Pierre Poilievre

[Canada Elections Act, November 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member discuss the whole idea of cleaning up politics and the electoral system in the country. I want to broaden that discussion to the legislation, Bill C-2, the accountability act. It is not entirely unrelated to the subject we are talking about today.

The bill seeks to end the role of big money and corporate cash, protect whistleblowers in the public service and expand access to information to roughly 30 organizations in the government. It goes farther and has more breadth and depth in fighting corruption than any piece of legislation in Canadian history.

Why is the Liberal Party holding up the passage of the accountability act? Is the Liberal Party fundamentally opposed to accountability?

[Government Appointments, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, we do make merit based appointments to all positions regardless of what position that may be, but the reality is that the member is correct in pointing out that the Liberals continue to hold up the federal accountability act. They continue to block the toughest anti-corruption law in Canadian history.

On the subject of appointments, they attempted to amend the accountability act to legalize the practice of phantom jobs. On this Halloween week, they should be ashamed of themselves for still looking out for old Liberal ghosts and old Liberal cronies.

[Criminal Code, October 31st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Bloc member shares the soft on crime policies of his Liberal colleagues. He joined with the Liberals in the justice committee last week in voting to allow those convicted of car theft, burglary and break and enter to serve their sentences in the comfort of their own homes. We disagree. We believe in mandatory jail time for serious thieves, along with serious violent and sexual offenders.

This law would guarantee that if people commit three violent or sexual offences and they cannot prove that they have been rehabilitated, then they will serve a life sentence and go away forever. Frankly, that is exactly what the Canadian people voted for in the last election.

The Liberals promised that they would be tough on crime and that they had changed their ways in the lead-up to the last election. They have now broken that promise by voting to allow car thieves and burglars to serve their sentences in their living rooms.

The question that remains is whether the Liberal opposition will continue to break its word. Will it block the passage of this tough on crime legislation which would take dozens of the most violent predators off of our streets, or will they revert back to the position that they had in the election and support the government in its tough on crime initiatives?

Maybe the member could shed some light on that because certainly his Liberal colleagues have not shed any so far.

[Criminal Code, October 31st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, what we have seen is a pattern whereby the Liberals try to camouflage their soft on crime policy by claiming their opposition to our agenda has more to do with legalistic interpretations and procedural disagreements. In reality, what they do not want Canadians to know is that they continue to be soft on crime. They voted just last week in a committee to allow car thieves, break and enter artists and burglars to serve their sentences in the comfort of their living rooms.

Now today we have a member rising to tell us she does not believe that after a serious sexual and violent offender has committed three crimes, and has been convicted on all three beyond a reasonable doubt, the individual should be considered dangerous. She considers that after three convictions beyond a reasonable doubt of serious violent offences a criminal might still be safe to be on our streets.

We on this side of the House believe that such criminals should have to prove they are safe, that the onus ought not to be on the Crown but on the criminal. She disagrees with that. She disagrees with our tough on crime agenda that seeks to keep serious violent and sexual criminals behind bars forever unless they can prove themselves to be safe. She disagrees with that.

She can tie us in as many legal knots as humanly possible and she can go on reading 16-sentence paragraphs to try to confuse the Canadian people about her real position, but the reality is that she and her party, after coddling criminals for 13 years while in government, continue to hold the same position in opposition. Why will she not just stand up and admit it?

[Criminal Code, October 31st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, today we are speaking about public safety issues. In the justice committee last week, the Liberals teamed up with the separatists and passed an amendment to allow arsonists, car thieves and burglars to serve their sentences in the comfort of their own homes. They apparently think those kinds of serious criminals, who steal products worth over $5,000 and ruin lives, should be allowed to serve their sentences in our communities.

Furthermore, they are now saying that it is not acceptable for us to permanently jail those people who have committed three serious violent or sexual offences until such time as they can prove they are safe.

I do not remember the Liberals saying any of this during the last election. In fact, in the days leading up to the vote, I remember the Liberals pretending that they were tough on crime. Now they have flip-flopped and they are trying to obstruct our efforts to crack down on crime and make our streets safer.

Could the minister of Justice tell us what the reaction has been from Canadians to the decision by the Liberals to allow car thieves to serve their sentences in the comfort of their living rooms and what has been the reaction of Canadians to our plans to bring in mandatory jail time and serious sentences for hard criminals?

[Justice, October 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, on crime and corruption the Liberals have broken their election promises. We all remember that in a deathbed conversion at election time, the Liberals promised they were no longer soft on crime. Yet last week the Liberals on the justice committee voted to let arsonists, car thieves and burglars serve their sentences in the comfort of their own homes.

