House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 43% of the vote.
Government Advertising September 17th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, of course, this government will report in due course to Parliament, as we are obligated to do, when we have all the facts on the table.
Speaking of facts on the table, it is a fact that the party on the other side, her party, wanted to impose an additional $20 billion on taxpayers throughout this country through its carbon tax scheme.
Why is she not talking about that and apologizing to Canadians about that?
Government Accountability June 21st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, in 2009 this was said: “I'm quite concerned the Parliamentary Budget Officer sees himself as an independent practitioner who can report whenever he wants”. Who said that? It was the Liberal member for St. Paul's.
What the public can see through right away is that when the opposition members want to use the Parliamentary Budget Officer as an attack talking point, then they side with the Parliamentary Budget Officer; when they disagree because it does not fulfill their arguments, then they attack the Parliamentary Officer.
Questions on the Order Paper June 20th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada does not prohibit or prescribe the phrase “Harper Government” in press releases issued by government departments and agencies. There is no other government-wide policy on communications and no government-wide policy on the use of the phrase “Harper Government” in press releases issued by federal government departments and agencies.
Canadian Forces June 20th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, first, let me honour the hon. member who has done such a great job in his advocacy role for the brave women and men in uniform who put their lives on the line for our country.
In recognition of this and following up our budget 2012, our economic action plan commitment, I am pleased to announce that the government has moved ahead with changes to recognize prior years of service of former members of the Canadian Forces who join the Public Service of Canada for the purposes of calculating vacation leave. Details are available at www.tbs-sct.gc.ca.
Our government will always stand by our women and men who have served their country in our military.
Government Accountability June 20th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is relying on lawyers. We are relying on an all party unanimous report from a committee of this Parliament that said that the Parliamentary Budget Officer's approach was inconsistent with the act governing his position. We are relying on that.
At the same time, we are fully reporting to this Parliament through the regular means, through the quarterly reports, through the public accounts and through other means that we have available to Parliament to report to parliamentarians and to the people of Canada on the plans of the budget, which are designed to grow jobs and opportunity for all Canadians.
Government Accountability June 20th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, let me state right off the top, it has never been the position of this government to interpret the mandate of the budget officer or the way he interprets his mandate. Indeed, we have echoes of that from opposition members. I recall the 2009 unanimous all-party committee report on the PBO that said, “The committee is of the opinion that the PBO's approach is inconsistent with the Act governing his position.”
This seems to be a general consensus in this House. We simply ask that the PBO do his job, and of course we will do our job through the regular means of reporting to Parliament.
The Budget June 19th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, indeed, I can assure the hon. member that any job reductions were analyzed to make sure that there was regional fairness, fairness inside Ottawa and fairness outside of Ottawa, and that no particular region or province bore the brunt of those reductions to a greater extent than other provinces or regions.
Government Accountability June 18th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, we will continue to report to Parliament by the normal means, including the estimates, quarterly financial reports and the public accounts process. As was clearly shown in Canada's economic action plan 2012, we have found fair, balanced and moderate savings measures to reduce the deficit.
We have a plan to make sure that we continue to grow jobs and economic opportunity in this country and we are in the midst of implementing that plan.
Questions on the Order Paper June 15th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, these expenses will be made available according to proactive disclosure guidelines. When posted, they will be found at http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pd-dp/gr-rg/index-eng.asp.
Supplementary Estimates (A), 2012-13 June 6th, 2012
Madam Chair, the presentation of this bill is identical to the one used for the previous supply period.