Stephen Harper

[The Economy, March 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this is a member of Parliament who wanted to overturn the results of the election in order that Parliament would not get our budget. This is a member of Parliament who said he would vote against the budget no matter what was in it. Now, this is a member of Parliament who alleges there is a slush fund, when not a single dime of government money has actually been spent yet.

Mr. Speaker, this tells you how irresponsible and ridiculous the positions of the New Democratic Party have become. There used to be a day when that party actually stood for something. Now it is just against everything.

[The Economy, March 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, these funds will be used to implement the 2009 budget. Canadians are waiting for this budget and these monies. The New Democratic Party decided to vote against the budget before reading it. That is an irresponsible position.

[Forestry Industry, March 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, once again the Bloc is trying to divide Canadians, setting Ontario against Quebec. That is the real purpose of this question. It is not really to help the forest industry but just another way to sow division and discord. That is what Canadians have learned to expect from an extremist party like that.

[Forestry Industry, March 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc should know that the agreement with the United States forbids direct subsidies to companies in this industry. That is why we have been helping it with incentives to promote renewable energy and innovation as well as measures to assist the working people in these communities. The industry is very disappointed with the Bloc’s opposition to these measures that are so important for it and for these communities.

[The Economy, March 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, these funds are obviously for the implementation of budget 2009, including infrastructure funding for the summer construction period. This House must act quickly. I urge the Leader of the Opposition to stop changing positions and to support these measures and funds, which are so important to the Canadian economy.

[The Economy, March 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the economic plan of the Minister of Finance has spoken very clearly about the government's views on this and our action plan to deal with it. We have no plan whatsoever, or no proposals whatsoever, from the leader opposite.

This gentleman talks about contradictions. Last week the Liberals wanted to delay passage of the estimates, now they say they should be passed as quickly as possible. At least they have it right the second time.

[The Economy, March 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family of former Speaker of the House, Gilbert Parent.

If the hon. member were to look closely at the transcript of that interview, he would see that I was speaking specifically of the mortgage sector. In the United States tens of billions of dollars are being spent to deal with the problems in the mortgage sector. We do have a cyclical downturn in our mortgage sector but nothing that requires a massive government bailout package for that particular sector.

Notwithstanding the economic difficulties, that is one of the many strengths this country has over the United States.

[The Environment, March 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Environment is in Washington today to continue the clean energy dialogue that was initiated when President Obama was in Ottawa.

While in Washington, with regard to the clean energy dialogue, the Minister of the Environment will talk to the American administration about the expansion of clean energy research, the development and deployment of clean energy technology, the promotion of clean and renewable energy sources like hydroelectricity.

This is an important initiative between our governments and one we hope will be a model for the rest of the world in terms of climate change.

[The Economy, March 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, there is a leader who, when we brought forward measures to help Canadian workers, said that he would oppose them even before he read them. There is a leader who now says that the money being spent involves abuse, when in fact we have not yet authorized the expenditure of a single dollar.

That is how irresponsible that party is. It is about time he took the economic crisis seriously and helped pass these measures to actually help Canadian families that need help.

[The Economy, March 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, they talk about a failure to recognize a problem. There is a leader of a party that wanted to prevent the elected government from tabling its budget, who then went out and said that he would oppose the budget no matter what was in it, and now he tries to invent reasons to block money flowing from this budget.

His position is not only denial, it is completely irresponsible, and the NDP should actually do something positive around here for a change.