Pat Martin

[Access to Information, February 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it was the culture of secrecy that allowed corruption to flourish under 13 years of Liberal government, but the Conservative government is even worse. It is obsessed with secrecy. In 2006, in the federal election campaign, the Conservatives explicitly promised they would implement all of John Reid's open government act. Nothing has happened.

I have now introduced a private member's bill that is chapter and verse the same as John Reid's bill. I urge the Conservatives to steal it, no charge. I have done all the heavy lifting. They can have it.

Will they or will they not fulfill their campaign promise and implement all of the John Reid's, former information commissioner, open government act, yes or no?

[Petitions, February 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by thousands of Canadians that calls upon the House of Commons to recognize that asbestos is the greatest industrial killer that the world has ever known, that more Canadians now die from asbestos-related disease than all other occupational causes combined. Yet, Canada remains one of the second or third largest producer and exporter of asbestos in the world.

These petitioners call upon Parliament to ban asbestos in all its forms and institute a just transition program for the displaced asbestos workers; end all government subsidies of asbestos, both in Canada and abroad; request that the Government of Canada stop blocking international health and safety efforts designed to curb its use; and protect workers from asbestos-related disease, such as the Rotterdam convention.

[Open Government Act, February 25th, 2009]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-326, An Act to amend the Access to Information Act (open government).

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Burnaby—Douglas not only for seconding the bill, but for his tireless work on the subject of freedom of information and access to information.

The bill finds its origin in the notion that the people of Canada have the right to know what their government is doing with their money. In fact, even further, we argue that freedom of information is the very oxygen that democracy breathes.

I would like to pay tribute to a former member of Parliament, Mr. John Bryden, who dedicated most of his career to fighting for access to information reform, and also to Mr. John Reid, the former information commissioner, who drafted this very bill that I am putting forward for first reading today. The bill was written chapter and verse by one of the foremost authorities on access to information, the former information commissioner himself.

Never has there been a more pressing need for the public's right to know than on the threshold of rolling out the massive financial stimulus package. The public deserves to know how the money is being spent and the public deserves access to the government files where the information is held.

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

[Human Pathogens and Toxins Act, February 23rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I with to thank the parliamentary secretary for some of the references he made to the handling protocols of these pathogens. I want to ask him, what specifically in the bill would give satisfaction to the people of my riding, where the level 4 federal laboratory is located?

In the case of what happened recently, a car accident occurred where a FedEx truck ran into a car and its contents spilled out. Guess what was in the FedEx truck? There was anthrax, the Newcastle disease virus, and a number of other serious toxins. People who farm chickens will know that Newcastle disease is not something we want in the community.

There was a level 4 virology lab shipping anthrax and Newcastle by FedEx with no protocols whatsoever, any more than one would give to sending a Christmas gift to a relative. I want to see very strict protocols within this bill and some satisfaction, so that I can tell the people of my riding that we are addressing this appalling issue.

[Petitions, February 10th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by literally thousands of Canadians who call upon Parliament to recognize that asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known. Yet, Canada remains one of the largest producers and exporters of asbestos in the world.

Canada spends millions of dollars subsidizing the asbestos industry and blocking international efforts to curb its use. Therefore, the petitions call upon Parliament to ban asbestos in all of its forms and to end all government subsidies of the asbestos industry, both in Canada and abroad, and to stop blocking international health and safety conventions designed to protect workers from asbestos such as the Rotterdam convention.

[Gordon Bell High School, February 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the wonderful students of Gordon Bell High School in Winnipeg are in a David and Goliath struggle with Canada Post so that these inner city kids can have a playing field and sports teams which other high schools take for granted.

Anybody will tell us that inner city youth need more sports and recreation opportunities. We want these kids to join sports teams, not gangs.

On behalf of the students of Gordon Bell High School, we call on Canada Post to let us buy the land next to Gordon Bell High School to give those students the options for sports and recreation that other kids have. Canada Post has lots of other options to build its letter carrier depot. The kids at Gordon Bell High School have only one option if they ever want a playing field and a green space for their sports teams.

[Points of Order, February 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

On Friday last, during question period, I used language that offended the sensibilities of some of my colleagues. I regret any discomfort the words I used may have caused. I would like to take this opportunity to withdraw those words without any reservation or condition, and have the record show those words withdrawn.

[The Budget, February 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, no self-respecting members of Parliament from my home province of Manitoba should vote for this budget. They should all vote against this budget because we have as many quotes opposing this budget as the member may have thrown together in support of it. It is a bad budget for Canadians. We could have done better. The Liberals traded their cow for three beans.

[The Budget, February 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I like the way the member for Kings—Hants stormed the barricades to stand up to the Conservatives and really negotiate a great deal, so that the Liberals could take that home and justify voting for the budget. What did they trade their support for? A piece of paper. Well, it is a report. No, it is regular reports. Now the government of the day is going to have to table a report saying what it spent. Does not the public accounts committee already do that, or the government operations committee, or the finance committee? I mean they traded their support for nothing. They were so afraid of being thrown into an election that they let their constituents down by supporting a budget that is clearly inadequate to meet the needs of the country and to stimulate the economy.

The member for Kings—Hants, again, is too good an MP to really believe some of the things that he says here because he himself is the one who must be wrestling with the monumental hypocrisy that he has been asked to perpetuate in about 15 minutes.

[The Budget, February 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I think sometimes it must be difficult to be Liberal members because I do not know if there is any road map or guide book that they are given when they join the Liberal Party. How do they keep track of who they are and what they stand for when it gets turned upside down all the time, inside out and backwards. It is like nailing Jell-O to a wall, in trying to grasp what they really stand for. Here they rail against the budget and now they are going to stand up and vote for it.

The member for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, whom I have great respect for, is far too good an MP to really believe some of the speaking notes he was given here to read when he walked in. As a former municipal politician, he would know that the way that the Conservatives crafted this particular budget makes it virtually impossible for a lot of municipalities to avail themselves of the spending. First, it was disingenuous when the government said it would be a 2% of GDP stimulus because that 2% contemplated the share of the province and the share of the municipality in the spending, so really it is like one-third of that in total stimulus.

Second, the mayor of Winnipeg has now said that he would have to borrow money or raise taxes to have the municipality avail itself of this stimulus. Frankly, it is not that easy to go out there and borrow billions of dollars on the open market, even if one has a good credit rating these days. The way it is structured and the strings that are attached to it in itself warrants voting against it. I think the coalition that we had contemplated could have put together a better package. There is a song that goes: Anything you can do I can do better. We could have done better.