Scott Andrews

[Hurricane Igor, September 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday many Newfoundlanders experienced the worst storm in history during hurricane Igor. Residents saw extensive property damage and power outages. Access to some communities has been washed out, and the most devastating of all is the loss of life.

We are known to be tough and resilient, but I can assure the House that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador will be challenged in the days and weeks ahead. My thoughts and prayers are with our constituents, municipal leaders, local firefighters and emergency responders in our communities.

Some 30 communities have declared a state of emergency and the initial photos and communications from many communities are very distressing. Families are helping families and friends are helping friends, because that is what we do back home.

While the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will take the lead, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador will need their federal government to assist on a very timely basis. We know they need help and they need help now.

I am sure I speak on behalf of all members of the House as we remember those who have experienced loss and upheaval in their lives and extend our prayers as they deal with the rebuilding process.

[Cupids 400, June 17th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise in the House today and let everyone know about a time that is being held back home this year, with the premier events being held from August 17 to 22. We are celebrating one of the largest cultural events ever in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Cupids, a wonderful town in my riding, was the site of the first English settlement established in Canada. Some 400 years ago John Guy and 39 men established Cupids as their home and set out to secure and make safe the trade of fishing.

We are celebrating with over 50 events this year. There is a phenomenal summer schedule which on every day promotes traditional entertainment, archaeology and cultural significance and history through classical theatre.

Just a few days ago I had the distinct pleasure to participate in the official laying of the keel to begin building a replica of John Guy's vessel The Indeavour in the community of Winterton.

There is something for everyone and I encourage members to visit the Cupids 400 website at cupids400.com.

The events surrounding Cupids 400 will not have come together without the hard work of--

[Rural Broadband Policy, May 10th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster stood in this House last week and criticized the fact that we announced a national rural broadband mobile phone policy in southern Ontario, claiming that there were no rural communities there. The problem is, however, that it took place on a family farm in King, Ontario, in the riding of the member for York—Simcoe.

We all know from the state of our federal finances that the Conservatives do not excel at math, and now we know that their geography is not much better. What is more ironic is that over the weekend, the Conservatives announced their rural policy from a specialty coffee shop in the heart of Mississauga, one of the largest urban centres in Canada.

These cappuccino Conservatives are out of touch with ordinary Canadians. The Minister of Industry would not bother to set down is venti non-fat chai latte to travel out to the country and discuss the policy with real rural Canadians.

The hypocrisy is typical of this tired Conservative government. Up is down, rural is urban and right is wrong. When will the Conservatives put down their non-fat, extra foam, organic green tea lattes and stand up for ordinary hard-working rural Canadians?

[Fisheries and Oceans, May 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, that is a great stock answer over there.

Why is the minister raising expectations of these communities when she cannot back up the claims?

The minister's department has the details and her communications department knows the list. Will she today in the House table the complete list with who is getting funding, what portion is getting funding and the specific infrastructure projects, the ports and harbours in Canada?

[Fisheries and Oceans, May 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative culture of deceit continues. In the last two weeks, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, three other ministers and one unelected senator have issued, word for word, identical press releases about small craft harbours. It is funny that none of these announcements had any details to back them up.

Would the minister table in the House right now the details that back up these vague announcements, or will she admit that she has yet to produce a list of projects, or is she just playing political games with this important funding?

[Bay Roberts, May 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, this past Sunday, I joined MHA Roland Butler and Mayor Glenn Littlejohn at the Royal Canadian Legion in a wreath laying for the Battle of the Atlantic.

Recently, I attended the Ascension High School gala dinner. This community of 5,500 people raised over $47,000 to benefit the students.

Mr. Speaker, do you know what town this all happened in? Bay Roberts.

This week, using flawed data and shoddy research, MoneySense magazine named that town as the worst place to live in Canada. This could not be further from the truth.

Bay Roberts is a vibrant, bustling community with a growing population. This town is full of volunteerism, community spirit and pride is abundant.

MoneySense may think Bay Roberts lacks culture, but obviously has never attended “A Time in Pigeon Inlet”.

I always look forward to the Klondike Days and the Winter Lights Festival.

These are just a few examples of what makes Bay Roberts a special place. If the magazine representatives took the time to visit, it would not take them long to realize that they must have printed their list upside down.

MoneySense may not want to rank Bay Roberts number one, but common sense would.

[May 6th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I am going to cut right to the chase on my question now.

My point was that this new program will now be at the purview of the minister. He alone will make the decisions. That is what he said in committee and confirmed here in the House.

Rather than have the minister make this program political, I would encourage the government to let the existing independent committee allocate the funding.

Why will the parliamentary secretary and the minister not commit to let the committee handle the requests for new war memorials? It is set up and ready to go. The criteria would probably be very similar. I am glad to hear we are moving forward with this.

Will the government allow the committee to select the requests for funding with respect to the $1 million over the next two years? If not, why not? It would make the process totally non-partisan so that war memorials would not be political decisions of a minister, and we know that would happen.

[May 6th, 2010]

I was just getting going. I will sit down and listen to the parliamentary secretary.

[May 6th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to stand this evening on this adjournment proceeding and speak about Veterans Affairs issues, in particular the new community war memorial program and the question I had asked. I am glad to see the parliamentary secretary is here this evening to answer some questions. I encourage him to take his pre-written speech and throw it out the window and let us get some really good answers on some real questions on this issue.

To set the tone on the community war memorial program, there is no disagreement from this side of the House. The Liberal Party fully supports the initiative by the government to institute a community war memorial program. We think it is a worthwhile initiative, so we will be supportive of that.

I want to ask some questions on it and get to the bottom of exactly how this community war memorial program will work. We will get to the facts of the matter and I will run my questions together and hopefully the parliamentary secretary will be able to address them and answer them correctly.

What the government does, and most governments have done this in the past, is make announcements on things, but then when we get into the finer detail of it, we realize it is not as good as what we first heard.

In the budget the Conservatives announced $2 million for a community war memorial program and then we later found out this would be spread over two years. We are dealing with a $1 million new community war memorial program. Hopefully the parliamentary secretary will able to correct that or agree with it.

The second part is this is not to be confused with the cenotaph and monument restoration program. In some documents the deputy minister provided us with answers to our committee the figure was correct. The cenotaph and monument restoration program for 2010-11 is $1 million. It is good to see that we have both programs where one is for new and one is for renewing the old cenotaphs and memorials. I want to ensure it is correct that both programs will be proceeding as announced.

This is where I get to my questions that I had asked the minister and they were brought up at committee. War memorials, whether they be new or old, are focused around one part in a particular town. Most towns have war memorials that need repairs, for which they apply to this program, and it is a good program. I have no qualms about it. It is a fabulous program for repairing those memorials. Communities that want to add on to their war memorial programs could apply under the new program and make application for this initiative.

Under the old program for renewing and updating war memorials, there is an independent committee. I will quote from the Veterans Affairs guidelines on this committee. It states:

Once all required materials have been submitted, they will be forwarded to a review committee which will include representation from national Veterans’ organizations as well as experts from organizations or institutions involved in reparations and conservation of this type.

It sounds great. There is a program where an independent committee will review this. Is my time up already?

[Fairness for Military Families (Employment Insurance) Act, May 6th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This is a very important issue and it is kind of disturbing to see that there is a lack of quorum in the chamber today. I think there should be a quorum for this important debate.