Mike Bossio

[Main Estimates, 2017-18, June 14th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to draw to the attention of the House the background and merit of certainly recently appointed senators selected under this government's reformed appointments process.

Unlike the previous government, we have made it a priority to only appoint individuals who have a record of contributing to Canadian society in their own unique ways and who have succeeded in making life better for Canadians. It is these qualities that we look for in our new senators, a refreshing change from the past.

Our new appointments process is remaking the Senate. By creating an independent appointments process, we are choosing individuals who represent Canadian communities that otherwise might not have a voice in Parliament.

I would like to bring the to the attention of members just a few of these individuals who this government has appointed to date.

Appointed December 6, 2016, Senator Dan Christmas is one of our government's latest appointments to the red chamber. Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Senator Christmas is a Mi'kmaw of the Membertou First Nation.

Senator Christmas has been very active in the Membertou community. He served as band manager for the community of Membertou for five years before moving to the Union of Nova Scotia Indians. There, he worked for 15 years, 10 of which he spent as its director.

During his tenure, Mr. Christmas helped the Membertou First Nation grow and become a thriving community. Through his work in his community, and outside, Senator Christmas has amassed extensive expertise and knowledge of issues relevant to indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada. His experience extends to the fields of aboriginal and treaty rights, justice, policing, education, health care, human rights, adult training, business development, and the environment.

By having such knowledge of important issues, Senator Christmas will improve the Senate's overall capacity to make informed decisions, considering the best interests of first nations in Ailanthic Canada.

Another outstanding Maritimer, Senator Nancy Hartling, was appointed to the Senate on November 10, 2016. Originally from Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Senator Hartling earned a bachelor's degree from Norwich University and a master's degree in adult education from St. Francis Xavier University.

During her career, Hartling devoted herself to promoting social change, focusing on families and social issues. In 1982, Hartling founded Support to Single Parents Incorporated in Moncton, serving as director until the organization closed in 2016. During its more than 30 years in operation, Support to Single Parents provided single parents with affordable housing. Her long career working on social issues has given her extensive knowledge of mental health-related issues, poverty, violence against women, and economic development.

Mrs. Hartling's record of achievement in community service, in organizational leadership, and in advocacy has been recognized with several awards, such as the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, the Community Spirit Award from the United Way of Greater Moncton and Southeastern New Brunswick, and the Order of New Brunswick.

Senator Hartling is a direct beneficent of our government's new Senate appointments process, as she applied directly under the new process introduced in 2016.

Senator Hartling's experience working on women's issues will bring the voice of an underprivileged group in Parliament.

Another November 10, 2016, appointment, Mr. Sarabjit S. Marwah, comes from a very different background. Born around the world in India, Marwah immigrated to Canada after pursuing studies in Calcutta, Delhi, and Los Angeles. He joined Scotiabank in Toronto as a financial analyst in the bank's finance division in 1979. Over the course of his career, senator Marwah rose through more senior positions, becoming chief financial officer in 1998 and a senior vice president in 2002.

Prior to his appointment in 2016, Senator Marwah had been the vice chairman and chief operating officer of the bank since 2008.

Outside of his professional life, Senator Marwah, has been particularly active in his community. He currently serves as vice chair of the board of trustees of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He is on the board of directors for the Toronto International Film Festival.

Senator Marwah is Sikh and is a founding member of the Sikh Foundation of Canada, representing the Sikh community in Canada.

Sabi has been recognized with several awards, including the following: Professional of the Year Award from the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce in 1994; the Sewa Award on two occasions from the Sikh Centennial Foundation; Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award; Words & Deeds award from the United Jewish Federation in 2009; and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award in 2012.

Mr. Marwah's record of community service and success as an immigrant in the business community reflect his ambition and success, which will serve the Senate and Canadians well with this new appointment.

[Main Estimates, 2017-18, June 14th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, since we are on the topic of deficits, our government believes in making strategic investments in our country so we can become more productive and move more people into the middle class and those working so hard to get there.

We are investing $184 billion in infrastructure and innovation. The Canada child benefit puts $5.9 million monthly into my riding, assisting 17,000 children. It is being spent locally to benefit the economic development of my riding.

This has now generated growth. Every month it is being estimated to be higher and higher. It is now up to a 3.5% growth rate, a rate our country has not seen in all the years Harper was in power.

We will get back into a surplus position, as every Liberal government has done in the past. Before the Conservatives get their hands on it again, how may years will it before we are back into a deficit position?

