Rob Anders

[Budget Implementation Act, 2004, No. 2, December 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, if that hon. member wants to draw attention to the fact that the government said it would only be $2.2 million and he is admitting $1.1 billion and there are a lot of other estimates that put it up to $2 billion, that is his fault, not the fault of anyone on this side. He is the one who should be ashamed for having wasted that much money.

I would like the hon. member who just gave his speech, as opposed to the interrupter on the other side who cannot get his numbers straight, to respond to the idea that the $2 billion could have been used to prevent real crime instead of going after duck hunters and people who had firearms as holdovers from the war in Korea or World War II and forcing them to go through all the loopholes to register their guns or be penalized.

I know people who have been waiting for years to qualify because they have not received proper service through that registry.

I would like the hon. member to address what could have been the case had that money been spent wisely.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2004, No. 2, December 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague mentioned the gun registry and the lack of priorities and misplaced priorities of the government.

When we run the numbers for the $2 billion that the government has spent on the gun registry, I think of all the repeat offenders, the rapists and the murderers who could have been kept in jail longer and should not have been allowed early parole. I think of the extra police officers who could have been put on the street. I think of the ways we could have stopped drugs from being pushed on our kids. I think of all the great things that type of money could have gone to in our justice system, but it did not.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2004, No. 2, December 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member in her speech talked about the Income Tax Act, competition, corporate fines and penalties, tax loopholes, making money off breaking the law, rewards for breaking the law, fines on polluters and the idea there should be transparency, accountability and an end to secrecy. She talked about people serving their own political agenda, meeting the needs of Canadians, the human element of some of these decisions and caring and compassion. On that note, I would like to get the member's thoughts on the following.

Noranda is posed to sell some of its Sudbury assets, its nickel basin. We have an offer on the table by China Minmetals, which is owned by the government of China. That company has an egregious record of using slave labour with regard to its mining operations. It has the worst safety record in the world in terms of the operation of its mines.

Supposedly, this will be reviewed by the Foreign Investment Review Agency. However, the track record is that out of 11,000 potential reviews over the past number of decades, not a single one has ever been overturned.

I would like the member to postulate, if she can, on why she thinks our government and Prime Minister is so set on going ahead and selling this strategic and valuable natural resource to a company that has used slave labour and is part and parcel of one of the worst human rights records in the world.

My theory, as best as I can figure it out, is that the Prime Minister and Canada Steamship Lines has some of their ships built in China, and as a result of that, turns a blind eye to some of these things. We all know tax avoidance strategies are practised by that corporation and what not. I would like the member to talk about the fact that the government is turning an absolute blind eye to these human rights violations and, in a sense, is giving over a valuable Canadian asset, preparing a rubber stamp and overriding any concerns on foreign investment review.

[China, December 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, three more Chinese intellectuals were thrown in jail for being critical of that government. This is part of a widespread campaign to silence opposition. Forcing political prisoners to work in government-run mines, destroying the Tibetan nation and jailing legitimate dissent is business as usual in communist China.

This repressive regime gets away with these human rights abuses because leaders like the Prime Minister only pay lip service to human rights and refuse to take action. Why is the Prime Minister rewarding this despotic nation with a full state visit?

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 14th, 2004]

If the Liberals want to talk about inappropriate, Mr. Speaker, the minister misled the House when she denied there were any investigations into her office. Now we find out that it is not just a police investigation but a national security probe.

The minister is no longer just an international embarrassment, she is now a security threat, having a staff member with ties to the Tamil Tigers who has admitted to using 241 suicide bombers in the last 17 years of a campaign of terror.

I would like to know what the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has planned for a New Year's resolution. Will she reduce the stress in her life and just resign?

[Industry, December 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the government of China is trying to buy Canada's largest mining company and has now also expressed interest in Alberta's oil sands. It would be state ownership of Canada's natural resources. It sounds like the national energy program all over again, except this time by a totalitarian regime with an appalling human rights record.

Government ownership was a disaster for western Canada that destroyed businesses and families, and ended up costing Albertans $60 billion. Why is the government supporting NEP 2?

[Petitions, December 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting over 1,200 petitions from constituents very concerned with the plight of national defence in this country.

The petitioners, in noting the Auditor General's findings, the Conference of Defence Associations, and the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century, basically request that the government support the existing level of operational activity, that it conduct the war on terrorism and homeland defence and that it solve the problems of chronic underfunding and overtasking which has led to personnel, equipment, training and sustainability shortfalls. For the sake of our national defence, the petitioners request more funding.

[Foreign Affairs, December 1st, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, December 2, Tibetan monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche is scheduled to be executed by the Chinese government.

Rinpoche is an outspoken defender of the Tibetan culture and identity. He has worked to provide the people of his region with schools, medical clinics and homes for orphans and the elderly, yet he has been convicted without clear or convincing evidence of guilt.

Rinpoche was not accorded due process during his closed trial and, despite repeated assurances from Chinese officials, the case was never reviewed by the Supreme People's Court. This case is so serious that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has raised the issue with his Chinese counterparts. Amnesty International has looked into this case and has classified this peaceful Tibetan monk as a political prisoner and has called for his immediate release.

China's record of human rights in Tibet is atrocious and it annually executes more prisoners than all other countries in the world combined.

Canada needs to take a leading role and use its position in world affairs to help stop the execution of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.

[Engineering Scholarships, November 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation was founded to help attract women to the engineering profession. Each year this foundation awards scholarships to extraordinary young Canadians in engineering to assist them in pursuing their academic careers.

Funding for the foundation comes from the corporate sector as well as from thousands of individuals from across our great country. One of the key supporters is the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers, the national organization that licenses Canada's 160,000 professional engineers.

Today I wish to acknowledge a constituent of mine, Ms. Vassa Reentova, a student at the University of Calgary, who was selected as one of only five engineering students from across Canada to receive an undergraduate engineering scholarship from the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation. I want to wish her congratulations, along with the other scholarship award winners.

I also wish to congratulate the foundation for investing in the education of young Canadians and instilling in them the value of pursuing a career in engineering.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, November 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I heard the member across the way say that he recognized the sacrifices and that there is support provided to these families, yet one of these women is stuck with a $20,800 bill after having lost her husband. I do not think that a bill of $20,800 equates to support or a recognition of the sacrifice that she has made. I do not think that is a fair deal; she was not informed of that.

These women are the equivalent, in my mind, of Silver Cross mothers. They have given a great deal to their country.

Could the member across the way imagine if the Government of Canada had stuck Margaret Trudeau with a substantial bill in the tens of thousands of dollars for the death of her husband, Prime Minister Trudeau? The government would have never dreamed of it, nor should it dream of it in the circumstance of these RCMP widows.

I do not think it is just that a $20,000 bill is levelled on any of these widows. We have one that I am glad the member recognizes in that a situation has just occurred this weekend, and I would like him to report to this House that the government will do its level--