Roxanne James

[Liberal Party of Canada, May 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, tonight for the first time in nine long years the Toronto Maple Leafs will suit up for the NHL playoffs.

Let us take a look back at the last time the beloved blue and white were in the playoffs.

It was nine years ago and Canadians were still being governed by a tired and corrupt Liberal government. Justice Gomery had not even begun his investigation into the Liberal sponsorship scandal. Nine years later, we are still waiting for the Liberals to pay back that $40 million they stole from taxpayers. The member for Papineau was busy running Katimavik into the ground and the leader of the Green Party was a Liberal.

As we saw this week, apparently not much has changed.

Tonight I will be proud to join Leafs Nation in cheering on our beloved blue and white. Perhaps during commercial breaks we will learn more about how the Liberal leader is just in over his head.

[Victims' Families, April 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Omar Ahmed Khadr is a known supporter of al Qaeda and a convicted terrorist.

He pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism, spying, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, and the murder in violation of the law of war of Sergeant Christopher Speer, an American army medic.

While this individual attempts to take back his own words and recant his guilty plea, he is simply re-victimizing the family of Sergeant Speer. This individual was even transferred to Canada based on his acceptance of the charges and of his own sentence.

I call on this individual to show some remorse and to allow the family of Sergeant Speer to grieve their loss without reopening old wounds.

[Petitions, April 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have three sets of petitions from Canadians across the country, including the provinces of Ontario, Alberta and Quebec. Each of the petitions calls on the Government of Canada to try Omar Khadr for treason, under the laws of Canada, for his actions against coalition forces in Afghanistan.

[Teen Challenge GTA Women's Centre, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this past Sunday, I had the pleasure of taking part in a special friendship celebration service at Wilmar Heights Baptist Church in my riding of Scarborough Centre. I was honoured to meet Reverend Dr. Tai, his lovely wife Marian and members of the fellowship. What made this service particularly special was that it was attended by visiting Rev. Norm MacLaren and by the Teen Challenge GTA women's choir.

The Teen Challenge GTA Women's Centre is located just north of Toronto, and it runs a 12-month, faith-based residential alcohol and drug addiction rehabilitation program. Several members of the choir shared their personal stories of addiction, depression and fear and their journey back, through the inspirational healing of the GTA Women's Centre. I was truly moved.

On behalf of my fellow Conservative colleagues, I would like to thank Wilmar Heights Baptist Church and Teen Challenge GTA Women's Centre for all of their wonderful work and for helping so many deserving women in our community.

[Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, April 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I cannot believe that anyone in this House would vote against this legislation to stand up for the rights of aboriginal women on reserves let alone members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

I have sat here and listened to the NDP claim that women who fall into situations in their households on reserves should be sent to shelters. Well, here is a novel idea: how about they be allowed access to their matrimonial property, the same rights that every one of us in this House has today?

I also have to say, because the NDP is voting against every one of these things, that right now a spouse on reserve who holds interest in the on-reserve family home can sell the home without the consent of the other spouse, and can keep all the money. Apparently the NDP thinks that is okay. The spouse who holds the interest in the family home can bar the other spouse from their own family home. Apparently the NDP thinks that is okay. And in cases of domestic violence—

[The Budget, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my honourable colleague from the GTA riding of York Centre for his wonderful speech. In his speech, he reaffirmed our government's position to return to balanced budgets. I am glad he mentioned it would be without raising taxes, and he indicated in his speech the 150 times we have reduced taxes for the average family. The average family of four in my riding of Scarborough Centre saves up to $3,220, so I am very happy with that.

I would like to ask the member to speak about our new tax break for new manufacturing machinery and equipment, which is in the budget. It is $562 million in tax relief, and as Conservatives, we know that when we reduce taxes for businesses, they reinvest, innovate and hire more people. I would like to ask the member to speak on that specific measure.

[The Budget, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member, my colleague from Edmonton—Leduc, for his terrific speech.

My colleague touched on the Canada jobs grant program, which I think personally is absolutely brilliant. There is no one better to drive the market or job creation than businesses that are actually seeking those types of employees. I think this is a terrific idea that we have in our budget.

However, I wonder if the member would speak to our support for internship programs. In budget 2013, we are investing an additional $70 million to support an additional 5,000 paid internship programs. I wonder if the member would speak on how internship programs would help our young people graduating from universities to find well-paying jobs in their fields.

[Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, March 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are angered and in a state of shock over the actions of the NDP leader. This past weekend the leader of the NDP met with convicted cop shooter Gary Freeman, a man who was convicted of attempted murder in the U.S. after repeatedly shooting a young Chicago police officer. The officer, Terrence Knox, was left permanently paralyzed and suffering from the effects of the shooting until his recent death.

Rather than face due justice, Gary Freeman evaded the law for several years by fleeing to Canada and living here illegally under a false name. This is the man with whom the Leader of the Opposition chose to meet. Sadly, and it is telling, that the NDP leader has never met with the family of the victim. Instead, he went on national television yesterday to shamefully dismiss the repeated shooting as a mere scuffle.

Canadians are getting fed up seeing the NDP stand up time and time again for the rights of criminals over the rights of victims and their families.

[New Democratic Party of Canada, March 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, last week the NDP was surprised by the fact that its housing plan would cost a whopping $5.5 billion. One would think by now that the official opposition would actually know how much a proposal would cost Canadian taxpayers before putting it forward, but unfortunately, this is not the first time. They have put forward other risky spending schemes, like the 45-day work year that would cost Canadians almost $4 billion.

NDP members just do not seem to do their homework when it comes to spending taxpayers' dollars, but they certainly do their homework when trying to take our dollars. In their last platform, written in black and white, they proposed a carbon tax that would generate revenues of over $20 billion. Canadians do not want a carbon tax that would raise the cost on everything they need to support their families, and they certainly do not want risky spending schemes at a time of economic uncertainty. That is why Conservatives will continue to oppose risky spending and the NDP's $20-billion carbon tax.

[Northern Jobs and Growth Act, March 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, in his opening remarks, the member for Winnipeg North mentioned Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and mentioned that we were not open-minded to some of those recommendations it brought forward. I noticed in the speeches earlier by the official opposition, the NDP members, that they mentioned we were not doing enough in the consultation process.

I would like at this point to remind all members of the House that NTI was involved in the initial stages of drafting this legislation, and many of the issues members are bringing forward to the House today were actually discussed and debated at length during the working level of the bill.

Again, some of the changes that were brought forward and discussed at the working level were actually incorporated into the bill, and that is what they are seeing at the committee stage, so some of the comments members are making today are really unfounded.

In some instances, some of those recommendations that may have been discussed were not necessarily accepted, but it was not regarding the different interpretations about which the member has just spoken. It was in most cases on how the legislation was to be put together.

I think our government has been pretty clear on the bill. We believe it is clear and concise, and I wish the opposition parties would stop putting through comments that are not really justified.