Paul Calandra

[Youth, September 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, to be clear, this government is not killing the Katimavik program. We have just reassigned the funds that have been going to Katimavik through taxpayers to other programs and services that are working very well for young Canadians. We expected that after some 30 years Katimavik could stand on its own two feet, and it could go to the people and the students it helped over the years and raise some of its own funding so it could continue to provide services for young Canadians.

In the meantime, the government is going to invest in programs and services that work better for young Canadians, that have less of a drop-out rate and that do not cost $28,000 per person like Katimavik was costing. That is a heck of a lot of money that can be reinvested and is being reinvested in organizations across this country, such as the YMCA and Encounters with Canada, giving more young people more opportunities to experience all kinds of different things across this country.

It was an easy decision to make because there are so many great programs working for young Canadians across Canada.

[Youth, September 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of one of Canada's economic action plans, and part of that economic action plan has been to invest heavily in youth programs across this country. Talking about the Katimavik program specifically, since its inception in 1977, some 99% of its funding has come from taxpayers. The program costs about $28,000 for every young person it seeks to assist. One of the big problems with this program is that one-third of the people who participated in the Katimavik program never made it through to the end of the program.

By reducing funding to Katimavik and putting funding into other programs for youth, we ensure that the programs that are available to youth across this country actually work for them. We have to make sure that our youth have access to programs and services that not only give them experiences they can use for their futures but also allow them to see different parts of this country and have experiences throughout this country. That is something that Katimavik was not accomplishing, certainly not at $28,000 for every single participant in the program.

What we have done is put our resources into other programs, such as the Exchanges Canada program, or the Young Canada Works program, which provides 2,600 youth with work experience and internships across this country. The Department of Canadian Heritage language learning initiatives, work experiences and internships provide 7,900 bursaries and 300 language-monitoring jobs for our youth to learn about Canada's two official languages. We have the arts training fund, which provides contributions to training for the next generation of professional artists and reaches over 5,000 young artists. The Youth Take Charge program reaches 70,000 youth.

As I said, we have taken that $17 million that was going to Katimavik, which since its inception has cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and we are putting it into programs that actually work for young Canadians across this country. We are going to continue to do that because that is what Canada's economic action plan has said we need to do. We are hearing from young Canadians that these are the programs and services they want. I am very proud of the fact that the government continues to invest in youth programs across this country, and we will continue to do that because we understand how important it is for future generations that they get experiences across this country and in both official languages.

[International Trade, June 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, since 2006, our Conservative government has focused on creating jobs, growing our economy and ensuring the long-term prosperity of all Canadians. One of the most important steps we have taken is expanding our trade relations with countries around the world. Since 2006, we have signed agreements with nine countries: Panama, Colombia, Honduras, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Peru and Jordan.

Over two million Canadian jobs are dependent on Canada-U.S. trade alone, trade that some parties in the House actually oppose.

With one in five Canadian jobs and over 60% of Canada's GDP dependent on trade, our government's efforts are unlocking economic opportunities and ensuring a brighter future for all Canadians. One thing that is certain is that this side will always stand up for jobs and economic growth, and we will continue to focus like a laser on all those things that Canadians think are important, even if the opposition members oppose them all.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, because the hon. member brought up the tragic history of the Liberals in government between 1993 and 2006, I thought I would ask him if he is as concerned as I am about the hidden agenda of the protest party opposite with respect to trade. I know when the Liberals were in opposition many years ago, they too were concerned about trade. They said that they would cancel NAFTA and all of our trade agreements, but as soon as they got into power, they realized how important trade was to the economy.

We have heard the member for London—Fanshawe talk about how bad NAFTA is for Canada. She seemed to imply that the NDP would cancel that agreement. I wonder if he has some comments on cancelling trade agreements.

I will be meeting with the Liberal member of the provincial legislature this weekend. The Liberal government in Ontario is cutting thousands of jobs. I wonder what advice the member would give to me so that I can speak to the Liberal member of the provincial legislature. Perhaps I could have a copy of his speech so I could give it to the Liberal member of the provincial legislature.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I just want to clarify. The reason they stripped the workers of their rights back then was that we brought a free trade agreement in that has created—

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is difficult listening to that speech coming from this member because as I am sure members will recall—and if they do not, I will remind them—that this is a member who was actually a cabinet minister in the Ontario government in the nineties, which actually ran one of the highest, fastest deficits in the history of the province. It almost bankrupted the province, but thankfully, the Conservatives took stewardship later on and righted the ship.

However, in its time in office that Ontario government actually unilaterally shredded the collective agreements of hundreds of thousands of Ontario workers, forced them to take days off, cut their salaries without even asking them and rammed that through.

My question for the hon. member is this. Why does she and the NDP hate workers to the extent that they would actually rip up their contracts, as was done when that member was a minister of the crown? Why does the NDP dislike families so much that it would vote against tax cuts for our families, the GST? Why does the NDP hate seniors so much that it would vote against the GIS?

Is she not embarrassed that the NDP is nothing more than a protest party that stands for nothing?

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member is quite right. The NDP is number one at delaying, obfuscating and ensuring that the economic policies which create jobs do not get through.

I am wondering how long the hon. member thinks we should hold back economic progress in this country so that the NDP members can debate among themselves and with their big union bosses.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the problem with the NDP members is that it is not just on economic matters that they filibuster. We had a bill before this House with respect to opening up the barriers so that producers can bring wine across the borders and they actually filibustered and caused that to be delayed.

The member for Kildonan—St. Paul had a bill to protect some of the most vulnerable men, women and children and they delayed that bill, so it is not just on economic issues.

The hon. member said that we should talk and we should debate for hundreds and hundreds of hours. Does he actually think that the global economy will sit around and wait for the New Democratic Party so that its members can talk among themselves about how great they are and how good their non-economic policies are? Is he not ashamed of the fact that the NDP has just become a sad, pathetic protest party with absolutely no policies? The fact is that what they are—

[Whitchurch-Stouffville, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank Mayor Wayne Emmerson of Whitchurch-Stouffville, who on Friday gave the Governor General's Horse Guards the freedom of the town.

They showed up, thousands of people, three rows deep, to welcome back the Governor General's Horse Guards to my home town. It was a unit that was founded some 200 years ago in our community.

It was a spectacular day, and at the same time I was able to present two Diamond Jubilee Medals to Lieutenant Colonel Glenn Develiadias and to Dr. John Button, two people who have contributed so much to our community.

It was a wonderful day for the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, welcoming back this historic unit to our community. It was a display of vintage military vehicles. It was just a spectacular day for the people of Whitchurch-Stouffville. I thank the mayor and the members of council for making this happen, and of course I thank my team who worked over six months to bring this spectacular military parade to our community.

I thank them, God bless Canada and God save the Queen.

[Copyright, June 15th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, the member for Kootenay—Columbia has been a tireless advocate for copyright reform because he understands how important it is for creating jobs. He also has some very important criminal justice legislation in front of the House. He is another strong Conservative member.

With respect to copyright, we understand how important it is to unleash the digital economy for the future. It creates jobs and opportunity. We hope that the opposition will support us, as artists and creators do across the country. It is important that we get this legislation passed.