Rick Casson

[Livestock Industry, April 28th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party of Canada has consistently defended the interests of the Canadian beef industry. We have now heard the U.S. protectionist group R-CALF has decided not to appeal a U.S. court decision that rejected an R-CALF motion to reclose the U.S. border to Canadian cattle.

Can the agriculture minister update this House on the ramifications of this recent R-CALF decision on the Canadian cattle industry?

[Multiple Sclerosis, April 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, multiple sclerosis affects thousands of Canadians and is a disease for which there is presently no cure. Having a daughter with MS, I have witnessed first-hand how this disease knows no bounds as it affects young and old, male and female alike.

I rise today to recognize all the Canadians who have participated before or will be participating in this year's Super Cities Walk for MS. This year over 70,000 Canadians in 160 cities across Canada are taking to the streets to raise money for MS research. I am very honoured to be leading a team in my home riding of Lethbridge.

These Super Cities Walks are more than just an opportunity to raise funds to find a cure for MS. They are about Canadians supporting Canadians by taking the time to walk shoulder to shoulder with those who courageously battle this disease every day.

On the eve of next week's launch of MS Awareness Month, I encourage everyone in this House, indeed everyone from coast to coast to coast, to get involved to help find a cure for MS.

[Canada's Commitment in Afghanistan, April 10th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the minister for being here tonight to lead off the debate.

Over the last year, many in the House have had an opportunity to talk to our soldiers in Afghanistan. I have had that opportunity on a couple of occasions. One soldier, who was on the ground and in danger, sent me an email indicating they had a rough day, but he felt what our troops were doing there was “the face of Canada”. That was the term he used. He said that Canada was all about soldiers working with these people to improve their lives.

Does the minister feel that our troops in Afghanistan have not only the equipment but the empowerment, the rules of engagement, or the proper protocols to do the job they are there to do? The provincial reconstruction team has a diverse role to play. Does the minister feel the team is properly equipped to do that?

[Agriculture, April 6th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I thank the Prime Minister for being here this evening to kick off this debate.

One of the things we have to realize is that we are talking now of the three-quarters of a billion dollars that is going out into the agricultural community. It is being sopped up so quickly that it is not really making a huge difference. It is helping and of course the agricultural producers will take that money.

It seems to me that we have two issues. We have a continental market with which we can work. We can harmonize as much as we can with the huge customer we have to the south but there are also markets farther away. If we are going to work through the WTO, I believe that is the right angle and exactly what you said, but what are we going to do with our closest neighbour to the south? How are we going to enhance the prospects of our agricultural community by getting it more interested in the products that we have?

[Livestock Industry, April 6th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the U.S. district court in Billings, Montana ruled against R-CALF USA and thus ended 12 months of R-CALF's legal wrangling aimed at closing the U.S. border to Canadian beef and cattle.

Last spring, the dithering Liberal government was caught asleep at the switch while 70 Conservative parliamentarians fought for and were granted standing in this crucial case. For the first time in history, Canadian parliamentarians were granted standing in a foreign court.

Yes, it was Conservative parliamentarians who had the initiative to grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, and get the job done for Canada.

Yesterday's ruling in Billings is cause for celebration for the Canadian cattle industry and all Canadians. The Conservative Party of Canada stood up for Canadian producers in Billings, Montana, and this government, this agriculture minister and this Prime Minister will continue to stand up for Canadian producers wherever and whenever it is needed.

[Address in Reply, April 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I can remember when the present leader of the New Democratic Party made an open offer to anybody in the House to walk across the floor and join that party. For that party to stand now and make such a huge issue of this is absolutely wrong.

[Address in Reply, April 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, productivity in Canada is a concern to everyone and has been for quite some time. We, as a party in the past in opposition, have questioned the government constantly on what it would do about productivity, the high taxes that employees and employers face and the negative aspect of people bringing in investment from outside Canada. We addressed it in our campaign.

I again refer to the throne speech which outlines the five priorities that we will deal with between now and the summer break and we want to get those through. On the issue of productivity, the ability for employers to offer proper jobs and for those 55 and over, I think there is a place in Canada for all people who want to work productively.

We brought through measures such as tax breaks for businesses. We brought through a measure for improving access to apprenticeship positions. We proposed these things in our campaign and we will continue to work toward them.

We have the basis here in Canada. We have a great nation with all the natural resources and human resources we need. All we need is a government that is focused on bringing that competition full turn and making us a mover and shaker in the world, and I believe we are on the verge of that happening.

[Address in Reply, April 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as we have noted many times in the last month and today, this speech focuses on the five priorities of the government. It does not say that these are the only issues that will be dealt with.

The issue the member raises is an important one. We have been on record over the years as to what our position is on that. We have a strong cabinet. We have a strong minister in charge of heritage and culture who has indicated that she wants to promote that throughout Canada. The French language is one of the founding languages of this great country, and bilingualism is something this party supports. I believe we will continue to do that in the days to come.

[Address in Reply, April 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today in the House to second the motion for an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne.

Before I get started, I would like to thank the Prime Minister for this honour.

I would also like to thank Her Excellency the Governor General for her eloquent delivery earlier today of a very important speech, important because this document will guide the government's actions in the coming weeks and months.

