An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate you on the appointment to your role. We are all doing our duty this week. I appreciate the fact that my colleague from Carleton not only criticizes what is going on but offers very productive solutions. On the topic of inflation, how is it the member for Carleton got it right when so many people got it wrong?

Questions on the Order Paper  With regard to the government's statistics on graduation rates of First Nations high school students: (a) what were the graduation rates of First Nations students who attended high school on reserve, broken down by province and year for each of the past five years; and (b) what were the graduation rates of First Nations students who attended high school off reserve, broken down by province and year for each of the past five years?

Questions on the Order Paper  With regard to the government’s consultation process on Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: what are the details of all consultations the government conducted with individuals from First Nations, Metis Settlements, or Inuit communities prior to tabling the bill, including, for each consultation, the (i) type of meeting (in person, Zoom conference, etc.), (ii) names and titles of attendees, including who they represented, if applicable, (iii) date, (iv) location?

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to expenditures related to promoting, advertising, or consulting on Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, by the government, including any that took place prior to the tabling of the legislation, since October 21, 2019, broken down by month and by department, agency or other government entity: (a) what was the total amount spent on (i) consultants, (ii) advertising, (iii) promotion; and (b) what are the details of all contracts related to promoting, advertising or consulting, including (i) the date the contact was signed, (ii) the vendor, (iii) the amount, (iv) the start and end date, (v) the description of goods or services, (vi) whether the contract was sole-sourced or was competitively bid on?

Indigenous Affairs  Mr. Speaker, over the past several weeks, reconciliation has become a very important topic in the House. The infrastructure, health and education gaps faced by first nations across Canada will not be solved by government programs alone. In northern Saskatchewan, the forest industry provides tremendous opportunity to address these gaps.

Meadow Lake Arena  Mr. Speaker, it was at 2:37 a.m. on Sunday that I received a message that the Meadow Lake arena was on fire. I still remember when the arena was first built. I was 12 years old, and when I skated out onto that ice it felt like I was in the middle of Maple Leaf Gardens. The arena was not just about hockey, though; it has been home to many other community events throughout the years, like trade shows, fairs, indoor rodeos, figure-skating carnivals, curling playdowns and the Lions Club fundraising bingos, but there was nothing that brought that place to life like playoff hockey.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, my colleague is the exact vintage as me, I am pretty certain, so we have very similar memories of our journeys in Saskatchewan. I remember in the early 1980s when my dad was buying farmland and interest rates were 17% or 18% in a lot of cases. Just to put that in a really simple perspective, which is how I explain it to constituents, if we end up with a 1%, 2% or 3% increase in interest rates, the impact of that on the ability of government to support many of the programs it currently does would be significantly affected.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I would answer that question with the vast majority of my speech, which spoke to jobs and job creation. For two years in my riding in northern Saskatchewan, I have promoted and advocated for the creation of jobs as a solution to many of the challenges faced by the people in my riding.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, it is not my place in my role at this time to determine the percentage and amounts of transfers for health care. I would suggest that as a government in waiting and somebody who wants to be part of government, we would commit to having a positive relationship with all provinces.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has consistently created policies and introduced provisions that divide Canadians, whether it be regionally or urban versus rural. Even today, there is much discussion about the division in categories of seniors. As somebody who represents a very northern riding, unlike my colleague asking the question, I very much understand the need for transportation for people in my riding.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, it is indeed an honour to rise virtually to participate in the debate on the budget and to provide the perspective of many Canadians, especially that of my constituents in northern Saskatchewan who feel left out, forgotten and, in some cases, at complete odds with the Liberal government.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act  Madam Speaker, my colleague referred to the president of the National Coalition of Chiefs, Mr. Swampy, and I want to quickly highlight a quote from his committee testimony: The federal government has imposed very high standards of consultation on industry.... Now, with Bill C-15, I don't see you applying those standards to yourselves.

COVID-19 Emergency Response  Madam Speaker, it has been over a year since the start of the pandemic. While other countries are emerging from this crisis, Canada is in the middle of a Liberal third wave. Conservatives have consistently asked the government to provide a plan with benchmarks and targets for reopening so that businesses and families, such as those in my riding in northern Saskatchewan, can get back to normal.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act  Madam Speaker, at the INAN committee we heard a number of witnesses talk about what the benefit might be of having the action plan prepared and presented before we introduced the legislation, and that there might have been some benefit to that because it would have reduced some of the uncertainty and given clarity.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act  Madam Speaker, my question for the parliamentary secretary is quite simple. Dale Swampy from the National Coalition of Chiefs, whose mandate it is to reduce on-reserve poverty, said: I think UNDRIP is important and significant in many ways, and I obviously support indigenous rights.