Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I have a couple of comments, and the member can feel free to engage as he sees fit. First of all, the member mentioned that the opposition parties were not involved. I would like to remind the member that the former interim leader of the Conservative Party was involved the entire time with the deputy prime minister.

Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, the member opposite keyed in on two things toward the end of her speech, supply management and the dairy worker. I find it very rich that members of the opposition benches talk about how important supply management is when the member for Abbotsford, who previously spoke, was the minister responsible for negotiating away major parts of our dairy sector under CETA and CPTPP.

Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for his vote yesterday and signifying that the Conservative Party will support this moving forward. Part of his speech talked about the suggestion that this government has somehow hidden the agenda, and I take great exception to that.

Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague the Deputy Prime Minister for her great speech and her great work on this file. Kings—Hants has the largest concentration of agricultural producers east of Montreal, including many dairy farmers and poultry farmers. The entire House needs to remember that the United States wanted a provision included that would give it more access to these areas.

Hockey  Mr. Speaker, sport has an incredible ability to bring us together, whether locally in our communities or as a nation watching our athletes represent Canada on the world stage. This past holiday season was no exception to that rule, as we watched our top hockey athletes compete in three different international tournaments.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, it is always nice to find members in the House who come from a rural community and know the importance of agriculture to the entire Canadian economy. The member was spot on. Kings—Hants is a region that is heavily reliant on agriculture. We have to remember that the Speech from the Throne is a high level document that outlines high level priorities.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, it really has to be both. We need to continue to move forward on the transition, and I hope the member opposite recognizes this needs to happen, but we also have to balance this against affordability. I live in a riding that is quite rural. When I was on the doorsteps, affordability remained a challenge for Canadians.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, my colleague hits on something that is really important for me. I grew up in what could be best described as a working class family. My father was a truck driver. My mom was an administrative assistant at the local school. There were times when I was younger when we would go to the grocery store and if my father had made a purchase that day and had not told my mother, there was not enough money to pay for the groceries.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time this evening with the hon. member for Pickering—Uxbridge. This is my second opportunity to speak in response to the throne speech. I appreciate this opportunity to explain why I think all MPs should vote in favour this evening. I want to begin this speech talking about climate change, which was a predominant theme in the Speech from the Throne, and rightfully so, given its importance to all of us, not only here in Canada but across the world.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, coming from a rural community myself in Nova Scotia, and given that the member for Dufferin—Caledon mentioned agriculture, I want him to rest assured that there are members on this side who are focused on those issues. I look forward to working collaboratively with him in the days ahead.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member on her newborn child. That is very exciting. She talked a lot about struggles in rural communities. I come from a rural community myself in Kings—Hants and heard on the doorsteps too about affordability and the importance of investing to support rural communities.

House debate  Madam Speaker, my two points relate to the economy. We have heard a lot from opposition members about the 71,000 jobs in November. We would never mitigate what Canadian families are going through right now, but I am hoping that the member opposite will recognize that there has been an overall net gain in employment in 2019 from this government, and it is almost 30,000 jobs.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member opposite on her fourth election to this House and of course 12 years in service. That certainly speaks for itself in terms of her ability to provide for her constituents. The question was on seniors, and Liberals have committed to increasing old age security by 10% for those who are 75 years and over.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, over the last four years this government has done more than any other government in the history of this country to work on the issues related to climate change. We are on pace to be able to beat our climate accord by 2030. As it relates to the Speech from the Throne, I would remind the member opposite that it is a general document that outlines the principles and the work that will continue in the next four years.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I want to remind Canadians that it was our government that brought the retirement age in this country from 67 back down to 65. It had been raised by our Conservative colleagues. I would like to point to the fact that we are going to be raising the personal exemption to $15,000.