Mike Wallace

[National Caregiver Day, March 21st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association and the Quality End-of-Life Care Coalition of Canada, I rise in the House today to bring attention to National Caregiver Day on April 5.

As the Canadian population ages, more of us are becoming caregivers. We care for those close to us with devotion, patience and love as they live their final days with a life-limiting or terminal illness, as my uncle recently demonstrated in caring for my Aunt Linda.

A 2007 study estimates that annually, 23% of Canadians care for a family member or a close friend with a serious a health problem. Current estimates for replacement costs for unpaid care given in Canada indicate a significant economic contribution by caregivers. The estimates are in the billions of dollars.

Let us stand together and thank all caregivers for their contribution to Canadian society and their devotion to assuring quality end-of-life care for their loved ones.

[Petitions, March 19th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions I would like to present this morning.

The first petition deals with the House of Commons and Parliament assembled to vote on Bill C-279 and to base future public policy decisions on that.

The second petition from my constituency also deals with Bill C-279.

[Nuclear Terrorism Act, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, on the speech by the hon. member, as the member of Parliament for Burlington I was not sent here just to make repetitive speeches in the House and say the same thing over and over again. I was sent here to vote and move legislation forward.

If the previous speaker and the hon. member's party are serious about moving this forward, and everyone in the House is supportive, why are we not voting on it? Is it not hypocritical that we could be voting on it and moving on to other legislation? Instead, the opposition put up speaker after speaker. Is that not hypocritical?

[Nuclear Terrorism Act, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, based on the member's comments, I would like to know if her party would support unanimous consent to pass the bill now and we would move on to the next item?

[Committees of the House, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 20th report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in relation to Bill C-55, An Act to amend the Criminal Code. The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House without amendment.

Mr. Speaker, while I am on my feet, I move:

That the House do now proceed to the orders of the day.

[Northern Jobs and Growth Act, March 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my experience around here is that when a government bill is put forward and the opposition brings forward amendments, often not legal amendments in that they would change the scope of the bill once it has passed second reading, if the amendment is accepted, the opposition uses it as an opportunity to bash the government, to say that the government did not know what it was doing. It becomes a negative instead of a positive.

Would the member agree that is really what happens with politics and that it is not necessarily a good use of our time and proper legislation overview?

[Committees of the House, February 28th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 19th report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in relation to Bill C-273, an act to amend the Criminal Code (cyberbullying).

The committee has studied the bill and has recommended to the House not to proceed further with the bill.

[Business of Supply, February 26th, 2013]

I am asking the member who was speaking which approach the Liberals would take. Would they increase taxes, increase debt or reduce services?

[Business of Supply, February 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague across the way for his dissertation, but I do not agree with much of what he said.

An interesting point he made is that the Liberal Party is taking credit for things we are doing on this side of the House. I would point out that in 2011 Canadian voters decided we were doing the right thing and believed in what we were doing. They put the Liberal Party in the third party status in the House believing in what it was saying. Clearly, voters have decided who was moving the country in the right direction.

My simple question is this. The Liberal member was talking about a long-term infrastructure plan. Infrastructure plans cost billions of dollars, not millions but billions and billions of dollars. There are three ways to pay for infrastructure, in my view: raise taxes, raise debt or reduce services in other areas.

[Committees of the House, February 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 18th report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, in relation to Bill S-9, an act to amend the Criminal Code.

The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House without amendment.