Rona Ambrose

[Aboriginal Affairs, April 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am so proud that our government is committed to giving aboriginal women the same protection and rights as all Canadian women. For over a quarter of a century, aboriginal women living on reserve have been without access to the legal protection they need when it comes to domestic violence. Our bill will protect thousands of aboriginal women and children. In situations of family violence, it will allow judges to enforce emergency protection orders and remove a violent partner from the home.

How the NDP and Liberals can continue to oppose this is incomprehensible to me. Our government will make sure aboriginal women have equal rights.

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 28th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), the Government of Canada purchased airtime during the broadcast of the 85th Academy Awards on CTV--one 30-second spot for Finance Canada’s economic action plan campaign and two 15-second spots for Canada Revenue Agency’s tax relief measures campaign. The network aired one additional 15-second tax relief ad free of charge.

With regard to (b), the Government of Canada does not disclose information about the specific amounts paid for individual ad placements or the amounts paid to specific media outlets. This information is considered third party business sensitive and is protected under subsection 20(1) of the Access to Information Act.

[Status of Women, March 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand up and share with the House that on Friday, I was with an organization called Women Building Futures. I was with a graduating class of young women, exclusively young women, who are going to become heavy equipment operators in the oil sands. They were thrilled to hear about our Canada job grant, which would support thousands of other young women who want to get into high-paying trades jobs.

We will continue to focus on what matters to all Canadians, including women, and that is creating jobs.

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 20th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada purchased airtime during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013, for two separate Government of Canada campaigns--the better jobs campaign for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, HRSDC, and the economic action plan campaign for Finance Canada, FC.

For the better jobs campaign, HRSDC purchased one 30-second spot on the CTV national network, one 30-second spot on the local CTV station in Winnipeg and three 30-second spots on the RDS network. Because of technical difficulties during the broadcast, the CTV network ran the ad two more times, free of charge, and RDS ran the ad one more time, free of charge.

For the economic action plan campaign, Finance Canada purchased two 30-second spots on the RDS network.

The Government of Canada does not disclose information about the specific amounts paid for individual ad placements or the amounts paid to specific media outlets. This information is considered third party business sensitive and is protected under paragraph 20(1)(b) of the Access to Information Act.

[Status of Women, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would specifically like to thank the member for the work that she has done to end violence against women and girls and her groundbreaking and worldly efforts on human trafficking. Canada, of course, is committed to ending violence against women and girls at home and abroad. Just this week, at the United Nations, we have taken a leadership role to take our message from Canada to the world that engaging men and boys is an important part in ending violence against women.

While men are the perpetrators of violence against women and girls, the majority of men are good and want to help, so we ask them to take a stand and not be bystanders and work with us and women across this country to end violence against women and girls.

[Status of women, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to wish everyone a happy International Women's Day.

Of course, Canada has been named the best country in the world to be a woman, but we all believe there is much work to be done, especially in the area of ending violence against women and girls.

We have taken a concerted effort on this level. Just recently we launched another call for proposals for innovative projects to ask men and boys to take a stand to end violence against women and girls. We have increased the funding to these programs to the highest level ever in Canadian history. However, we also want men to take a stand on International Women's Day to end violence against women and girls.

[National Defence, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, of course, the expert panel that has been put together to work with the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat is examining all options to replace the aging CF-18s. All information will obviously be taken into account.

[National Defence, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, the government has not made a decision on any purchase of a replacement for the aging CF-18s. At this point, our expert panel and the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat are going through a full options analysis to see what options are out there to replace the aging CF-18s.

[National Defence, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the opposition, we will be guided by an independent process that is in place. We will look at all of the options that are available to replace the CF-18. At this point, of course, no money has been spent on the purchase of any aircraft. We will not make a decision on the replacement of the CF-18 until the expert panel is finished all of the options analysis.

[National Defence, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my understanding yesterday was that the opposition wanted us to just ban one particular aircraft, and that is not what we are going to do. We have embarked on a full options analysis before the purchase, or any decision, to replace the CF-18. We, of course, are using the expert advice of a panel that is looking at every option available to replace the CF-18, and we will be guided by its advice.