House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 64% of the vote.
Government Expenditures May 8th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said there is no money missing or lost. There are no red flags. The fact of the matter is this is a question of a form of reporting. The Auditor General has made some recommendations on how to do that better in the future. The Treasury Board has accepted those recommendations and will be moving forward on that basis.
Government Advertising May 7th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are very proud of Canada's economic performance during a very difficult period in the global economy.
Canadians want this government to continue to lower taxes and oppose the tax increases being proposed by the opposition parties, including the Liberal Party of Canada.
We have reduced taxes by $3,000 per family, and we will continue to do so.
Government Advertising May 7th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, what Canadians clearly have told this party in three successive general elections is that, unlike the Liberal government, we want to see taxes lowered in this country. That is why they are now $3,000 lower for every Canadian family in this country.
We keep waiting to hear some positive and substantive ideas from the leader of the Liberal Party. In the absence of those, I would urge him to look at the important measures in the budget and, rather than defend special tax breaks for Chinese companies, actually stand on the side of Canadians here.
Government Advertising May 7th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand and are very proud of the fact that Canada's economy has performed so much better than other developed countries during these challenging times.
Of course the government is moving forward with additional measures to help Canadian families, which the Liberal Party is against. The Liberal Party is apparently against the adoption expense tax credit, against the first-time donor super credit, against expanding tax relief for home care services and against general tariff reductions for Canadian families.
These are important measures for Canadian families, and it is about time the Liberal Party got onside with positive measures.
Employment May 7th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the government acted a year ago to deal with precisely that issue.
However, guess what? The leader of the NDP cannot remember, from one day to the next, what the position of his party is on these issues. It is his own party, writing the government, demanding that in the highest unemployment regions in the country we bring in more temporary foreign workers.
That is why we have been changing the EI system, why we have been changing the temporary foreign worker system and why we will keep moving Canada forward rather than listening to the NDP.
Employment May 7th, 2013
Once again, Mr. Speaker, the minister brought in changes last year to make sure people who are on EI, employment insurance, get first crack at jobs rather than temporary foreign workers. Guess who opposed that? The NDP opposed it. In fact, while we were trying to make these changes, the NDP was instead writing us, saying to bring more temporary foreign workers into high unemployment areas. That is obviously the wrong approach, which is why for over a year the government has been doing something completely different from what that party wanted to see.
Employment May 7th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, exactly the contrary is true. Not only has the government indicated for some time that it would be reforming the temporary foreign workers program, but in the budget last year specifically we brought in measures to better match job vacancies with people who are seeking work or in the employment insurance system. We have been very clear. We need to do a better job of matching the demand for EI and the demand for temporary foreign workers. That is precisely what the government has been doing for a year and a half while, by the way, the NDP has been writing to us demanding more temporary foreign workers for its ridings.
Government Expenditures May 7th, 2013
Once again, Mr. Speaker, that of course is simply not accurate.
As the Auditor General said, he has no concerns about improper use or missing money. What he has concerns about is the clarity and categorization of reporting between government departments over the 2001 to 2009 period. He has made certain recommendations to improve that process, and the government will be following those.
Government Expenditures May 7th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General clearly said that these reports raise no red flags.
He did mention a lack of clarity in government reports in that respect. He made certain recommendations, and we intend to follow them.
Citizenship and Immigration May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, we are obviously all deeply troubled by the humanitarian situation in Syria, which just gets progressively worse. We are not only worried about the situation in Syria, but, frankly, the wider instability that threatens the rest of the region. That is why, as the leader of the Green Party has noted, the government has brought forward some specific help to Syria and to some of its neighbours as well. We continue, through various agencies of the government and through working with our allies, to look at ways that we can help further.