For months now we have been clear on our priorities.

We will clean up government and make it more open and accountable by changing the way the system works.

We will reduce taxes by cutting the GST. The Liberals think the tax is unholy. We do not.

We will strengthen Canadian communities by cracking down on violent crime, gangs, drugs and illegal guns.

Rather than playing favourites, as happens on the current federally funded day care system, we will ensure every family with young children is a winner by providing them with the financial assistance they need to buy the child care that best suits their requirements.

Finally, we will address the serious problem of wait times for medical treatments by introducing a patient wait time guarantee.

As members know, I represent the riding of Lethbridge in sunny southern Alberta. This riding runs north, including my home town of Picture Butte, west to the world famous Waterton Lakes National Park, south to the U.S. border and east past Coutts and on to the beautiful Sweet Grass Hills.

While my riding does have a large number of urban dwellers who live in the city of Lethbridge, a lot of my constituents are rural residents, living in small communities and on farms and ranches, constituents who for many years have complained, and quite rightly, that the federal government was not listening to them or taking their concerns seriously.

That is why I am standing in this House today, to tell my constituents and all small town and rural Canadians that from this point on their concerns will get a fair hearing, as was demonstrated in today's throne speech that addresses many issues about which they are concerned.

As someone who farms and who has spent their life in rural Canada, I know the challenges faced by those who make their living off the land. So, too, does this government. Rural Canadians are an honest, hard-working lot. They love their country and are proud of the unique communities in which they live. They work hard, they save money, they believe in strong families and they live by the rules, and so does this government.

This government is fully committed to changing the way business is conducted in Ottawa and cleaning up the mess left after years of corruption.

Rural Canadians live by the rules and they expect politicians in Ottawa to do the same. We agree with them, which is why we will be bringing in the new federal accountability act which would give Canadians, rural and city dwellers alike, the clean, open and accountable government they want and deserve.

It is also a fact that many rural Canadians find it a challenge to put food on the table and to pay the bills. They want the money they do earn to go as far as possible, which means they do not want to see it taxed away by some free-spending government. That is why I am delighted to see the commitment to drop the GST from 7% to 6% and eventually to 5%. This measure should go a long way toward lowering the high cost of raising a family and running a farm or a ranch.

Crime and violence are not restricted to big cities. Therefore, it is natural that my constituents want Ottawa to crack down on crime. The throne speech makes it clear that this is exactly what the government will do. We will do it by helping to put more law enforcement officers to work policing our communities, by untying the hands of police and justice officials so they can do their jobs and by ensuring that individuals who do serious crime do serious time.

Rural Canadians consider the family to be the bedrock of society and want to see it strengthened, which is what we intend to do by fostering greater choice in child care. This is critically important in rural communities where almost no one lives next door to some federally funded day care. It is important that parents in these communities get the help they need to find the child care that makes sense to them and fits into their daily lives. That is why the Speech from the Throne proposes paying $1,200 per year to parents with a child under the age of six. This money can be used to pay for any type of child care they like such as public or private day care, a neighbour or a relative. It is whatever works best for them.

Finally, rural Canadians, like all Canadians, are worried about how long it takes to get vitally important medical treatment. They see people waiting and suffering, often for months, for necessary treatment or surgery. They cannot figure out why it takes so long when shorter wait times are what the taxes they pay should be providing to all Canadians. We intend to address this by working with the provinces to negotiate patient wait time guarantees, similar to the ones developed by the province of Quebec. Under this program, those patients who cannot get necessary treatment within a reasonable period of time will be able to go to a private clinic or a publicly funded clinic in another jurisdiction, with the cost being entirely covered by the government insurance plan.

We have a series of long overdue changes that will make a big difference in the lives of all Canadians, including those living in rural or small town Canada. These changes will be especially welcome in the west, where many of us have felt alienated and ignored by governments that in the past took no notice of our needs or desires, a state of affairs that led to the popular slogan “The West Wants In”, which is why I ran for election in 1977: to bring a western voice to Ottawa.

We finally have a government that is listening to western concerns, which means that now the west is in.

It is for this reason that I am pleased to support and second the motion proposed by my colleague from Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, and I congratulate him on his first speech. It is not an easy time to do that, but he did a marvellous job.

We have gone through the process today of the throne speech and all the things that surround that so we can do one thing: we can get started on the important task of standing up for Canadians wherever they live.

[Supply, November 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I do not really know where to start on some of the outrageous statements the Deputy Prime Minister of the country has made.

I would like to bring a couple of things to her attention. She has said that there has been no positive contribution by the official opposition to policy in our country. What about out our apprenticeship and training program that was brought out a couple of weeks ago? What about the environmental tax credit for people who use transit passes? What about the whole accountability act that our leader has indicated will be the first piece of legislation to be tabled in the House to clean up the mess that the government has created?

However, I want to address the minister about the issue of separatism in the country. The separatists were at record lows of support before the Gomery inquiry started. Now they are at record highs. Who is to blame for that? It is the Liberal Party of Canada. Western alienation is as high as it has ever been and that sits squarely on the government's shoulders. I would like to hear her response.