Ralph Goodale

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

With regard to the Prime Minister’s announcement of $5.8 billion in new infrastructure investments on November 24, 2014, in London, Ontario, and each of the commitments detailed in the accompanying backgrounder: (a) what department and program does each commitment fall under; (b) how much will be spent on each commitment in each of the next five fiscal years; (c) were these funds in the fiscal framework in Budget 2014; (d) do any of these commitments constitute an increase in planned spending and, if so, (i) which, (ii) by how much; (e) on each of these programs for capital and infrastructure investments in each fiscal year since 2004-2005, what was (i) allocated, (ii) spent, (iii) lapsed; and (f) was the expenditure of these funds already accounted for in the economic forecasts used by the Finance Department?

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

With regard to Public Private Partnerships involving Infrastructure Canada or PPP Canada: since January 1, 2006, for each such project, what are (a) the details of the project; (b) the time taken to design the bidding process; (c) the length of the bidding process from the initial expression of interest to the close; and (d) the cost to proponents of preparing a bid?

[Petitions, January 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table a petition today, signed by many people in Regina and elsewhere across Canada, expressing their concern about the rights and interests of small-scale farmers, both in Canada and around the world. They call upon the Canadian government to adopt policies and programs that would protect the rights of small family farms to preserve, use, and freely exchange seeds.

[Petitions, December 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition to table, signed by a number of people in Regina, across Saskatchewan, and from other locations in the country, expressing concern about changes to the Seeds Act and issues related to plant breeders' rights. They call upon Parliament to enshrine in legislation the inalienable rights of farmers and other Canadians to save, reuse, select, exchange, and sell seeds.

[Assembly of First Nations, December 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, from Little Black Bear First Nation in Treaty 4 in Saskatchewan, Perry Bellegarde has just taken on the toughest political job in Canada. He was elected convincingly yesterday as the new National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

In three decades of activism, he has served as a tribal councillor, as chief of Little Black Bear, as chief, twice, of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and as regional chief of the AFN.

He also has experience in crown corporations and in community organizations ranging from the Globe Theatre and the YMCA to the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority.

As Chief Bellegarde now works to energize the AFN, this new national leadership offers Canada an opportunity to make historic progress in building respect, trust, and the momentum, at long last, to close the gaps between first nations and all other Canadians. Let us not miss that chance.

[Veterans Affairs, December 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, one year ago, retired General Rick Hillier said, “Many of our young men and women have lost confidence in our country to support them.” He was talking about PTSD among Canada's veterans. More have been lost to suicide than on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

General Hillier called for a public inquiry. Not one, but two, veterans ombudsmen have also sounded that alarm. However, a year later, the Auditor General says that the same problems persist.

How can the minister sleep at night, knowing that his failure is responsible for this mess?

[Veterans Affairs, December 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, over $1 billion in support for veterans was promised by the government, approved by Parliament, but never delivered.

Eight specialized service centres were closed. Hundreds of front-line support staff were fired. Mental health wait times for vets stretched for dangerous months and years. However, the minister increased his political staff fourfold. He increased his advertising. He paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to bonus senior managers if they slashed veterans services.

By any decent standard, how is that acceptable?

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, December 4th, 2014]

When the government eliminated the single-desk selling system for western grain, they acceded to the U.S. government's number one demand in its trade with Canada, but Canada got nothing in return: no guaranteed market access, no end to country of origin labelling, no approval for Keystone XL. We got nothing.

Now the vandalized remnants of the CWB are simply being gifted, absolutely free, to a U.S. multinational. Again, Canadian taxpayers and farmers get nothing in return.

Why does the government always lose in dealing with the United States?

[Corner Gas: The Movie, December 2nd, 2014]

The Rouleau area farm where I was raised is just five and a half miles straight east of Ruby's Diner in the town of Dog River in the hit CTV series Corner Gas.

Through six seasons, 107 episodes, and six Geminis, Corner Gas captivated audiences in Saskatchewan, across the country, and abroad. Each broadcast attracted a million viewers and more. Now Corner Gas is a movie.

With the down-to-earth nature of rural Saskatchewan, expressed through the most engaging humour, Corner Gas was the brainchild of Tisdale's extraordinary Brent Butt. To him and to all his co-stars, Gabrielle Miller, Fred Ewanuick, Eric Peterson, Janet Wright, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Lorne Cardinal, and Nancy Robertson, and to producers Virginia Thompson and David Storey, congratulations from the Parliament of Canada. I thank them for their excellence. Break a leg with Corner Gas on the big screen.

[Questions on the Order Paper, December 1st, 2014]

With regard to the Canada and European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), has the federal government done any analysis of the following, and, if so, what are the details: (a) the changes required to provincial laws and regulations in order for Canada to ratify CETA; (b) each province’s commitment in implementing those changes; (c) the current status of those changes; (d) when these changes are expected to be completed; and (e) other steps required to implement CETA and for CETA to come into force