Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to the subject of pay equity. I will be sharing my time with the member for South Surrey—White Rock. I am going to begin by reading verbatim from our Conservative Party policy statement: The Conservative Party supports the full participation of women in the social, economic, and cultural life of Canada.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague for an excellent speech and for raising awareness of this issue, which I am passionate about as well. We have a status of women committee with a similar membership to what you have outlined, and you and I are on it, so why does the member think we need an additional committee on top of that, when in the past this kind of thing would be championed by the status of women committee?

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague on an excellent speech and on his election. The government promised Canadians that it would run a deficit of only $10 billion, but current promises are already adding up to way more than that. The government says that it is going to be open and transparent, but it is not telling Canadians how big this deficit will be.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, creating jobs in the green and clean-tech industries is a multi-year initiative. It will not immediately replace all of the hundreds of thousands of jobs that have been lost in Alberta, nor the jobs that will be lost in the future from the implementation of carbon pricing and higher EI and CPP rates.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member who is my neighbour. I am right next door in Sarnia—Lambton. Seniors are a priority for me and it was not mentioned at all in the throne speech. That is especially troubling because the bad economic policies of the government have led to a 28% drop in stock market prices already, with another 20% expected.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the hon. member on his election. The Liberal government has talked about real change, but so far we are not seeing many detailed plans that match the timelines in the campaign promises. My question for the member is, can he tell us which plans and timelines he would most like to see from the government?

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate the hon. member on his speech and on his election. The member mentioned the importance to Canada of small businesses, and I heartily agree. My question for the member is this. Does he not think that carbon pricing increases and increases in the amount employers pay for CPP and EI will push small businesses out of business?

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot of talk from the current Liberal government about openness and transparency and about how infrastructure will be the answer to all of the economic woes of the west. I am interested in hearing from the member if he has seen a detailed plan for his area to create jobs.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, the second petition is based on Falun Gong, which is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline. The petitioners are calling for the Government of Canada to pass a resolution to stop the Chinese communist party's crime of systematically murdering Falun Gong practitioners for their organs and to publicly call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today. The first petition is about a national anti-poverty plan brought forward by my constituents. It calls on the Government of Canada to work with the provinces and territories to implement an anti-poverty plan based on human rights that focuses on income security, housing and homelessness, health, food security, early childhood education and care, and jobs and employment and to work with partners to get measurable goals, timelines, indicators of progress, and ongoing improvement for the anti-poverty plan and underlying strategies.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, obviously we cannot change the past. In the go-forward position, all we can do is the right thing. Once we have committed to a contract, it is hard to break it without breach of contract. That being said, some kind of punitive action is needed in these situations, because it is not just that we want to do business with them; they also want to do business with us, and we have control over that.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, obviously I also am extremely concerned about the high price of gas, considering that oil prices are in the toilet. When it comes to the things that go into gas pricing we know about provincial and other taxes. Above and beyond that it is the companies that set the price of gasoline.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, obviously, I am not pleased to see energy not mentioned in the throne speech. It is an extremely important part of our GDP. When it comes to pipelines, I referred in my speech to Patricia Mohr who is the global hydrocarbon strategist for Scotiabank. If we look at our GDP and where we are are going to grow, there is nothing that we can immediately substitute in the fossil fuel industry.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to wish you and everyone here a happy new year. Today, I would like to talk about the throne speech. It was not very long and the text was so concise in many areas that I would have liked to have the government provide more details. I will read the passages that are too vague and tell you what I think should have been said.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my fellow member on her first speech. In both of the last speeches I have heard about housing needs. It is true that there are needs in members' ridings. Also in my small riding of Sarnia—Lambton we have a need for shelter improvements, houses for seniors, and houses for those who are without.