Stephen Harper

[Firearms Registry, December 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the government has been unable to respect its own deadlines. It has bungled the system. There has been no accountability for minister after minister who has screwed up the system. Now today it has announced that it will have a general amnesty for the bureaucrats who screwed this up, so why not a general amnesty for the gun owners who cannot meet the deadline?

[Firearms Registry, December 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I will remind the government that violent criminals do not register their guns.

We obviously will not get a straight answer to that question, so let me just follow up on the minister's statement this morning. He admits that the gun registry is running at minimal levels. Gun owners across the country are trying to register by the year end deadline but they cannot get through on the 1-800 number and they cannot get forms.

Will the government announce a general amnesty for gun owners who cannot register by the January deadline?

[Firearms Registry, December 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister apparently admitted to his caucus that he knew of cost overruns on the gun registry for years. This is just one more piece of evidence that the government, in the words of the Auditor General, “kept Parliament in the dark” about spending on the registry.

Will the government now come clean and admit when it first became aware of the billion dollar cost overruns on the gun registry?

[Point of Order, December 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This may be the last chance I will have to put questions to the Prime Minister before we adjourn for the holidays, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish him a Merry Christmas.

I have a very important question for him. We have learned that one of the most prominent citizens of Canada's north, namely Santa Claus, will be visiting the homes of Canadians during the evening of December 24.

This is an arduous journey, which requires enormous preparation.

Could the Prime Minister assure the House that the government, and all ministries and departments are prepared for the arrival of Santa Claus?

[Justice, December 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, groups like B'nai B'rith are responsible organizations; they are not showboaters.

Here is yet another example of gross incompetence. For seven years the government refused to create a sex offender registry. Then it agreed to an Alliance motion to create one, and has spent two years trying to come up with legislation.

Could the government now confirm that its new sex offender registry will not even include known existing convicted sex offenders?

[Terrorism, December 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the minister will have to take up that argument with some of his own colleagues.

Here is another area of gross incompetence. The government has refused for a year to ban Hezbollah. It rubbed shoulders and urged dialogue with this terrorist organization.

At 2:30 yesterday afternoon, the Solicitor General in the House again refused to ban it. Then at 5:30 p.m., the minister caused information to be leaked to the press that he was banning Hezbollah.

What new information appeared between 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. that caused him to flip-flop on this issue?

[Airport Security, December 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as we approach the end of the session, the government stumbles from one incompetent mess to another.

Last year it brought in a badly structured tax on the airline industry. It was warned not to bring it in, and now that this tax has done nothing but damage to an industry that already has difficulties, even some Liberal members of the transport committee are calling for the tax to be suspended and re-evaluated.

Will the government finally figure it out, finally get it, and agree to suspend the air tax?

[Kyoto Protocol, December 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it would be nice if the Prime Minister had some idea of what those were.

I have a supplementary question for the Prime Minister. This government is ignoring the provinces' objections to the imprudent ratification of Kyoto. The Prime Minister has not yet met with his provincial counterparts concerning his incomplete plan to respect his “made in Japan” commitments, and he needs the provinces to do so.

When is the Prime Minister going to meet with the provincial premiers to discuss how Canada is going to comply with its obligations?

[Kyoto Protocol, December 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I asked the Prime Minister what he would achieve in a year and, typically, he has a grand scheme. He has no plan on issue after issue. That is his real legacy to this country.

He has no clear plan and no real targets for his reckless made in Japan commitments, but nevertheless, the Kyoto protocol itself requires an interim progress report to the United Nations panel on climate change by 2005.

Could the Prime Minister tell us his government's intention? What are the interim targets it intends to meet by 2005 and how much will those measures cost?

[Kyoto Protocol, December 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, today the Prime Minister is recklessly pushing forward with ratification of his Kyoto legacy. He will be committing Canada to massive CO

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reductions without a clear and complete plan for these made in Japan targets.

The Prime Minister said that he will retire in February 2004. I have a very straightforward question. Could the Prime Minister tell the House, by February 2004, what interim targets will the government have met for Kyoto and how much will those measures cost?