Paul Dewar

[Arctic Sovereignty, May 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, let us go from southern sovereignty to northern sovereignty.

The government boasts about promoting Arctic sovereignty, yet it has not appointed anyone to the Canadian Polar Commission, the lead agency on the Arctic. The commission promotes knowledge of the polar regions, enhances Canada's international profile and recommends policy direction. It has had no board and no chair since October 2008. The ad campaign promoting the Arctic in Europe is kind of hard to take seriously when the government has not been able to appoint people to the board that leads Canada's promotion.

Will the minister simply explain why the lack of leadership, where are the members of the board and where the heck is the chair?

[High Tech Industry, May 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, recently, we have seen major job losses at companies like Nortel. Not only are we losing valuable jobs but employees' rights are being ignored and hard-earned Canadian knowhow in the high tech industry is leaving our country. At the same time, we have seen massive bonuses paid out to Nortel executives.

When it comes to action, sadly, the government is on the sidelines. What we need is government action to guarantee the protection of pensions and severance packages for high tech workers, to tighten the rules for foreign takeovers of Canadian high tech companies so that taxpayers' investments in the industry are protected and to direct government stimulus investment in a way that reinvigorates the high tech sector in Canada.

We have an opportunity for our economy to improve so that when we come out of this recession we can be stronger, fairer and greener. To achieve that goal, we need smart investments in innovation.

The time for action is now. If the government will not lead and hold companies accountable, then Parliament and its committees should.

[Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, at some point we have to ask, are we going to get involved with responsible energy policy? The bill is putting forward a minuscule amount for liability. When the American law provides $10 billion and in Germany it is unlimited, how can we honestly stand in the House and say that the amount in the bill is anything serious in terms of dealing with liability? We know it is the bare minimum and we know it is a throw to the industry.

I would like the member to comment on what he thinks of the American legislation which allows for $10 billion and the German legislation which allows for an unlimited amount, juxtaposed to the amount in this legislation.

[Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, May 15th, 2009]

That was under a false premise. You told them something that was not true.

[Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to pose a question to the member about parliamentary procedure. He is knowledgeable about how that works. When we have bills we do not agree with, we need to provide a space so people can have their voice heard. I think we might be disagreeing on how to do that.

Many have said they do not agree with this bill. Sign me up; I am part of that group. However, to say we will not have an opportunity to discuss this bill is not the right way to go. I believe that women and other aboriginal representatives are very capable of going to committee. I remember very well that when we had the changes to the voting system, the hon. member's party heard from aboriginal people on changes to the voter ID. It did not listen to them. We put forward amendments. It did not listen.

I think it is an opportunity to actually hear from the aboriginal community. If the bill is not good enough, and it is a colonial attitude, and I agree with that, then we kill the bill. However, we want to open the space to let people be heard.

[Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, May 14th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, there are a couple of things that need to be stated. The member laid out his background on the issue. He stated that there were issues that needed to be dealt with and that the bill would not get it done. He stated that in his view this should not go farther.

What we heard was an excellent overview of a critique of a bill that can happen in this place and it can happen at committee, and it is exactly what many of us want to see.

I know Beverley well. I do not think it is fair or smart to say that if we are against the motion right now, as a group, as a party, then we are not with native women. I hope the member is not saying that. I would like the member to clarify that. I think that many of us, who have been with Beverley and others on a regular basis on these issues, clearly want to work with them. Maybe we disagree on how we get this done.

If we vote against this, it is not against native women. It is about doing it differently and doing it in another way. Hopefully if we do get to committee, the member will support a critique and open the space for native women there.

[Foreign Investment, May 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the minister forgets how to protect business and protect the market.

The great thing about the open market is that it will adapt and change the rules. Nortel Networks has been providing opportunities for hundreds of years. Now we hear Tundra Semiconductor is going south. Those are jobs going south and lost. The high tech sector has created thousands of jobs across the country and right here in Ottawa, but the government has failed to provide support.

Will the minister intervene, support good jobs and support a vital sector? Will he show us his--

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act, May 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, many of us support the idea of portability. We note that in other jurisdictions and in other professions, one of the things that helps with portability is having similar benchmarks and frameworks. This is crucial because when we are getting into contributions and years of service, it is necessary to have seniority understood so that the nomenclature is right and we understand what we are talking about.

As an example, here on the Hill we have people who transcribe and drive messages around with our courier service who, sadly, are not given seniority acknowledgement for their work. Scheduling is a mess on the Hill and it is an issue we need to deal with.

Does the parliamentary secretary believe that giving the RCMP the right to form a union would help with this exercise? We know that when they are coming from a police service in another jurisdiction that has the right to organize, it would make their contracts a lot more concrete and fluid, and would help to make Bill C-18 even better than the proposition already is.

[Foreign Affairs, May 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this past Monday the foreign affairs committee unanimously passed a motion inviting Abousfian Abdelrazik to appear before committee. The clerk of the committee has sent an invitation to Mr. Abdelrazik to appear, and by all counts he will accept.

As members know, yesterday the foreign affairs minister appeared to be unaware of the UN rules that allow for the return of citizens. It is crystal clear; those citizens are allowed to come back to their country.

Will the government allow Mr. Abdelrazik to come home, to come before committee, or is it going to break the rules? Will the government heed the words of Mr. Diefenbaker, who said, “Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong”. Is the government going to do right or do wrong?

[Afghanistan, May 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the government was asleep at the switch when the Afghan rape law was passed. We also know that it did not read the report of the Afghan human rights watchdog, which stated that law enforcement officials being trained by Canadians do not know that torture is illegal.

Now the Afghan human rights commission warns that many women will not get to vote in the upcoming elections due to irregularities.

What is Canada doing to ensure that women will be able to vote? This time the government cannot say that it did not know. Ignorance is not a way out of this one.