House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 50% of the vote.
Question No. 57 January 31st, 2005
With regard to the potential move of National Defence Headquarters: ( a ) is the government considering moving the site of National Defence Headquarters from its present location and, if so, what locations are currently under consideration; ( b ) has the government entered into negotiations with any party and, if so, at what stage are negotiations; and ( c ) what is the government proposed timeline for the move?
Question No. 56 January 31st, 2005
With regard to the potential move of National Defence Headquarters: ( a ) is the government considering moving the site of National Defence Headquarters from its present location and, if so, what locations are currently under consideration; ( b ) has the government entered into negotiations with any party and, if so, at what stage are negotiations; and ( c ) what is the government proposed timeline for the move?
Budget Implementation Act, 2004, No. 2 December 14th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I would like to broaden the overall theme that the hon. member for Medicine Hat has constructed for us.
He pointed out the essential difference between this side of the House and that side of the House. On this side, we believe in economic freedom, that it is individuals, not big government, who create wealth. It is entrepreneurism, not politicians, who create jobs.
That theme of overall individual freedom was further illustrated today in the House of Commons when numerous members of the House on this side had to stand up and defend charter provisions, which protect religious freedoms and the rights of individuals to exercise their own religious morality, against the position of cabinet ministers on that side of the House who oppose religious freedom and who want to impose their values on various different religious and cultural groups. People who come here from other countries to enjoy religious freedoms will have those freedoms impeded by a government that wants to force independent religious organizations to perform weddings that are against the religious values of those religious institutions.
Ironically, we saw the minister on democratic reform stand in the House repeatedly claiming that he believed in the charter, when in fact he stated on CPAC that those marriage commissioners who refused to carry out same-sex weddings should lose their jobs. Other ministers have said that churches that fail to perform same-sex weddings should lose their charitable tax status.
I bring it back to the ultimate question of individual freedom, and I ask my friend from Medicine Hat this. Is it not true that it is us on this side of the House of Commons who are defending the Canadian constitutional values of individual freedom, economically, religiously and in other facets of Canadian life?
Youth December 6th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board offended anti-agism provisions in the Charter of Rights when he hurled insults at young people's participation in the democratic process in committee last week. This is no way to encourage young people to participate more fully in our democracy.
Will the minister rise in the House and apologize to young people everywhere for offending their charter right to participate in the democratic process?
Youth December 6th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, last Thursday the President of the Treasury Board attacked Canada's youth.
Faced with my questions about the revenue minister's decision to break all the rules and give a cushy job to his banking buddy, the member for Winnipeg South said “you are young, give it a break”. Had the minister directed this anti-youth bigotry at a racial or religious minority, he would have been forced to resign, but apparently, my generation is fair game for ridicule and prejudice.
Well, we are not going to take it any more. The minister might miss the good old days when young people were only good for polishing his shoes and picking up his drycleaning, but those days are gone. We do not need to run for coffee. We can run for election and win. That is why I am part of the youngest caucus in the history of this country.
The minister says “with age comes wisdom”. Well, if his crusty attitude represents wisdom, I am happy staying young.
Canada Education Savings Act December 6th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity, now that we have the subject of post-secondary education before the House of Commons, to raise what I believe to be a critical issue with respect to the rising costs our young people face as they study in post-secondary institutions.
As the youngest member of Parliament in Canada, I am probably the most recent student of our university system. One of the greatest costs that we experience when we are students is actually a cost that many people do not know about at all. It is the cost of buying new textbooks year after year. Some students spend as much as $1,500 a year on textbooks. That is three, four or even five months' rent, depending on where the student finds housing.
I want to know what kind of a solution the hon. member has for reducing the cost of textbooks? In this particular context though, many of these books could easily be reused year after year through used book stores which many student associations have set up.
However, the publishers, along with the professors, have set in place a policy requiring students to buy new textbooks every single year. As a result, as students move from year one to year two, they cannot even sell the books that are now obsolete to them because a new edition is now required. This costs probably millions of dollars to students right across the country.
I am wondering if there is some sort of a solution that the hon. member across the way can propose to deal with this problem.
Canada Education Savings Act December 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by first informing the hon. members across the way that oftentimes the unions of students who come to this place to lobby do not speak for the students that they purport to represent. I say that as the youngest member of Parliament in Canada, I also am probably the most recent attendee at a Canadian university of anyone in this room.
