Tony Clement

[Natural Resources, March 18th, 2013]

—to argue in favour of the Keystone XL pipeline, a pipeline that will bring thousands of jobs and opportunities for Canadians. At the same time, the NDP leader was in Washington pouring cold water on the project. He does not care about the jobs. He does not care about union members getting jobs. He is in it for the extremists in the NDP.

[Natural Resources, March 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, last week I joined the scores of provincial premiers, fellow cabinet ministers, Conservative caucus members, and indeed I joined union leaders, who had gone to Washington to argue in favour—

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I know the hon. member is in a grumpy mood ever since he was tagged with the robocalls in his riding, but we on this side of the House are in a happy mood: there are 50,000 net new jobs throughout the country. We are taking Canada in the right direction and we will continue to do so.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member may have heard me say this before: we intend to see a non-partisan, credible source of opinion on fiscal matters in the next Parliamentary Budget Officer. It is the Library of Parliament that is leading the search for a new PBO.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I have already said, we want a non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Officer who provides credible opinions on tax matters. The Library of Parliament is currently searching for a new Parliamentary Budget Officer.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we have some very firm rules in this House about the delivery of estimates, public accounts and reports on plans and priorities, which are the accountability reports by the various departments of the Government of Canada. We adhere to those standards. We are pleased to share those. I tabled the estimates myself just over a week ago and we will continue to do so. Of course, the Parliamentary Budget Officer will be a credible non-partisan choice in the future as well.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member should well know, this process is headed by the chief librarian under a process that she is leading. We respect that process. She is in charge of that process.

I would say for the hon. member that Kevin Page has had numerous disagreements with the chief librarian. We understand that, but he should be respectful of the process too. Why does the hon. member not respect the chief librarian?

[Finance, March 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has it all wrong, of course. We have standing orders that this government is obligated to perform against, and we do so. We make sure that we table the estimates when they are required to be tabled. We make sure that the reports on plans and priorities are tabled in due course when we are obligated to do so, and we do that because it is important for accountability. It is important to make sure that there is transparency for not only members of the House but the people of Canada.

We will continue to report to the people of Canada because that is what we do.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker I am somewhat taken aback. The hon. member stands in her place, claiming to be for the taxpayers. The NDP voted just last week for a $5.5-billion hike in spending by the government, on top of $56 billion of promises last year, on top of a $21-billion carbon tax hike. The NDP cannot speak for the taxpayers ever.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, that particular individual's term is nearly up. What I can tell the hon. member is that there is a process in place that is designed to find a credible, non-partisan replacement for that particular individual. That process is taking place at this 100-plus-year-old institution called the Library of Parliament. We expect that process to continue, and we will respect that process.