Debates of May 5th, 2016

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Humber River—Black Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as we move forward with our budget, we are looking at a variety of areas throughout the country that are struggling and we are deciding on the best way to help them. There are challenges facing Fort McMurray. It is an area that we are going to have to pay specific attention to and invest a lot more money than maybe what we had planned, because we need to help those people.

In reference to the Canada Post issue in particular, I believe the minister announced in the last day or two that a committee has been put together that will be doing a review between now and the end of the year. It will consult with Canadians, academics, and professionals on how to maximize the opportunities for Canada Post, because the issue of mail delivery is important to all of us and we would like some of those issues resolved as soon as possible.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Intergovernmental Affairs)]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House to speak to this bill today and, in particular, to follow my colleague, the member for Humber River—Black Creek, who laid the groundwork for a new urban agenda in Ottawa, after all those years, before the lost 10 years of the last decade, where as a city councillor, support for cities disappeared.

The reason I chose to run federally, to leave city council and join Parliament, was for one reason, and one reason only. Beyond the need for a stronger urban agenda, we needed a new national housing program. This budget is the first time in 25 years, the first time in my political life, I have seen a federal government step back in with the strength, the commitment, and the diversity of programs for housing that our country so badly needs, as we watch thousands of people who night after night go homeless.

Compared with the last budget which had $2.7 billion over 10 years, this year's budget provides for $2.3 billion over two. This includes doubling the money flowing to provinces to a total of $500 million to build, subsidize, and repair public housing. It includes $200 million for senior housing. It includes, importantly, $90 million for people escaping family violence. Taken together, this is the most substantive and the most important investment in affordable and public housing we have seen in a generation. It is this budget that delivers it, and it is the most important reason to support the budget.

Cities have also been spoken to. We have moved away from the one-third funding formulas that defined infrastructure programming over the last 20 years. We have moved to a fair system, a flexible system, a system that gets money into the hands of city councils fast.

The fifty-fifty split defines a new relationship that we have established between the federal government and our municipalities, large and small, rural, highly urbanized, in the south, the north, and coast to coast to coast. This is the most important dynamic in our new relationship. We now recognize that cities are where the majority of Canadians live. If we are to improve the lives of the majority of Canadians, we have to invest heavily in the equity, the stability, and the capacity of cities, not only to provide shelter and services to Canadians, but also to generate economic growth.

One of the other critical steps that has been taken in this budget, which has not been present in the last 25 years, is we now recognize that aging infrastructure, not just new infrastructure, needs support. State of good repair and the recapitalizing of urban infrastructure is a fundamental part of the new infrastructure program. Cities have been crying for this for decades. Finally, we have a party and a government in Ottawa that is prepared to listen.

I sat by as a city councillor and watched the province of Prince Edward Island, in particular, see more money spent on billboards about infrastructure than on the actual infrastructure that was advertised on those billboards.

The previous government was very good at putting up the billboards, very good at cutting ribbons for projects that did not exist, but when it came time to cut the cheque, it was missing in action. While it put up the billboards, spending actually went down. That is unacceptable.

Major cities in this country, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Regina, Toronto, Mississauga, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, St. John's, received zero dollars in the new building Canada fund over the last two years, while citizens in those cities cried out for support. If members talk to the mayors in those very cities, they will find out that is exactly what happened.

The other thing I am proud of is the fact that infrastructure programming goes beyond just transit and housing. It reaches into arts and the social infrastructure which builds stronger neighbourhoods—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order, please. I am just going to interrupt the hon. member. It is getting noisy. I want to ensure that everybody understands there will be time to ask questions of the hon. member, although now is not the time.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Intergovernmental Affairs).

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the social and cultural infrastructures this government is investing in, including the universities. It is not good enough just to build housing and transit; we need to build complete neighbourhoods. This infrastructure program does just that.

