Scott Andrews

[Rail Service, October 20th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the government is continuing its partisan advertising campaign, at taxpayer expense, to mislead Canadians about its failing economic action plan.

The government is out of control and its economic plan has gone totally off the rails.

Last week, a Conservative MP from Ontario took part in its partisan advertising campaign by touting VIA Rail service for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

I would like to ask the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry just one simple question: Where can I catch a VIA Rail train in Newfoundland and Labrador? The answer: nowhere.

For the information of the government, there has been no train service in Newfoundland and Labrador for over 21 years. It certainly needs to go back to the drawing board on this one and get its propaganda campaign back on the rails.

If this were not so serious, it would be funny.

The government is totally out of touch with Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. While we want to improve protection for our fishery resources and improve search and rescue services, the government tries to improve something that does not even exist in our province.

It is no wonder we have lost confidence in the government. It is off the rails in more ways than one.

[Petitions, October 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by many residents of St. Mary's Bay, Riverhead and Colliers.

The petitioners call upon the government not to end the moratorium on closing post offices. There are rumours circulating that these offices will close. These post offices are essential services. They play a key role and it is also the economic life of rural Canada.

The petitioners pray that the government maintain the moratorium on the closing of post offices and withdraw legislation to legalize remailers.

[Fisheries and Oceans, October 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans stood in this House and stated, “for the information of the House, science has not been cut at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans”.

Obviously this will be news to the minister but fishers in 3JKL are wondering why their department cut the otter trawl science survey after 10 years and did not expand the program, as the minister claimed. What happened? Did the minister just forget about that one?

Will the minister immediately put the otter trawl science survey back in place?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 14th, 2009]

With regard to project applications and approvals in the constituency of Avalon under the Job Creation Partnership, through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada: (a) how many applications were submitted; (b) who were the applicants; (c) what were the projects identified in the application; and (d) of the projects that were approved, how much funding was approved and what was the breakdown of funding to each specific project for wages, overhead and materials for the time period January 1, 2007 to April 30, 2009?

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 14th, 2009]

With regard to the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board (CEIFB) announced in Budget 2008, and the subsequent Nominating Committee announced July 21, 2008: (a) have the Nominating Committee identified candidates for appointment to the CEIFB and, if so, (i) has a list of potential members been presented to the Governor in Council for appointment, (ii) has the Governor in Council appointed members for the CEIFB, (iii) who were the individuals listed or appointed, (iv) what is the home province or territory for each individual; (b) what has the CEIFB done since being founded to fulfill their responsibilities, including (i) implementing Employment Insurance (EI) premium rate-setting mechanism to ensure EI revenues and expenditures break even over time, (ii) using any excess EI revenues in a given year to reduce premium rates in subsequent years, (iii) maintaining a $2 billion cash reserve fund to support rate stability measures; and (c) has a contingency fund been established, if so, (i) has the transfer of $2 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund into a contingency fund occurred, (ii) what is the current balance in the established contingency fund?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, June 19th, 2009]

With regard to the Extension of Employment Insurance Benefits, under the Pilot Project 10 and funding for skills and development and training, within the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC): (a) broken down by provincial and territorial jurisdictions, how many clients of HRSDC were receiving EI benefits on February 28, 2009 and out of that number, (i) how many were receiving the benefit of the additional five weeks under Project Pilot 10, in each provincial and territorial jurisdiction, (ii) what were the same statistics by provincial and territorial jurisdiction for March 31, 2009; and (b) broken down by provincial and territorial jurisdiction, (i) how many clients applied and how many clients were approved for training and skills development benefits while receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits from January 1, 2008 to April 30, 2008, (ii) how many clients applied and how many clients were approved for training and skills development benefits while receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits from January 1, 2009 to April 30, 2009?

[Questions on the Order Paper, June 15th, 2009]

With regard to funding from the government, through the Department of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, for an extension of Conception Bay South By-Pass Road, from Legion Road to Seal Cove, in Newfoundland and Labrador: (a) was there an official approval of this project by the government on or before December 17, 2007 and, if so (i) what amount of funding was approved, (ii) what date was it approved, (iii) why was it not included in a news release issued by the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities on December 17, 2007; (b) if no formal approval was given for this project by the government prior to December 17, 2007, has there been any formal project approval given for an extension to the Conception Bay Southe By-Pass Road since December 17, 2007 and, if so, on what date; and (c) is the project to extend the Conception Bay South By-Pass Road, from Legion to Seal Cove, currently being reviewed or recommended for approval within the Department of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities?

[Petitions, June 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to introduce my first petition as a member. I am presenting it on behalf of 850 fishermen throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec who voluntarily participated in retirement under the 1998 Atlantic groundfish strategy when we had to close the groundfishery.

The issue of the petitioners is that they were charged too much tax on their capital gains. A number of them were charged at 25%. About 850 of them were charged at 100% tax on their capital gains. The basis of this is that every Canadian taxpayer should be treated fairly. All they are asking is for the government to acknowledge that it made an error here and take corrective measures.

It has been 10 years now. I should recognize the hard work done by Ms. Elizabeth Harvey over the years in trying to get this onto the government agenda, as well as my colleague from Random—Burin—St. George's who has been working very hard on this file as well.

We are talking about 200 fishers who were taxed at 25%. Again, 850 were taxed at 100%. I would like to present this petition and I am looking forward to the response from the government.

[Business of Supply, June 11th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I have a couple of questions for the member.

Yes, we have a terrific CPP system in this country and it works very well. One thing I am hearing from my constituents is that if there are two seniors on CPP and the husband would like to do a bit of work, every time he does, his CPP gets clawed back.

We are getting into an older generation now. The baby boom generation is getting older and some seniors would like to work a bit longer, but it is not worth their while because of the clawback. I am wondering if his government would look at putting a small cap on or providing a cushion so that some seniors could earn a bit of income without being clawed back.

My second question is this. He talked about everything his government has done for seniors. Perhaps he would like to explain its commitment not to touch income trusts and then shortly after being elected it put a tax on income trusts. Let us talk about the hard-working seniors who lost a lot of money because of that broken promise.

[Conception Bay South Monument of Honour, June 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we have volunteer groups in all our ridings who volunteer thousands of hours to recognize the contribution of servicemen and servicewomen to defending our rights and freedoms.

At this time I want to congratulate the members of the Conception Bay South Monument of Honour committee for their commitment to improve and restore the original war memorial in Conception Bay South. It is a tremendous undertaking and these volunteers are making great progress, and in particular, Mr. Wayne Miller, who has been spearheading the efforts to date. I thank Mr. Miller.

The memorial has been moved to a new location in town and the committee is now focusing its efforts on beautifying the grounds and providing an atmosphere that truly reflects honour and glory. The Conception Bay South Monument of Honour committee has committed to raising $750,000 for this wonderful project.

I join the residents of Conception Bay South in saying a big thank you to the Monument of Honour committee. We are proud of their efforts and commend their dedication to this project. I wish them good luck, and I look forward to seeing them at their annual fundraising golf tournament in a couple of weeks' time.