Wayne Easter

[Committees of the House, May 31st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 17th report of the Standing Committee on Finance in relation to Bill C-44, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 22, 2017 and other measures. The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House with amendments.

I want to thank all members from all parties who did the work at committee in studying Bill C-44, the staff, the clerk, and all those involved. I believe many people have no idea of the many hours the finance committee met to go through the clause-by-clause study of the bill and to hear witnesses before that.

[Leone Bagnall, May 15th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honour former P.E.I. MLA and cabinet minister Leone Bagnall, who passed away on April 30.

Mrs. Bagnall served in the P.E.I. legislature for 14 years. Elected in 1979, she was the first Progressive Conservative woman appointed to cabinet on P.E.I., as education minister and minister responsible for the status of women. Leone served as interim party leader for the P.E.I. Progressive Conservative Party, the first woman to lead an opposition party in Canada. Mrs. Bagnall was named to the Order of Canada in 1994 and honoured with the Order of P.E.I. in 2005.

A former teacher, farmer, and mother of five, she is remembered as a community leader and political pioneer. Whether it was family, church, community, or politics, Leone was always modest and unassuming. As a former lieutenant governor stated, “Bagnall was simply a wonderful person”, and that she was.

We extend our condolences to her family and our thanks for her service.

[Committees of the House, May 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 16th report of the Standing Committee on Finance, in relation to the main estimates 2017-18.

[Interparliamentary Delegations, May 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present, in both official languages, three reports of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group.

The first concerns the 70th annual meeting of the Council of State Governments' Southern Legislative Conference, held in Lexington, Kentucky, United States of America, from July 9 to 13, 2016.

The second concerns the annual legislative summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures, NCSL, held in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A, August 8-11, 2016.

The third concerns the 69th annual meeting of the Council of State Governments–West, held in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, United States of America, September 6-9, 2016.

[Atlantic Agricultural Hall of Fame Inductee, May 4th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Eddy Dykerman, recently inducted into the Atlantic Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Eddy, along with his father Bert and brother Gerald, originally established Brookfield Gardens, a mixed vegetable farm selling to local, Canadian, and overseas markets. In 2008, with his son Matthew, they added Red Soil Organics, producing organic produce for similar markets.

Eddy is a leader in environmentally sustainable farming and on-farm food safety. He implemented integrated pest management and nutrient management programs, constructed berms and grassed waterways, and built collection and irrigation ponds to control water runoff. In 2012, the farm received the Gilbert R. Clements Award for Excellence in Environmental Farm Planning.

Eddy serves on numerous organizations, including the Federation of Agriculture, the PEI Horticultural Association, and has supported Farmers Helping Farmers in Kenya. He was instrumental in developing the Canada gap program and led the school healthy snacks initiative.

My congratulations to Eddy for a job well done.

[Committees of the House, April 13th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 15th report of the Standing Committee on Finance entitled “Canada's Housing Markets: Benefits, Barriers and Bringing Balance”.

This study started with a motion to do a comprehensive study of issues surrounding the Canadian residential real estate market. I will admit, if I could put it this way, that it became a moving target, with events happening fast in the market during our study. I therefore want to give a special thanks to the extraordinary effort put in by analysts Dylan Gowans and Florian Richard, their manager June Dewetering, and clerk Suzie Cadieux.

I also want to thank committee members from all parties as well as the witnesses for their efforts in getting this study done.

[Privilege, April 11th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I have been watching some of this debate, and it has certainly strayed away from the question that is on the table today. My question, simply put, for the member is this. What has to be done to move past this point and get Parliament working again? That is the key question. I have watched this for a number of days. I do not speak in the House lately very much, but I see all sides talking past each other, taking shots at each other. We know that the proposal that is on the deck is not for the Prime Minister to be here just one day a week. We know different from that, but that is what has been said. We know some of the things said to the opposition are not quite 100% either.

However, this place is called the House of Commons for a reason. It is not the House of cabinet or the House of PMO. Protecting the rights of members in this place, whether it is the opposition members in terms of the stance they are taking, is also protecting the rights of the other members here who are not members of cabinet or the government. We talk about government as if this whole side is the government. The government is the executive branch. We do need to protect these rights.

What I am saying for all sides is this. Let us get this place working again. We need to get to the budget implementation act. We need a number of things done. Can everyone step back, take a break, look at this again, and table something that will protect our rights and get the business of government done?

[The Budget, April 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member's remarks. Having listened to some of the debate today, it is interesting to note that earlier a member of the NDP talked about the deficits the Liberals were running. The Conservatives have talked about the deficits. We do not want to run a deficit forever.

However, when that member got up, all she talked about was spending. We have to recognize in the House that not everything is done in the budget. To the point the member made on health care, we are in fact making progress on the health care issue in terms of the discussions and agreements we have developed with the provinces.

On seniors' housing, that is part of the agreement where the federal government has targeted money for the housing sector. Also rather than giving the money to the provinces for them to spend, the federal government has actually targeted that spending to go to mental health.

The last point I would make is on the national housing strategy. As the chair of the finance committee, and I agree with the member, there is a huge concern there. We do need a national housing strategy.

However, the budget goes some distance. It is not going to get there in a day, but we have laid out a long-term plan in the budget to reaching a national housing strategy. Would the member not agree that progress has been made in the budget for Canadians?

[Committees of the House, March 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Finance in relation to Supplementary Estimates (C) 2016-17.

[Committees of the House, March 8th, 2017]

Could you guys cut? Cut.