Children are lucky today to have access to technologies that were not available when I was a kid. For example, the students at L’Étincelle, a primary school in the village of Ste-Marguerite in the Beauce, have their own radio station and broadcast a daily program at 88,7 on the FM band.

I visited the school a few days ago and met them and their teachers. I also gave an interview to the young journalists of Radio-Étincelle. They asked me various questions about my life and my activities as an MP. I very much enjoyed my visit and I congratulate these students for being so dynamic and professional!

On January 21, 2010, I gave this speech on my vision of conservatism to members of the Calgary Centre Conservative Party Association who had invited me. This is the text of my speech, which you can also watch on these video clips.

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I made a short trip to Alberta late last week at the invitation of Conservative Party members. I gave a speech on my vision of conservatism before members of the Calgary Centre Association. My esteemed colleague Lee Richardson, who is the MP for this riding, was kind enough to introduce me for the occasion. The video and text of this speech will soon be available on this blog.

I always find it very interesting to exchange with people involved in the party from other regions of the country about their perceptions and preoccupations. Incidentally, I also met with officials of the MacKenzie gas pipeline project, who gave me an overview of it. This important $7-billion project would link natural gas producing wells in the MacKenzie river delta to the Alberta pipeline network, through the Northwest Territories. It would mean a major investment for the economy of the West.

Hi,

You may have noticed that there is increasing talk of the emergence of new bubbles in the financial news these days. Bubbles in the real estate market, in the stock market, in commodities, bubbles in China, in the United States.

What is surprising is that for the past two years, we have been going through a crisis that was itself provoked by the bursting of a bubble. How can we experience frantic speculation in various sectors while we are in a crisis? How can prices explode while unemployment continues to grow, production stalls, and consumers are heavily indebted and depressed?

The answer is simple: because there is too much money in circulation.

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Like everyone, I was deeply shocked by the level of physical destruction and the loss of life following the earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince earlier this week.

I had the opportunity to make an official visit to Haiti two years ago as Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister. I was able to witness in person the harsh conditions in which many Haitians already lived.

I would like to offer my condolences and my moral support to our fellow citizens of Haitian background whose family members there have been directly affected by this disaster. And I invite all those who can to show their solidarity by making a financial contribution to the international aid organisations involved in the relief work.

Several months ago, I launched this blog with the aim of sharing my thoughts on politics, economic and social issues with Canadians from across the country. I am very satisfied with the results.

I thank all those who came to read and listen to me , and especially those who left constructive comments. I hope we will be able to pursue this dialogue next year.

I wish everyone a very happy holiday season, and I wish us all peace and prosperity in the world in 2010. Talk to you again soon.

Maxime Bernier

Hello,

Many of my acquaintances are hunters. Hunting is not practiced to the same extent today as it used to be, but it is a traditional activity that has always been part of the culture of the First Nations as well as the settlers who came to this country.

Almost all these hunters, and the farmers who need to keep hunting rifles, are absolutely honest people who have never committed any act of violence against anyone.

Nevertheless, the law treats them all nowadays as potential criminals. In addition to the firearms possession and acquisition license, they have to periodically register each one of their hunting rifles.

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Last April, I reprinted on this blog an article by Professor Richard Schultz published in the Financial Post on the reforms that I accomplished in the telecommunications sector as Industry minister. This article was an excerpt from a much longer study (29 pages) which forms a chapter in the book How Ottawa Spends 2008-2009: A More Orderly Federalism?.

Professor Schultz heads McGill University’s political science department. I obtained his permission to reprint the study in its entirety. Click here to download the PFD file.

The paper not only describes the reforms themselves but deals mostly with the very difficult process that led to their adoption. Indeed, I was confronted with significant opposition when trying to achieve them, not only on the part of some interest groups but from within my department and the government, hence the title “What a difference a minister can make.”

Many people imagine that a minister has wide powers and that his personal stand on issues automatically becomes the government’s official position. Reality is much more complex. One must be extremely determined and have a clear vision of the goal to achieve in order to avoid the many obstacles in a long and arduous process where several players are involved. I often had the impression of being the main character in the British comedy Yes Minister.

I would strongly advise anyone interested in politics and in public policy to read Professor’s Schultz’s very interesting analysis, not simply because it’s about me and my reforms, but to get a very realistic description of how the political and bureaucratic machine works in Ottawa.

Hello,

About two weeks ago, on October 27, I asked a question about the Canadian dollar to Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney who was appearing before the Standing Committee on Finance.

Over the past few weeks, Mr. Carney has stated several times that he would intervene to push down the dollar if it gets too high compared to the US dollar.

As you will see in the following excerpt, he agrees with me that there are advantages as well as disadvantages to having a strong currency. But his answer raises an interesting point about the way the Bank of Canada conducts its policy. (more…)

A journalist at the National Post, John Ivison, writes a column this morning that refers to a presentation I gave in 2004 on whether or not the creation of a federal securities commission would be in accord with the Constitution. As everyone knows, the topic has been in the news recently, when my colleague Jim Flaherty, the minister of Finance, announced that our government would ask the Supreme Court to give its opinion on the matter. This controversy has been going on for many years already.

As I told Mr Ivison when he contacted me, I haven’t changed my mind and I still believe that the Constitution allocates this power to the provinces. There is nothing secret in the position that I have defended and for those who would like to consult it, I have scanned the text of my presentation, which you can access here.

I am however very proud of the fact that contrary to what a liberal government would likely have done, our government has not imposed its legislative will on Quebec and other provinces who object to such a move and has chosen instead to ask the opinion of the Supreme Court. A conservative government will not encroach upon areas of provincial jurisdiction. This debate will be settled once and for all and our government will respect the decision of the Court and the Constitution.

One thing that is not mentioned in the article and that I would like to clarify is that I mostly became interested in this question when I worked as vice-president for corporate and international affairs at the Quebec Securities Commission (now the Autorité des marchés financiers) between 1997 and 2000. I gave the presentation a few years later at a colloquium on securities organized by the Canadian Institute in Montreal after I had become vice-president of the Standard Life of Canada.

Last Friday, I spent an afternoon participating in a beauceron “corvée”, or voluntary community work, to help Maxim Tardif and his team from the Centre d’interprétation ferroviaire (Railroad Interpretive Centre) renovate the old railway station in Vallée-Jonction.

The roof of that building built in 1917 was leaking and needed repair. Several volunteers gave a hand and business sponsors from the region contributed in various ways.

On the picture, I am with the group who helped replace the shingles on the roof.

Last October 17, the Parliamentary Press Gallery held its annual dinner in Ottawa with members of Parliament and journalists working on the Hill. It’s a humorous event where politicians are being made fun of. This year, the dinner took the form of an award ceremony. When I went to the podium to hand out one of the awards, something happened… which made everyone laugh in the room. The next day, Question Period host Jane Taber on CTV described it as one of the highlights of the evening.