Darrell Samson

[Business of Supply, September 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, a process that is open and transparent is the right process to have. When we have the qualified people we have, there is no question that we are going to find a qualified jurist from Atlantic Canada. We are going to be successful in doing so.

Sometimes change scares people. This government is an open and strong government for making sure that the changes that are required are made. This system will allow our jurists to come through with an Atlantic Canadian judge.

[Business of Supply, September 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I see that people in the House are finding it easier to pronounce “Chezzetcook”. That means they are saying it fairly often, and I thank you for that.

I must say that I am extremely happy to be here in the House after two and a half months of working in the constituency and having the opportunity to be with my constituents. It is good to be back, but I enjoyed my time back home, doing the real work for the people who elected us. That is where they are and we have to do that, of course.

Mr. Speaker, I want to mention that I will be sharing my time with the member for West Nova, as well.

I have been listening to the debate most of the day today. I do not know what to think anymore about the Conservative Party. In the last two or three days, its members are now, for the first time in 10 years, speaking about Atlantic Canada. I do not know if it was just because on October 15 they noticed that, my God, maybe they didn't do anything in Atlantic Canada, maybe they should think about doing something, maybe they should try talking about Atlantic Canada, and maybe they should try learning more about Atlantic Canada.

There we are. This is what is happening right now.

I can tell members that I and my 31 colleagues from Atlantic Canada have been working hard on many cases. This is just another one that we have been working on. The Atlantic growth strategy we are working on that is customized to make sure it is going to bring prosperity to Atlantic Canada in many ways is one; the infrastructure investment across this country and Atlantic Canada is another; the small craft investment is another one. Those are all big investments, tax cuts, etc. that we have been working on over the last six to nine months.

I am excited to talk about this topic because I want to make the contrast between the former government and our government. That is the objective of my presentation today. With the former government, there were a lot of things done, as my colleague mentioned a few minutes ago, that were not open and transparent; far from it. When I think back, I remember the former prime minister said he would not appoint any senators. Guess what? He appointed 57 of them. There were 57 partisan appointments made by his government.

What is happening here is that we have a government that is going to make some big changes to many of the practices that we have been under in the last 10 years—and by that, I am talking about the Supreme Court and the Senate.

As members know, the Liberal senators are independent. That was done by our leader before he was even Prime Minister. That is a clear sign of a path of openness and transparency.

Let us talk about this new process. This new process speaks on three fronts. The first, of course, is the open and transparent one; the second is Canada's diversity; and the third is the merit base, which is extremely important.

The first one is openness and transparency. Qualified judges from across Canada can submit to become a Supreme Court judge. I believe, and we believe and we know, that there are many highly qualified Atlantic Canadian judges who would be in the pool used by the Prime Minister to choose the new Supreme Court judge. They can apply online, and the government of Canada is actively doing many promotions to invite as many qualified people as possible.

The second one is diversity. The committee must consider if we want gender parity; it must reflect diversity as far as linguistic, cultural, regional, and employment equity representation. That is the big piece of the Canadian diversity.

The third one is the merit base. That means the government will be doing everything it can to attract, as I said earlier, as many qualified people as possible.

I am so pleased to say that our Canadian government has acted on its promise to appoint bilingual justices. That is extremely important because lawyers had been unable to get their message across or argue their cases in the Supreme Court without the help of an interpreter.

That is no longer a problem, which is a significant victory.

Today's debate is primarily about the appointment of a justice from Atlantic Canada. Before I get into that, I want to underscore the excellent work that Nova Scotia's Justice Cromwell did for many years. I thank him for his work. The seat is vacant because he retired.

As we all know, this is not officially in the Constitution, which does state that three justices must be from Quebec. However, regional representation is essential and has long been upheld. It is of vital importance, and we must guarantee it.

The new justice must be from the same region because we can benefit from regional perspective, vision, and knowledge in such matters as maritime law.

Let it be legal culture. Let it be social culture. They need to bring that expertise and their competencies to the Supreme Court of course.

Our government respects this convention. It is taking this decision seriously. This process is simply creating an opportunity for Canadian judges to apply, and we encourage many of them of course. We are confident in Atlantic Canada. Many strong and qualified judges will surface through this process. By being selected through an open and transparent merit-based process will give them that much more legitimacy, which is important.

