House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 78% of the vote.
Seniors November 15th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, it is nice to hear that the opposition actually understands some of the challenges that our seniors face.
We did extend that deadline for seniors during the recession, but if I recall, all of the opposition voted against that at the time. It matters not what we put forward to help seniors, because the opposition tends to vote against it.
We have actually done a great amount to help seniors prepare for their retirement. We encourage the opposition to support some of those measures.
The Economy November 14th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I wish that hon. member would have shown the same passion and voted with the last three budgets that actually put in place something that helped Canadians.
It is a little late to the game to say that we should do something about increasing Canadian jobs. Our economic action plan did just that.
There are 600,000 more Canadians working today than there were at the end of the recession, and 81% of those are full-time jobs. That matters to those people.
The Economy November 14th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I guess that outlines the difference between this government and the NDP. We recognized a long time ago that Canadians want jobs. That is why we put in place an economic action plan that actually placed jobs in front of Canadians. We put stimulus money into the economy that helped provide jobs and infrastructure.
However, every time we bring something forward that helps the unemployed--for example, extending EI--the NDP votes against it. There was an EI hiring credit in the last budget; the NDP voted against that as well.
The Economy November 2nd, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will represent Canadian interests at the G20 summit and stress the need to reach concrete solutions to support the global economic recovery.
Canada has shown that we have a prudent and responsible economic plan that has helped Canada become one of the strongest economies in the western world. The IMF praised us again this week by saying that Canada has made decisive policy responses to recent economic turbulence; it also applauded our plan to get back to balance as a very necessary step.
That is very important. Our Prime Minister—
Ending the Long-gun Registry Act November 1st, 2011
That's exactly what—
Ending the Long-gun Registry Act November 1st, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to the hon. member's speech, specifically when he talked about the value as opposed to the cost. I would remind the hon. member that costs and values are not always aligned. A $2 billion cost does not mean it was worth that.
I picked up on one comment. The hon. member said that some police officers have spoken off the record. Let me quote from a letter sent by a constituent of mine who encouraged me to read this. It states:
I am a serving Policeman and have been for over 23 years. I am a front line cop whose career has been dedicated to hunting and capturing society's worst. For the past 12 years, I have worked exclusively on a big city (SWAT) Team and have arrested countless rapists, armed robbers, armed drug dealers, violent gang members, and murderers...I know very little about running a Police department, writing traffic tickets, lifting fingerprints, or investigating shop-lifters...I do know about hunting armed violent desperate men--and I do it very well. The long gun registry does ZERO to help me do my job. 99% of front line cops that I know feel the same way.
Taxation October 27th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure why that hon. member would ask for more tax credits for Canadians, because every time we put that forward the Liberals vote against it, including, as we just saw, the firefighters. They actually voted against a tax credit for volunteer firefighters.
The other thing they voted against, which I still cannot quite understand, is an increase in the guaranteed income supplement for seniors, the largest increase in GIS that we have seen in 25 years. They voted against it.
The Economy October 27th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I forgot the other component of the NDP plan, and that is to tax Canadians by another $10 billion. We do not think that is a good plan. It was in the NDP platform that it campaigned on.
I think that is why we have a majority Conservative government: because Canadians expect a plan that will help Canadians get back to work, that will help balance the deficit, and that will help all Canadians. That is what we are going to do.
We hope that the NDP might see the error of its ways and actually support us on that.
The Economy October 27th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, that is quite an action plan, standing and voting against anything that the government puts forward that actually will help create jobs. Canadians should be very fearful if that is the action plan from the NDP.
We have continued with a plan, a jobs and growth plan from the government. It is working. In fact, so are nearly 650,000 more Canadians.
Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act October 24th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague to the west, who is, by the way, still within the Wheat Board's jurisdiction. Just in case he might be thinking about growing wheat and selling it somewhere else before August 1 of next year, I would caution him about that.
In response, this would absolutely be a benefit to what we hear spoken about in this chamber many times, which is the small family farm. Many organic producers decided that was the way for their niche operations to survive. It is not growing broad acre crops on broad acre farms, but niche organic crops.
The Canadian Wheat Board soon stepped in and said it would have none of that. It started marketing the crops for the organic producers who had already set up their own markets. It charged them a premium to sell to the same buyers they were selling to before. The middleman won; the small farmer lost, because of the monopoly powers of the board.