Peter Van Loan

[The Prime Minister, April 18th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, a lot of ordinary Canadians are wondering what I am doing answering questions about style and fashion. However, I can assure the House that the Prime Minister pays for all his clothes, unlike some of his predecessors.

[The Prime Minister, April 18th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister maintains a tour staff, as do all prime ministers. In fact, I believe members will find that this Prime Minister has a smaller tour staff than all his Liberal predecessors.

[Railway Continuation Act, 2007, April 17th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I move:

That the House do now adjourn.

[Railway Continuation Act, 2007, April 17th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There have been discussions among the parties and I believe that if you seek it you will find unanimous consent for the following motion to deal with the procedure for the balance of this debate. I move:

That, notwithstanding any standing or special order, during debate on Bill C-46, An Act to provide for the resumption and continuation of railway operations, the Speaker and the Chair of Committees of the Whole shall not receive any quorum calls or dilatory motions; when no member rises to speak at second reading, the question shall be deemed put and a recorded division shall be deemed requested and the vote taken up after a 30-minute bell; during committee of the whole, no amendments shall be received by the Chair except the following:

“That Bill C-46, in Clause 2, be amended by replacing line 23 on page 1 with the following:

Union, or any other trade union certified by the Canada Industrial Relations Board to represent the employees” and

“That Bill C-46, in Clause 2, be amended by replacing line 13 on page 1 with the following: December 31, 2006 and the BC Rail agreement referred to in the protocol signed by representatives of the employer and the union on February 24, 2007, and includes any related”;

when no member rises to speak to any clause or amendment during committee of the whole, a recorded division shall be deemed to have been requested and the item shall be deemed adopted on division; the motion to concur in the bill at report stage shall be deemed adopted on division; and when no member rises to speak at third reading the question shall be deemed put and a recorded division shall be deemed requested and the vote taken up after a 30-minute bell.

[Railway Operations Legislation, April 17th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the matter before the House immediately is not the bill itself but rather the motion before us and that we proceed to a vote on the procedural motion that we are debating in this regard. I, therefore, do not see any substance to the argument that has just been made by my friend and I see no obstruction to us continuing to proceed on this matter.

[Railway Operations Legislation, April 17th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the consideration of the motion under government orders, Government Business No. 15, I move:

That the debate be not further adjourned.

[Railway Operations Legislation, April 16th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I want to give notice at this time with respect to the consideration of Government Business No. 15 being a procedural motion regarding disposition of the bill on resumption of railway operations, that at the next sitting a minister of Crown shall move, pursuant to Standing Order 57, that debate be not further adjourned.

[Government Appointments, March 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if I heard the hon. member asking a question about the floor crossing of a minister of human resources in the previous government and how that was dealt with by the Ethics Commissioner, but we want to thank the Ethics Commissioner, Mr. Shapiro, for serving as Canada's Ethics Commissioner. The Government of Canada appreciates Mr. Shapiro's contributions and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours.

The government intends to move as soon as possible to appoint a new ethics commissioner who is fully qualified and we will submit that for consideration by the House of Commons.

[Electoral Reform, March 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, this is an entirely independent process and there is absolutely no ideological litmus test. I know the New Democratic Party would like one because they already know the answer. They have a particular prescription they want Canadians to adopt.

We want to hear what Canadians have to say. We have a robust agenda on democratic reform, including limiting Senate terms to eight years instead of the current potential 45 years, and including consulting Canadians so they can actually tell us who they want to see representing them in the Senate.

We invite the NDP, the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois to support us in getting this robust agenda on democratic reform through the House of Commons and the Senate.

[Electoral Reform, March 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as I have already said, this was an unacceptable situation. The subcontractor, whose work was in question, was not authorized and has been terminated.

The consultations will continue. We have a panel in place that will ensure that the methodology is acceptable. I look forward to receiving the report in the summer.