The spending categories for infrastructure, the social, green and transit, also include something else that is critically important. Much of our housing infrastructure stock is aging. Many of the federal programs built in the 1950s and 1960s were built at a time when energy efficiency and high-quality construction was not a priority in the federal government programs of the day. This budget puts $500 million into the revitalization and the retrofitting of those housing units, which not only become more expensive to operate, but also generate a significant amount of greenhouse gas. We can both repair, restore, and also address some of the climate change needs with the infrastructure spending targeted at low-income Canadians living in aging housing stock. This is the smartest infrastructure program related to housing that is in this budget.

We have also committed and lived up to our promise to sustain the subsidies that keep people in affordable housing. Whether it is seniors in Alberta, or single mothers in Toronto or aboriginal and first nations people living in the Maritimes, those subsidies under section 95 will be restored for two years, while we sit down with the provinces and our housing providers and renegotiate a new housing dynamic for the country that goes well beyond the life of any one government into the future so we have a program of which we can all be proud.

The other thing that is part of this budget and this government's action, which underpins all of that is the need for better data on how, where and why Canadians are choosing to live where they live, is the long form census.

I was part of the city council that had to take the previous government to court to get it to admit that it had deliberately under-measured and under-counted people living in high-rise buildings. It said that it could not get into the building. The reason it was unable to get in was because it was not committed to the census and what the census would give cities and communities as they did long-range planning.

Restoring the long form census, doing a proper census, and getting real data and evidence into the hands of cities allows us to spend the money that is now on the table more effectively to produce better results for Canadians, not just economically but socially. That is part of the approach this government has. It is not just about putting resources on the table. It is getting smarter about how we spend them so we spend them into the economy quickly and fairly, meaning equitably, and at the same time in a flexible manner that realizes and understands that smaller provinces no longer have the capacity necessary to participate in the infrastructure programs constructed as they were three decades ago.

The smaller municipalities do not have the opportunity to get public-private partnerships put together because they are asset-based and the size of the project is not big enough to attract the interests of the private sector partners. We have changed those dynamics because we have listened to cities. Most important, we have listened to people living in those cities.

The transformation that this promises for a majority of Canadians is profound. However, at the same time we have not walked away from other parts of the country that do not define themselves as a “large urban centre”. The broadband investment is about economic development and access to the Internet and the larger world for smaller and more remote communities. It is a critical piece of infrastructure investment that once again will not only build and strengthen remote and smaller communities, but will deliver capacity economically to those places so they too can thrive, grow and become strong metropolises.

Additionally, and this is the most important part of the budget, we have stepped up on aboriginal affairs with $8.4 billion in funding. We have declared that the clean water crisis will come to an end, that equity in education and health care outcomes and investments will be there, that education and distance learning will be invested in and made stronger. We have declared and supported the call for an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

I remember sitting here during budget day, looking up into the gallery and seeing the pride, the confidence, and the trust on the face of the chief of the Assembly of First Nations. I remember the particular applause that budget received. We should all be very proud of this. It is one more reason to support this budget.

This budget turns a page on 10 lost years. It projects equity, opportunity, and economic growth into the future for 10 years and beyond, and provides an ability to build a country we can truly be proud of and is truly one that takes care of Canadians no matter where they live, how they live, or why they choose to live the way they do.

It is a critically important time in the history of our country on the aboriginal component alone. However, for cities and municipalities, there has never been a budget that has spoken more directly, more respectfully, and more profoundly to their needs. As someone who comes out of that sector politically, when I talk to mayors across the country, they know that on October 19 the right decision was made. However, more important, they know this budget is the right thing to support as we move forward.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the member's speech and some of the misleading statements made. I am from a community that has the largest first nation in Canada. We built it a $42 million water treatment plant during my term in office over the last four years. In my community we built well over $300,000 worth of new infrastructure such as the Wayne Gretzky Sports Complex, which is a $63 million project. We rebuilt Applegate Co-op housing at Toll Gate Road. We rebuilt social housing right across the community and on Six Nations. We built the Six Nations a new police station because of crumbling infrastructure.

The member is telling Canadians today that we did not make any of those investments. How does he square that to the House of Commons?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if the member thinks that drinking water and the crisis around clean water has been solved, he is out of his mind. I invite him to go to the northern communities that have had 5, 10, and 20-year boil water alerts that were not addressed in the last 10 years. If he drinks a glass of water, we will see how well he does in answering questions of his colleagues in the House.

