Mr. Peter Julian (Burnaby—New Westminster, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am going to try again to clarify the confused, muddled position of the Conservative government on clarity in the Investment Canada Act. One minute, it says that clarity is not needed; the next minute, anonymous sources are saying that Conservatives want to redefine the net benefit test.
Apparently the Conservatives want a two-track system. This is worrisome to anyone who saw them run their single-track system off the rails last Friday
night at midnight in the Petronas decision.
Two-track, single-track, off-the-track, are the rules going to be in place before the decision on Nexen? Yes or no.
Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, we improved the rules in 2007. We put in new guidelines for the state-owned enterprises. We put in a national security provision in 2009, and tools to communicate, also.
As I said in regard to the proposed transaction, this will be scrutinized very closely. Each decision taken by the government is taken in the best interests of
Canadians.
Mr. Peter Julian (Burnaby—New Westminster, NDP): Mr. Speaker, it is not the interests of Canadians the Conservatives have in mind, it is the best interests of the Conservative Party and their friends. That is why they keep mishandling these issues. It is no way to run an economy. Clarity on net benefit should have been in place years ago. We did the work and the government dropped the ball. The NDP has been pushing for a clear and transparent net benefit test for years and they are mishandling decisions on Canadian--
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
The Speaker: Order, order. The hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster still has the floor.
Mr. Peter Julian: Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives cannot bear to hear the truth. Since they are mishandling these files, why are they flipping a coin? Why are
they doing it on the back of a napkin? Why are they so irresponsible?
Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, we are open for foreign investment and each investment has to provide a net benefit for this country. But the on the other side of the House members are anti-trade, anti-investment and they offer a carbon tax that would put a $21 billion burden on the shoulders of Canadian taxpayers. Mr. Speaker, we will not go down that path, I reassure you.
NDP Critic for Canadian Heritage Peter Julian issued the following statement:
"It has come to our attention that a consultant for a federally funded anti-racism project has a disturbing track record of spewing hate speech online against Jewish and francophone communities. This is completely unacceptable. We call on the Minister of Heritage to take drastic action and terminate his contract.
NDP Heritage Critic Peter Julian issued the following statement:
“Today’s announcement by Hockey Canada is another attempt to delay the important and urgent work to deal with the toxic culture in this organization. While a former Supreme Court Justice is a credible appointment to conduct the review into Hockey Canada, this won’t be the first time the organization undergoes this process.
NDP critic for Canadian Heritage, Peter Julian, made the following statement:
“Canadians are horrified by the incidents of sexual assault and by what they’re hearing from Hockey Canada. They are left with many questions about how this toxic culture is allowed to persist in our sports organizations and what the government is actually doing to ensure this doesn’t happen again.