[Main Estimates, 2017-18, June 14th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite likes to talk, as the previous member said, a little fiction. I would like to remind the member about some of the investments our government has made in infrastructure, billions into innovation, into the Canada child benefit, where $5.9 million goes into my own riding every month to help 9,600 families. Seventeen thousand children will benefit. All that money is spent locally in my riding. That has had a huge economic impact on my riding.

I would like to remind the member as well that economists keep upping their growth projections for Canada, going from 2.6% in January to now 3.5%. In his mind, are these investments not making that kind of a difference?

[Main Estimates, 2017-18, June 14th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, The Globe and Mail has called the current sequencing of the estimates bad, to the point of absurdity, and said that it is a discredited practice that has only served to keep MPs in the dark about how tax dollars are being spent. When the member is studying the main estimates, does the hon. member not want them to include items from that year's budget, so the estimates are actually relevant?

[Tall Ships in Hastings—Lennox and Addington, June 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, grab your tricorn hat. I have spotted a great event on the horizon in Hastings—Lennox and Addington. Eleven tall ships from around the world are dropping anchor in Bath this July 7th to 9th at the historic Fairfield-Gutzeit House.

This hearty celebration of Canada's 150th birthday is sure to bring thousands of visitors for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get an up close and personal view. There will be live music and kids' activities, and spectators will have a chance to tour the tall ships. There will even be historic naval demonstrations, including a naval battle out on the water on Saturday evening.

I am also very proud to say that Ben Bell, a sea cadet on my youth council, will also be taking part in the entire tall ship journey this summer.

I invite my honourable colleagues on the port side and the starboard side to go full steam ahead. All aboard for the tall ships in Bath.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, prohibition did not work with alcohol. Prohibition is not working with cannabis. We have some of the highest rates of youth in the world consuming cannabis. What is happening today is not working. What makes it even worse is that we have no control over the composition of the cannabis being consumed today.

Not only have we consulted enough on the issue, we have debated it enough. It is time to take control out of the hands of criminals and pass legislation that will protect our children. How will this legislation protect our children from the unregulated market that exists today?

[Paris Agreement, June 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am trying to understand some of the comments the member made. Given that his party, in the last election, claimed it was going to balance the budget, he is talking an awful lot about how much money he would spend on trying to satisfy our climate change commitments. He criticized our government for the lack of spending that he sees with respect to our commitments, yet there has been $20 billion for public transit, $20 billion for climate change and green infrastructure, and billions of dollars invested in innovation.

Given the commitments that we have made to try to tackle and meet our climate change commitments, how in the world was his party planning to do so and balance the budget at the same time?

[Paris Agreement, June 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoy working with the member on the environment committee. We have been able to come to a lot of agreement on a number of reports, and I look forward to continuing to work with her on that.

I agree with my colleague that we need to take a multitude of different approaches to dealing with climate change and trying to reduce the footprint of pollution that we are creating today. Our government has done an exceptional job in moving in that direction.

By imposing a price on pollution, by investing in innovation, we are hollowing out the need for fossil fuel-based energy. We are creating greater amounts of green technology and reducing the cost of that technology through these investments. We are also working on adopting better building codes and a regulatory regime that would have an impact on the burning of fossil fuels and reduction of our footprint in that direction.

Would the member not agree that these are the kinds of measures we need to take? We have further to go, but at least we are heading in the direction that we need to go in.

[Cannabis Act, June 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to say how much I enjoy working with the member across the way on our environment committee. He is a very reasonable member of the committee. We find common ground on many different issues, so I wonder why his reasonable nature does not extend to this issue as well.

As we saw with the alcohol prohibition of the 1920s, that prohibition did not work. Criminals were allowed to make vast amounts of illicit profits. People were dying because of the composition of alcohol. They did not know what they were drinking.

Fast-forward to today, and we find ourselves in the same environment with respect to cannabis. We do not know what people are smoking. Criminals are making vast wealth from this drug, and we need to eliminate prohibition so that we can once again have a more responsible consumption of cannabis, just as we do with alcohol—and tobacco, for that matter.

Prohibition did not work for alcohol, so I would like to pose this question for the member. Does he feel that we should now go back and make alcohol, and for that matter tobacco, illegal as well, given the stand that he has on cannabis?

[Cannabis Act, May 30th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, in the 1920s prohibition of alcohol was a terrible failure. Criminals profited from it. People died from the consumption of it. There was no tight regulatory regime controlling alcohol or its composition.

Fast forward to today and we find the same thing: the miserable, terrible failure of marijuana. Criminals are profiting from it. There is no control over the composition of it. There is a tight regulatory regime over alcohol today, and this has created a much more responsible environment around the consumption of alcohol and, more importantly, the composition of alcohol.

Would the member not agree that it would be beneficial to society to end the prohibition of cannabis?