On the issue of critical infrastructure, the mayors in the major cities of Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Mississauga, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City have said that not a penny of federal infrastructure has come from the building Canada fund for two years.

If we ask folks in Calgary and Edmonton what that infrastructure money would be doing right now, it would be putting unemployed workers back on the job. Instead we had a previous government that walked away from that province. That is one of the reasons their unemployment challenge is so hard to solve right now.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Spadina—Fort York spoke about the urban agenda and part of that is transit funding. The budget allocates transit funding according to ridership, which is certainly a good formula for jurisdictions that already have well developed transit systems. When I think of my home city of Regina, last week I had the opportunity to ride on a couple of buses and they are very nice, but we could use more buses and more frequent service.

Regina will not get very much transit funding because ridership is currently low. If we look at the province of Saskatchewan as a whole, we get less than 1% of the transit money in the budget even though we comprise more than 3% of the country's population.

Could the member speak to the fact that the budget really focuses transit funding on jurisdictions that already have a lot of public transit and does not do much to expand it in cities like Regina, which he was fond of mentioning in his speech and question responses?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things transit planners and transit operators across the country know is that to make transit investments more effective and to deliver the greenhouse gas transformation that is required through investments in transit as well as to get the most riders moving quickest and to deal with gridlock right across the country we build from strength. In other words, we build transit systems out from where they are highly used and highly congested into areas that have less. We move from strength into areas that need the development.

This is phase one of the transit program. As we start to build that stronger transit across the country, communities that are not dealt with specifically, as the member has identified, in the budget this year, phase two is on its way. The second, third, and fourth years of this mandate will show that the system we have chosen to invest in will provide the strength and the capacity as we grow from strength into new areas as part of our strategy.

Transit operators and transit properties across the country have been asking for for this. We have listened, we have responded, and this will deliver the results we all hope to see in our country.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to participate in the debate on Bill C-15. It is an important debate, because the bill implements a budget that does long-term harm to our country. It sets Canada down a path of reckless spending, over $100 billion in debt, and higher taxes, and leaves a massive burden for future generations.

First, let me address some of the specific items in the bill that are not particularly well thought through. Despite the Liberals' clear promise to small businesses on the campaign trail, this budget hikes taxes on small business owners. That means that hard-working small businesses, the driving force of Canada's economy, are being forced to cough up a staggering $2.2 billion to help pay for the budget spending spree of the Minister of Finance.

I did forget at the start of my speech to inform the House I would be sharing my time with the member for Beauce, so I'm doing that now.

Bill C-15 will further damage the economy because it levels some Canadians with an overall income tax rate of over 50%. Experts across the board predict that this will cause some of our country's most talented people to look elsewhere to pursue their ideas and their businesses.

That is not all. The bill targets charities and ends children's fitness and arts tax credits, but even with all of these ill-considered tax hikes, budget 2016 still leaves Canada with a $30-billion debt. That cuts to the heart of the broader problem of Bill C-15.

Bill C-15 implements a reckless budget for this country. It is completely non-transparent and is built on a set of misleading and questionable numbers. The Minister of Finance arrived in Ottawa telling Canadians that the books were in worse shape than he had anticipated. He outlined a set of fiscal assumptions that have since been completely debunked, and he used them as the foundation for his budget. He ignored the evidence from his own finance department and from the PBO that both said the budget was in surplus. He repeatedly told members of this House that he inherited a deficit, and he built his budget on that assumption. However, we now know he has inherited a surplus of $7.5 billion.

We also know that he jammed as much new Liberal spending as possible into the last month of the past fiscal year to get rid of that surplus. He has not been transparent about his efforts to spend his way out of surplus, and he has been completely non-transparent about the state of Canada's finances. Then he went against the independent advice of private sector economists and against the advice of his own department and unilaterally downgraded Canada's growth forecast.

He build his budget on economic assumptions made without any explanation. Here again, the Minister of Finance was called out by the PBO for his lack of transparency. Then the Minister of Finance had to be forced to reveal his five-year budget figures by the PBO, which he was trying to keep hidden from the public. If that is not enough, the 2016 budget is filled with wild assumptions of job creation, all of which have been repudiated by the PBO and other experts.

