Tony Clement

[Gasoline Prices, June 19th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, of course, all consumers are concerned about gas prices. That is why this government, in our economic action plan and our budget, passed new rules and laws for the Competition Bureau to enforce. That will allow the Competition Bureau to have the tools that it needs to enforce our rules to ensure that there is better competition among the deliverers of gasoline and our gas stations and so forth. Those tools are available to the Competition Bureau. I am sure it will be using those tools at the earliest available opportunity.

[Industry, June 19th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, that is not at all the case. I met with Nortel management last January, and there was no commercial framework for intervention in that case.

I had those meetings with the head of Nortel. He did not present a commercially viable business case. Evidently the board of directors agreed with that decision because they are the ones who made the decision to bring that enterprise into CCAA bankruptcy protection.

[The Internet, June 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, it is important to have a national strategy for the digital economy. That is why I announced that I am convening a conference here in Ottawa on the future of the digital economy. I invite my friend to take part in that conference and that discussion.

It is important to have a strategy so that we can be number one in the world when it comes to the digital economy of the future.

[The Internet, June 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his submission. I look forward to working with him and others who are active in this field.

I am convening the first digital economy conference this nation has ever done. That will be on Monday in Ottawa where we will have all of the great companies, academics and government officials work on the new digital economy strategy for this nation so that we can be number one in the world when it comes to the digital economy.

I invite my friend to participate in any way he sees fit.

[Nortel, June 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, quite apart from that inflated rhetoric, I can tell the House that I did indeed meet with the CEO of Nortel at the beginning of my mandate as Industry minister. He presented a go-forward business plan, which in my estimation did not meet the criteria of being commercially viable. Evidently the board of Nortel came to the same agreement because it rejected that business plan as well, and it, not me, chose to go into creditor protection. That is where the matter rests. I am sure the appointed judge is reviewing the options for that company in the future.

[Broadcasting Industry, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the member knows there is legislation in place that ensures we have a well connected network throughout the country. If there are legitimate concerns, those concerns are then addressed.

Health Canada reviews the concerns from a health and safety point of view. Health Canada did its job and reviewed for health and safety concerns. Those concerns were not valid. On that basis, that is why these are left to the national level to ensure we have the network capacity that is necessary for health and safety reasons, for instance 911 calls and things like that, of which I think the people of Charlottetown would in fact approve.

[Employment Insurance, June 16th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in this case, we have a lot in our economic action plan to extend credit to small businesses, to make sure that credit is also extended to individuals who want to lease cars, for instance.

Our economic action plan gets to the fact that Canadians need help in various parts of our country and that various parts of our economy need help.

That is why it is a comprehensive plan. It is the best plan in the G7 and has been recognized as such by the International Monetary Fund. I, for one, salute our finance minister, who has done an excellent job in making sure that we are the top in the world.

[Employment Insurance, June 16th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, the minister and this government have done a lot to improve EI. That is what the extra $5.5 billion in our economic action plan is all about. That is what extending EI by five weeks is all about. That is what work-sharing is all about as well.

We care about the fact that people in this economy and in our country have been hurt by the world economic downturn. That is why our economic action plan is worthy of support, so it gets to those issues. However, the member and that party do not get it because they continually vote against it.

[Infrastructure, June 16th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is very simple. He need only go to actionplan.gc.ca to see 3,200 projects in various stages of implementation. On the side of stimulus spending for infrastructure, an extra $10 billion has been announced. Our partners are in the process of hiring the construction workers, the architects and so on.

What this is really about is the fact that the leader of the Liberal Party cares more about himself than the future of these projects. He cares more about himself than the future economic recovery of the country. That is a shame. Worse than that, it is an abomination.

[Industry, June 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as we have discussed, of course we support the vital role that small businesses do play in our economy. As we respond to the global recession, we understand that credit markets have indeed made it harder for small businesses to achieve the financing needed this year.

For this reason, I had the pleasure this morning of announcing the small enterprise tranche of the new Canadian secured credit facility, which means $450 million has been allocated to help drive venture capital investment for small and medium size enterprises, the access to credit required to both innovate and boost the Canadian economy. That is the kind of thing this government is doing.