Statement made on 12 March 2009 by Senator Terry Mercer
Hon. Terry M. Mercer:
We may just have heard the first campaign speech from Senator Prud'homme when he runs for Parliament again after leaving this place.
I want to be perfectly clear that the government side should realize that it was not me who gave you the worst insult of all today; it was Senator Ringuette. She said you were like bankers. My God!
I would love to support the amendments proposed by Senator Murray and Senator McCoy to this bill and then vote against the budget entirely. However, Saturday morning I will get on a plane and go home. When I get off that plane, I know that the likelihood of me bumping into someone in the Robert L. Stanfield International Airport in Halifax who is unemployed is very high because of the number of layoffs there have been in my home province in the last little while: 300 people in Liverpool, 100 people in Hanstsport, layoffs at Michelin Tire. The forestry industry is in shambles. I want to look those people in the eye and say that I did what I could today to ensure there is money to provide jobs through the stimulus package or, if you are on EI, that at least you will get those extra five weeks, and God knows it is not enough.
I want to be able to look those people in the eye and say that I have done that, so I cannot support the amendments of Senator Murray and Senator McCoy.
I want to talk about several words we have heard around the chamber today. We heard the words "blackmail," "bully" and "complicit." I believe we have been blackmailed by a bully. I believe that the bully who runs this government has put us in the box we are in today.
Senator Prud'homme is absolutely right. There will come a day when we will draw that line and we will send a bill back to the House of Commons. Hopefully that day will not come because there will soon be an election, the government will change and good people will finally be running this place.
Senator Comeau: Dream on.
Senator Mercer: However, there is another group of people that I think are complicit in all of this. Someone could say that 413 parliamentarians — 308 there and 105 here — are complicit in what is going on here.
I am sorry that our friend from Maclean's magazine has left the press gallery. She was here earlier this afternoon. The people who are complicit in this are the media in this country.
Some very eminent former members of the media now sit in this chamber — Senators Munson, Duffy, Corbin, Fraser and Wallin. I have not looked at everyone's resumé to know if he or she has worked previously as a journalist.
The media are complicit because they have not taken the time to examine the bill in detail. They have not spent time at the Senate Finance Committee and watched the work done by Senator Mitchell. The fact that an appointed Liberal senator from Alberta has found out Mr. Harper's game is quite wonderful.
The media in this country are complicit because they are not doing their job. They are not being the investigative journalists that we used to have in this country. They are not digging into this bill. They are not finding these things out.
Senator Munson: We are in the Senate.
Senator Mercer: That may be true.
Senator Ringuette: The good ones are all here.
Senator Mercer: I would not say that. I would not say all the ones in here are good.
Along with the problems that Mr. Harper and his cronies have brought to this place, there is another complicit group, and the media need to be called to task. They need to know that they are doing a disservice to the Canadian public by taking as gospel the press releases sent from Langevin Block. It is their job and profession to dig deeper.
The School of Journalism at Carleton University and the University of King's College in Halifax produce good people, but somewhere between there and here they have lost that drive to do the work that they were trained to do as investigative journalists. It is important that someone in this place draw that fact to their attention.
Honourable senators, I will be voting against the amendments of Senator Murray and Senator McCoy, unfortunately, but I will be supporting this bill. I cannot say that I am supporting the budget. I am supporting the bill because I do want to ensure that the unemployed people of my province have the opportunity to get the extra five weeks of EI. That is the only reason I am voting in favour of Bill C-10.