Mr. Speaker, I am sharing my time with the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry.
I rise today to speak to this motion on prorogation that has been proposed by the hon. member for Wascana. This motion calls for a study of the issues related to prorogation, including the examination of the nature of any rule changes that may be necessary to avoid a future misuse of prorogation.
Many of my colleagues have already pointed out that the procedure and House affairs committee has been studying this issue for the past three months. It has heard from 16 witnesses, constitutional experts and others, who have overwhelmingly recommended that we not do anything to change the rules regarding prorogation because we could inadvertently make the situation worse.
I would note that prorogation is a legitimate tool for resetting Parliament and it allows the opportunity to consult with Canadians. From that perspective, prorogation has been extremely useful to our government to deal with the economic circumstances of the past year. While opposition members were on the Hill during that time talking to each other, many of my colleagues on this side of the House were talking to Canadians about the real issues they were facing, economic issues and other issues they were concerned about.
Rather than revisit many of the points that have already been made so well by my colleagues on this side of the House, I would like to illustrate some of the activities I was involved in during the last weeks of January and into February while Parliament was prorogued.
I had the opportunity to meet with a number of grade five and six students in my riding. It was interesting to hear how engaged and interested they are in what happens in Parliament.
Then there was a very sad time. I attended the funeral of Yvonne Martin, who was one of the members of a work team that travelled to Haiti. She was a nurse. She was the first Canadian whose body was recovered from the rubble. My community rallied in support of the Martin family at that time. An overwhelmingly large number of people turned out for her funeral, to pay their respects and to thank Yvonne for her efforts in helping the people of Haiti. I can say that from her example, many others are continuing to travel to Haiti with short-term mission teams to help rebuild that devastated country.
On another day I had breakfast with the Mennonite Economic Development Associates, which is an agency that does micro-credit work in many of the developing countries. That agency provides very small loans to entrepreneurs in Afghanistan and other countries.
For example, a mother might get a loan of $100 or $200 to purchase a sewing machine, after which she is able to sew garments for her family and to sell. Before long, she has enough money not only to repay her loan so that the money can be sent off to another person who needs a loan, but she can hire some of her own family and community members, and the cycle continues. Another job is created and there is another opportunity for economic development so people in developing countries can be provided opportunities, not for a handout that will help them for a short time, but to actually change their lives for good.
That same day, I had lunch with the Community Futures Development Corporation board in my riding. In the morning I met with a micro-credit agency that does international development work and later in the same day I had the opportunity to meet with the Community Futures Development Corporation which provides micro-credit here at home. It provides loans, capital, to entrepreneurs to allow them to expand their businesses and in the process create jobs.
The number of jobs that have been created through the Community Futures Development Corporation in the rural areas of Canada is simply amazing. This is one of the best stories that we should be telling. It is creating opportunities to help entrepreneurs expand and create more jobs.
Later that week, I spoke at a church in my riding and then I participated in Family Literacy Day. It was great to learn about the opportunities being given to young people to develop their literacy skills.
One of the things that I enjoy most about my time in the riding is attending new citizen ceremonies. People who have lived in Canada for three or more years have applied for citizenship and now comes the big day when they come to the ceremony to be sworn in as new citizens. There is nothing like standing in front of a group of 50 new citizens as they raise their hands and take the oath of Canadian citizenship, to see the joy in their eyes, and to listen to them sing O Canada after that ceremony. There is very little about my job that I enjoy more than going to those new citizenship ceremonies and welcoming them. Afterwards there is the opportunity to speak not only to them and their family members, but to many of the community members who helped them in their journey. Maybe they came as refugees. Maybe they came as immigrants with a job. In every case, they have had someone here who has walked with them through those first weeks, months and years to get established here in Canada. It is a great opportunity to thank those people on behalf of the Government of Canada.
I also had the opportunity to tour a number of businesses in my riding, to listen to their concerns about taxation.
I visited a farm in our area that is doing great work. The people in the agriculture community really are unsung heroes in many ways, with the high quality food and the consistent supply of safe food they provide for Canadians. It is amazing to see the work that these people do.
Then that afternoon, I visited a company called Intelligent Mechatronic Systems. This company creates a little gadget that fits in a car. When a BlackBerry is inserted into it, it reads people's emails as they are travelling. With the new laws in Ontario, people are not able to use their cell phones as they are driving. This little machine will answer the cell phone, and will read emails out loud. People can actually read an email into the machine and it will send that email on. The technology is simply astounding.
Again, another opportunity I had that week was to tour Elmira Pet Products.
I also met with a number of different constituents for appointments in my riding.
Then that evening, I was able to give a speech to the German Canadian Business and Professional Association.
The next day, I met for breakfast with Nursing on the International Front. It is a group which is doing nursing in developing countries, great work.
Then I had the opportunity that afternoon to work at the Mennonite Central Committee packing relief kits for Haiti and to see the number of volunteers who were working together to put together the relief kits, packing towels, soap and toothpaste, the essentials that people in Haiti needed. The interesting part about packing these kits is that they were not being packed in cardboard boxes or something that would be thrown out. They were being packed in five-gallon plastic pails with a snap lid so that after the materials were used from within the pail, the pail could be used to get water. We know how important it is to have clean water. Those pails would be put to great use.
Then I served two days, while Parliament was prorogued, holding passport clinics in my riding. This is an opportunity to offer a service to our constituents who may not have access to passport clinics in the middle of the city. Over 200 passport applications were processed during those two days. People's photos were taken. They were helped with filling out the applications. We know how intimidating it can be when confronted with all that paper. Where does one start? At the end of the process the applications were put into envelopes, sealed, and they were brought to Ottawa. Three weeks later, people got their passports. It was a great response.
I could go on. I hosted a number of coffee talks during that time, as well. I heard from ordinary Canadians about their concerns. One of their main concerns was taxation for small businesses. They do not want a tax system that burdens them and that is a disincentive to creating jobs.
To conclude, I would like to urge members to strongly oppose the motion that is before us today. For one thing, as I said when I started out, this motion is totally redundant. The committee on procedure and House affairs has done its study. We are almost ready to write a report.
To waste all the energy and time the committee, our chairman, and the members across the way have put in, and the expense to call those witnesses back to this place and to redo the report is simply redundant.
I urge members to please reject this motion.
