The Budget  Today we are inviting Canadians to participate in this budget debate. We are asking them to contact their NDP MPs directly, if they are lucky enough to have an NDP MP. If they do not have an NDP MP yet, and hopefully that will change in 2015, then we are asking them to contact an NDP MP in their region.

The Budget  We will speak up because that has been our role since the very first days the first two labour MPs back in the 1920s sat down in that corner and forced a minority government to bring in old age pensions. It was considered a radical idea at the time, but those two voices, those two labour MPs, led to the first step in what was a fundamental transformation.

Business of Supply  We must not forget the sponsorship scandal where Liberals admitted taking envelopes filled with cash, which were never reported, and giving them to so-called orphan ridings to fund their campaigns. It is up to these same Liberals to prove that these are not Liberal calls before they continue making their extreme, baseless allegations and undertake yet another vicious anonymous smear campaign against dozens of decent, upstanding Conservative MPs and candidates from the last election.

The Budget  Speaker, I will start with the riding of Prince Edward—Hastings, which is a Conservative-held riding, for the moment that is. The constituent said, “My biggest concern about this budget is for the CBC. The CBC is one of the best and largest creative forces in Canada and creativity requires pushing boundaries, trying new things and being brave”. This person talks about the CBC as an institution.

Public Safety committee  Free votes are a key element to a fully functioning democracy. If it wasn't for the support of MPs from the NDP and the Liberal Party, joining the Conservatives in support of this bill at second reading, we wouldn't even be here today having this reasoned discussion. All of these MPs should be applauded for their courage and conviction on this issue.

Finance committee  The unsecured creditors are trade creditors, employees owed severance, junk bond holders poised to double dip, the pension deficit, LTD wage replacement recipients, and future medical and dental benefits for retirees and employees on LTD. To top it off, there's expected to be $6 billion in cash available from operations and from the sale of the business units, with the sale of the intellectual property yet to take place. It is unfathomable that this much cash is simply sitting there with 400 disabled employees about to sink into an economic black hole in December 2010.

Business of Supply  Under the ICA, the Conservative government has turned down only one takeover prior to this one, and that was MacDonald Dettwiler. This happened after considerable pressure led by an NDP MP, Peggy Nash from Toronto. During the 13 year term of successive Liberal governments, not one single takeover was blocked. In 2009, again according to Industry Canada, the government reviewed only 22 of 338 takeovers.

Business of Supply  On June 28 the candidate paid the Liberal Party invoice with a cheque of $5,000. Then the candidate cashed the Liberal Party cheque on July 15. That is the same amount. That is Liberal campaign spending in and out. The member for Vancouver East was invoiced $7,003.64 by the NDP on January 13, 2006.

Information & Ethics committee  He told me there would be a total of three payments for three years. When I hesitated, he said, “I'm an international businessman and I only deal in cash. This is the way I do business.” When I look back on it today, I realize I made a serious error of judgment in receiving a payment in cash for this assignment, even though it was decidedly not illegal to do so.

Foreign Affairs committee  The guy who came to collect money from my house has upgraded his house and he has bought a van, without cash. Where's the money? What action we can take? Also, for public meetings, what they do is that they don't announce any event until the previous evening. Only at six o'clock will they say that this event is taking place and at what place.

BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION ACT, 2009  It is 444 pages long, with 471 clauses. A lot of new things are in it, things that we never heard in the budget. How many MPs knew that a whole rewrite of the Navigable Waters Protection Act would be it? It is not even mentioned in the budget. Pages 291 to 306 deal with those changes, and I will talk about those later.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  And yet there are simple, very effective, inexpensive solutions available to the government. Among others, 22 recommendations were unanimously adopted by the Standing committee on Industry, Science and Technology. Even members of the government supported the recommendations. In the recent economic statement, out of 22 measures, only half a measure was implemented.

Business of Supply  Permit me to quote from an Ottawa Sun editorial from that time, which said: —while the Conservative government...is defending Ontario, where do Ontario Liberal MPs stand?....What are Liberal MPs doing now that [the Liberal leader is] ignoring, again, the rights of Ontario taxpayers? Or do they agree with Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara, when he says it's not fair because some of those provinces already invest per-capita more money than Ontario in sectors like education and health?

Committees of the House  Since 1993, Quebeckers have been voting for the Bloc Québécois because Quebec needs Bloc Québécois MPs to represent them; otherwise we would no longer be here. That is democracy. The public chooses to vote for MPs to defend the interests of Quebec and that is what we are doing. I was elected in 2004.

Business of Supply  Why would anyone cut funding to these organizations? Why would the government cut funds when it is awash in cash? The reason is clear and I believe ideological. It is a relatively new and divisive approach to Canadian politics brought in by the party opposite. I must say that there are elements of that party that are offside with the traditional Canadian values, the Canada that I believe in.