Joe Comartin

[Business of the House, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday something very irresponsible happened in the House.

In that regard, we need to give the House another opportunity to give unanimous consent to the following motion. I move that notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, the House give leave for the member for Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour and the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands to speak immediately, after this motion is adopted, on the subject of veterans and their sacrifice and contribution to building a better Canada in light of the upcoming Remembrance Day observances across the country, that those two members be granted leave to speak for a period not exceeding five minutes each, and that time taken by the two members at the conclusion of their statements be added to the time provided for government orders today.

[Business of the House, November 3rd, 2011]

It being Thursday, Mr. Speaker, and a Thursday before a break week when we will all be back in our ridings commemorating events around Remembrance Day on November 11, I would like to ask the government House leader what the agenda will be for the balance of this week and what it will be in the week when we return? In particular, will Bill C-18 be back in the House by that time?

Finally, perhaps as a follow-up to the question asked by the member from the Green Party, how many more times are we going to have time allocation? We are at seven and counting. He is going to catch the Liberals pretty soon if he does not stop, so how many more times do we get time allocation?

[Public Safety, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to ignore that.

It is not just the province of Quebec that is opposed to these costs.

Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island have also made it clear that they oppose the government's expectation that they will bear the costs related to this program. In all, that is over 75% of the country's population.

Why is this government ignoring the opinions of these provinces? What does the government plan to do if the provinces simply refuse to pay the bill?

[Public Safety, November 3rd, 2011]

I will just ignore that, Mr. Speaker.

The Conservatives' imprisonment plan is the wrong approach. It ignores the concerns of local stakeholders who, for decades, have been fighting crime, working to rehabilitate young people and keeping our communities safe. The Government of Quebec was very clear: if Ottawa passes this bill, it should not count on Quebec to pay the bill.

When will the Conservatives finally work with Quebec to combat crime?

[Public Safety, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Public Safety launched a full frontal attack on defence lawyers in this country. The irony is that the government's misguided prison agenda will see provinces shelling out for more prisons, for more already overworked prosecutors, and yes, for more defence lawyers. The only thing we will not see is more police officers on the street to prevent crimes.

When will the government stop saddling the provinces with these costs and actually deal with them to make sure that we prevent crimes before they ever happen?

[Fair Representation Act, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that the Liberals do not want any changes. They do not wish to add any seats in this chamber. To answer the rest of the question, it is very clear that the position of the Conservative government at this point is that three seats should be added in Quebec. That is all it is willing to do and we do not find this acceptable.

[Fair Representation Act, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, as for our position, we in the NDP want the political weight of Quebec to remain unchanged. It absolutely must stay the same, if possible. That is our position and we will continue to fight for that.

[Fair Representation Act, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, that is our party position.

[Fair Representation Act, November 3rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I will not be taking up the rest of my speech because I need to be in committee at this point.

[Fair Representation Act, November 3rd, 2011]

Quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, before the minister made that comment, I was rising to my feet to say that, given the responsibility that we have to accommodate, his vote should be allowed to stand.