Ryan Leef

[New Democratic Party of Canada, November 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River correctly stated that I have only stood twice in this place to warn my constituents of the NDP's sneaky $21 billion job-killing carbon tax.

I would like to thank the member for reminding me that twice is hardly enough effort in letting the great people of Yukon know that the NDP has a clear plan in black and orange to tax Canadians and raise the price of gas, home heating fuel, groceries, construction supplies and everything else ordinary Canadians need on a daily basis.

I am thankful the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River used his speaking spot to ignore his riding to encourage me to better communicate the NDP's job-killing carbon tax with Yukon residents who believe in our low tax plan for jobs, growth and long-term prosperity.

[Diabetes, November 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker today, November 1, kicks off National Diabetes Awareness Month. We can be proud that Canadians Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best co-discovered insulin, changing the lives of people living with diabetes.

Today, nearly nine million Canadians are affected by diabetes. Worldwide, 246 million people are affected, with numbers projected to rise to 366 million by 2030. Every ten seconds, two people develop diabetes. By the end of this statement, that will mean another twelve people will be affected.

That is why today I am pleased to announce my partnership with the Canadian Diabetes Association as I launch my inspiration unlimited, border-to-border campaign. Over the course of the next three summers, I will circumnavigate the entire border of the Yukon Territory. This 3,000-kilometre quest will help raise awareness and funds, so that one day I can read this statement and have nobody develop diabetes by the time I have finished.

[New Democratic Party of Canada, October 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as the holiday weekend approaches, families from coast to coast to coast gather to give thanks. I would like to wish the people in my riding and all Canadians a happy Thanksgiving.

One thing we are very thankful for this year is that the opposition leader is not able to impose a carbon tax that would raise the cost on everything. The NDP believes that when two wrongs do not make a right, it should try a third. It is easy to tell when New Democrats are not telling Canadians the truth: their lips move.

It is clear that the NDP has a plan to put a price on carbon. It is written in black and white in its platform. When will it come clean and tell Canadians the truth, that it wants to raise the price on everything?

[Increasing Offenders’ Accountability for Victims Act, October 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member raised the example of an offender who had been charged with 10 break and enters and has to go before the court. I am just wondering if my hon. colleague understands that to mean that each one of those counts would be considered separately, and a fine surcharge would be applied to each one of them regardless of whether or not they were sanctioned with a term of imprisonment.

Does she understand the legislation to read that, on top of jail as a sanction, the individual would also receive a fine surcharge for every one of those offences?

[Corrections and Conditional Release Act, October 2nd, 2012]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-446, an act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (blood samples).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to introduce my private member's bill.

On the authorization of a warrant and on the testimony of a staff member of a correctional centre for justice, the bill would allow the taking of samples of blood from an inmate in order to determine whether the person carries a designated virus, namely hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV, for the health and well-being of Canada's dedicated correctional staff.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[The Environment, September 26th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as winter approaches and temperatures begin to drop, Canadians in my riding up north and across the country are thankful that they are not subject to the NDP's massive carbon tax.

The NDP's carbon tax scheme would drastically raise the price of electricity, causing families to use more of their hard-earned money to heat their homes. The NDP's regressive $21 billion carbon tax is reckless and unfair to hard-working families that simply want to keep their homes warm and comfortable during the fall and winter months.

I am proud that our government has continually lowered taxes for Canadian families and has created important initiatives that help Canadians save money, like the home renovation tax credit, which saves Canadians tax dollars and decreases their home heating costs.

The NDP should be ashamed of its sneaky carbon tax, call it a carbon budget, that would take money directly from the pockets of hard-working Canadians.

[Yukon, September 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all Yukoners for a fantastic summer. I was able to amass more than 18,000 kilometres, travelling to every community in our great territory. To better serve our communities I opened additional offices. I was honoured to announce continued record levels of funding to multiple arts and cultural activities, celebrations and festivals; and to deal with northern housing challenges by opening affordable housing units for seniors and independent living units for people with FASD to improve their quality of life and access to support. I announced investments in critical infrastructure and consultations with Yukon stakeholders for our path to the future; investments in education, from literacy to innovation, to better place Yukon people for Yukon jobs; and support for our youth career opportunities through 60 summer student job placements.

I would like to congratulate Watson Lake's Olympian, Zach Bell and team alternatives, Jeane Lassen and Brittanee Laverdure.

Our Prime Minister understands how remarkable the people of Canada's true north are. I end with his quote, “Our country's greatest dreams are to be found in our highest latitudes”.

[Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act, September 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we have heard a bit of discussion around the discretion being taken away from the judges. To be accurate, what is being presented is the victim fine surcharge being levied at 30% of the fine but the fine amount would still be determined by the judge and at the discretion of the judge. Is that the member's understanding of this legislation?

[Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act, September 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the record needs to be really clear. We have heard this rhetoric now a dozen times today, that members of the Conservative Party, the government side, are not standing up and commenting in debate.

If my hon. colleague, who I have tremendous respect for, would check Hansard, she will see that I spoke for 20 minutes yesterday and have been up multiple times today, as have other members of the party. Their rhetoric just needs to end. We are tired of hearing it. It does not serve any purpose.

What we have heard from members on the opposition side every time they lead debate is 5 to 10 minutes of discussion about lack of debate, and parliamentary process discussions and lessons on how to debate properly. They attacked a Liberal government of years past for its inaction. They have completely dodged the issue. We have had members of the opposition not even answer questions that have been asked.

I would urge the opposition members when they engage in debate to actually use good, common sense and debate the topic at hand and not spin this into some kind of parliamentary lesson or refuse to answer the questions. It is no wonder we are not engaging in fruitful debate; it is because they are not answering the questions. They have not done so at all today.

The opposition members are the ones pretending they have the high ground here and being holier than thou every time they get up to speak. Quite frankly, on behalf of all Conservatives, we are tired of it and I think most Canadians are tired of it too. I thank the opposition members for wasting everyone's time. We appreciate it.

[Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act, September 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the vein of my colleague's speech would lead everybody to believe that we would impose tremendous fines on offenders.

One of the changes we should tell Canadians about is really just upping one of the fines for a summary conviction from $50 to $100, which is still less than the average speeding ticket in this country. The other fine, for an indictable offence, which is a serious offence under the Criminal Code, is up from $100 to $200. The purpose of that, based on a judge's discretion or view of the case, is to make the offenders accountable for the actions they have taken and to contribute to the victims' programs, some of which end up benefiting offenders.

That is a positive step. Those kinds of measures help offenders work toward reparation for victims, who are continually forgotten by the NDP. The NDP members talk about how poor and underprivileged offenders are, as though there is no rich offender on the planet, and how they should not be accountable for anything they have done to Canadian victims.