Blaine Calkins

Prime Minister Mr. Speaker, the federal government recently announced that it purchased a $1.6-billion stake in the artificial intelligence firm Cohere. We soon found out this money was being funnelled to well-connected Liberal insiders. Dominic Barton, the chair of Invest in Canada, and Patrick Pichette, the head of digital transformation Canada, were early investors in Cohere. They also have [more]

Mr. Speaker, this AI scandal perfectly illustrates why the government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers. It is a masquerade that is simply about using taxpayer dollars to reward their friends in the Liberal club. It is a hallmark of virtually every Liberal government. Let us take Dominic Barton, for example. As a former global managing director at McKinsey, he benefited [more]

Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague to remind the House what exactly it was that Stephen Harper inherited when he became prime minister in 2006. I remember our troops being in Afghanistan in green combat uniforms and Iltis Jeeps. By the end of that combat mission, our troops were some of the best prepared and best equipped in the world. The Liberals talk about the 1% of GDP, but the GDP [more]

Mr. Speaker, do members know how many oil pipelines to tidewater the Harper government inherited from the Chrétien and Martin governments? It inherited zero. We had four and a half years of a majority government to change the legislation in the country in order to create a streamlined application process. Some hon. members: Oh, oh! Blaine Calkins: Mr. Speaker, they are laughing on the other [more]

Mr. Speaker, as somebody who spends an inordinate amount of time in airports and dealing with our Canadian airlines, I can understand and appreciate the frustration. I am sure all my colleagues of the House generally have those same levels of frustration. The government has announced that it is going to be privatizing some of our airports. That is an interesting concept and an interesting idea. I [more]

Oxford Mr. Speaker, I want to ask my friend, who just talked about some of his previous life experience, about this. The member forwas recently in my riding doing a round table about the failures of the criminal justice system in this country and its ability to keep Canadians safe. The recurring theme that I heard from municipal leaders and law enforcement was that they know who the bad guys are. [more]

Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola Mr. Speaker, I am going to take a page out of the book of my colleague fromand say it is a pleasure to rise today on behalf of the good, honest and hard-working people of Ponoka—Didsbury. Ponoka—Didsbury is in central rural Alberta, just about 45 minutes north of Calgary and 45 minutes south of Edmonton. This is the heart of Alberta, and it is truly a pleasure and an [more]

Mr. Speaker, my good friend from Calgary Centre knows this issue inside and out. Anybody who is involved in the industry and in the business, right from the suits down to the boots on the ground, understands that it is just regulations and red tape that have held everything up, and it is the decisions that the government has made, picking the winners and losers, and getting involved and actually [more]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague channelled Paul Martin in his speech, and so I would ask him how exactly the Liberal government of that era got back to fiscal responsibility when it came to downloading responsibilities and costs to the provinces. Conservatives have been talking about what is going to happen with our social programs. What happened with social programs when the Liberals of the past were [more]

Prime Minister Mr. Speaker, it is not bad enough that the newhas split the budget between operating and capital and is distributing the debt that he is creating among those. He is also passing debt on through Crown corporations. To hide all of that, as my colleague brought up, the Liberals are introducing the budget on a Thursday afternoon before a break week. If things are as great as the [more]