Paul Calandra

[Preventing Human Smugglers From Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act, November 29th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member raised a lot of good points in his speech and I want to commend him for outlining what the emphasis of the bill is.

What we are seeing here is the opposition members turning and twisting themselves into knots in order to stand not with Canadians but opposed to Canadians. The reality is that with this bill, as with every other bill we see in this place, the opposition members just cannot seem to bring themselves around to the point that Canadians want their sovereignty to be protected, that they want to be there to help people who need assistance.

I am wondering if the hon. member might have some insight into how the opposition can suggest that we should be proud as a country that we allow individuals to come to this country, we force them into these human smuggling ships where they pay $25,000, $35,000, $40,000, and they spend the rest of their lives trying to pay that off. Somehow the opposition is telling us that that is a good system, that we as Canadians should be proud because we are allowing that to happen.

Does he have any suggestions as to how it is possible the opposition could, in any way, support such a system without--

[Preventing Human Smugglers From Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act, November 29th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the remarks of the hon. gentleman. He will know that our government passed the very successful refugee reform bill in the summer. It was supported by all parties in the House, including his. The member for Trinity—Spadina did a lot of work with us on that bill.

Specific to this bill, what we have is a bill that would seek to put human smugglers in jail, give them guaranteed minimum sentences that would help protect Canadian sovereignty. It would ensure that the people who came to our country truly needed the assistance of the Government of Canada and the generosity of the people of Canada.

Would the hon. member simply look at this from the perspective of the Canadian people who want to continue to be a generous people and who want to continue to open our doors to those who need our help? However, we want to ensure that we protect Canadian sovereignty and that we take human smugglers out of the equation. We do not want people coming to our country and spending the rest of their lives trying to pay off the debts of these criminals who are getting these unfortunate people at the worst circumstances and bring them over here.

We want to ensure that people who need to come to our country can come here and can live a life that all Canadians—

[Taxation, November 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Tony Genco, the Liberal candidate in Vaughan, recently told the Vaughan Chamber of Commerce in regard to taxes, “We can't afford to increase them”.

Unfortunately for Mr. Genco, his Ottawa boss is promising to raise taxes. The Liberal leader has promised to hike taxes on businesses, hurting our job creators when we need them the very most.

Groups such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have warned that the Liberal plan to raise taxes is a disastrous idea that will put the brakes on job growth, and it is the wrong thing to do if we want to create jobs and growth in the economy.

The Liberal leader has openly proclaimed that he will have to raise taxes and has said, “I am not going to take a GST hike off the table”.

Tony Genco has proudly referred to the Liberal leader as his mentor. We understand why Mr. Genco would want to hide from his mentor's job-killing tax hike agenda, but that is no excuse for his attempts to mislead the good people of Vaughan.

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010, November 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I do know that the Liberal Party would get along with the Politburo politics because it clearly has identified that it wants to raise taxes for all Canadians.

However, I did not get an answer to my original question. Will the Liberal Party actually be supporting this bill and, in turn, support the free trade agreements that we are negotiating with the European Union and a whole host of other countries to the benefit of the Canadian people?

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010, November 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it speaks to the Liberal tradition. The member spent the first five minutes personally insulting the Prime Minister. He spent the middle of his speech talking about nothing. He spent the end of his speech criticizing the very successful G20 that was hosted in my region, the GTA, Toronto.

The member knows full well that when he was a Conservative he fought against the previous government's unilateral cuts to health and education of $25 billion. The Liberals did not ask for permission, they just did it.

The member also knows that the Liberals fought against free trade with the United States. They fought against North America free trade. He knows that this government has brought in free trade with Colombia and we are negotiating with India after years of failure by the Liberal government. We have seen an extraordinary new relationship with China. We are entering negotiations with the European Union.

