Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs informs me that the ambassador has just arrived and will be meeting with him later today, but let me be absolutely clear in terms of what we have said about this. Under the current situation, all of our economic and diplomatic

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, all of our G7 partners have suspended their preparations for the G8 summit in Sochi. It is my view that all of these actions, including the suspension of G8 summit preparations, should remain in effect until such time as President Putin's

Democratic Reform  Maybe, Mr. Speaker, they even spoke to Osama bin Laden. The leader of the NDP keeps descending into these conspiracy theories. There is a bill before the House of Commons. The government's proposals are clear. Whether the opposition members agree with them or not, they should

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, this government is clear. We will look at tax cuts for Canadian families when the budget is balanced. This party understands that a budget does not balance itself. Income splitting was a good policy for Canadian seniors and it will be a good policy for Canadian

Small Business  Mr. Speaker, of course the Leader of the Opposition raises an issue, a particular policy that he has voted against multiple times. We were very clear that it was a time-limited policy. We have now frozen increases to EI premiums. Those will be falling in the future. What small

The Budget   are saying is that we believe it is still a subject of discussion at a bargaining table. We have been very clear that we believe that when it is a voluntary plan like that, a Cadillac plan, retirees should pay their own fair share, which would be 50% of the plan. It would still make

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, it is always interesting to hear that the Liberal Party's definition of “do nothing” is when we are not raising taxes and not spending money we cannot afford. We know the record. The IMF is very clear. The government's policy approach has been completely

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, the record of the government's economic action plans is very clear. This country, coming out of the recession, has the highest growth rate among major developed economies. It has the highest level of job creation. It is one of the few with a AAA credit rating

Intergovernmental Relations  Mr. Speaker, unlike the party opposite, this party has increased funding for health, post-secondary education, and the major transfers to the provinces, unlike the Liberal Party of Canada. We have been very clear that the Canada job grant goes beyond training. The purpose

Ethics   residences is not at issue here. What is at issue is the improper, and in some cases fraudulent, claiming of expenses. The government has been very clear that is not acceptable, that there would be consequences. Those senators are now seeing those consequences.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, it is the RCMP's responsibility to conduct the investigations. The RCMP has been clear about who is and who is not being investigated. Obviously, what the Leader of the Opposition has said is not factual.

Ethics   is that there are clear rules to be followed in terms of the public trust and the use of public money and the claiming of expenses. When those rules are not followed, we have tough measures in place to deal with that. The RCMP has acted, and we congratulate them for acting.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has been quite clear with respect to the matter under investigation. We will obviously offer our assistance to the RCMP in its investigation, which is its responsibility.

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the minister has already apologized for yesterday's events. The record of this government and this minister is clear. Our government has increased services for veterans without precedent and we will continue to do so.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, the RCMP was clear about this issue: I had no knowledge of this matter.