Tony Clement

[Ministerial Expenditures, May 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that on this side of the House we are new world men and women.

What I would say for hon. member is that we are adhering to the guidelines, that we are in fact ensuring the guidelines are better. We want to do some changes. This could be one area of the changes.

The fact is the member stands in the House with righteous indignation, but his colleagues and his cohorts use cars and drivers. It is, in the right circumstances, the right thing to do. When will the member stop speaking out of both sides of his mouth?

[Ministerial Expenditures, May 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, that is another fly-by-night question. As I have already reiterated, on this side of the House, we would suggest that the hon. member come here with clean hands. We have the Nova Scotia NDP government, cars and drivers and the Manitoba NDP government, cars and drivers. That is the right thing to do in certain circumstances and with the right Treasury Board guidelines, to which we adhere.

The hon. member has not come here with clean hands. What a La Villa Strangiato?

[Ministerial Expenditures, May 3rd, 2012]

Today, Mr. Speaker, those members are defending the workers. Yesterday they were condemning the workers for working overtime. That is the hypocrisy on that side.

I will say in the House that we are looking at some changes and we would like to ensure that we can defend the taxpayer better because we believe that change can be positive. In this place:

And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the heart.

[Ministerial Expenditures, May 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member fails to discuss in the House is that standby does not mean drivers get paid for all of that time. In fact, they get paid for one-eighth of the time, which meant 45 days of overtime, not 260 days, as he is trying to allege in the House.

We have a system in place. We have drivers and cars, just like their colleagues do in Manitoba and just like their colleagues do in Nova Scotia, NDP colleagues. If members are going to complain in the House, they should come here with clean hands.

[Ministerial Expenditures, May 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we must look into this situation. We are examining all situations so that government can operate at a reasonable cost.

If the members opposite, including the Leader of the Opposition and his driver, have suggestions, we will take them into consideration provided they are reasonable and fair.

[Ministerial Expenditures, May 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as I already said, we are constantly looking for ways to manage government at a reasonable cost to taxpayers. We are studying this matter, as I already mentioned.

Nevertheless, the salaries and overtime of drivers, who are public servants, are based on collective agreements negotiated with the unions. I imagine that the NDP supports this principle.

[Ministerial Expenditures, May 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is mixing apples with oranges. My driver was not paid for 360 days of overtime. I can assure the House of that.

What we are doing is looking at the picture of drivers and their cars and ensuring that we can have a reasonable approach to this. If the hon. member has a suggestion, which would apply to his leader as well, I might add, and I am sure we would have no disagreement on that, then we would be prepared to look at it.

However, the hon. member time and again drags us through the mud. The last time he threw allegations at me, you, Mr. Speaker, found no cause for that. I am still waiting for his apology for that.

[Ministerial Expenditures, May 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that we are always looking for reasonable ways to make sure that government lives within its means and that we are reasonable to taxpayers. The hon. member and his party should know that we are living by the rules. We have collective agreements with workers and we apply those collective agreements, including overtime.

In this case our ministers are working long hours for the economy, long hours for jobs, long hours for the people of Canada. Sometimes that means a bit of overtime by the drivers.

[The Budget, May 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, let me welcome the hon. member to his new critic responsibilities. Indeed, right after the budget, he was claiming over northern Ontario airwaves that we had actually eliminated the federal economic development Initiative for Northern Ontario. He had to backtrack on that. I am glad he is learning his portfolio now.

I would say to the hon. member that since April 2006, FedNor has invested over $263 million in support of over 1,200 projects around northern Ontario. FedNor continues to do that. It is looking for great projects that will grow jobs and grow economic opportunity for northern Ontario. That is what our regional economic development agencies do across the country. The hon. member should be proud of that.

I know he was proud when we announced the—

[The Budget, May 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, let me correct the record on several fronts. Seventy per cent of the savings that we have found and have been identified are operational efficiencies, and we are using the accepted practice.

The hon. members opposite seem to care about collective bargaining agreements. So do we, so we are informing the employees in a reasonable manner. That is the first thing we do. Then we inform the public. That is what we do in our estimates and in our quarterly reports, so all of that information is public.

It is good for the country to have a leaner, more affordable government.