The reality is that this government has gotten things done very quickly to the benefit of the people of this country. We put $40 billion toward paying down the debt before the economic crisis started. We cut taxes for Canadians. We have done everything the people of Canada needed us to do to ensure this country comes through the global downturn prosperous. Ultimately--

[Protecting Children from Online Sexual Exploitation Act, November 15th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard a lot of stupid speeches in my time, but that has to be at the top of the list of the most ridiculous speeches I have ever heard in the two years that I have been here.

The Liberals talk about the length of time it takes to do things. The reality is that the member for Mississauga South was a member of a government that was in office for 4,745 days. What did his government accomplish in that time?

The Liberals are not known for attacking the criminal justice system and attempting to balance it. They are known for their attacks on provincial governments. They are known for their decade of darkness for the Canadian armed forces. They are known for being entitled to their entitlements.

The member talked about slogans. One of the great slogans in the 2006 campaign, of course, was to “throw the bums out who are entitled to their entitlements”. That is what Canadians did. They put a government in office that actually respects Canadians and is actually on the same side as Canadians.

What we have here today is a spectacle of the opposition parties knowing yet again that they are on the opposite side of Canadians. Opposition members are doing everything in their power to make it seem that they actually care about criminal justice matters, that they actually care about Canadians. The reality is that for 13 long years the Liberals did absolutely nothing.

Canadians know for the first time that they have a government that actually respects them and understands what they want, which is a criminal justice system that puts victims of crime first and protects our communities.

Instead of his nonsensical diatribes, that member should come on board and do what is right for Canadians and support this legislation and all legislation that would help the criminal justice system restore balance and put the victims of crime first.

[Business of Supply, November 4th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I enjoyed parts of the member's speech and I am thrilled that he is going to be joining us. We have been standing up for Canadian families of course by our tax reductions, such as the reduction in the GST from 7% to 6% to 5%, and all of the other cuts that we have made to support Canadian families. I am encouraged that he will be considering voting in favour of those in the future as opposed to against them.

I wonder if he will agree with me that we need to consider making changes to the Investment Canada Act. For 13 very long years in this country, we had a Liberal government that absolutely did nothing to protect Canadians, nothing to protect Canadian businesses. It simply rubber-stamped every single takeover that was brought before it.

I know he would probably agree with me that the heroic efforts and the strong representation of the members of the Conservative caucus from Saskatchewan have gone a long way in helping to transform Saskatchewan into the vibrant economy it is today.

Could the member comment on the lack of responsiveness of the previous Liberal government to ever protect Canadian jobs or businesses?

[Business of Supply, November 4th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, what is quite clear is that the member read the wrong speech today. He read a speech based on a different sale.

It is driving him crazy that the 13 Saskatchewan members in the Conservative caucus have been able to do more since 2006 than the member and his party have ever done for this country and that the net benefit to Canada actually started in February of 2006 when that lot was thrown out and the Conservative government and Prime Minister were put in office.

For 13 long years, the Liberals did absolutely, positively nothing. They did not listen to the provinces, they cut health care and they raised taxes for Canadians. They did absolutely nothing. To stand in his place and suggest otherwise is absolutely ridiculous.

Would he not agree with me that the reason we might have to consider changing the Investment Canada Act is that the party of the member opposite did absolutely nothing? All it ever did was rubber-stamp every single one of these things, and it is this government that has finally put the interests of Canadians and Saskatchewanians first.

If the member wants to really do something for the people of Canada, he should consider crossing the floor to this party because we are the only party that actually stands up for the people of Saskatchewan.

[Justice, November 2nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the case of David Chen has touched people across Canada. Canadians are concerned that a man such as David Chen, who was merely stopping a thief who committed a criminal act, somehow wound up an accused criminal himself. This is wrong and of course Canadians know it.

What is the view of the Prime Minister about this unfortunate miscarriage of justice?

[Alzheimer's Disease, October 28th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today on this motion and, in particular, to talk about some of the good work being done by the government to address this health issue.

With the aging of the population, more people will develop Alzheimer's disease or related dementia. The number of Canadians afflicted is expected to rise substantially over the next 30 years, with the aging of the baby boomer population and the health needs that go along with it.

