Financial System Review Act Madam Speaker, on a number of occasions I have taken the opportunity to ask the government about a statistic that is frequently reported by the U.S. federal reserve. It regards the natural rate of unemployment. Former prime minister Paul Martin used to quote a number of around 7
February 3rd, 2012House debate
Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act Mr. Speaker, I listened to the hon. member's speech and he might think me a bit of a heretic. I grew up in rural Nova Scotia. My grandfather was a gunsmith. My family owns a number of long guns and I enjoy skeet shooting on occasion myself. However, I think this registry should b
February 6th, 2012House debate
Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act Mr. Speaker, it is hard to get my head around this bill in some ways. I understand the Conservatives campaigned on getting rid of the long gun registry. What confuses me is this additional clause to destroy all the data that is associated with the registry. I come from an acade
February 6th, 2012House debate
Natural Resources Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives came back from China congratulating themselves for selling off Canadian raw resources. With the Enbridge CEO in tow, they told the Chinese not to worry about Canadian opposition because they will just ignore it. The northern gateway will ship 21,000
February 14th, 2012House debate
Financial System Review Act Madam Speaker, last week I asked a question on this bill to get more of a general answer about the economy. When Paul Martin was finance minister, he declared the natural rate of unemployment in Canada to be about 7%. The U.S. Federal Reserve reports it to be 7% and rising. Last
February 14th, 2012House debate
Business of Supply Mr. Speaker, every time my colleague gets up to speak, I enjoy it very much. We have been talking a lot in this House about first nations reserves. I have no reserves in my riding but I do have a large urban aboriginal population. In Canada, half of first nations people live of
February 16th, 2012House debate
Citizenship and Immigration Madam Speaker, we hear yarn after yarn from that side of the House, so I will try my own here now. Once upon a time there was an immigration minister who agreed to an all party consensus on how to make refugee appeals fairer and faster but now he is going against his word. Coul
February 17th, 2012House debate
Citizenship and Immigration Madam Speaker, the government is clearly divorced from reality. Hidden in its omnibus refugee bill are new powers for the minister. We all want to crack down on the travesty of human smuggling but we should be punishing the criminals, not the victims. With such vague criteria i
February 17th, 2012House debate
Standing Orders and Procedure Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about amending the Standing Orders. This is a golden opportunity to look at how we do the business of democracy in the House. Hopefully we can lower barriers and broaden participation and really use this opportunity to open the doors for Canad
February 17th, 2012House debate
Standing Orders and Procedure Madam Speaker, when my wife Jeanette Ashe, who is a political scientist, first brought the e-petitions notion to my attention, we started to do quite a lot of research on it. First and foremost, we went to the United Kingdom to look at this. It had a very long study, about five y
February 17th, 2012House debate
Standing Orders and Procedure Madam Speaker, I am a bit disturbed that we have hit a record in terms of closure in the House and that the government is limiting debate. I do not think that we have abused our privileges on this side of the House, but I think the government has made commitments to the public to
February 17th, 2012House debate
Senate Reform Act Madam Speaker, I am happy to rise today to speak about Bill C-7, the Senate reform act. I have two major concerns about this bill. One concerns the process by which the bill was derived, and the second is the substance of the bill. Once I have gone through those two points, I wil
February 27th, 2012House debate
Senate Reform Act Madam Speaker, I welcome the question from the hon. member, although he is putting words in my mouth. The proposal I clearly outlined is to get expert advice on what would be not only constitutionally acceptable but also on the process. The second thing would be to take this inf
February 27th, 2012House debate
Senate Reform Act Madam Speaker, for me, the Liberal position is very consistent: it is to defend the status quo because that is what has benefited that party. It is also a cynical approach to politics. I think that all parties in this House have to learn from past mistakes. All parties have to m
February 27th, 2012House debate
Senate Reform Act Madam Speaker, I will respond with an extension of the last question. Why do the Liberals not believe in public participation? Why do they not believe in getting advice from citizens and experts? I think the process I outlined showed that we are committed to a different type of
February 27th, 2012House debate