Ralph Goodale

[Business of the House, January 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have the usual Thursday question about procedure in the House. I wonder if the government House leader would inform us of the details that he expects to deal with in the House tomorrow and through all of next week.

In particular, we would be interested to know when the government intends to bring forward its budget implementation bill. We would appreciate the government's assurance that that bill will in fact deal precisely and exclusively with matters raised in the budget and not, like last year, attempt to bootleg a whole bunch of other issues into the budget bill illegitimately. It would be useful for the expeditious work of the House if the budget bill focused on the budget and did not try to deal with a whole bunch of other items.

Finally, with respect to the standing committees which are now being struck, particularly for the purpose of considering the supplementary estimates, will the government ensure that all ministers will appear in person before the appropriate committees to defend their estimates before the middle of February?

[Request for Emergency Debate, January 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in light of the favourable ruling that you have just made with respect to the emergency debate about transit, I would invite my fellow House leaders to consider consenting to the following motion. I move:

That during this debate, no quorum calls, dilatory motions or requests for unanimous consent shall be entertained by the Speaker.

[The Economy, December 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, just like the flags yesterday, what the Prime Minister has just said is absolutely false.

The Conservatives cannot face the truth. Their own Parliamentary Budget Officer says they are wrong. They are in deficit. It is their deficit. They created it all by themselves. Their previous budgets have not succeeded and now they are all worn out.

Canada is in a recession with no margin left to protect Canadians and no new stimulus. Why can the government not get the point that its economic statement was offensive and that this country needs a different, better plan right now?

[The Economy, December 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister ignores the truth. Just for the record, the Bloc Québécois has supported the Conservative government at least 140 times, including 14 confidence votes, so let us not be distracted by the red herrings and stick to the real issue, and that is the economy, abject Conservative economic failure.

Beyond all the same old stuff, why is there nothing new for Canadians, for infrastructure, for housing, for manufacturing, for forestry and autos, and for training? Why do the Conservatives have no new plan right now?

[The Economy, November 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I remind the hon. parliamentary secretary that his plan has not worked. These Conservatives are going in the wrong direction. Instead of helping Canadians through the worst economic downturn in 75 years, they are picking scapegoats and trying to create victims. They are attacking women, pay equity, public servants, collective bargaining, programs and services that help the most vulnerable Canadians. They are engaged in a fire sale of assets.

How will this vindictive, anti-stimulus attitude create or save one single Canadian job? Where is the hope—

[The Economy, November 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, for all of the parliamentary secretary’s rhetoric, for all of the things about which he brags, they simply have not worked. Canada is on the cusp of a recession. The Conservatives are falling back into deficit. Canadians are facing the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and the Conservatives have no plan. There is no new stimulus and all they can say is wait, wait, wait. They have put nothing of any consequence forward for Canadians except a fire sale of assets to try to hide their deficit.

Why has the government so totally failed to be honest?

[The Economy, November 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, at a time when Canadians are worried about their jobs, savings and economic security, at a time when business and consumer confidence have been shattered, at a time when every other country is generating a stimulus package to confront the global economic meltdown, at a time when the Prime Minister promised unprecedented action to protect Canadians, why did these Conservatives produce nothing but a pathetic scam to hide the fact that their ideology and their mismanagement put Canada back into deficit before any stimulus package could even be contemplated?

[Supplementary Estimates (B), 2008-09, November 24th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Given the short duration of this sitting of the House before the usual adjournment in December and the conclusion of the current supply period and given the fact that the standing committees of the House are not yet up and running to be able to receive the estimates and examine them in the ordinary course, I wonder if the government House leader could indicate whether he will make every effort, in collaboration with all other parties in the House, to establish the standing committees as rapidly as possible, not taking the full ten days allowed under the Standing Orders, so the committees may be seized of these estimates at the earliest possible time and have at least a chance to have a meeting or two before the end of the supply period in December.

[Points of Order, November 21st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During question period the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance tried to make the point that in previous Liberal budgets there was not in fact a contingency reserve. As it happens, I have in front of me budgetary documents relating to 2005 and 2004, and in both cases the contingency reserve is provided for with complete transparency. Both of those budgets were adopted by the House of Commons. So, indeed, the contingency reserve was there, and was voted on and approved by the House of Commons in each and every case.

[The Economy, November 21st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, 10 consecutive balanced budgets, the biggest reduction in debt, and the biggest tax cuts in Canadian history. That is the Liberal record.

The government says Canada's new Conservative deficit is just temporary, not structural, but its spending is structural. Its tax laws are structural. Killing the contingency reserve is structural. Canadian pensions, savings, jobs and economic security are now in jeopardy because of its mismanagement and it has no plan. When will the government produce a discernible plan to protect Canadians from its failures?