I am firmly of the view that it is through investments and research that we can unlock the potential to lessen the burden of Alzheimer's and dementia, not just on individuals and families, but also on the health system.

Let me offer one example. It has been estimated that delaying the onset of Alzheimer's and dementia by only two years would reduce its cumulative costs over the next 30 years by an estimated $219 billion. Delaying onset by two years would reduce the number of cases in Canada by 410,000.

That is the promise. However, we will see that promise realized only through research breakthroughs. That is why I am proud to say that through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the government has invested over $88 million in research into the causes, treatments and potential cures for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia since 2006, including $22.7 million in 2009 and 2010 alone.

Through these investments, Canadian researchers in this field are recognized around the world for their excellence. Federal research funding facilitates their efforts in discovering ways to prevent, diagnose and treat this devastating illness.

Our investments include CIHR's commitment of $2.5 million over five years for the Canadian Dementia Knowledge Translation Network, which will share information about dementia with a wide range of players in our health care system. What is more, CIHR is investing $30 million in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, investigating neuropsychological, social and economic issues of Canadians aged 45 to 85 over the next 20 years.

CIHR, like many funding organizations worldwide, has recognized there is a global imperative to act on the rising tide of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. That is why it has recently established the international collaborative research strategy for Alzheimer's disease. The international strategy will encourage scientific collaborations between researchers in Canada and other researchers around the world.

The objective is to establish joint funding partnerships, which will address the growing national and international issue. This international strategy recognizes that presently treatment that follows a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or dementia occurs too late in the course of the underlying disease after permanent damage to brain cells has already occurred.

Therefore, the international strategy's research agenda will focus on the early events in Alzheimer's and dementia. In doing so, experts will examine research problems that are biomedical and clinical as related to health services. Social, cultural and environmental influences on population health will also be examined. The goal is to identify the disease early so that measures can be put in place to delay its onset.

CIHR is working closely with the Alzheimer's Society of Canada in putting together this international strategy. Our government has already signed several international agreements and funding initiatives with France, the U.K. and Germany, which will work with us to combat this global health problem.

Additional partnerships are being developed with China, Belgium and the U.S. All of this work and leadership on behalf of our government will be a huge asset to the provinces and territories in the delivery of their health care system.

The motion asks for the recognition of the important role played by civil society organizations, such as the Alzheimer's Society of Canada, in advancing our understanding of Alzheimer's and dementia. In addition to the partnerships mentioned above, I am pleased to note that CIHR is working closely with the Alzheimer's Society of Canada through its Institute of Aging.

A program called the cognitive impairment in aging partnership has invested $32 million to date in linking researchers and key stakeholders to advance strategic research and knowledge translation on cognitive impairment and dementia.

With investments in world-class research excellence, Canada has built a number of distinct global advantages: an excellent track record in Alzheimer's and dementia research; a reputation for high impact research; and CIHR's strong reputation for partnership and innovation in health research.

Canada is fortunate to be an ideal site for clinical trials and large population-based studies such as the Canadian longitudinal study on aging. Our expertise and resources will enable us to be poised to develop a better understanding of the risk factors around Alzheimer's and dementia, particularly regarding genetics, nutrition and lifestyle.

I expect the future will bring promising developments in early diagnosis with new findings in genomics, diagnostic biomarkers, brain imaging and psychological and cognitive testing. I am hopeful that these findings will lead to new approaches in early intervention with therapeutic clinical trials with a focus on prevention.

We will learn how the control of blood pressure and cholesterol, exercise, nutrition, mental stimulation and aspects of our social environment can impact on this disease. Our goal is to prevent and mitigate the toll of Alzheimer's and dementia on individuals and society by leveraging our track record in research and galvanizing the Canadian research community by building partnerships with users of research knowledge and mobilizing coordinated and innovative international research efforts.

I am confident that we will make substantial progress to this goal. I would like to thank the member for Edmonton—Leduc for his hard work in bringing this forward today.