Ted Hsu

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government has closed the citizenship and immigration office in Kingston and the Islands. If one wants assistance, now there is call centre, except only a fraction of the calls get through to the remaining agents because of the cuts. If one needs forms, one has go online—but not through the community access program, which has been cut. Families have to wait longer for service.

The Conservative government's incompetence has led to a debt of over $600 billion and now it is cutting services on the backs of immigrant families. Is that fair?

[National Defence, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, once again on the F-35, 14 months ago in the House, the Minister of National Defence said:

This is the best aircraft, the only aircraft...available to the Canadian Forces.... All of the experts agree, this is the best aircraft....

Given the recent disclosures, would the government like to revise its answer? Will the minister take responsibility and resign, or will the Conservatives continue to repeatedly mislead Canadians on the F-35, like they have for the last five years?

[Jobs and Growth Act, 2012, December 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague from Kitchener—Conestoga mentioned health sciences expansion and an expansion in educational facilities for students.

However, from talking to a number of people I know that one of the bottlenecks for getting people employed is the lack of clinical placements for people working in health sciences technology. Does the budget do anything for that?

On the subject of taxes, I would also ask my hon. colleague, who represents an area where a lot of innovation is happening, why his government is so willing to increase taxes on innovative companies by cutting the scientific research and experimental development tax credit?

[Jobs and Growth Act, 2012, December 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I just cannot resist asking my hon. colleague across the way why his government is intending to raise taxes on innovative companies, the companies in my riding and elsewhere that rely on the scientific research and experimental development tax credit, the companies that will be developing the technologies and increasing the productivity of workers to provide the jobs for my children and presumably his children as well. Why is the government in this budget increasing taxes on innovative companies by cutting the scientific research and experimental development tax credit?

[Jobs and Growth Act, 2012, December 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my hon. colleague to expand a bit on his point that the announced reductions in the scientific research and experimental development tax credit are not being met by increases in spending elsewhere, as claimed by the government. I see there are $110 million for the industrial research assistance program, $12 million for business-led networks of centres of excellence, $40 million for procurement and $37 million for industry academic collaboration. That adds up to about $200 million, but SR and ED is projected to be cut by at least $500 million. In fact, the government's estimates are lower than some independent estimates.

I would like my colleague to comment on that, please.

[Jobs and Growth Act, 2012, December 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's investment in business research and development support was concentrated in the scientific research and experimental development tax credit but we will be cutting that eventually by something like $500 million a year. If we look at the announced spending that is supposed to come from those cuts to the SR and ED tax credit, they do not add up anywhere near $500 million.

A lot of companies in my riding and elsewhere rely on that tax credit. These are the innovative companies that are creating jobs that use that tax credit to develop the innovations that make Canadian workers more productive.

I would ask my hon. colleague for Edmonton Centre whether his constituents in the oil and gas technology sector who heavily rely on the eligibility for capital expenditures for the scientific research and experimental tax credit would be happy. Why is he increasing taxes on his constituents in the oil and gas technology sector by cutting the tax credit for SR and ED?

[Petitions, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from the women of St. Joseph's Church in my constituency who are concerned about child pornography and child exploitation through the Internet. They call upon Parliament to modify section 163 of the Criminal Code to change the legal terminology from “child pornography” to “child sex abuse” materials to protect children and deter pedophilia.

[Petitions, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions from my constituents today.

The first petition calls upon the House to pass Bill C-398 to facilitate the flow of life-saving generic drugs to developing countries.

[Canada National Parks Act, November 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I believe memories are what national parks are all about. I certainly have fond memories of vacations with my parents and brothers. People who approached me when the subject of this bill came up told me stories of their vacations, of sitting on the dock with their father, and the memories they treasure. That is one of the reasons we treasure our parks. There are other reasons that we treasure our parks. They are places to preserve a bit of nature, to preserve biodiversity.

This park in question, which is soon to be known as the Thousand Islands National Park, is no exception. In my earlier speech, I mentioned that in my home riding of Kingston and the Islands, in which a small part of this park finds itself, one day we discovered a wild turkey sitting in my mother's backyard. I did not know that wild turkeys live in Canada but they do, because there are parts of Canada where this biodiversity is preserved.

Why are we considering this bill right now? The reason is that we see an opportunity, in the midst of some cuts to funding for Parks Canada. I wish to acknowledge that my colleague from Leeds—Grenville is very cognizant of the need to look carefully at these cuts and maybe to scale back on some of them to ensure we preserve the benefits of our parks for everybody to enjoy, and for tourists to come to Canada to enjoy. He has been working hard to ensure we are very careful about the cuts we make to Parks Canada. However, it is also be an opportunity to look at how we could move forward, how we could encourage tourism to a park that has a lot of benefits, not only to my riding and my hon. colleague's riding, but to the whole country's economy.

We are considering changing the name to Thousands Islands National Park because Thousand Islands is a name that is recognized far and wide. I remember when we, as a family, vacationed around the country. In the United States, when we explained to people where we lived, we would say we lived right by the Thousand Islands. This is a name that has a lot of recognition around the world, and it is a name we know is very appropriate for this park. It is situated right in the Thousand Islands region. It is a name that is so ingrained in people's minds that they often refer to my riding as Kingston and the Thousand Islands, not by its correct name of Kingston and the Islands.

In committee, we have dealt with the issue of cost and, as my hon. colleague from Leeds—Grenville mentioned, the costs are roughly known. There is a good estimate of what the costs would be, and a lot of that would simply be incurred anyway due to regular maintenance. That has come out in committee, and I am glad we have had the chance to cover that issue.

It would be a marketing opportunity and an opportunity to ensure that all of the resources in our region are used to maximize the economic benefit of our natural environment and the resources we have. This initiative would encourage tourism to the area, support the creation and maintenance of employment in the area, and it would have a very natural economic benefit that we want to promote. I think the member knew about all of this. When I heard of this bill, I phoned some acquaintances who knew about the park and the region, some of them being previous members of the staff.

We confirmed that all the changes made sense and that all stakeholders in the region wanted this change, were aware of the benefits and had an idea of what it would cost and that the cost-benefit analysis was definitely positive.

Now everything has been looked at by the committee, and I am glad that my colleague in the NDP has done her due diligence and is satisfied with the cost of this bill and its benefits and will be supporting this bill at third reading. We can all agree that it would be the right thing to move ahead with this change and rename this park the Thousand Islands National Park, so that people can bring their families to vacation in the Thousand Islands National Park and create memories that they and their kids will carry with them for the rest of their lives, memories we cherish and are part of why national parks are so important to us and our country.

I ask all members of the House to support this bill at third reading.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 23rd, 2012]

With regard to National Research Council Canada (NRC): (a) what is the department responsible for collecting royalties for patents licensed by NRC; (b) what is the breakdown, in dollars, of billing for royalties for patents licensed by NRC, by month from January, 2010 to the present; (c) what is the amount, in dollars, received by NRC from collecting royalties for patents they have licensed, by month from January, 2010 to the present; (d) what is the amount of outstanding royalties for patents licensed by NRC payable to NRC as of September 21, 2012; (e) how many outstanding bills, pertaining to royalties for patents licensed by NRC that are owed to NRC, have not been issued since January, 2010, by month, and what are each of their dollar amounts; (f) what is the total, in dollars, of outstanding royalties for patents licensed by NRC owed to NRC since January, 2010, by month; (g) where are royalties received for patents licensed by NRC allocated; and (h) which line items in the NRC budget receive how many dollars?