Ralph Goodale

[Business of the House, April 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the government House leader could inform the House what his business plan is for the coming week.

I would also draw to his attention that as of today, I have notified his office, together with the other party leader's offices in the House, about the opposition's selection of two departments to be invited to the committee of the whole to defend their estimates in the House during the month of May. This is all pursuant to Standing Order 81(4)(a). Those two departments are the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

I wonder if the government House leader could give some indication when he would intend to schedule the two sessions of the committee of the whole for the estimates of these two departments to be examined here.

[Automotive Industry, April 30th, 2009]

You were late. You said you were late.

[Automotive Industry, April 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the minister may impress 100-and-some members across the way, but they will not be there very long.

It appears that there will be a newly-structured Chrysler Corporation that will own and operate Chrysler Canada as a branch plant subsidiary. Canada will be a minority shareholder in the holding company. For our $3 billion, we will get one director out of nine. That is not much stroke to defend and promote the business in Canada.

Fiat and the U.S. government will run this show. Is there or will there be a shareholders agreement in place to safeguard the Canadian operation?

[Automotive Industry, April 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would be grateful for an answer to the question, which is whether or not this process is also under Canadian law and Canadian bankruptcy rules or is it only the American law that applies?

It is important for the House to get accurate information. What is the Canadian taxpayer money being put into Chrysler for? It appears to be equity capital, at risk and unsecured. What exactly will Canadians get for it in terms of jobs, plants, product mandates and new technology? What are the guarantees for Canada?

[Automotive Industry, April 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Chrysler will be restructured under chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy law. However, President Obama's statement this morning did not indicate whether Chrysler would also be placed under the protection of Canadian courts.

Will Chrysler Canada employees be protected by Canadian courts?

[Employment Insurance, April 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this party cut taxes by more than $100 billion.

The Prime Minister does not seem to realize that thousands of jobless families, the Canadians who he excludes from EI, are not getting the help they need during a recession that is intensifying, that the Conservatives now own. They own it because they will not help. They peddle stupid fiction about taxes. They let CPP executives get big bonuses. They hand lucrative media contracts to George Bush lackeys in the U.S.

Why are the Conservatives more concerned about helping themselves than helping jobless Canadian families?

[Employment Insurance, April 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, two and a half million Canadians remember that he said the same thing about income trusts.

The Prime Minister claims that 80% of eligible unemployed Canadians get EI benefits, but that misses the point. The point is those eligibility rules are too tight for today's reality. They were designed at the beginning of an unprecedented surge in economic growth, which lasted more than a decade. However, the surge is over and the growth has stopped. The rules do not work any more and the recession is on the Conservative watch.

Will there be a fiscal update and will the Conservatives fix EI?

[Employment Insurance, April 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this week's employment insurance numbers are not good. More than 600,000 jobless Canadians had to seek benefits in February, but thousands of others remain ineligible.

The Bank of Canada says that this recession is intensifying, but the government has no contingency plan. The more the Conservatives remain in denial, the more this becomes their Conservative recession.

Would the Prime Minister confirm that an economic update is coming in September to fix, among other things, the current EI rules that exclude too many jobless Canadians?

[Business of the House, April 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order to reassure the government House leader that the objective today in the proposed motion that the deputy House leader for the opposition just referred to is to assist the government and all Canadians in dealing with a very serious health concern.

We are not in any way endeavouring to be provocative in this matter and I am glad that it will be discussed among House leaders tomorrow. I think that can be useful. All members of the House will have the substance of the motion for some considerable length of time in advance of that meeting to consider it.

[The Economy, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in January 2006, the Conservatives promised never to tax income trusts. Nine months later, they did exactly that. They slapped a 31.5% Conservative tax on the savings of two million Canadians. They destroyed $25 billion in value, with no shred of justification. They were incompetent. They were dishonest. Now they are just as incompetent and dishonest about the recession.

Where is their plan to get back the 380,000 jobs Canadians have lost while the Conservatives have been in office?