Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, that goes back to what I was saying at the beginning of my speech: every government should make decisions based on facts, not ideology. This is not a perfect world, and no government has been perfect. However, when I was in cabinet, we made much more of an effort to

Business of Supply  Yes, I am alarmed, Mr. Speaker. There is a new phenomenon in this city that I have not seen before. In the past, I found that when public servants retired, they were somewhat discreet and did not get actively involved in political parties. However, what I find today is rather s

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, there have always been a number of scientific bodies giving advice to the government, but only once was there an adviser to the prime minister, and the Conservatives abolished the position. Yes, we think we need an adviser to give advice to the Government of Canada.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will answer my colleague's second question first. What he said is not true. That was not the policy of the government I was part of. I was a member of cabinet, and at the time, our scientists were allowed to talk to journalists and share information. I am not talk

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I already spoke about that. The elimination of the mandatory long form census is probably one of the worst decisions this government has made. It skewed all of the data. Statistics Canada used to be a very strong agency. It has now become weaker. Munir Sheikh chose

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want to start by reading the motion we are debating today. I want to give anyone who may not have been following this debate from the beginning an idea of the resolution members will be voting on this evening. That, in the opinion of the House: (a) the government

Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, it is not clear what the government intends to do. One may believe that the government is hoping to basically abolish all of the banked days that the public servants have accumulated, and that is where it may recover its $900 million. However, as the Parliamentary Bu

Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I have been in the government, in the House and in cabinet, and I have always thought that one of the principle responsibilities of a government as an employer is to deal in good faith and straight up with the unions. I have interfered and intervened a number of time

Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I also want to rise today to debate a particular section of Bill C-59, section 20, which deals with the sick leave and disability programs that the government wishes to impose upon the federal public service. This is nothing new. Here is a passage from the October 2

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my colleague from Toronto—Danforth. Would he agree to having the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs also consider the issue of linguistic ability? Four times now, when I arrived at the Hill gate by car, I was stopped and not one

University of Ottawa Alumni Week  Mr. Speaker, as a proud graduate of the University of Ottawa, I want to recognize that institution's Alumni Week, which is this week, until Saturday, May 9. It has been officially proclaimed by the City of Ottawa and it pays tribute to the 92,000 graduates living in this region.

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I wish to indicate my support for the recommendation that you just received, that the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs be asked to deal with this matter. You may recall, Mr. Speaker, when the motion to make the RCMP the lead agency to take care of

National Anthem  Mr. Speaker, that is such nonsense. The support does exist. The poll I commissioned actually uses the correct lyrics of our anthem. It is quite clear: 58% of Canadians support it and just 19% oppose it. What the member forgets is that, in the first hour of debate, the Parliamen

National Anthem  Mr. Speaker, the first thing I want to do is offer an apology to a colleague. In early April, I commissioned a poll about the proposed modification of the English version of O Canada, and in a press release about the poll results and the first hour of debate, we correctly identif

NATIONAL ANTHEM ACT  Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to what was said by the parliamentary secretary, and there are some errors in what he said. He said that the anthem had not been changed in 100 years, which is correct, but it was changed from 1908 to 1914. The original version included “us