David Tilson

[Interparliamentary Delegations, October 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association OSCE respecting its participation at the eighth winter meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly held in Vienna, Austria February 19 to 20, 2009.

[Orangeville District Secondary School, October 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, October 3 the Orangeville District Secondary School will be celebrating its 125th anniversary.

Orangeville District Secondary School was the first high school in the town of Orangeville and district. It was originally constructed in 1884. At the time of construction, the building was considered one of the most modern schools in the province and was thought to be more than enough room for the 150 students in attendance under principal Alexander Steele.

Now, 125 years later, ODSS is home to almost 1,600 students and 133 extraordinary teaching and support staff. The school has remained a central institution in the town of Orangeville since 1884, despite a tragic fire that destroyed the building in 1948.

The halls of the school have been home to thousands of students throughout its 125 years and will remain a central part of Orangeville and district's unique identity.

Congratulations to the stellar staff at ODSS on 125 tremendous years.

[Petitions, September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from citizens from across Canada asking the members of the House to ban the slaughter of horses in Canada for human consumption and the export of horses for the same purpose.

[Petitions, September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present to the House. The first is signed by citizens of my riding of Dufferin—Caledon asking that all members support Bill C-391, which would ban the ineffective and costly long gun registry program.

[Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, September 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Leeds—Grenville for giving an excellent speech on this issue and explaining to us in more detail the free trade agreement between Colombia and Canada.

I do know that in 2008 there was $704 million worth of exports from Canada to Colombia. Therefore, it obviously is not a new thing for Canada and Colombia to do business with each other. We have had free trade agreements with the United States for some time. We just recently entered into free trade agreements with some of the smaller European countries and we are currently negotiating a free trade agreement with the European Union.

Could the hon. member tell us how he feels free trade agreements help us to expand our worldwide markets?

[Petitions, September 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by over 12,000 former employees of Nortel.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to amend the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to protect the rights of all Canadian employees and to ensure that employees laid off by a company receiving pension or long term disability benefits during bankruptcy proceedings obtain preferred creditor status over other secured creditors.

They also call upon Parliament to amend the Investment Canada Act to ensure that employee-related claims are paid from proceeds of Canadian asset sales before funds are permitted to leave the country.

[Interparliamentary Delegations, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association respecting its participation in the parliamentary mission to Sweden, the country that will hold the next presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the second part of the 2009 ordinary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe held in Stockholm, Sweden, and Strasbourg, France, April 23-30.

[ALS Awareness Month, June 11th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, June is ALS Awareness Month. ALS, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a fatal motor neuron disease that affects approximately 3,000 Canadians.

Each June, friends, family and supporters of those suffering from ALS dedicate their time to raise awareness of this devastating disease and to raise funds for a cure.

This cause is very close to my heart as my father succumbed to ALS a number of years ago. Since my personal encounter with this terrible disease, I introduced a private member's bill to have June officially designated as national ALS month.

I encourage each member to wear a cornflower today to show their support for this important cause. I also congratulate the ALS Society for the excellent leadership it has demonstrated in funding research to improve the quality of life of Canadians affected by this fatal disease.

[Committees of the House, June 10th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have three reports of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to present to the House in both official languages.

The first is the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration entitled “Migrant Workers and Ghost Consultants”.

The second is the ninth report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on the disclosure of a confidential draft report. I would like to say a few words with respect to this report by way of a succinct explanation. I wish to put on the record that the committee adopted the ninth report unanimously. The committee deplores such disclosures as interference with the ability of Parliament to function and more broadly with the democratic process.

In debating the report, members from both sides of the House voiced their bitter disappointment that someone, by leaking a draft of what has evolved into the eighth report, wilfully committed an act that is highly corrosive to the good faith that we all know is essential to the orderly operation of the committees of the House. The committee hopes that the House will see fit to deal with this matter should a member raise this as a question of privilege.

The final report which I wish to present to the House, in both official languages, is the 10th report of the Standing Committee on supplementary estimates A, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.

[Committees of the House, May 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, a report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, entitled “Temporary Foreign Workers and Non-Status Workers”.

At this time I would like to acknowledge all the present members and the past members of the former 39th Parliament who sat on this committee, who travelled the country, met Canadians, and did a great deal of work in helping us put this report together.