Rob Merrifield

[Royal Canadian Mint, June 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure I would get the same comments from the CEO of the Mint as I would from any of the board members, which would be, do not speculate on the audit. It will be completed and it will be public.

My hon. colleague should just wait and not speculate on the outcome.

[Royal Canadian Mint, June 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, as soon as I found out, I was on the phone to the CEO of the Mint, Mr. Ian Bennett. He assured me that an internal audit, a very fulsome audit, was taking place. It started in March and will be completed within two weeks. It will be totally public.

I would encourage my hon. colleague not to speculate on the outcome of that audit.

[Royal Canadian Mint, June 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we do take this situation rather seriously. The Mint brought in a third party to perform an external audit to examine exactly what has been going on. That audit will be completed within the next two weeks and it will be totally public.

I would encourage my hon. colleague not to speculate on the outcome because I do not believe he knows and neither does anyone else. We should just wait for the process to be completed.

[Royal Canadian Mint, June 3rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Mint is a crown corporation at arm's length from the government.

However, I was in touch with the CEO of the Mint, Mr. Ian Bennett, earlier this morning to find out what has been going on. He has assured me that an external audit was started in early March and that it will be completed within the next two weeks and will be public. I will not speculate on its outcome.

[Canada Post, June 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Canada Post is a crown corporation at arm's length of the government. My responsibility as minister is to ensure its mandate is followed in a commercial way and that it follows all the rules, laws and regulations. I have chatted with the chair of Canada Post. He will be getting back to me on that but he has assured me that is the case.

[Infrastructure, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, funds are flowing across this country. Projects are getting done. In fact, the Prime Minister and Premier Dalton McGuinty today announced $950 million in costing a project for the Sheppard Avenue East LRT line in Toronto. These are the kinds of projects that will hold the country in good stead long into the future.

This job is getting done by the three different orders of government, municipal, provincial and federal.

[The Economy, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to explain to the member opposite that 2,746 projects were applied for as of May 1, in her province, Ontario. These are being worked at aggressively and will be moved out at an accelerated rate.

However, I will quote this for the hon. member, “It doesn't make sense to say that we passed the budget in April and here it is the 1st of May” and “We have to deal with a little bit of time to see if the measures that we have supported in fact work”. The leader of her party said that.

[The Economy, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we are working with municipalities and provinces, ensuring the stimulus works even better than it would if it were just federally loaned. We are leveraging three to one on the money that will stimulate the creation of jobs and get people working and building good infrastructure into the 21st century.

That is what our goal is. We are getting the job done. We have dirt flying right across the country. I suggest the minister should stand clear of that.

[Automotive Industry, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that Canada Post is an arm's length crown corporation owned by Canadians. It has a mandate to run as efficiently as it possibly can and we will not interfere with regard to its internal dealings.

We are ensuring that it follows its mandate, and it is doing that, and it does not compromise any international agreements.

[The Economy, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we have doubled the gas tax. We have advanced that three months earlier. Municipalities right across the country have the ability to get their infrastructure projects working.

We are working very closely with all the provinces to get these up and going and out the door at an unprecedented rate.

It has been 45 days since the budget was passed. My hon. colleague should give us the first 100 days before he starts criticizing.