Fiscal prudence matters. Managing taxpayers' dollars responsibly matters. Being transparent about managing public money matters, but this Minister of Finance continues to play games with the budget, hide the numbers, and damage his own credibility.

The Liberals received a mandate from Canadians to go into deficit, but it was a very specific mandate. Canadians were promised that the Liberals would discipline themselves by sticking to three core fiscal anchors: deficits of no more than $10 billion, an annual falling debt-to-GDP ratio, and a balanced budget by 2019. These were all articulated in writing and posted for all Canadians to see in the mandate letter the Prime Minister gave to the Minister of Finance. The 2016 federal budget betrays every one of these promises.

Somewhere along the line, the finance minister decided that rather than exercising discipline and delivering what he had promised to Canadians, it would be a lot easier to interpret the election results as a mandate to borrow and spend as much money as he wants, for as long as he wants, on whatever he wants.

Let me be very clear, Canadians did not give the finance minister a blank cheque to go on such a spending spree.

Budget 2016 will saddle Canadians with $100 billion in new debt, which will have to be paid back through higher taxes. Budget 2016 plans for massive deficits and borrowing indefinitely into the future, with no plan whatsoever to return to balance. The budget barely mentions business. It will not create jobs and it throws away Canada's competitive advantage.

I also come from a riding that has a substantial agricultural component to it. It is about 65% urban, 35% rural. There is not one mention in the budget about enhancements to any of the communities in the small rural centres, and no talk about agriculture at all. These are the people who are heart-blood of many ridings, many communities. They are the ones who, daily, toil so that we can have the benefits of living the bountiful life we do from their agricultural pursuits and their risk-taking.

I can speak as a small business entrepreneur, having owned my own company over 25 years. One of the most important things for governments to do for small businesses is to make sure that they do not have the highest tax rates imposed upon citizens who are creating jobs, like small business owners.

I happened to be in the building industry, an industry that is the bellwether of the Canadian economy. We are talking about businesses that employ more than 800,000 workers in this country. This budget does absolutely nothing to improve and enhance the livelihoods of those small builders in my community who are building maybe five, six, or seven houses. All it is doing is adding to their red tape costs and the costs of their taxes and employee remittances.

These are the people who drive our economy. This budget and this budget implementation bill do nothing to help them out.

I urge all members of the House to vote against this reckless Liberal spending spree.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, it is borderline humorous when I hear member after member from the Conservative Party stand in their places and try to give the impression to Canadians that there was a Conservative surplus budget.

In reality, if the previous government demonstrated anything, it demonstrated that it did not have the ability from within to be able to manage a budget to a surplus. History and the facts clearly demonstrate that.

My question to the member is as follows. Why do the member and his Conservative colleagues believe that they have an ounce of credibility on the issue of deficits, when they have failed so miserably in terms of being able to deliver a balanced budget?

The budget during the election year that they talk about as they stand in their places today is not a balanced budget. No matter how often they try to repeat it. It is a deficit budget. Every budget leading up to that with the Conservative government was a deficit budget. In total, over $150 billion was added to Canada's debt because of the Conservatives and they got a stagnant Canadian economy. Canadians wanted investments but they never received them.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, talking about humorous, this member obviously does not understand that money coming in in excess of spending is a surplus. We balanced the budget, every month of this past fiscal year, except for one month, March.

What did the finance minister decide to do? He clawed back all of the Liberal spending, over $13 million, into that month so that he could stand up and say that the Liberals were left with a deficit. In October, Conservatives left government with a surplus, right up until the end of February. Now the Liberals want to say that?

Second, the fact is that we went into deficit spending because the global economy was crashing. Every advanced country in this world signed on to spending. In fact, that party wanted us to spend twice as much. They were asking us to spend twice as much as we spent. We brought it back to balance.

[Karine Trudel, NDP, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it must be nice to be in the House to ask questions and pat oneself on the back. Members on both sides have been saying that they balanced the budget or that they did this or that. In reality—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order. There seems to be a bit of a problem in the House.

