Stephen Harper

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the money is not being spent on a fake lake. The money is being spent on a pavilion to promote tourism in Canada. It is supported by all the spokespersons of that industry. This is an unparalleled opportunity given that thousands of guests from Canada and abroad will be attending. We intend to promote tourism in our country.

[Committees of the House, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, let me reply to the preamble of that question.

What we are doing is ensuring that the Canadian banking system, which is the strongest in the world, is protected from unfair punitive measures. Canadian consumers and the Canadian economy have paid the price of a strong regulatory system that protected us through this crisis. We will not allow this country, its consumers or its families to be penalized for doing what is right.

We have a strong sector in this country. We are going to protect it.

[Committees of the House, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, in our system, ministers are accountable to Parliament for their actions. If the Bloc leader has questions, he can ask the Prime Minister. He should have the courage to do that instead of trying to intimidate the Prime Minister's staff.

[Committees of the House, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, members of our political staff are accountable to us, and we, as ministers, are accountable to Parliament. My chief of staff has already answered these questions.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the summit has not happened, so it would be a bit early to speculate on its outcomes.

The opposition is obviously throwing around a bunch of falsehoods. For instance, yesterday the opposition said that there is a $2 million lake when in fact what there is is a $2 million marketing pavilion. There are thousands of visitors from around the world. This is a classic attempt for us to be able to market the country. We have quotes from all kinds of people in the Ontario tourism industry, including the president of that industry, saying that this is our chance to profile Ontario tourism to the world and we must not miss this opportunity.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, this is a historic change of position for the Liberal Party to be against a multilateral process such as this. The G20 has been key in the world's response including in Canada's response to the recession we have avoided at present by taking a series of strong measures on stimulus, on regulation of the financial sector. There are still very real challenges around the world that the G20 summit will be addressing. Canada's positions are well known. We are optimistic about the outcomes.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the security measures are the same as those taken for other summits. Canada is in one of the strongest fiscal positions in the world. Obviously, we are working with our G20 partners to improve the very serious debt situations in several countries.

[International Aid, June 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, once again, Canada has an extremely generous record when it comes to humanitarian and development aid. In fact, the financing of those activities has been increasing.

I know that CIDA has been undertaking steps to ensure that the money goes to services to help people in developing countries with the challenges in their lives. We want to make sure that those aid dollars are spent as effectively as possible. That is the basis on which money is given to organizations.

[International Aid, June 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, Canada is a very generous country when it comes to humanitarian aid. We now have an initiative to save the lives of mothers and women in developing countries. We are very optimistic and believe that we will receive more funding from the international community to support these efforts.

[Foreign Affairs, June 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, while I obviously do not discuss individual consular cases, the government obviously has full consular access and is providing consular services to these individuals.