House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 53% of the vote.
Interparliamentary Delegations May 11th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the delegation of the OSCE Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association respecting its participation in the international election observation mission of the March 26, 2006 parliamentary elections in Ukraine.
VE Day May 4th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, 61 years ago on May 8, the warring guns of Europe went mute. It was VE Day, Victory in Europe Day. The crescendo of all-out war was silenced, but was soon replaced by the cheers of millions celebrating this peace in the streets of the free world.
Canada had answered the call to war and served with great distinction on the long road to peace. From the lessons of Dieppe to the shores of Sicily, the streets of Ortona, the Battle of the Atlantic, Juno Beach, Holland's liberation and more, Canadians were there. Over one million served in uniform. Forty-one thousand still lie in Europe's graves.
VE Day is a day to celebrate a great victory. VE Day is also a day to remember the tragic toll, the true price of peace. We must not forget.
International Cooperation May 2nd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, despite years of chronic problems, Haiti is buoyed today with successful elections sponsored by Canada, with a new president-elect, René Préval, and with a new renewed commitment from our Prime Minister to help.
Could the Minister of International Cooperation tell the House more details on what this commitment will be?
Supply November 24th, 2005
Madam Speaker, Canadian unity has been imperiled. Unity has been set back 10 years, not by a Canadian scandal of corruption, not be a Quebec scandal of corruption, but by a governing Liberal Party scandal of corruption. Shame on the government. Will the Liberals apologize to Canadians now before the door of the House of Commons closes behind them?
Supply November 17th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the member opposite a question. I realize that not all issues can be covered in budgets and certainly some things are overlooked, but perhaps he could enlighten the House as to what plans the government has.
There is an issue we should be aware of in our own ridings too and that is the issue of autism. The Autism Society is presently on the Hill. One of the concerns recently was about a small boy in New Brunswick who was actually put into a prison because there were no facilities in New Brunswick nor in all of Canada while he was awaiting transfer to an American institution.
I would like the member, if possible, to advise what the government is doing or planning on doing on the issue of autism to bring awareness and address concerns across Canada for facilities and proper and appropriate treatment for people with autism.
Conservative Party of Canada October 31st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago on the eve of Hallowe'en I was in Quebec City pacing the Plains of Abraham as Quebec narrowly rejected separation in a referendum that had an entire nation holding its breath.
Ten years ago Canada was at the brink, driven there by an inept Liberal government in Ottawa and an opportunistic separatist government in Quebec. Under the Liberals' watch, the separatists nearly succeeded, but for Canadians joining in a unity rally of unprecedented proportions in Montreal, showing Quebeckers that Canadians truly cared.
Today the Liberals remain bereft of unity efforts, instead being mired in the muck of a decade of more political corruption. The Liberals' persistent plundering of taxpayers for political gain has poisoned the unity well.
Canada deserves better. Canadian unity will evolve with a new, visionary Conservative government that will stand up for Canada and demonstrate honesty, respect and equality for all.
Gordon Russell October 24th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, for over 50 years, Gordon Russell and his wife Frances have helped to create positive outcomes through athletics for many of Edmonton's troubled youth and they founded the Gordon Russell Crystal Kids Youth Centre.
Gordon, member of the Order of Canada and Native Counselling Services of Alberta, Citizen of the Year and inductee into Edmonton's Sports Hall of Fame, is also on the honour roll of the City of Edmonton's Boxing and Wrestling Commission.
Gordon passed away very recently at the age of 79.
At his funeral, young and old, from all walks of life, paid tribute to this person who left this world a much better place. A boxing ring bell rang 10 times; the boxing legend was finally down for the count.
Gordon Russell played his life as he played sports: a humble man with courage, dedication and fair play.
Gordon Russell, truly a humble hero, will be missed.
Wage Earner Protection Program Act September 29th, 2005
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the goal of the bill. I think it is an admirable goal because employees are sometimes the ones who lose out in cases of bankruptcies. However the question and concern I have is about the number of bankruptcies a year, at about 11,000 that is indicated by the information. Of those, how many actually do leave the employees in the lurch? Is there an average percentage or number?
From my own business experience, it is very common that most companies going into bankruptcy do have options. They have options sometimes of paying employees, paying key suppliers or protecting their own personal loans and securities. They have these options and that is just a reality. To come back afterwards on those is extremely difficult.
However with those types of options my concern is too that if the great majority of companies that would be subject to this, or of the 10,000 businesses a year now that do pay out their employees, would there be some monitoring in the future to see if the percentage changes or shifts, to see if this does not actually help those potential bankruptcy companies to off-load the responsibility onto the government, viewing this more as, in effect, an additional revenue source that they can use on their last minute bailout? Will there be monitoring of those circumstances?
An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to Make Certain Payments June 22nd, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite talked first about being fiscally responsible. He then went on to talk about sound fiscal management. Many of us who have been in the House throughout the years know full well the fiscal management of the HRDC file, of the gun control fiasco and now of the past affordable housing shortcomings, where there is really not a shred of evidence of sound fiscal management at all but rather a preponderance of fiscal mismanagement and corruption.
If the NDP budget housing plan is soundly and fiscally planned, I think the House should really know from the member opposite exactly how many housing units are planned to be created with the $1.6 billion. How many housing units are being planned for through the sound fiscal planning of the affordable housing add-on in the NDP budget? Could we have an answer to that? Is it 100,000? Is it 10,000? Or do they simply just not know?
An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to Make Certain Payments June 21st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I would like to refer to the comments of my hon. colleague on the Liberal bench about the affordable housing.
How does he feel about promises made in the past? I was frustrated to see that the original budget had no allowance in it for affordable housing. However all of a sudden in this new-found NDP budget, there is funding for affordable housing.
It is worthwhile pointing out that the promise made by the Liberal election red book 2000 was to build up to 120,000 units of affordable housing at a cost of $680 million. An additional $320 million was included in the 2003 budget. As a previous member said, there was also $1.53 billion of homeless funding. One would expect homeless funding would be to help the homeless. How do we help the homeless best? We come up with some homes for the homeless. That is $2.1 billion that has transpired over the last four years.
I have a release from the Minister of Labour and Housing where he claims that to date the government has built 16,000 units. If we do the math on $2.1 billion, we come up with $130,000 per unit of affordable housing that has been provided.
What good does it do to throw good money after bad, throw another $1.5 billion into affordable housing when it has not produced what it was supposed to produce? Why does the government not do the homework on the amount of money, develop some proper plans that will produce housing and will produce the affordable housing that Canadians want?