Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Finance said yesterday that the middle class had not had a raise in a generation, I thought I would look at his chart on middle-class incomes, which is the first one in his very first budget. It showed that he was almost right. In fact, the loss of middle-class income between 1976 and 1983 …
Continue readingMr. Speaker, businesses that ignore disabled customers and employees are missing a global market of 1.3 billion people, a population bigger than any country on earth. That is Rich Donovan’s message, and he would know. Cerebral palsy has not stopped him from becoming a dad, an MBA grad from Columbia Business School, and a Merrill Lynch portfolio manager. He …
Continue readingMr. Speaker, Ottawa’s Redblacks are this year’s CFL champions, bringing home their first—yes, that’s right—and I know we are all Ottawa Redblacks’ fans here in this Ottawa Chamber. This ends a 40-year drought. As a young team of only thee seasons old, the team clearly was the underdog. Despite, their youthfulness, they made the Grey Cup twice already and …
Continue readingMr. Speaker, the 19th century author, Horatio Alger, wrote over 100 novels about young people who overcame adversity through hard work. There are 389 relentlessly hard-working young Canadians who have done the same and have earned scholarships from the Horatio Alger Association. These scholars are proof of the association’s credo that in the free-market system, anyone can achieve …
Continue readingMr. Speaker, today the people of Ottawa stand united against the twin evils of racism and anti-Semitism. Over the last several days a criminal has targeted peaceful Jews, Muslims, and Christians from the black community with hateful vandalism. We hope the police catch and the courts punish the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law. Prime Minister Laurier …
Continue readingIn 2012, Fouad Nayel was murdered, but because the case took four years to come to trial, the judge ordered a stay of proceedings yesterday, allowing the accused to walk free. No trial. No justice. No closure for the family of the victim. I am calling on the provincial and federal justice ministers to order a formal review of this …
Continue readingToday 70 special Olympians, their parents and volunteers are on Parliament Hill to share their incredible stories. Special Olympics Canada provides sporting opportunities to over 35,000 athletes of all ages, 100 of whom will be going to the games in Austria next year for Canada. They represent a powerful movement of those who show greatness by conquering hardship every …
Continue readingWhat will the new carbon tax do to the gap between rich and poor? From whom will the money come, and to whom will it go? The carbon tax will apply to heat, gas and groceries. Poor households spend a third more of their income on those items than do rich households, so the tax will make those with …
Continue readingIn 1951, a 28-year-old Israeli wearing screeching white socks arrived in Canada with the impossible goal of buying $2 million in artillery equipment and finding the money to pay for it. A few days later when he departed, he had done both, and he had a brand new pair of socks. Everything that Shimon Peres and his country have …
Continue readingWatch the video of this statement here Mr. Speaker, imagine a child trying to do homework these days without the Internet. His classmates have the biggest library in the history of the world, and he is stuck with a few textbooks from school. That is why Rogers and Telus have both announced that they will offer $10-a-month Internet to the …
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