Rona Ambrose

[Shipbuilding Industry, February 16th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I remember the day that we announced the national shipbuilding strategy. One of the member's colleagues from Halifax was there, and he said that it was a great day for Halifax.

I can tell her that our government is fully committed to the national shipbuilding strategy. It is a historic commitment. Our strategy will create more than 75 million person hours of work for the Canadian shipbuilding industry.

At the end of the day, this is great news for shipbuilders across the country. Our ships for our navy and our coast guard will be built by Canadians.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 14th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows full well, we have worked hand in hand and stood shoulder to shoulder with this organization, and we will continue to do that. We will continue to support the good work it has done.

In fact, we have doubled our funding to the highest level ever for women's groups that are fighting violence against women. In terms of fighting violence against aboriginal women, we have now undertaken, the first of its kind in Canada, a national program that is not only committing a new RCMP centre for missing persons, improving law enforcement data bases, but we have also created a national website for public tips to help locate missing and murdered aboriginal women.

[Shipbuilding Industry, February 14th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, the government made a historic announcement last year by committing to procure all of our ships here in Canada.

This is a massive undertaking that will provide 75 million man-hours of work to the shipbuilding industry in Canada, but the member voted against it anyway. I know the member's riding is very excited in Halifax, as are shipbuilders from coast to coast to coast.

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 31st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Public Works and Government Services Canada has records of payments issued on behalf of Infrastructure Canada in fiscal years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 to date, but these records do not separately track items such as signage. Public Works and Government Services Canada is therefore unable to provide the information requested.

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 31st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the centralization of federal government pensions and the information services of the pensions provided by the territorial governments. With regard to (a), the communications strategy for this initiative was initially designed to advise stakeholders of the change in service delivery as each service was centralized to the pension centre. Consultations occurred with departments, crowns and territorial governments, and concept-of-operations sessions were provided for each service; focus group meetings detailing and updating work procedures and the new pension tools; on-site visits to each of the territorial governments by the director, pension services directorate and the director general, compensation services; and the dissemination of information at quarterly Stakeholder steering committee meetings. Feedback and consultations were integral to ensuring an outcome in which stakeholders are well informed and will have a successful transition to the new pension services delivery model.

With regarde to (b), the backlogs in client services are not as a result of centralization. The pension centre in Shediac, New Brunswick did not experience backlogs in areas which had centralized services. Backlogs in other services occurred because experienced staff had been deployed to the pension modernization project and in part from issues that arose with the new work load management tool, and as a result of an increased work effort due to working with old and new processes simultaneously.

With regard to (c), the implementation of a new service model and systems over the long term will ensure that all members receive timely, consistent service, and advice directly from the pension experts located in the public service pension centre.

[Questions on the Order Paper, December 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Public Works and Government Services Canada cannot comment on this matter as it is currently the subject of litigation before the Federal Court of Canada, TPG Technology Consulting Ltd. v. Her Majesty the Queen, Court File No T-494-08.

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken very concrete action to support the issue of murdered and missing aboriginal women, but one of the things that is most important for all of us in this chamber and in the country to do is to support women's fundamental basic human rights.

Right now before the House we have the opportunity to support matrimonial property rights, which would historically change the inequality between aboriginal women and non-aboriginal women.

I ask the member why she does not support it.

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we have a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable women in our society and we are doing just that by implementing a new program to address the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

We have created a new RCMP centre for missing persons. We have improved our law enforcement databases to deal with investigating missing and murdered women. We have also created a national website for public tips to help locate missing women.

In fact, the Native Women's Association has said that this is a significant investment. Sue O'Sullivan, the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crimes, says that what we need is more initiatives just like this.

[Violence Against Women, December 6th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's support for this incredibly important issue. All of us in the House remember these women with great sadness.

I can assure the member that the government takes this issue very seriously. She should know that this government is the one that has increased funding for women's programs to its highest level ever. In fact, we are funding more programs now to end violence against women than any other government in the history of this country. We are proud to do that and we appreciate her support.

[Status of Women, November 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, there is definitely no double standard. In fact, this $10 million program was created specifically to deal with the issue of murdered and missing aboriginal women. When it comes to support for victims, on this particular program, let me tell the House what Sue O'Sullivan, the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crimes, said. She said:

[W]hat we need is more government action of this breadth and initiatives that address all aspects of the issue, from prevention and prosecution to victim support. These are the kinds of initiatives that have the most impact and that we can all support.