Stéphane Dion, MP

Question Period: Foreign Affairs (May 4th, 2012, House of Commons, Parliament of Canada, Ottawa)

Hon. Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, Lib.):

Madam Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is killing the Understanding Canada program, throwing away 30 years of Canadian study.

With little means, this program generated Canadian study centres globally, thousands of articles, books, Ph.D.s and M.A.s on Canada.

The government will not save money. For each dollar invested, $14 are spent in Canada by the international Canadian studies community.

Will the minister keep open this world window on Canada?

Hon. John Baird (Minister of Foreign Affairs, CPC):

Madam Speaker, we are making some decisions to ensure that we live within our means and that we return to balanced budgets and fiscal sanity in this country.

We have made decisions in the Department of Foreign Affairs on how we can best spend our valuable taxpayer dollars and we believe this is the right decision toward that end.

From Rio to Rio: A Global Carbon Price Signal to Escape the Great Climate Inconsistency

Dear Readers,

With Professor Éloi Laurent, Senior Economist and Scientific Advisor at Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (OFCE), and a professor at Sciences Po (Paris) and Stanford University, I just co-authored a paper in which I continue extolling the benefits of adopting a world carbon price as an essential sustainable development instrument.

This paper, entitled From Rio to Rio: A Global Carbon Price Signal to Escape the Great Climate Inconsistency, was published by the OFCE. It can be found at: http://www.ofce.sciences-po.fr/pdf/dtravail/WP2012-16.pdf.

As always, your comments are welcome.

Happy reading!

Stéphane Dion

Question Period: Democratic Reform (May 1st, 2012, House of Commons, Parliament of Canada, Ottawa)

Hon. Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, not only would the Conservatives’ Senate reform result in the same parliamentary impasses we see in the United States, and not only would such a reform be unfair to Alberta and British Columbia, which would be under-represented in an elected Senate, but also, Bill C-7 is unconstitutional because changing the nature of the Senate requires the agreement of the provinces, a right that Quebec would justifiably exercise in court.

Why will the government not forget about this ill-conceived reform, thereby avoiding costly and futile constitutional quarrels?

Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Alberta recently held a public consultation—an election—to choose future senators. That was what the Government of Alberta decided to do, and our government will respect the will of the people of Alberta by appointing those senators to the Senate at the next opportunity.

Opposition Motion—Health and safety of Canadians (April 30th, 2012, House of Commons, Parliament of Canada, Ottawa)

Dear Readers, On April 30th, in the House of Commons, I denounced the many worrisome – even dangerous – measures the Conservative government is attempting to [...]

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