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Results: 151 - 165 of 217
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-11-19 14:55 [p.12164]
Mr. Speaker, when the minister defends her unfair changes to employment insurance, she seems to be saying that people in Atlantic Canada are too lazy to find jobs themselves.
What the minister does not understand is that often there are no jobs in the regions. The people know this and protested by the thousands against these changes in New Brunswick this past weekend.
Why are the Conservatives refusing to solve the real problem: the lack of stable, long-term, full-time jobs in Atlantic Canada? Why are they punishing workers?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-11-08 11:57 [p.12113]
Mr. Speaker, I received petitions signed by thousands of people who are against the Conservatives' proposed changes to employment insurance. These people understand very well that there are no jobs in the middle of the winter where we come from and that the Prime Minister is punishing them because he thinks that these people might just be lazy.
Why does the Prime Minister refuse to meet with these workers and why does the government refuse to change its plan that will punish both the people working in seasonal industries and their employers?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-11-05 15:14 [p.11922]
Mr. Speaker, today I have the honour to present two petitions. Stella Cormier, one of my constituents, circulated these petitions. She has done a great job of expressing people's concerns about the changes to employment insurance that this government intends to make. Like me, she is very concerned about the future of seasonal industries, employees and employers. She circulated these petitions and had hundreds of people sign them. These people are very worried and are asking the government to change this policy, which will penalize them.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-11-01 14:12 [p.11800]
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the remarkable work of local economic development agencies in my riding.
In particular, I would like to thank Enterprise Kent, its staff, board of directors and especially its executive director, Guy Léger.
After 24 years of outstanding service, dedication and impressive economic results, Guy Léger will be leaving Enterprise Kent when the agency closes its doors as a result of the very bad decision by the Conservatives to make cuts to all Atlantic regional economic development agencies.
Guy Léger has contributed to hundreds of economic and community successes over his quarter century of service. He will be missed by entrepreneurs and community leaders and I will miss his advice and support.
I salute Guy, his spouse, Kathy, and his family, and extend a special thank you to him on behalf of the people of my region.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-11-01 14:58 [p.11809]
Mr. Speaker, two former high-ranking Afghan officials have been invited to Canada to speak at a university conference in Ottawa. Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials told them they had to travel to Pakistan to get their visas, which could be akin to imposing a death sentence on them.
Can the minister explain why this would not be qualified as a special circumstance and authorize visas to be issued in Kabul so that their lives would not be put in jeopardy? Why is the government effectively denying entry to Afghans who some years and months ago were allies of Canada?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-31 15:40 [p.11728]
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to stand in the House today and present two petitions.
The first petition is signed by a great number of residents from New Brunswick and some from Nova Scotia. They are petitioning this House and the government to change the proposals made by the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development with respect to employment insurance. It will greatly disadvantage those in small rural communities and seasonal industries.
The petitioners call upon the government to change its course.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-31 15:41 [p.11728]
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from a group of grandmothers, advocacy groups and others from the Tantramar area of my riding from Sackville, New Brunswick. They call upon the government and the House to adopt Bill C-398 to ensure that generic medicines are available to those most in need, particularly in African countries.
I think it is important that the House consider this petition favourably.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-22 15:13 [p.11295]
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to present two petitions. The first has to do with employment insurance and the government's proposed changes, which will be very harmful to the seasonal workers in my riding. These workers will have to travel for about an hour to find a job that often does not exist. The people of my riding are calling on this government to reconsider those changes.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-22 15:14 [p.11295]
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from a group of grandmothers and others from the Tantramar area of my constituency, around Sackville, who are very concerned about access to life-saving generic medicines in Africa and other developing countries.
The petitioners are calling upon Parliament to support Bill C-398 which, in my view, would do a great deal to encourage Canadians to support these people in very difficult circumstances.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-17 15:43 [p.11106]
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to present two petitions.
The first comes to us from a group in the Sackville area, which is in my riding, Tantramar.
It is a group of grandmothers and others who are petitioning this House with respect to the access to medicines regime and the private member's bill that was introduced, Bill C-398.
The petitioners are calling on the House to support this legislation, and it is certainly something I intend to do at the appropriate moment.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-17 15:44 [p.11107]
Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes mostly from the people of Bouctouche, in my riding. These farmers, producers and others are worried about the government's bad move to close down the Hervé J. Michaud Experimental Farm in the Bouctouche area. This is a tremendously important facility for the agricultural industry; the petitioners all hail from the greater Bouctouche area. It is with pleasure that I present these petitions to the House.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-15 15:10 [p.10982]
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to rise today and present a petition given to me by a group of grandmothers and others from New Brunswick, the Sackville and Tantramar area of my constituency. These people have done a lot of work in bringing the issue of access to medicines, particularly in Africa, to the attention of parliamentarians. They are calling upon Parliament to support Bill C-398, which would improve access to many of these medications. It is legislation I have always supported.
I am happy to present this petition on behalf of a group of great people from my constituency who have collected signatures from all over the Maritimes in support of this important bill.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-15 15:17 [p.10983]
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for allowing me to rise again to present a petition that is very important in southeastern New Brunswick, particularly in the agricultural community.
