LaVar Payne

[Petitions, June 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present today.

The first petition is with regard to the emergency order for protection of the greater sage grouse in Canada. The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to rescind the emergency protection order.

This petition is from citizens of my riding of Medicine Hat.

[Petitions, May 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I present is also on behalf of the citizens of Medicine Hat. The petitioners would like to have the House of Commons rescind the Species at Risk Act and replace it with an act that encourages voluntary implementation.

[Petitions, May 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present two petitions today on behalf of citizens of my constituency.

The first petition is on the emergency protection order for the greater sage-grouse in Canada. Petitioners ask that the Government of Canada rescind the emergency protection order and replace it with an order that encourages voluntary implementation.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member's speech was quite an interesting one.

One of the interesting things is that our government has funded CBC at over $1.1 billion. One of his colleagues talked about what CBC's reporting of news stories. My understanding is that Peter Mansbridge of CBC talked about the robocalls and CBC spreading the stories. It turned out that was not true, and Peter Mansbridge said, as I understand it, that they were feeding the frenzy. Therefore, the frenzy was not really a story and had no fact at all.

Could the member comment on that?

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague across the way is right. It was the Liberal Party that actually cut $400 million in funding to the CBC back in the nineties.

We know that CBC has declining listening and viewing audiences. There is a lack of revenues. It has not been able to get revenues from organizations. In fact, CBC has lost the contract for our National Hockey League. Now it is complaining that it does not have enough money. We are already providing the CBC well over $1.1 billion. It needs to be able to work within its budgets and make sure that whatever programming it is providing meets Canadian needs.

[Petitions, May 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting 32 petitions today on behalf of the citizens of Medicine Hat, with hundreds of signatures, to make the Wild Horse border crossing to the United States a 24-hour port of entry for commercial business. The petitioners are asking Parliament to legislate the opening of this port to the United States so that Alberta, which has huge commercial value trade north to south, will then have two 24-hour ports of entry.

[Citizen of the Year, May 14th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege for me to rise today to tell Canadians about the winners of the Brooks Citizen of the Year awards in my riding. The award winners are picked annually by Grassland Family and Community Support Services to recognize folks who give countless hours of their time every year to organizations that need it.

Vivian Wiebe, a long-time community activist and volunteer, won Citizen of the Year award for 2014, and I can think of no person more suited to receiving this wonderful award. Vivian's volunteerism in our region goes all the way back to 1967, and she is still working tirelessly today for various local groups.

I would also like to congratulate Gideon Mentie, winner of the 2014 Junior Citizen of the Year award. Gideon is a highly motivated young man from Brooks Composite High School. He volunteers in several organizations, including his church. He also commits some of his time to international aid organizations.

Once again, congratulations to Vivian and Gideon.

[Petitions, May 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition requests the House of Commons to fix the legislation so unelected bureaucrats can no longer have control over weapons and firearms classifications.

[Petitions, May 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is with regard to Canada Post.

[Petitions, May 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present three petitions.

The first petition is with regard to Bill C-18.