What does that mean? It means that our open process will allow them to function but it also means that the days of secret backroom deals, side deals, friends, rewards, are over. That is out. That cannot happen through this process. That is pretty impressive. Our Canadian government expects better and will do better.

Of course, I am a strong advocate of the appointment of the next Supreme Court judge from Atlantic Canada, and I have every confidence that our Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice will find many qualified candidates and will make the right decision for Canada, for Atlantic Canada, and for the Supreme Court of Canada.

[Official Languages, September 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the strength and vitality of our official languages are a priority for Canadians and our government. Over the summer, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and her parliamentary secretary travelled across the country to talk to people in preparation for creating an action plan on official languages.

Can the minister provide us with an update on this file that is so very important for our communities?

[Food and Drugs Act, September 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be back in the House, to see my colleagues again, to develop legislation, and to analyze various policies.

I found my colleague's speech interesting. He certainly told us all about what the Conservatives did. However, there were a lot of mistakes in his speech, particularly with regard to the investments the government has made since it took office.

The government has committed to investing a historic $120 billion in infrastructure, a very impressive figure. Investments in youth, families, and children are also quite impressive. People are still talking about them. He forgot to mention all of these points.

The question I would like to ask him is this: since his government was supposedly such a proponent of world trade, why was Canada one of only four G20 countries to ratify this agreement? Why did the new government move forward with this bill so quickly? The Conservatives were in power for 10 years and they did not do it.

[Sports, June 17th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, as you know, the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is just a few weeks away. They are the landmark event of the summer. We are all looking forward to the kick-off and cannot wait to cheer on our athletes, the pride of Canada.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and Persons with Disabilities update the House on what our athletes are doing to prepare for the games in Rio?

[No. 2 Construction Battalion, June 7th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in the House to mark the 100th anniversary of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, which was formed in 1916 during the First World War and was almost completely composed of black Nova Scotians.

At the time, there was no national policy on the enrolment of African Canadians in our Armed Forces. These decisions were left to individual commanding officers, meaning they were mostly excluded from service. When they were allowed to serve, they had to sleep in their own camps and be segregated from recreation, medical services, and even detention. However, even in the face of this prejudice, 300 brave individuals made up this battalion, which was based in Pictou, Nova Scotia, and more than 1,500 African Canadians fought abroad.

[Emergency Service Achievement Program, May 12th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to congratulate six recent graduates of the emergency service achievement program from my riding of Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook. Through an innovative partnership between the Government of Canada, the Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service, and the Sackville Volunteer Fire Fighters Organization, youth in our region were offered the opportunity to gain work-experience practice in our community.

This program is an excellent example of a Government of Canada initiative to help young people acquire the skills they need to work in the profession they are interested in.

I would like to give special thanks to Bernie Scott, the program coordinator, for his hard work and his dedication to these young students who have such bright futures.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1, May 10th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague.

There is no doubt that the investment in youth, such as the Canada child benefit, will be extremely well received. This will be very clear in July. People are already talking about it.

The investment in education is already very significant. There are so many investments, that my colleague will not give me the time to name them all.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1, May 10th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for this question.

We have had the opportunity to discuss the official languages and what we would like to see in the future on a number of occasions.

Not long ago, the member was at the committee meeting when the Commissioner indicated that he had not requested additional funds because he was winding down some files. He would be asking for additional funding during the next budget cycle. We cannot give out money if there is no demand for it. For the time being, it is understood that there will not be a request for funds.

What our government will be getting started on shortly is the consultation of minority organizations across Canada. This consultation will help the government determine whether a five-year plan is appropriate.

As for the Supreme Court judges, I imagine the issue will be addressed soon.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1, May 10th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, the budget is an investment for Canadians. This is an opportunity to invest when interest rates are low and we are able to create job prosperity, which will in turn allow us in a very short term to pay off our debt and come back to a balanced budget.

We have to invest. I would ask members across the floor if any of them borrowed money to build a house or to buy a car. Did they borrow money? Yes, they borrowed money.

We need to have certain things in place to do what is required. This is an investment for the future. Many of these infrastructure projects need to be done. This is the time to do it, and we will benefit in the very near future from this investment.