Peter Van Loan

[Commissioner of Official Languages, March 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 111.1, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, a certificate of nomination, with biographical notes, for the proposed appointment of Graham Fraser as Commissioner of Official Languages.

I request that the nomination be referred to the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

While I am on my feet, I move:

That the House do now proceed to orders of the day.

[Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act, March 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I regret to advise that, with regard to Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts respecting RCMP accountability, no agreement was reached pursuant to Standing Orders 78(1) and 78(2).

As a result, pursuant to Standing Order 78(3), at the next sitting of the House a Minister of the Crown will move to set a specific number of hours or days for consideration of this matter.

[Ethics, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, that is one of the NDP's constitutional expert critics. I am not surprised that they have one in the NDP. He is the one who put forward one of the NDP bills to reopen the constitutional discussions and go back to the debates of the past.

This week in the House, the leader of the NDP said that on this issue we should open up constitutional negotiations with the provinces.

Is it any wonder, when we are facing some of the challenges we are right now, why the NDP members are heading down the path to those old debates of yesterday? They are trying to balance that way of keeping all their separatists in their caucus happy.

[Ethics, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we would actually like to go a lot better than that. We would like Canadians, in their provinces, to decide who should represent them in the Senate.

We have put legislation forward to advance that, yet that legislation is called by members of the NDP an affront to democracy. Asking Canadians who they want representing them in the Senate, one of the two Houses of Parliament, is called by the NDP an affront to democracy.

We can see why they have the top-down approach to selecting their candidates and MPs from Quebec, where the leader of the NDP personally vetted and chose them all.

[Ethics, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we have been quite clear we are committed to seeing that all expenses incurred in the Senate are appropriate, that the rules to cover those expenses are appropriate and, of course, that the Senate report back to taxpayers. It did so yesterday and reported its progress.

We do take these issues tremendously seriously. That is why the Senate has retained outside support to ensure the integrity of the system is respected.

I find it interesting that the hon. member encapsulated the NDP's position at the start: seven years of delaying Senate reform.

We have a proposal on the table. Let us elect senators. Let us show Canadians a little respect. Let them have a say in who represents them in the Senate. The NDP should stop blocking it, as it has done for so long.

[Ethics, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we undertook to see to it that all spending was reasonable, that the regulations governing spending were adequate and that the Senate accounted for its actions to taxpayers. Yesterday it reported its findings.

We take these matters very seriously and that is why the Senate called on outside help to ensure that the integrity of the system was respected.

[National Defence, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is entertaining getting questions like this from a Liberal Party whose own chief of defence staff described its purchases and approach to the military as a decade of darkness. The only purchase the Liberals made when they were on the watch was four used, leaky, unworkable submarines from the British. That is their idea of re-equipping the Canadian Forces.

We have taken real steps to really deliver, including a program to purchase ships that will deliver thousands of jobs all across Canada. I am not surprised the Liberals are against that.

[National Defence, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, our government decided to build these ships in Canada, and we are proud of that. We will take the time needed to do this procurement right.

When the Liberal Party was in power, the only procurement it made in 13 years was the purchase of submarines that do not even work.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the former member of the Bloc Québécois for her question on the economy. It is a question that I am surprised to hear coming from NDP members, this concern about the fiscal situation, as they propose spending proposal after spending proposal that would put Canada billions of dollars deeper in debt. It was at $56 billion in spending before last week. Last week they added another $5.5 billion in a social housing program, which Canadian taxpayers cannot afford. They want to know where we go when we hit that black hole of debt. Just look south of the border to see real crisis.

[National Defence, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I know the member is critical of independence, but it seems not everybody who belonged to the NDP caucus is so critical of independence, at least for Quebec. In fact, yesterday the Bloc Québécois leader was asked if there were more NDP MPs who might follow the path of the one that went yesterday to show his true colours and join the Bloc Québécois. What did he say? He said, “we know that they have sovereignists in the NDP”. Stay tuned.