Paul Calandra

House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

His favourite word was ndp.

Last in Parliament October 2015, as Conservative MP for Oak Ridges—Markham (Ontario)

Lost his last election, in 2015, with 43% of the vote.

Statements in the House

I would like to respond to the point of order, Madam Speaker. One of the--

Madam Speaker, I listened intently to my colleague's comments.

I note that there are some countries around the world where TPMs are protected. We have not seen an actual decline in the availability of visual material in all of those countries, but we have seen an increase in it. I wonder if my colleague could cite one example for me of one country where there has been a decline in the availability of creative works because of TPMs.

Many opposition members have been focusing on the destruction of course notes for students. That is not actually in the bill. Students are not going to be required to burn their notes at the conclusion of their course work. That is simply not true.

I wonder if--

Mr. Speaker, as members may have heard, through the summer I had many meetings with a lot of different groups with respect to the bill. What I heard consistently is how important the sector is to the Canadian economy. It is a $40 billion industry. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are created or supported through this industry.

The hon. member talked earlier in his discussion about debate, when he knows that this is something that has been before the House for many years. There have been thousands of hours of testimony from hundreds of witnesses, and hon. members of Parliament have been hearing the exact same thing.

He talked about the technical protection measures. In our neck of the woods, it is extremely important for those who create video games that there be technical protection measures that would support and protect that industry. Does he not support that?

Has he looked at other jurisdictions where similar things to what we have put in place in Bill C-11 have actually not limited the public's access to quality digital content but have actually improved it? Is the only solution the NDP has to continue to tax Canadians? Does he actually think the only way to support Canadian artists is to punish the artists and to punish Canadians and that a $40 billion industry is somehow going to collapse under the threat, as he would project it, of a $20 million levy that he suggests would no longer exist?

Immigration November 4th, 2011

Mr. Speaker, yesterday our Conservative government announced that it is planning to welcome more federal skilled workers in 2012. In fact, it plans to welcome over 55,000 federal skilled workers in 2012, up from 47,000 last year.

I am also proud to inform the House that, after the previous Liberal government left us with a massive backlog of applications and very long wait times, our government took actions that are showing great results.

Despite opposition from both the NDP and the Liberals, our government has cut the backlog left by the Liberals in half, which is two years earlier than expected. Now skilled workers are waiting only months, not years, to have their files processed.

Our Conservative government's number one priority remains the economy. We recognize the importance of immigration to our economy and we value the contributions of skilled immigrants who add to our international competitiveness in the global economy. Our government remains committed to attracting the best and brightest to our country.

Madam Speaker, the hon. member is right, and, hopefully, once we defeat the Liberal motion, we will have an opportunity to bring the bill before committee to hear some more witness testimony. As I said in earlier comments, we have heard testimony from a vast array of people.

Graham Henderson of Music Canada said, we are “pleased to see long overdue copyright reform legislation back on the...agenda and a strong commitment to get it passed”.

The Canadian Publishers' Council said that the government was demonstrating “a clear understanding of the need to amend the current Copyright Act to bring it more in line with our times”. It strikes me that much of this bill would do just that. It would bring our legislation in line with copyright legislation around the world.

Jurisdictions around the world talk a lot about digital locks, or technical protection measures. However, in jurisdictions around the world where TPMs are protected there is actually more content available. That can protect artists but they need to ensure that consumers have access to a vast array of products.

It is frustrating to hear yet again another NDP speaker talk about the only solution for Canadian artists and Canadians is to tax them more and that will solve all the problems.

Madam Speaker, I hate to keep pointing out the obvious, but the opposition has again pointed out that the best way to solve a lot of the copyright issues is to tax Canadians more. This is not something that we on this side of the House are contemplating.

Could my colleague discuss a bit the provisions of the bill which make it an infringement to induce or to enable others to steal the work of artists, such as movies, sound recordings and video games? Does the hon. member agree with those provisions in the bill that would protect those artists? Is that one of the sections that not only he but the rest of the members in his caucus will support?

Madam Speaker, it was interesting that one point the member made was that at the very least we are able to have this debate and that the opposition, the official opposition in this case, is prepared to go to committee to hear from more witnesses. We spent a lot of time in the last Parliament on this matter. We have spent a lot of time in a number of Parliaments on it. All of us have probably reviewed some of the testimony we heard at committee, and it is gratifying to know that one part of the opposition is prepared to hear more testimony and hear from more Canadians.

I wonder if she might comment on some of the provisions in the bill that deal specifically with PVRs and time shifting, which would allow Canadians to no longer live in fear of how they watch their TV. I wonder if she would also comment on the notice and notice provisions that we have put in the bill with respect to Internet service providers.

Madam Speaker, we have a clear understanding on this side of the House, but for the opposition, much of the problems with the bill stems from the fact that they do not see that we are taxing Canadians enough. I think we have a clear picture of that.

However, would the member comment on the unique part of the bill which talks about “notice and notice” for our Internet service providers so we can better protect copyright owners from those who seek to poach their work and does he support that provision in the bill?

Human Rights October 21st, 2011

Mr. Speaker, I will reiterate the answer we gave earlier.

This government has provided extraordinary amounts of funding in the arts and culture sector across this country, and we are very proud to do so. In my own riding and in ridings across this country, festivals are being supported.

We get a lot of applications for a lot of different things. We support a lot of different cultural festivals in communities across Canada. We look at all of those applications on their merit and we support the ones that Canadians ask us to support and the ones that meet the criteria of the programs that we establish.

Arts and Culture October 21st, 2011

Mr. Speaker, I will reiterate for the hon. member. We have actually increased funding for arts and culture in Canada. We are the only G7 country in the midst of an economic downturn to increase funding. We understand how important this sector is to the Canadian economy. It is responsible for thousands of jobs across this country.

The real question is, why does the NDP always vote against initiatives that would help support our artists? When we talk about increasing funding to the arts community, why does it always vote against it?