Conservatives want to replace house arrest with mandatory jail time for serious auto thieves and arsonists, but not if the Liberals can help it. Instead, on crime and corruption the Liberals are flipping and flopping. The accountability bill has now been in the Senate twice as long as it was in the House of Commons. The Liberal Senate wants to bring back big money, reduce access to information and legalize phantom jobs for their friends. They also want to exempt themselves from the new ethics watchdog created by the bill.

It is time they stopped watering down the bill. It is time they kept their promises and supported our tough on crime and accountability--

[Business of Supply, October 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to correct my hon. colleague on a few facts stated in her speech that were not at all correct.

First, she talked about a literacy program that she accuses us of cutting. What she neglected to say in her speech, however, is that these are not cuts in services to people. The cuts are for conferences, groups of lobbyists and researchers, and so on. So this was not services provided directly to people.

As a government, we are providing a great deal of money for programs that are available to older people who want to learn to read. That is in our budget. Millions of dollars are provided for that purpose. But the hon. member did not mention those facts.

I would also like to say that the reason why the Liberals are not happy with the changes made is that they want to spend the taxpayers’ money on their friends. We have put an end to the practice of giving money directly to the Liberals’ friends. That is the real reason why they are not happy. The Liberals had a history of waste and corruption such as has never been seen in the entire history of Canada.

We have here $28 million available for language learning, and for the other programs to teach immigrants to read English and French. We have programs that are still there in our budget.

I would like to know why the hon. member does not want Canadians to know that we have not cut services. This only involves the special interest groups that the Liberals had favoured.

[Business of Supply, October 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, there is no question that the court challenges program did spend a lot of taxpayers' money on lawyers. We are not going to go down that road any more.

This party believes in funding Canadians directly. That is the basis of our child care program which puts money in the pockets of real parents instead of advocates, lobbyists and insiders.

The member for Sault Ste. Marie has teamed up with the Liberals on the issue of crime. Both the NDP and the Liberals are extremely soft on crime. They are out of touch with Canadians. Both of them are also soft on spending. Let me read a quote:

I think you'll see an indication in this throne speech that the spenders in the Liberal government are revving up their engines again. Nothing starts a feeding frenzy--

[Business of Supply, October 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I note that the member once again attacked our initiatives to give $100 per month to every family with a child under the age of six, which again reveals the Liberal agenda to remove that program altogether. I think there should be an open warning given to families that are receiving that money and spending it wisely, not on beer and popcorn as the member might suggest, that if the Liberal Party were ever to recapture power in this country, the first thing that would happen is that those young families would lose that $100 a month.

I spoke with a young mother who has four children. Imagine what that program means to her. She said that her family would not be able to make its mortgage payments any more if the Liberal Party came into power and took away that choice in child care allowance.

On the question of literacy, I am very proud that we as a government are spending $28 million for the enhanced language training initiative that helps Canada and Ontario immigrants. I am happy that the government is spending $2.6 billion for aboriginal elementary and secondary education programs which help with literacy. The government is spending $1.5 million, for example, for the adult education skills development program in P.E.I.

This is a list of examples of how the government is investing in literacy. We are doing it intelligently. We are not going to waste Canadian tax dollars the way the previous government did.

[Business of Supply, October 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the House for the opportunity to discuss our government's decision to keep its promise to do exactly after the election what we promised to do during the election.

We promised that we would bring in roughly 29 different tax reductions: reducing income tax; a new Canadian employment tax credit that is worth $155 for every person who works; tax credits to help parents with the cost of putting their kids in sports so we can encourage families to keep their children active, healthy and out of trouble; a tax credit worth $80 per student to help students buy textbooks; tax credits to help entrepreneurs buy tools for their daily work; and of course, a reduction in the GST to help every single taxpayer in Canada, regardless of their income.

These were the promises we made. In order to finance these promises, we committed that we would find $1 billion worth of savings within the fiscal framework of Canada, and that is exactly what we have done. Again we have kept our word. We found $1 billion in savings that will put money back into higher priority initiatives, allowing us to go forward and finance our agenda of tax relief for Canadian families. Let me talk for a few moments about the savings that we have discovered.

We are spending $40 million less on politicians. By merely reducing the size of cabinet, we have reduced the costs that are associated with having ministers. Under the previous government, the former prime minister wanted to be all things to all people. He owed a lot of favours to Liberal insiders and Liberal caucus members who had helped him engage in a civil war against his own party and overthrow the previous prime minister. He spent enormous sums just filling his cabinet with friends. When we took office under the leadership of the current Prime Minister, this Prime Minister was determined not to reward friends, but instead to get the costs down and ensure that our cabinet would be focused and frugal.

