Ralph Goodale

[The Economy, February 19th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, with yet another forecast of recessions in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, with the latest GDP figures showing the national economy is shrinking too, with nearly $28 billion in investor capital fleeing the country in December, with anaemic job creation, poor job quality and weak labour market participation, the government keeps punting its overdue budget deeper and deeper into the next fiscal year, into May or even later.

Canada needs an urgent budget that invests in real growth right now, so why not?

[Petitions, February 18th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition today signed by a number of people from Regina and across Saskatchewan.

The petitioners express concern about small family farmers, particularly women farmers. They call upon Parliament to protect the rights of small family farmers to preserve, use and freely exchange seeds.

[Petitions, February 4th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to table a petition today signed by a large number of people from all over the city of Regina, expressing their concern about the situation affecting small family farmers, especially women; recognizing the role that small farmers play in the struggle against hunger and poverty; and calling upon the world, and the Canadian government in particular, to adopt policies that allow such farmers to preserve, use, and freely exchange seeds.

[Public Safety, February 2nd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the finance department says it is the right direction.

With respect to Canada's security agencies, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness spent the weekend trashing the notion of better oversight as just red tape. Let us remember, this is the government that had the great judgement to appoint Arthur Porter, now in a Panama jail, to head up the Security Intelligence Review Committee. They have left other SIRC vacancies open for years.

Every single one of our allies with whom we share intelligence has a parliamentary or congressional oversight mechanism. If it is right for the U.S., the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia, why is it wrong for Canada?

[The Economy, February 2nd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's latest GDP numbers show that the economy is not just slow, it is actually shrinking.

This Prime Minister has the worst economic growth record since the dirty thirties. Job creation figures for 2014 have been slashed by one-third. Now, with energy investments, exports, and jobs all down, the Bank of Canada says the situation is unambiguously negative.

Instead of spending $12 billion on a tax break for the wealthy, which is expensive and unfair, as Jim Flaherty said, will the government devote that funding to community infrastructure for new jobs and growth?

[Intergovernmental Affairs, January 29th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, snubbing the premiers only underscores the dysfunctional relationship. The critical thing they should be doing together is accelerating infrastructure, but this government missed most of last summer's construction season. It punched a $1.5 billion hole into the Building Canada fund, and 75% of new funding is punted beyond 2019, but it is not too late. Cancel income splitting for the wealthy, put that $10 billion into infrastructure, call the premiers over to dinner tonight, and get infrastructure going before spring.

[Intergovernmental Affairs, January 29th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, when the Governor of the Bank of Canada says the collapsing energy sector is unambiguously negative, when investment, exports, jobs, and growth are all slumping, when the Conference Board projects the risk of a recession in Alberta, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer says federal revenue will drop by $8 billion this year, why is the Prime Minister not working with the premiers this week on a truly national effort to cope with issues seemingly so serious that they caused his budget to be delayed into the next fiscal year? Why is he snubbing the premiers?

[Rail Transportation, January 27th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport. We are all glad to see she is in such good health.

A group of agricultural shippers released a report yesterday showing that the railways were again some 12,000 cars behind in meeting orders to ship grain, and there is still no equity among corridors. North-south shipments, especially, are suffering and that particularly hurts Saskatchewan.

Since the farm groups will be updating their report every week, could the minister confirm that their figures are accurate? How will the minister respond if the railways continue to fall short for the rest of this crop year?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 26th, 2015]

With regard to federal taxes, including tariffs, service charges and fees: since 2005, (a) in which instance was there an increase, a new imposition or the elimination of a credit or benefit, broken down by (i) the particular tax, tariff, charge, fee or credit, (ii) the rate or amount, (iii) the date it took effect, (iv) the revenue it has generated, (v) the department that made the change; and (b) what is the annual total of revenue generated by each of the changes in (a), broken down by year?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 26th, 2015]

With regard to “nudge” policies discussed in Policy Horizons Canada, March 2012, ISBN number: PH4-134/2012E-PDF, 978-1-100-21668-3: (a) has the government communicated about nudge policies with other countries that use such policies and, if so, which countries; (b) has the government produced any analysis of them and, if so, what is the (i) title, (ii) date, (iii) department, (iv) author, (v) record number of those documents; (c) has the government implemented or tested these policies and, if so, (i) how, (ii) where, (iii) by whom, (iv) what were the results; and (d) if the government has not implemented or tested these policies, what was the rationale for that decision?