Scott Andrews

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 24th, 2011]

With regard to the Fishery (General) Regulations, SOR/93-53, under the Fisheries Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. F-14 in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador: (a) how many infractions such as charges and warnings have been issued since 2007, pursuant to section 22 of the above noted regulations, identifying those infractions pursuant to section 22(7) of the above noted regulations; and (b) what is the breakdown of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) Fishing Areas in which each of the above noted charges were issued in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador?

[Points of Order, November 22nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, this relates to some comments I made on November 3. I was not here last week and I would like to clarify, retract and apologize. I said, “The last time I checked, the Speaker is a member of the Conservative Party and the Conservative caucus”. I apologize. He is not a member of the Conservative caucus. There was no intent to call into question your impartiality, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to clarify for the record a little bit earlier in the conversation on that particular matter where the member for Elgin—Middlesex—London said, “The Speaker of the House of Commons now makes those two appointments in the interest of greater impartiality and independence”. He went on to say, “...a three member boundaries commission chaired by a judge and comprising two other members appointed by the Speaker”. In the next paragraph he said, “The goal is a readjustment process that is generally free of partisan considerations”.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask you to review those particular comments in light of my apology regarding bringing into question your impartiality. I believe that these comments require some consideration.

I apologize for my comments.

[Questions on the Order Paper, November 21st, 2011]

With regard to Transport Canada, and more specifically the disposal or sale of vessels formerly operated by Marine Atlantic, the MV Caribou and the MV Joseph & Clara Smallwood: (a) who bought or acquired each of the vessels; (b) how much, in Canadian dollars, did the purchaser pay for each of the vessels; (c) who was the ship broker that handled each of the transactions and where was the broker from; (d) were any Canadian broker firms considered or asked to handle the transactions, and, (i) if so, who were they and why did they not participate in the process, (ii) if no Canadian broker firm was considered, why; and (e) how much, in Canadian dollars, were the brokers compensated for each of the transactions?

[Fair Representation Act, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest when my colleague talked about gerrymandering and the influence that past practices have had on it. He introduced a new method of gerrymandering when he said that we were generally free of political interference. I would like my colleague to define what he means by generally free.

He mentioned that the Speaker would have to play a role in appointing people to a commission. The last time I checked, the Speaker is a member of the Conservative Party and the Conservative caucus. Is this the type of generally free that the member is talking about when they go to the boundaries commission?

[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, when the member for Peterborough is not busy pretending to be the Pope, he tries to instead impersonate a federal court judge.

He and other Conservative members of the access committee are trying to seize documents concerning the CBC's business dealings, even though these very documents are before the courts as we speak.

Will the Minister of Justice explain our Constitution to the member and how it mandates a strict separation between the courts and Parliament, or is he a part of this abuse of power as well?

[Government Loans, October 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, some time ago, the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador signed an MOU for a loan guarantee covering the Muskrat Falls electrical project. Since then, we have heard nothing.

In our province, commitments from the government are often taken with some degree of skepticism. We wonder if this is really a commitment, or is it a scheme to keep the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in line?

My question is for the minister responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador. Has the government completed its due diligence analysis and is it on time for final approval, or is this just another tactic it is using to keep the provinces in line?

[Copyright Modernization Act, October 18th, 2011]

The Beta player.

[Fisheries and Oceans, October 7th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, in Newfoundland and Labrador, rules surrounding access to the recreational food fishery continue to be unfair compared to other areas of Atlantic Canada. During the small window of opportunity this year the weather was deplorable, and during last week residents were not able to participate. Earlier this week I asked the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to extend the food fishery for this long weekend. Unfortunately, the minister has not responded to my request.

I ask the minister responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador: will he be fair and extend the recreational food fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador for this Thanksgiving long weekend?

[October 6th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, that is quite rich. I say to the hon. member that we will not be bullied, and if he wishes to refer to what is “unfactual”, the facts are that the minister was on a vacation. The facts are that the minister called a search and rescue plane to come and remove him from that vacation. Those are the facts of the matter.

Also, the member should get his facts straight. I was at CFB Greenwood when I did an exercise that took three days. I spent a whole day with the search and rescue squadron at Greenwood. We did daily briefings. They showed us all of their gear and their exercises and maneuvers, and those kinds of things. It was not done by a phone call from the minister to come to pick him up and to spend a half-hour of his time with the search and rescue squadron in Gander.

So the member should not try to pull the wool over our eyes that this was all planned and all good and that they were doing it all for the great cause of our Canadian Forces. That is absolute malarkey.

[October 6th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be in the House this evening to follow up on my questions to the Minister of National Defence a few weeks ago. The questions were on the minister's precedent-setting opportunity when he called a search and rescue helicopter off the tarmac in Gander to come and pluck him out of a fishing lodge on the Gander River.

We see the scarce resources of our search and rescue capabilities following the closing of sub-centres in St. John's and in Quebec City, yet the minister, at his will, can get search and rescue to come take him off a river in Gander. He was only 12 nautical miles from Gander. It was not as if he was deep in the woods and had to plan on taking half a day to get out of there. He was only 12 nautical miles from the airport.

One of the questions is about how he got to the lodge in the first place. Did he come in on a boat or in a quad? He could have gotten back in the same way within 20 minutes. He just wanted to impress his fishing buddies.

To elaborate on my question, I know the parliamentary secretary is going to talk about training and how we all participate in parliamentary internship programs and how a great program it is. I think it is great. I have done it myself. I spent a whole three days with the Canadian Forces at CFB Greenwood and I had a great time. I learned a lot.

However, how can the minister learn anything in 30 short minutes? He obviously did not have time to see the search and rescue capabilities. They just came and hoisted him off the river and then brought him back to Gander. He did not really have time to participate in an exercise.

The minister had called Gander. CFB Gander said it was way out of protocol. He was not satisfied with that, so then he called their superiors and got them to call Gander to force the search and rescue plane to come pluck him off the river, which was absolutely abusing his position as minister.

These questions need to be answered. Canadians deserve a lot more from their elected officials in regard to this.

Another thing is that the minister is going to say he cut his vacation short and that he had to go to an important announcement. That is fine, but announcements do not just pop up overnight; announcements are planned well in advance. The minister knew full well that he had to get back for an announcement. He was not cutting his vacation short.

Let us get into the details. When was this announcement planned that he had to get to all of a sudden, and had to call in a Challenger jet? The Challenger was waiting for him, and it was total abuse of taxpayers' money.

The other part of my question was about how the minister did a phony spending announcement during the election. The day before the election was called, the minister flew to St. John's, and $20,000 later, he made an announcement. If it was not so ironic, it would be funny, because back in 2005 this same member, the member for Central Nova, asked the same question. He said,

Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister spent the summer burning jet fuel in the Challenger making phony announcements, his cabinet ministers were touring the country in limos tanked up on taxpayer dollars.

The same guy did the same thing five years later, but it is okay now. Now that the Conservatives are in power, they are saying they are allowed to do this.

Is it not pretty hypocritical that five or six years ago in this place, the minister criticized the government of the day for doing that, but now that the Conservatives are in, they can get away with it? What is the real deal here, Mr. Parliamentary Secretary?