Peter Van Loan

[Ministerial Expenses, May 15th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I saw another newspaper story on this. I spent a couple of hours last night again going through the numbers because I could not believe what I read.

Guess what I found out again by going through the numbers in detail? I found out that our Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec spent less than his Liberal predecessor ministers. All the flights included and everything the department paid for, all the stuff he disclosed, was less than that of his Liberal predecessor ministers.

It is simple: when we want taxpayers' dollars taken care of, ask the Conservatives to be in charge.

[Official Languages, May 15th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition is playing political games with the committee and will not allow the members to continue their fine work.

The Conservative members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages feel that the current chair, the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, is carrying out his responsibilities in an exemplary manner. The chair is chosen from the Conservatives, as per the Standing Orders.

It is up to the Conservative members of the committee to choose the chair, just as the Liberals choose who they wish to have as leader.

[Democratic Reform, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, a cornerstone principle of democracy is that each vote should carry equal weight to the extent possible. With that in mind, in the last election we committed to restoring the principle of representation by population, which had fallen behind for the faster growing provinces of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. At the same, we committed to the provinces with slower growing populations that their seat counts would be protected.

As part of our agenda to strengthen accountability in democracy, I introduced new legislation on Friday entitled the democratic representation act, which keeps our commitment. This legislation provides a modern, balanced and practical approach to ensuring fairness in representation for all provinces in Canada.

[Electoral Boundary Readjustment, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, that is not true. That is entirely false. Quebec's representation is completely guaranteed by the bill. This level of representation will ensure that the province of Quebec will always have a strong voice in this House.

[Electoral Boundary Readjustment, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the bill is fair for all the provinces. We will respect the principle of representation by population for the provinces experiencing significant population growth such as Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. We guarantee that the Quebec's level of representation will stay the same, and that level is currently higher than Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

[Electoral Boundary Readjustment, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the principle that we support is the principle of representation by population. That is a clear, simple principle. Quebeckers can be glad because the bill guarantees that Quebec will continue to have 75 seats.

[Afghanistan, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to consistency, the people of Canada know where this government stands. We stand firmly, clearly behind our troops and behind their mission. It is not like the Liberal Party or its leader which change their position all the time. We are proud to stand behind our troops, the way our Prime Minister did at that rally on Friday. It would have been nice if a Liberal member had bothered to show up at that rally.

[Afghanistan, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for the member for Toronto Centre, former minister of defence, former interim leader of the party.

When the question about supporting the mission to February 2009 came up for a vote in the House, that very member, who was interim leader of the party at that time, supported the commitment to keep the troops there until 2009. However, his subsequent leader, the current Liberal leader, voted against it that very same night.

[Afghanistan, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House have made it clear, when we put forward a resolution to the House, that our troops are there on a commitment until February 2009. That is the commitment of the government right now. Obviously, when it comes time to re-evaluate that, we will come back to the House.

There is one difference between the approach of this government and the approach of the previous Liberal government. The Liberals sent the troops there. They sent them into the south of Afghanistan. They never once came to the House for a vote approving those decisions.

[Afghanistan, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it is always difficult to take questions like this from the Liberal Party because its position is actually different every day. In fact, one national leader has said, “We can't give up on the mission until we have deployed everything to ensure it works”. Who said that? It was the Liberal leader just six months ago.