Pierre-Luc Dusseault

[Infrastructure, June 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, in their most recent budget, the Conservatives have abandoned the regions.

My riding has a desperate need for infrastructure, particularly an operational regional airport, to help its economic development, create jobs and maintain existing jobs.

In April, when he visited Sherbrooke for a photo op, the Prime Minister himself acknowledged the importance of this project for our region. Yet, the Conservatives have remained silent since that time.

Is the Sherbrooke airport still an important infrastructure project for the Conservative government?

[Petitions, June 13th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present a petition signed by many people from Sherbrooke who are upset the Development and Peace organization has seen its budget reduced by three-quarters. These cuts will result in almost $35 million less in matching government monies for Development and Peace over the next five years. This organization was supporting over 250 partners in about 40 different countries.

CIDA’s new agreement designates funds for a mere seven countries, only one of which is in Africa. Development and Peace has already had to reduce financial support to 32 partner groups in the Global South. And funding for 48 other countries will likely have to be cut completely. Furthermore, 15 staff positions have been lost in Canada.

In the interests of international solidarity, the petitioners are calling on the government to fully restore the $49.2 million in funding to Development and Peace.

[Committees of the House, June 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, regarding its study on expenditures incurred by the members of the board of directors and the officials at the Old Port of Montréal Corporation.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to the report.

[Committees of the House, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, following the usual consultations among all parties, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion:

That the Third Report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, presented to the House on Monday, May 14, 2012, be amended by replacing the seventh paragraph, on page 12, with the following:

As highlighted below, the Committee has decided to endorse three of the Commissioner's recommendations (recommendations 1, 2, and 7) as well as eight recommendations brought forward by various witnesses who testified and made submissions during the Committee's statutory review of the Act.

[Canada Summer Games, May 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, mark your calendar. From August 2 to 17, 2013, Canada's best athletes will converge on my riding, Sherbrooke, to participate in the Canada Summer Games. We will be proud to welcome them to our community, and I invite all of you to join us for this major sporting event.

The games were first held in 1967 and have become the largest multi-sport competition for young Canadians. This year, 4,200 athletes will compete in 20 different disciplines over the course of two weeks. Under the motto, “Unity through Sport”, the games bring together young Canadian athletes to promote healthy lifestyles, perseverance, fun, team spirit, pushing one's limits and knowledge of Canada's diverse regions and cultures.

The organizers hope to recruit more than 5,000 volunteers. I therefore invite everyone to apply at jeuxducanada2013.ca.

On behalf of the people of Sherbrooke, I invite you to come cheer on our athletes, discover Sherbrooke and the Eastern Townships, and, as they say, “get in the games”.

[Petitions, May 16th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today I have the honour to present a petition on behalf of some 100 people from Sherbrooke. I imagine that a petition like this comes up quite often in every riding: the petitioners are opposed to increasing the age of eligibility for old age security from 65 to 67. The people of Sherbrooke are against this action by the government and so are people in many other ridings, as has been mentioned today.

On behalf of the people of Sherbrooke, I want to express their opposition to this action by the government.

[Iran, May 14th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, I am truly pleased to rise here today to speak to this issue, which I care deeply about and seems to be very important to most of the members here in the House at this late hour.

I have a rather specific question to ask the government member concerning the use of torture. In his speech, he talked about how much the Iranian government uses torture. Yet, this government's position on the use of torture in other countries has been somewhat ambiguous recently. For instance, information obtained using torture can later be used by this government, since it considers that a reliable source. This raises several questions: does the government support the use of torture to obtain information when investigating a crime, for instance?

I would like my colleague to clarify the government's position on the use of torture in such cases. I would also like to know whether he will state unequivocally here today that the government opposes the use of torture, even though sometimes it would really like to obtain certain information. Personally, I do not believe that information should be used if it was obtained through torture.

[Committees of the House, May 14th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics concerning the statutory review of the Lobbying Act.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109 of the House of Commons, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to the report.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, May 7th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for her comments

It is indeed a very important issue for my generation. In the years to come, we will see more and more climate change. We are seeing it already today. It is a major issue for our generation and for everyone, in fact. We must take it seriously.

Not all the members on the government side are young people, but that is no reason to ignore this issue, to not think about their grandchildren. We must think about future generations. It is the best way to draft a bill. When the bill being drafted is the budget, thought must be given to its future consequences. If that is not taken into consideration, the bill will miss the mark completely.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, May 7th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his question.

Because I am a young member, when I study a bill that is so impressive and so important in relation to the future and the environment, among other things, it moves me greatly. When you are young and you make decisions, you think a lot about the future and about the consequences that those decisions will have in 20, 30 or even 50 years.

When reading this bill, I got the impression that it does not point to a very positive future. The government appears to be putting the environment at the bottom of its list of priorities, especially since it has backed out of the Kyoto protocol. I have many concerns about the future and about what will happen to our planet if we continue to be governed by a government that has such a backwards ideology in terms of the environment.