Recently the expenses for our cabinet ministers came out. We had loud criticism for those expenses from the Liberal Party, particularly from the member for Wascana. What was his criticism? He could not believe we were spending so little on hospitality, on late night cocktail parties, on steak dinners, and on schmoozy lobbyist events. He said it was impossible that we could be that frugal and that responsible. He offered no proof whatsoever that that was the case. He was dumbfounded at how frugal and responsible this Conservative government had become. We are spending $40 million less on politicians.

We have eliminated a program that the Liberals employed where they would pay Liberal lawyers to sue the government and advance Liberal causes. I heard the Liberal finance critic across the way complaining. He said that the Conservative government has introduced laws that might present some constitutional problems. What laws is he speaking about? Let us get beyond the mumbo-jumbo over there and let us talk about the facts.

That member is talking about our tough on crime initiatives. such as our initiative to put three time violent offenders and sexual offenders in jail forever unless they can prove they are no longer a danger to society. That member believes these kinds of laws need to be challenged in the courts using taxpayers' money. Our mandatory jail time initiative ensures that criminals who commit serious crimes will serve their time in jail, not in their homes. That member believes we should pay lawyers to challenge these laws and eliminate these tough on crime measures.

That member does not have the presence of mind to state clearly that that is what he is talking about because he does not want his constituents to know how soft on crime he is. His entire party has spent the last 13 years coddling criminals and now when we are getting tough on crime, the Liberals are angry because we will no longer pay lawyers to sue the government for cracking down on crime. Instead, we will redirect those dollars toward higher priority initiatives. So, yes, we have eliminated the court challenges program and we have ended funding for the Law Commission, because we believe that the focus on our justice system should be on getting on tough on criminals instead of financing lawyers to sue the government.

You will be learning more about these exciting proposals, Mr. Speaker, when the member for Tobique—Mactaquac rises, as we are splitting the time on this, something else to look forward to.

Let me talk about the $13 billion that we paid off against the debt. The member across the way complained that we have put money against the debt. According to Don Drummond with TD Bank Financial Group, paying down $13 billion of the national debt of the Government of Canada will save the Government of Canada $660 million every year. Those are dollars we would otherwise have to pay in interest on that debt to bankers, many of them from other countries.

We can use that $660 million to reduce taxes, to invest in health care, in a tougher justice system, in a whole series of other priorities. That is $660 million which the Liberal government would not have been able to capture and save because the Liberals would have engaged in March madness, which is to say, when entering the final stages of the fiscal year, governments past have had a tradition of blowing everything in the account, emptying the cupboards to buy electoral support or reward friends.

Instead of that approach, we decided to take the full surplus and put it entirely against Canada's national debt. As a young person who cares deeply about the next generation, I am thankful that we have made that down payment on the enormous $480 billion mortgage that the next generation is going to inherit. I am very proud of that responsible decision to invest in the future of Canada's fiscal health.

I am going to talk for a few moments about some of the other dynamic manoeuvres that we undertook to save taxpayers' money. For example, when we are talking about the Status of Women program, we did not cut any of the programs associated with that department, but by merely merging offices, we were able to save over $4 million. Not one job was lost but we saved that money through intelligent reallocation and intelligent management.

Let me talk about foreign offices that are used for diplomatic reasons. We were able to find $4 million there just by managing them better.

We cut $4 million from a marijuana program that the Liberal Party was promoting and boy, they were angry about that. Ever since we cut that program I have noticed they have not been as mellow over there. That was an intelligent move to save taxpayers' money.

In total, again we saved $1 billion because of our intelligent economizing of people's tax dollars.

The Liberals are angry over there. They said before they supported saving money, but now they are furious because they have learned that it is their friends who have been cut off from the trough. At the end of the day they are making lots of big spending promises but let us be honest with the Canadian people, if the Liberals get in again and they resume their big spending, they will have to pay for it by raising the GST, taking away the $100 a month to support young families, raising taxes, eliminating the 29 different tax cuts that we brought in for Canadians. That is the real agenda of the Liberal Party.

I wonder if one of the Liberal Party's members, all of whom are here today, will be willing to stand and defend their agenda to raise taxes and take away the choice in child care allowance. Will any of them stand on their feet and defend that plan that they intend to foist on Canadians if they were ever, unfortunately, given the chance to do so? Will any of them stand and do that?

Fortunately, that will not occur because this government has the support of the Canadian people. This Prime Minister is on the right track. We continue to stand up for Canadians and we are proud of the future we are building for this country.