Shelly Glover

[Canadian Heritage, December 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of all Canadians, this government has done a lot to ensure Canadians' voices are heard. When we plan the 150th anniversary of our country, I can assure Canadians that their voices will again be heard. Whether it be the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the national flag, whether it be the commemoration of First and Second World War events, whether it be the celebration of the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences, Canadians can count on this Conservative government to be present and listening.

While the NDP may stay home, we are going to be there celebrating the 150th with all Canadians.

[Canadian Heritage, December 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my department is working on plans to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation. In a few days we will be launching consultations in Canada.

As for the logo for Government of Canada activities, we are listening to what Canadians have to say. We will continue with our planning. This will be an extraordinary celebration for our entire country.

[Intergovernmental Relations, November 28th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question.

I would also like to say that the War of 1812 was a turning point in our country's history. That battle for Canada paved the way for Confederation.

To answer the second part of her question, we will take all her requests under advisement.

[Official Languages, November 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the commissioner was very clear about this government's moving forward on official languages. I would like to say that he noted several positive developments, including that there are now half a million more bilingual Canadians than there were 10 years ago, the majority of Canada's provincial premiers are bilingual, and French has actually become, as he states, the language of ambition. We believe it is ambitious.

I want to thank and congratulate all members of Parliament and senators who are presently taking official language training. Congratulations.

[Official Languages, November 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the commissioner for his annual report. To set the record straight on what my colleague just said, I would like to quote from the commissioner's report:

The federal government supports official language communities through various initiatives.... These initiatives have enabled a number of English-speaking and French-speaking communities to gain momentum over the years, giving them reason to be optimistic about the future.

I am very proud of our government because we have made unprecedented investments in our national languages. We will continue to do just that.

[Canadian Museum of History Act, November 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. NDP colleague for his kind words.

Debates and consultations have taken place. Most of the people who talked about this change to the museum clearly said that they wanted to see this happen quickly, and quite frankly, we have let them down. This has clearly already been proposed in a previous Parliament by another minister. We have spent hours debating it and we always get the same response from the opposition: they want us to do nothing with this. Canadians, however, want us to do something about this. They want to celebrate Canada's history. We, the Conservatives, will follow all the rules. We will move this bill forward and give Canadians what they want—to rename this museum—and we will do so as quickly as possible.

[Canadian Museum of History Act, November 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, parliamentary democracy means following the rules.

This is clearly in accordance with the rules, and we want to address the needs of Canadians by listening to them. We consulted 20,000 Canadians who gave their opinion on the museum. We also held debates here, in this House. There were discussions in committee, hours of debate, discussions and consultations. Now is the time to move forward with this bill and to give Canadians and Quebeckers what they want: to move forward with the history museum, so that we can celebrate our past and move towards a future with a museum that will instill more pride and will acknowledge our country's achievements and accomplishments.

[Canadian Museum of History Act, November 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, put very simply, it is so that we can get on with the business at hand, which is to rename this museum so that Canadians from coast to coast to coast can allow us to celebrate our Canadian history with them.

It would allow us to focus on what has happened in the past to make us the greatest country in the world. It would allow us to focus on why we do the things we do as Canadians. Events in our history have led us down this path to being the Canadians we are. They have led us down this path to respecting one another, to having the rule of law that we follow and respect, and to being the Canadians of this Parliament, who Canadians are watching today, who will lead them into the future, concentrating on their asks.

One of their asks is that this change of name occur so that we can get on with the business of the day and allow Canadians to celebrate and share these exhibits from coast to coast to coast.

[Canadian Museum of History Act, November 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we all know that this member likes to get the headlines in the paper, but I am not here for that. I am here for Canadians. I am here to follow the rules that are in place. For the member to pick and choose which rules he thinks are democratic, and to disregard those that are in the Westminster system, such as time allotment, for his own purposes, I think is wrong.

Frankly, for the member to insult Canadians' intelligence by changing my words, as I had said “delay for the sake of delay”, I think is unfair. That is the reputation that member continues to put forward.

I will not do that. I will tell the truth. I will not spin. I am going to do what Canadians want, and that is to rename this museum the Canadian museum of history.

[Canadian Museum of History Act, November 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, not at all. In fact, we have a great deal of respect for what the museum curators are doing.

I would also like to respond with a quote from the president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. He said:

We are also pleased that this government recognizes that preserving our nation’s history is vitally important to national life and to our national sense of self.

That means that the president, Mark O'Neill, agrees with our proposal to breathe new life into this museum. He works very hard and I want to thank him for that. His team also works very hard. I want to thank them on behalf of the Government of Canada. I am eager to work with him on the proposal that is before us today: the creation of the museum of history.