Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I am not going to speak for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. What I can do is speak as a member of the House of Commons. Why did the Liberal leader appoint a senior member of his caucus to the most important regulatory oversight committee, a man who is advertising himself as a paid lobbyist for foreign interests, specifically saying that he could get regulations changed?

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I think I addressed that question when I responded to the member for Winnipeg Centre. I can say this. We are tremendously concerned that a Liberal member of Parliament, a sitting member of the Liberal caucus, was advertising services as a paid lobbyist on the World Wide Web.

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, we have referred allegations of a serious nature, which came from a third party, regarding the member for Simcoe—Grey, to the relevant authorities and to the member for Simcoe--Grey. These authorities will come to their own conclusions. We believe that it is important to underline the fact that none of these allegations involved any government business, any member of Parliament, any senator or any government employee.

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, this certainly was not the attitude from members of the New Democratic Party when we were last in session and that minister was on her feet answering questions. Here is the bottom line. Serious allegations were brought to the attention of the government. We cannot take a position as to whether they are true or untrue.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I have answered that question several dozen times. What I would like to know is why the law firm, that the Liberal member for Scarborough—Rouge River works for and which advertised him as a paid lobbyist, according to the Toronto Sun, helps clients “incorporate and maintain offshore companies in various tax-haven countries, e.g.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that this government has an important responsibility to stand up and protect the environmental situation in this country, particularly in our far north. This government accepts that responsibility. We have chosen a very different route than has taken place south of the border in the United States.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, the Arctic is one of the most pristine natural environments of anywhere in the world. That is why this government and our Prime Minister have taken many initiatives to support our far north, whether it is quadrupling the size of Nahanni National Park, whether it is establishing a whale sanctuary in Nunavut, or whether it is ensuring that we have responsible environmental legislation.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, all Canadians are horrified with what they are seeing going on in the southern United States. Let me say to the leader of the New Democratic Party very directly that Canada has strong offshore drilling regulations to prevent what has happened in the United States. Our government will continue to enforce strong environmental and safety standards right across this country.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, let me say this. These tax cuts that our government has brought in, championed by the member's own Liberal critic, have helped create thousands of jobs. Just last month we saw the Canadian economy create 108,000 new jobs. That is not just a number; 108,000 people got a phone call and the voice on the other end of the phone said, “You got the job”.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, if the leader of the Liberal Party wants to talk about where the Minister of Finance was during the 1990s, we could have that conversation as to where the leader of the Liberal Party was in the 1990s. The leader of the official opposition was not in the country, but in the 1990s we also saw Shawinigate and the sponsorship scandal, and Canadians are still looking for the $39 million that is still missing.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, I know where I was in the 1990s. I was at Queen's Park listening to speeches by the member for Toronto Centre, talking about the devastating effect that the Liberals' $25 billion cuts to health care made. If the member opposite does not want to believe me, he should listen to the member for Markham—Unionville.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, with regard to a) There was no hiatus. With regard to b) Total monetary value of the current program is $ 4 million and the duration is four years, April 1, 2009--March 31, 2013. With regard to c) Yes: (i) Term of the previous program was six years with a monetary value of $ 5 million.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, during question period I quoted from documents pertaining to a relationship between the member for Scarborough—Rouge River and a group entitled Paradise Forever and a Mr. Muhammad Heft with respect to lobbying and advocacy activities that the member was undertaking in the United Arab Emirates.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, we are very concerned about ethics in government, which is why the first action our government took was to bring in the Federal Accountability Act. We want to see further reforms to lobbyists. The Liberal Party was fighting us on those lobby reforms and they would not tell us why.

Transportation  Mr. Speaker, it is very important that the allocation of funding to provinces be equitable. The previous government provided funds to Toronto and our government is working with the other provinces. I must say that I am pleased that a Bloc member would like our government, the federal government, to provide additional funds to a building named after Pierre Elliott Trudeau.