National Physicians’ Day  Mr. Speaker, I am glad that my colleague asked that question. Under a former Liberal government, it was my duty to look at the barriers that stood in the way of people who trained in foreign countries coming here to practise medicine. Fortunately, or unfortunately in some cases, it is out of our hands, as the colleges set the criteria for how a physician is trained and what training is needed.

National Physicians’ Day  Mr. Speaker, my colleague has asked an important question. One reason physicians do not want to go to rural areas is that it is difficult to get replacements, so they are on call literally 24/7 and cannot leave. As we know, every year physicians have to upgrade their skills. They have to have continuing medical education, because things change rapidly in the care of patients.

National Physicians’ Day  Mr. Speaker, educating Canadians about the importance of women in medicine and the work that Dr. Emily Stowe did are important parts of what we are hoping to bring to the fore when we talk about May 1, which was Emily Stowe's birthday. Today, over 60% who are enrolling in medical school are women.

National Physicians’ Day  moved that Bill S-248, an act respecting national physicians’ day, be read the second time and referred to a committee. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs for seconding this bill. It is a pleasure to stand here to speak to a very simple, short, one-line bill, which says that we would like to name May 1 as “national physicians' day”.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates  Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 50th anniversary of MacDonald, Dettwiler, a B.C. company that launched Canada as a world leader in space, telecommunications, earth observation and robotics. In 1963, UBC engineers were able to map the ionosphere when NASA could not. Two of them began MDA, and its contributions to the aerospace sector have been groundbreaking.

National Physicians’ Day  moved that Bill S-248, An Act respecting National Physicians’ Day, be read the first time. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley for seconding this Senate bill. It is self-explanatory. Physicians have existed as an entity in this country since the inception of Confederation.

Performing Arts Festival  Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commemorate a special birthday in my riding. PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is a signature event in Vancouver's arts and culture sector, celebrating its 15th anniversary this month. Since 2003, PuSh has gone from a three-show series, drawing 2,500 people, to 21 performances at three Vancouver venues, drawing international audiences with its thought-provoking program.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister grew up in British Columbia and knows the southern resident killer whale is iconic to the people of our province. Sadly, these marine mammals face significant threats to their survival. For 10 years, the Harper government failed to take any measures to protect the environment that would actually sustain B.C.'

Opioid Crisis in Canada  Mr. Chair, it was a crisis at the time 417 people died in one year in the Downtown Eastside. That crisis moved three different political parties and three different levels of government to decide that we were going to do whatever we needed to do, that we were going to put aside our differences, arguments and historic battles to get it done.

Opioid Crisis in Canada  Mr. Chair, again, we can use money. Money is not the solution to everything; political will is. When we have $230 million put toward treatment and only $50 million of that has been taken up by provinces, then we have a problem here. Why would we put more money in when only $50 million is taken up by the provinces?

Opioid Crisis in Canada  Mr. Chair, the bottom line is that when we talk about decriminalization and we talk about all those other best practices that are happening around the world like in Portugal and in other places, no one has talked about Switzerland or about Scandinavia where HAT is going on, the heroin-assisted treatment in which people are being given substitution therapy.

Opioid Crisis in Canada  Mr. Chair, I have been sitting here listening to everyone speak to this issue. I have no doubt that the intent of everyone in this place is one of concern, as some have had personal tragedies, and that we really want to see something done about this. I am pleased to speak after my colleague from Vancouver East, because I feel like we began with this so many years ago.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I must have missed your calling for motions, because I do have a motion that I would like to present, with the consent of the House.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise, seconded by the member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley to introduce Senate Bill S-248, an act respecting national physicians' day.

Interparliamentary Delegations  Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the reports of the Canadian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly respecting its participation at the 17th winter meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna, Austria, February 22-23, 2018, and the 27th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Berlin, Germany, July 7-11, 2018.