I would like to remind hon. members that we are in session, and screaming across the floor is not part of that session.

I will give the floor back to the hon. member for Jonquière.

[Karine Trudel, NDP, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you Mr. Speaker. That is what I wanted to point out in my remarks. When members on either side of the House rise to speak, they should always be thinking about workers. I have been listening to the speeches that have been given since this morning and I am thinking about the workers who get up every day, pack their lunches, and go to work. They need employment insurance when jobs are cut.

Given the reform that my colleague's government implemented and that is still in effect, I would like him to tell us what he thinks about the penalty being imposed on workers in certain regions, the workers who are not eligible for the five additional weeks.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am caught off guard here. I was not aware of the question.

Let me just underscore what I said in my speech and the way I have responded every time the deficit question comes up.

A person who has a business that has a balance sheet would watch income coming in and watch the spending. Therefore, it is absolutely unconscionable to me what has happened with the Minister of Finance. He has taken a surplus of $7.5 billion and turned it into what he claims is a deficit that the Conservatives left him. It is because of his spending, putting it into that fiscal year and then claiming that is the case.

It is unfathomable to me that they think Canadians buy this argument. They understand that they get a paycheque and they have expenses. If they want to pile themselves into debt, they can choose to do that at any time. That is what our Minister of Finance has done. He has piled us into debt at the last possible moment to claim that the Conservatives left him a deficit. However, we did not choose that spending. We left a surplus.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I just wonder if the member would comment on some of the things that our previous government did, especially in 2006 to 2008, before the entire planet went into recession.

We paid down close to $40 billion of national debt. We lowered the GST from 7% to 6% to 5%. Throughout the great recession, we led the G8 and G7, the most industrialized countries in the world, with growth. There was over one million jobs created in spite of that recession. Also, we balanced the books and had a surplus a year ahead of the action plan.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I think those points have been made through questioning and through my speech. However, the reality is that if we take the empirical data of all of this, taxes were at their lowest rate for Canadians over the last 50 years. Most average Canadian families had gained in excess of $7,000 more in their pockets.

Actually, one member who spoke here from the opposite side today got into politics because of social housing. I got into politics because I was disgusted with the fact that politicians thought it was their money and they could do what they wanted with it. I got into politics because it is not politicians' money. It is the taxpayers' money. It is the money of hard-working people who are honest and pay their taxes. What motivated me, as a businessman, to run, was the government that took our money, gave it to their friends for—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Statements by members, the hon. member for Sydney—Victoria.

The Netherlands

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as we celebrate the 71st anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands.

More than 7,600 Canadians died during the nine-month liberation battle, and a vast number of our Canadian lads are buried in Holland.

More than one million Canadians are of Dutch descent, and almost every Dutch family has a relative in Canada. One of the reasons why my parents came to Canada was the liberation of Holland.

Yesterday I was honoured to take part in a Dutch Remembrance Day ceremony with the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Canada, Cees Kole.

Spring is the best time to celebrate the friendship between the Netherlands and Canada. Each May, Ottawa is coloured by the blooming tulips from the Netherlands as a sign of gratitude for the efforts extended during World War II.

I encourage all my hon. colleagues and all Canadians to learn more about the heroic efforts Canada played in the liberation of the Netherlands and join in the celebrations of our two nations.

Cancer

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, cancer has touched all of us at some point in our lives. Over the past few months of 2016, our family has lost a cousin and an uncle.

This weekend in Prince George, I will take part in our annual Canadian Cancer Society 24-hour relay for life, raising funds for cancer research and vital support services for those fighting cancer and their families.

I will be walking for those who have fought cancer and lost and those who continue the fight today. I will be walking for my little brother Trent, who has fought cancer twice and kicked its butt. I will be walking for our colleague from Scarborough—Agincourt, who himself is fighting cancer.

I ask my hon. colleagues to join with me today and every day in the fight against cancer. We can and we will win this fight. Our collective goal should be creating a world where no Canadian, no human, lives in fear of cancer.