Senator Hervé J. Michaud Experimental Farm is facing closure. The government has announced the closure of this experimental farm, a federal institution that has a lot of support from the community. Hundreds of farmers in the Bouctouche region, in Kent County, have signed a petition. They are calling on the government to reverse its decision and preserve this very important institution.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-03 18:24 [p.10787]
moved that Bill C-424, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (contestation of election and punishment), be read the second time and referred to a committee.
He said: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak today to private member's Bill C-424, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act.
The bill would strengthen the federal electoral system to ensure all citizens would have access to due process in the case of contested elections as well as prevent, we hope, the repeat of the potential electoral fraud on a wide scale, which has marred Canadians' confidence in the last general election.
This bill accomplishes two very important things.
First, it would add the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada as somebody eligible under the law to contest an electoral result. Under the current law, and based upon the prescribed grounds in the act, an electoral district result can only be contested by an elector who was eligible to vote in that district or a candidate who ran as a candidate in that district as well.
As we have recently seen, contesting an election is a very expensive proposition and something many Canadians simply cannot afford. By adding the Chief Electoral Officer to the list of people who can contest an electoral result, we are making it possible for Canadians who cannot afford this process to have access themselves to the courts.
We are in no way seeking to alter the burden of proof in contesting a result or changing any other evidentiary requirement. We are simply giving the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada standing to bring an action before the courts, as could any eligible elector or candidate.
In addition, in circumstances where electoral fraud is suspected in more than one riding, this bill will permit the Chief Electoral Officer to better investigate the allegations.
Under the current system, if centralized fraud that affects a number of ridings is committed, Canadians in each individual riding must challenge the election before the courts, still as individuals.
While the act itself may be centralized, the only means available to these people to address the crime is limited to the electoral boundaries.
If the Chief Electoral Officer can challenge all of the electoral results, he or she will be able to ensure that no person or group can hide behind this technical detail.
This approach is entirely consistent with other electoral systems in Canada such as in British Columbia, Ontario and Nunavut, where the chief electoral officers are able to contest the election result in a particular electoral district.
Second, the bill would simply increase the fines for obstruction of the electoral process, for example, on a summary conviction from currently not more than $2,000 to not more than $20,000. For conviction by indictment, as members well know, the current legislation prescribes a fine of not more than $5,000. This bill would increase that to $50,000.
Canadians need to trust our electoral system and its integrity. Anyone who tries to undermine that trust and cheat the system must know that the consequences will be significant. The intent of this clause is to provide an even stronger deterrent to people who might think about cheating our electoral system.
Therefore, two very simple changes are being proposed.
The first aspect is the Chief Electoral Officer will have the ability at law to contest an electoral result in a district. Obviously, this will be done following a thorough analysis by Elections Canada, which is very conscious of the legal requirements of such a contestation.
The second aspect of the legislation we are proposing would simply increase the existing penalties. It would not change the nature of the offences. It would not add new offences. It would simply say that if someone is convicted on a summary conviction of election fraud, we think $2,000 is not the right sanction as a maximum penalty. It should be increased to $20,000 and the same thing on indictment, from $5,000 to $50,000. There is no mandatory minimum prescribed in our changes and our proposals, we are simply increasing the existing penalties for existing offences.
I believe the changes in the bill will strengthen our democracy and help rebuild some of the trust that perhaps has been lost in recent months. The last federal election cast a shadow over a number of electoral districts. Investigations are ongoing in a number of different electoral districts. We think that these changes will ensure that the respect for our electoral system is maintained and that those who seek to violate it would face consequences commensurate with the nature of the offence, that being the undermining of the basic democratic rights of Canadians.
I hope all members of all parties in the House will ultimately support the bill when it comes to a vote. Obviously, should it be sent to committee, I would be willing to entertain amendments or suggestions from all sides of the House in an effort to strengthen the legislation. If there are technical aspects that perhaps can be improved, I would remain very open to the suggestions of my colleagues.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2012-10-03 18:31 [p.10788]
Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Toronto—Danforth raises a very appropriate question. All we would be seeking to do is give the Chief Electoral Officer the legal standing to contest a result or number of results when he feels an action should be brought before the courts. It is my understanding that in their legislation, Ontario, Nunavut and British Columbia have that authority in the hands of their respective chief electoral officers. Obviously, the discretion would be entirely in the hands of the Chief Electoral Officer should he choose in a particular case to contest a result before the appropriate board or tribunal.
If my colleagues support the legislation and we send it to committee, I would hope the committee would see fit to ask Elections Canada and the Chief Electoral Officer to give us their views of the legislation in committee. If the committee saw fit to make some suggestions following evidence from the Chief Electoral Officer, I would hope that we could all collectively improve the legislation.
However, I think the answer to my colleague's question is quite simple. In no way would this change the spirit or substance of the act. It simply adds one more person as having the legal grounds, the standing in law, to bring an application before the courts.
Results: 151 - 165 of 217 | Page: 11 of 15

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