Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to consultations on possible electoral reform initiatives being undertaken by the Minister for Democratic Reform: (a) what consultations have been held as of June 1, 2016; (b) for each of the consultations in (a), who has the Minister or her officials consulted and what were the recommendations of each consultation; (c) what proportion of the groups or individuals consulted are (i) activists, (ii) academics, (iii) corporations, (iv) labour unions, (v) professional associations, (vi) Canadians with no official affiliation to a group advocating for electoral reform; (d) what steps have the Minister and her officials taken to receive a representative sample of public opinion on the matter of electoral reform; (e) what steps have the Minister or her officials taken to ensure a full and free discussion of electoral reform options; (f) have the consultations on electoral reform reflected the announcement by the government that 2015 would be the last election held under the first-past-the-post system, and if so, how; (g) if consultations on the current or alternate electoral systems have not yet been held, what steps does the Minister or her officials plan to take to ensure that the outcomes of future consultations are not prejudiced for or against any specific electoral system; (h) of the consultations in (a), which consultations have recommended maintaining the current electoral system of first-past-the-post; (i) of the consultations in (a), how many have recommended first-past-the-post, proportional representation (and variants), transferrable ballots (and variants), and other electoral systems, respectively; (j) has the Minister or her officials consulted other countries that have recently modified or considered modifying their electoral system regarding their experience; and (k) if the answer to (j) is in the affirmative, which countries were consulted, and for each consultation, what were the findings of the consultation?

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With respect to Shared Services Canada and the independent review recently ordered by the President of the Treasury Board: (a) what criteria will be used to select the independent contractor or contractors performing the review; (b) which factors were assessed in estimating the cost of the review at $1.4 million; (c) what measures will be in place to ensure that the review is conducted on time and on budget; (d) should the review not be delivered on time and on budget, how does the Treasury Board plan to address this problem; (e) which factors were assessed in estimating the time that the review will take to execute; (f) what are the terms of reference for the review; (g) once the review is completed, when will the resulting report be made public; and (h) what security screening measures will be used to ensure the trustworthiness of the independent contractor or contractors selected for the review?

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to the legal requirements that Ministers and Ministers’ staff avoid conflicts of interest, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and his staff: (a) how many times has the Minister’s Chief of Staff recused herself from decisions involving policy matters that directly affect egg farmers in Ontario or Canada; (b) for each instance in (a), what were the dates of such recusals; and (c) other than recusing herself from decisions involving policy matters directly affecting egg farmers in Ontario and Canada, how did the Minister’s Chief of Staff comply with legal requirements to avoid conflicts of interest?

Housing  Mr. Speaker, on October 20, I asked the finance minister why he is making it harder for young families to buy homes through new mortgage rules. The parliamentary secretary agreed that buying a house is the most important investment most Canadian families will make. However, a few minutes later, when confronted on the Liberals' out-of-control spending and borrowing, the same member said that when interest rates are low, that's the time to invest.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, The Globe and Mail reports that the Liberals took deliberate steps to keep their cash for access fundraisers secret and exclusive, using Internet protocols to keep them out of search engine results. Now the Minister of Finance is set to attend another fundraiser at the home of a registered lobbyist for Shaw Communications, and Google search produces no results.

Ethics  Madam Speaker, both the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister held cash for access fundraisers in obvious violation of the Prime Minister's code of ethics. They claim that they are complying with the Ethics Commissioner, yet the commissioner told The Globe and Mail that she cannot tell whether the rules were breached because the Prime Minister gave that power to the Privy Council Office.

Ethics  Madam Speaker, the Minister of Finance recently attended a cash for access fundraiser. The Liberal House leader has repeated ad nauseam that this was within the rules. However, the Prime Minister's document, “Open and Accountable Government”, says that ministers “have an obligation to perform their official duties and arrange their private affairs in a manner that will bear the closest public scrutiny”, an obligation that “is not fully discharged merely by acting within the law”.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, it is the dream of most young families to own their own home, but the millionaire Minister of Finance is putting that dream out of reach by making it harder to qualify for a mortgage and by introducing a carbon tax to make everything more expensive. What does the minister have against young families and why is he making it harder for them to get by?

Housing  Mr. Speaker, the finance minister is borrowing ever increasing sums of money to fulfill the Liberals' tax-and-spend agenda while lecturing Canadians about the risk of using credit and excessive debt when they just want to buy a home. Why does he keep adding taxes and making it harder for young families to qualify for mortgages, instead of practising what he preaches and reining in his own out of control borrowing?

Mortgage Industry  Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, the finance minister took another stab at addressing housing affordability and related mortgage insurance risk to Canadian taxpayers. Again, the finance minister is imposing a one-size-fits-all response on Canadian consumers and the mortgage industry while missing the target.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition from the constituents of Calgary Rocky Ridge, regarding the government's plan on electoral reform. Given that peer countries of Canada, such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as well as Canadian provinces, have all consulted the voters directly through a referendum on the question of proposed changes to the electoral system, the constituents of Calgary Rocky Ridge are concerned about this and believe that if changes to the voting system are to be made, they can only be done with the consent of Canadians through a national referendum.

Paris Agreement  Madam Speaker, I think that Canadians know all too well what revenue neutral means when spoken from a government like that. They do not believe it, and history is on their side.

Paris Agreement  Madam Speaker, there were several components to the member's question. I will start with the beginning about the health concerns and issues expressed over pollutants created from fossil fuel-generated power. We believe in the evolution toward cleaner technology. This has been under way for decades.

Paris Agreement  Madam Speaker, the impact is going to be on everyone. It is going to be on the seniors who will be unable to afford to heat their homes. It is going to be on public transit users, which will see a rise in the cost of those services. We have already seen that in Alberta. In fact, we have already seen that in my city.

Paris Agreement  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to say that my Conservative colleagues and I support the Paris agreement and approve of the government's choice to adopt the previous government's emission targets as its own. I am glad to see that the government adopted the standards of the previous government, which led to a 1% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over a period of 35% growth in GDP, as my hon. friend from St.