My goal for this Saturday night is to walk the entire 24 hours with the Hell Yeah Prince George team. It is going to be tough but not in comparison to the fight against cancer.

Guy Boulanger

[Jean Rioux, Liberal, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would to draw members' attention to the vibrant cultural life in the municipality of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

I therefore join with the local newspaper, Le Canada Français, an institution that has been around for over 150 years, in paying tribute to Guy Boulanger. I commend him for the leadership that he has shown over the past 27 years in his role as the head of the Société pour la promotion d'événements culturels.

The Haut-Richelieu region now welcomes over 70,000 theatre goers a year, thanks to Mr. Boulanger's efforts to modernize the Théâtre des Deux-Rives and establish the Cabaret-théâtre du Vieux-Saint-Jean.

Thank you, Mr. Boulanger, for your years of work and commitment, which helped stimulate our region's cultural development. This cultural vitality will be evident throughout the year as we celebrate Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu's 350th anniversary.

Ian Deans

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of myself, the member for Hamilton Mountain, my leader, my caucus, and my party, I rise in the House today to join with Hamiltonians in mourning the loss of Ian Deans and to extend our sincere condolences to his family.

Starting as a Hamilton firefighter and becoming a political giant, Ian was the MPP for Wentworth from 1967-79 and was the MP for Hamilton Mountain from 1980-86. Ian's incredible talent made him an ideal House leader not just at Queen's Park but here in Ottawa as well.

For 10 years, lan served as the chair of the Public Service Staff Relations Board.

I am honoured to have called lan a friend and a mentor. He was the one in 1984 who convinced me to move from the labour movement to the political arena. Ian was one of the most naturally gifted politicians I have ever met, and he set the gold standard for what it means to connect with one's constituents, represent one's community, and make a real difference here in Parliament. Hamilton has lost one of its true champions.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Canadian Realtors Care Award Winner

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge Vince Mirabelli for all of the outstanding work he does in our community of Thunder Bay.

Mr. Mirabelli has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and donated countless hours for an array of local charities. He most recently was named the first recipient of the Canadian Realtors Care Award.

In 2005, he kick-started a gala fundraiser for the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation. This event has raised more than $500,000 for the hospital over the last many years.

In 2009, he established the Mirabelli pediatric endowment fund to help support the hospital's littlest patients.

On top of his generous monetary donations, Vince is also a dedicated companion to a child living with cancer as part of Camp Quality.

Vince continues to make our community of Thunder Bay a better place.

Congratulations, Vince.

Urban Community Associations

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and pay tribute to urban community associations and their amazing volunteers for their contribution to the fabric of urban life in general, and to my riding of Calgary Rocky Ridge in particular.

Community associations in Arbour Lake, Citadel, Evanston, Hawkwood, Kincora, Ranchlands, Rocky Ridge, Royal Oak, Sage Hill, Scenic Acres, Sherwood, Silver Springs, Tuscany, and now Nolan Hill, greatly increase the quality of life in these neighbourhoods. Dedicated volunteers in each community make their neighbourhoods great places to live, raise families, and enjoy retirement. These associations are the civic backbone of neighbourhoods. Their volunteers put on festivals, run programs for youth and seniors, maintain recreation venues, operate pools, organize cleanups and beautification projects, and much more.

Without community associations, our neighbourhoods would not be the fantastic places they are. Please join me in recognizing the importance of urban community associations.

Don River Watershed

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last Sunday, I paddled down the Don River with friends and residents from Toronto—Danforth, as well as my colleagues, the members for Don Valley West and King—Vaughan. Paddle the Don celebrates the importance of this major Toronto watershed in the traditional territory of the Mississuagas of the New Credit and the resplendent parkland that surrounds and supports it.

Led by the representatives of the Métis Nation of Ontario, this 10-km paddle reminds us of the benefits we have received from the Don River watershed over the years, and for the harm we have done to it.

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority wants to protect the Don River from the pressures of urbanization. Around 1.2 million people live in the Don watershed, and this event is a good way to raise awareness among many of them.

With the help of volunteers from the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary and Scouts Canada, along with many other people, a rainy day in Toronto became a remarkable experience.