furious with the government. I will stop there, but I could go on and on.

[Arts and Culture, September 28th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, let us take a look at their decisions. On the one hand, the Conservatives have made drastic cuts to culture. On the other hand, they went on a spending spree for the G8 and G20 meetings.

The total cuts to culture represent 4% of the G8 and G20 expenditures. I repeat, 4%. The infamous fence cost $4.5 million, which is three times the amount of the cuts to documentaries and three times the amount that was cut from the FrancoFolies.

How will the government explain to Canadians that the fake lake, fencing and stuffed ducks are more important than our books, our theatre and our movies?

[Chile, September 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to mention a very special anniversary today, marking Chile's 200 years of independence.

This is an important moment in the history of a country that is a great ally, a country with which we maintain a great relationship, a country that Canada can call a friend.

Like many other countries, Chile has been through difficult moments in its history, but each time, it has been able to rise again with courage and determination. Today it is a great democracy with a strong economy open to the world.

Today Chile is rising from yet another challenge, last February's earthquake.

And we know that Chileans are a proud and brave people; the miners trapped in the Copiapo mine have shown us that.

This situation continues to touch hearts all over the world.

As chair of the Canada-Chile Parliamentary committee and on behalf of all my colleagues in this House, I would like to salute the Chilean government and people.

Happy 200th anniversary. ¡Que viva Chile!

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 20th, 2010]

With regard to the Marquee Tourism Events program for the last two fiscal years: (a) who applied for funding; (b) who was awarded funding; (c) how much funding did each successful applicant receive; and (d) what applications were deemed qualified but were not approved by the minister?

[Argentina, May 25th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, today, May 25, marks Argentina's bicentennial, the anniversary of the sequence of events that led to Argentina's independence.

I was born in Argentina and lived there before I was forced to leave the country with my family for political reasons, like so many other Argentinians. Argentina has gone through glorious times as well as more difficult days.

But today Argentina has turned a page, and I think of it as I see it now: a great nation with a rich and vibrant culture, a nation open to the world.

When we think of Argentina, the first things that come to mind are the tango, Evita, soccer, Maradona. But Argentina is also a very beautiful country that is home to a proud and determined people.

I join my colleagues in wishing Argentina and the Argentine people a happy bicentennial. And since the world cup of soccer starts in a few weeks, I would like to take this opportunity to wish Argentina the best of luck.

¡Que viva Argentina!