There is tremendous frustration among students at the radicalism of some of the student organizations that find themselves here. Indeed, these organizations spend hard earned student dollars on radical causes and on protests that have no correspondence with the issues that matter to real, every day students.
I want to move on to an entirely different point. There is some area where we can find some agreement with the hon. member from the New Democratic Party.
As a recent student, I can point to one of the greatest costs that students face. It is beyond tuition and it is beyond just food and other traditional costs that one would expect. It is the enormous cost of books.
What a lot of non-students do not realize is our young people are paying in the neighbourhood of $1,500 to $2,000 a year on textbooks. This bill does not deal directly with it, but I want to take this opportunity to address what I believe is an injustice which students face every year.
These books could be far cheaper. We could get them for the price of maybe 10% of what we are paying now. The reason we cannot is because year after year the professors in the universities demand that a new edition of the textbook be purchased. Instead of allowing students to sell their used books to students who take over their seats in the class, the books collect dust in their basements for the next six or seven decades. New students then have to pay between $150 or $200 for the same textbook that they could have bought for a fraction of the price from the outgoing students.
I do not know exactly what the remedy is for this problem. It seems utterly insane that young people are spending exorbitant amounts of money, paying for books that they could acquire for a fraction of the price if only it were not for the need to buy the new edition every year.
It is very clever for the publishing companies. They change a few pages and alter a bit of the content. The reality is, substantively the book is the same. They run year after year profits on the backs of students.
Would the hon. member offer some solutions to this problem?
Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act November 29th, 2004
Madam Speaker, the fact that the government continues to portray the Queensway Carleton Hospital as some sort of threat to the greenbelt is at best absurd and at worst ludicrous. Selling a parcel of land to a community hospital would not imperil a massive body of property which we know as the greenbelt. As such, I do not understand the logic behind refusing to do for this hospital what municipalities and other levels of government, on a regular basis, do for other hospitals.
The Riverside Hospital bought its property, a similar piece of land, for $1 from the City of Ottawa. Why can the federal government not be similarly reasonable and allow this community hospital to do the exact same thing, or does she really believe that this hospital is a threat to our greenbelt?
Finally, when will the people of Nepean-Carleton--
Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act November 29th, 2004
Madam Speaker, I rise today on what is perhaps the most important issue in my constituency, and that is health care.
My riding is largely served by a community hospital, the Queensway Carleton Hospital. It has a catchment area of 400,000 and growing. It is one of the oldest populations in all of Canada. I believe it is the oldest in Ontario. This catchment area is not only large but it is aging and it is putting enormous pressure on what is a relatively small community hospital. As such, it is my job to do everything I can to fight for that hospital and its interests.
However, obstacles have been put in its way. The National Capital Commission owns the land upon which this hospital operates and charges tens of thousands of dollars every single year to this community hospital in rent. At the end of this decade that rent is predicted to rise dramatically. There is a renewal option that says that the new rent rate will be 6.5% of the current market value of the land. In other words, we could be talking in the millions of dollars, that is millions of dollars that would otherwise go to patient care, to beds, warm hospital rooms and advanced equipment, would instead be going to another level of government. Imagine that. The federal government transfers dollars to the provinces for health care, the provinces transfer those dollars to the hospital for delivery and then the hospital has to pay that money back to the federal government in rent. How outrageous.
I have asked the government if it would instruct the NCC to sell the land to the hospital for the price of $1. This would not only relieve the financial pressures and uncertainty related to this rent quagmire, but it would further give the hospital control over its entire campus, allowing it to construct new buildings that could then be sub-leased out to family doctors, cancer specialists and other health care practitioners at a discounted rate to entice the best professionals to come to the heart of my community. At the same time, that could raise some extra dollars in revenue for the hospital while building synergy right on the hospital campus with these health care professionals.
I made this case to Liberal members of Parliament, to the NCC and, of course, I have been working with the hospital to advance that position. So far the government has been unwilling to bend. As a result of the public pressure that we have built in my constituency, the NCC has been forced to sit down with the hospital and discuss the matter face to face. The hospital has put forward four proposals on how this dispute might be resolved as I understand it.
I wonder if the hon. member across the way would be willing to stand in the House and tell us which of those four proposals the NCC supports.
Rail Transportation November 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport promoted himself from lobbyist to radio announcer to urban planner. But Jean-Claude Marsan, a respected professor at Université de Montréal, does not share his speculative views on CP, which he considers a backwards 19th century vision, like the Liberals' attitude about Mirabel.
Is the minister trying to favour friends of his riding at all costs?