House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 64% of the vote.
Taxation May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party's position is to oppose tariff reductions for Canadian consumers, while supporting special tariff reductions for Chinese companies. Their policy makes no sense at all.
That is why, here on this side of the House, we support tax cuts for all Canadians.
The Economy May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I am listening very carefully to the leader of the Liberal Party, and I am hearing nothing of substance whatsoever. What I do know, and what Canadians know, is this country, Canada, has one of the absolute best records in the world coming out of the recession, and as the OECD has said, is one of the best prospects for the 50 years to come.
There are concrete, specific, substantive measures before the House the Liberal Party should think about supporting for a change: the Canada job grant, the advanced manufacturing fund, the hiring credit for small business, opportunities for apprentices. I could go on and on. Let us have the Liberal Party get some substance, get onside, and help us get things done.
The Economy May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, once again, Canada's record is better than virtually every other country in the developed world when it comes to job creation, economic growth since the recession and the position of our middle class.
Of course we can always do more. We have presented measures here in the House, such as our economic action plan 2013, that have the broad support of Canadians and economic stakeholders.
I encourage the Liberal Party to do something positive and support those measures.
Government Expenditures May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, as the Auditor General said, no money is missing or lost. Quite the opposite is true.
The issue here is the clarity of certain analyses, and the Treasury Board has accepted the Auditor General's recommendations.
Government Expenditures May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said the complete opposite.
He said: “We didn’t find anything that gave us cause for concern that the money...was used in any way that it should not have been.” This is a matter of clarity and analysis. The Treasury Board accepted the Auditor General's recommendations for its future reports.
Government Expenditures May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the member suggests the Auditor General said something he did not say. In fact, what he said on this specific issue is the following, “We didn’t find anything that gave us cause for concern that the money...was used in any way that it should not have been.”
The issue here is certain analyses that the Auditor General would like to see presented to make sure in the future that Parliament can better understand certain spending. All spending has been reported and accounted for, and the Treasury Board has accepted the Auditor General's recommendations.
Elections Canada May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, we have no such fear. In fact, we have committed to come through with amendments to do precisely that.
The fact of the matter is, it is only in the last few weeks that Elections Canada has made its own recommendations in this regard. We are looking specifically at those recommendations, and as the government has indicated, we will be bringing forward amendments to the law in the not too distant future.
Elections Canada May 1st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the suggestions for savings at Elections Canada were produced by Elections Canada itself, and after the election campaign.
Obviously, Elections Canada is independent. It has set up an audit that has exposed some quality control issues. I think Elections Canada will obviously accept the recommendations of that audit and we will look at those recommendations as we move forward with changes to elections law.
The Economy April 30th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, there is no country in the world better to live in right now and better to be middle class. The reason for that is because we are keeping taxes low for Canadian families, because we are making investments to the Canadian economy that matter, because we are keeping our debts low and keeping our banks strong, and day after day we are not listening to the ideas of the Liberal Party instead doing good things for the Canadian economy.
The Budget April 30th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure the leader of the Liberal Party understands the issue of tariffs.
Let me be clear. The position of the government has been that we have progressively reduced a wide range of tariffs for all Canadians. Canadians have benefited from that to the tune of over half a billion dollars a year.
At the same time, we do not think it is appropriate to have special tariff reductions only for companies from countries like China. The Liberal Party apparently thinks that is appropriate. That is the wrong policy.
The right policy is lower tariffs for Canadians and to ensure that Chinese companies pay their fair share.