Bob Bratina

[Infrastructure, November 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as a former mayor, I know that virtually all of my colleagues, including my successor in Hamilton, were enthusiastic about our platform to support local communities by investing in infrastructure projects. These projects will not only strengthen our local economies, but would also improve the quality of life for Canadians.

With many of my colleagues meeting today with representatives and stakeholders, could the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities tell the House how our government is supporting our municipalities?

[Pat Quinn, November 15th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Hockey Hall of Fame has added new stars to the galaxy: Eric Lindros, Sergei Makarov, Rogatien Vachon, and my old friend and neighbour Pat Quinn.

Pat was born and raised in the east end of Hamilton and lived a life that brought honour to his family, his neighbourhood, his city, and his country.

Pat was one of hockey's greatest coaches, a darn good hockey player, an all-round athlete, a scholar, a family man, and a guy who never forgot the people with whom he grew up.

I first knew Pat as a baseball player on our 1955 championship team. He was the best player, but mostly he was a big, tough, friendly guy we were glad to have on our side. Pat was one of the greatest Toronto Maple Leaf coaches, and coached Canada to two world junior hockey championships and an Olympic gold medal.

Pat was kind enough to endorse his old baseball teammate when I ran successfully for mayor of Hamilton, because despite all his success, including membership now in the Hockey Hall of Fame, Pat Quinn never forgot his roots.

[Geraldine Copps, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the east end of Hamilton has produced many outstanding Canadians, none better than those from the Copps family. Sadly, the matriarch of that great family, Geraldine, has passed away. She was the wife of our greatest mayor, the mother of a deputy prime minister, a member of city council, a citizenship court judge and, in my case, a good neighbour. As kids, we made sure to stop at their house on Halloween because Mrs. Copps gave out the best treats.

Later, when she entered politics, we learned that the nice lady was also a fiery competitor and never one to back away from a challenge. For her children, though, Sheila, Brenda, Mary, and Kevin, she was a kind, generous, thoughtful mother and grandmother, deeply loved by her family and all of those close to her.

How proud she must have been when her daughter, Sheila, became the first sitting MP in Canadian history to give birth, when Danelle was born in 1987; and proud to drop the first puck ever in Copps Coliseum. Gerry Copps was truly Hamilton's first lady and her gifts carry on through her wonderful family.

[Croatian Person of the Year, September 27th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, Hamilton's Croatian community is one of Canada's oldest and most active.

On Sunday I attended, as the only MP of Croatian heritage, the annual Croatian Person of the Year banquet.

Michael Loncarich exemplifies the best of Canadian and Croatian values, an outstanding musician on our traditional instrument, the tambura, a teacher to both young and old, a successful businessman and a proud husband and father.

Croatians are an important part of Canada's great diversity, and I am proud to honour Michael Loncarich as Hamilton's Croatian man of the year.

[Public Service Labour Relations Act, May 30th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to address this issue because my son was standing in front of the Parliament Buildings for the last couple of months as a new member of the RCMP. I congratulate the hon. member for his service.

I am wondering about the notion of RCMP members being intimidated because I know a little about the training program they went through and it seems to me that a troop working together emphasizes character above everything else. It would seem that in this conversation they would talk to each other in the period leading up to whatever decision they would make on organization and probably would not be surprised that superintendent A voted this way, or another voted another way.

I would ask the hon. member, based on his years serving, if those conversations would not take place and whether intimidation would be a factor for these young men and women who have gone through such a tremendous training regimen and graduated with the great character that they have. Would they be afraid to speak their minds, especially in the context that they would have been having these discussions all along? I wonder if my colleague would reply to that.

[Disaster Assistance, May 10th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, like all Canadians, the residents of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek stand in solidarity with the people of Fort McMurray.

I have been moved by statements made by members in the House regarding this terrible situation, and in particular a statement by the member for Mégantic—L'Érable, whose residents know better than most the experience of a catastrophic event.

A Hamilton firefighter, Scott de Jager, learned that Lac-Mégantic's fire department lost a vehicle in the conflagration, and Hamilton had a surplus ladder truck. It was fully outfitted by the fire department and donated to Lac-Mégantic. The deputy mayor, Daniel Gendron, had tears in his eyes when he received the keys in Hamilton.

In the days and weeks ahead, we will gain a better understanding of the needs of Fort McMurray. I urge all three levels of government and citizens to pay careful attention to messaging from the mayor and other responders regarding the specific needs of Fort McMurray, and donate where possible.

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I want to assure my colleague across the way that in our group, we have taken all of these concerns to heart.

I heard a lot in the discussion about political motives. We do not have any political motives other than having to answer the Supreme Court's request that we present a bill by June 6. One should not be predicting what the outcome of a committee will be. We are approaching this, I believe, in a fair, honest, and principled way.

The question I have is as follows. What is it, so far, in the bill that says we are making someone do something they do not want to do? Is there something in the bill that sounds like we are making someone do something that they do not want to do, whether it is to take some sort of medicine to end their life or to provide the service?

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments by my friend across the way, but I am confused about the emphasis on palliative care with the deadline that is presented to us, which is June 6.

If we were going to venture into palliative care and incorporate it into the legislation, we would have to have talks with the provinces that would actually be delivering the palliative care. The first thing we would have to do is define what proper palliative care would be, and that would become confusing because in some cases there would be family members available and in other cases there would not. I had a case in my own family with two grandmothers over 100 years of age whose children were in their eighties. I am not sure whether a definition could incorporate them into that.

Given the deadline we have and the involvement with the provinces, how would my colleague suggest that we possibly approach the palliative care question?

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I am very interested in the comments on both sides of the argument. However, I want to point out that the idea of religious freedom is nominally accepted in many countries in the world, and I would be interested in the comments of our speaker in that regard.

Amnesty International is in many of those countries trying to resolve problems with respect to the lack of religious freedom of those particular people. The simplest way for me to phrase it would be to look at the Roma people, the gypsies, whose religion takes on wherever they may be. They are Catholic, orthodox, Muslim, Anglican, and so on. Yet we know that this is one of the most repressed groups wherever they go. Therefore, their issue is not so much the freedom of practising their religion, but rather the human rights aspect. I wonder if the speaker would comment on that.

[Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL, February 24th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, in October 2015, the United States pulled out the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, which had on it 65 aircraft. It was the first time since 2007 that there was no American carrier presence in the Gulf. Part of the reason for the removal of the carrier was budget cuts. The American military at the time said that there was no need to worry about losing the 65 aircraft, because they only did about 20% of the work, and the rest of it would be easily picked up by the larger air force flying off the ground in the theatre. Our contribution, apparently, seemed to be about 2%.

I would ask my colleague across the way whether he honestly believes that without the six CF-18s, our allies would not provide the cover for the troops on the ground, in view of all the aircraft that are available.