Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in the report stage debate on Bill C-6. It is an important bill, given the current climate around security. It is an enabling bill, legislation that in essence puts in the place the legislative framework for the new Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Ahuntsic. I would like to pick up where my colleague left off, on the matter of education. I use education in a very broad sense, in a sense of lifelong learning. As he knows, because he has great experience at the provincial level and I have some, we normally think of education as largely a provincial responsibility, particularly in the early years but right through, and it certainly is.

Supply  Madam Speaker, I compliment you for the work you do in the chair. We are always glad to see you there. The supply day motion is a very timely motion, on behalf of the new Conservative Party. It comes at a time when we are returning to this historic chamber with a new leader. I want to take a moment of my time to congratulate the new leader of the Conservative Party.

Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act  Mr. Speaker, I have a brief question for the parliamentary secretary. I do want to express my appreciation for the briefing provided by himself and his staff from the department on the smart borders program and on the progress that is being made in that area. I certainly agree with his comments with respect to the need to further coordinate our efforts on the security front and the benefits that will lead to on the economic front.

Canada Education Savings Act  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the member on his speech and on his patience during the point of order. I was very interested in the suggestion about changing 21 to 25. My colleague is quite correct. The province of Quebec, alone among the provinces, has maintained two years of free post-secondary education through the cégeps.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, it was an extremely inane and ridiculous allegation to cast this party as extreme right. The hon. member knows better and I would expect more from him. Where is the position of this party on proportional representation? If the hon. member were to take the time, actually get out of his seat and read what is in our amendment, he would see that we are asking for the House of Commons to establish a non-partisan citizen assembly to re-examine changes to the electoral system including proportional representation.

Softwood Lumber  Mr. Speaker, I would like to once again bring to the attention of the House the softwood lumber crisis facing our workers and communities from coast to coast to coast within the country. What do we get from the government? We get absolutely nothing and silence in terms of cooperation with labour groups, cooperation with community groups, and cooperation with the mayors of these small communities where these forest industries reside.

Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have an opportunity to hopefully contribute somewhat to the debate before the House on Bill C-32. I do not necessarily attach myself to very much, if anything, that the previous speaker puts before the House other than to say that at the very least his party and he himself have been consistent in their approach to this issue.

Iraq  Mr. Speaker, the main purpose of this important debate is to clarify Canada's position on Iraq and its participation in any conflict involving Iraq. It is important to remember that Canada's participation in Afghanistan in late 2001 and through 2002, while involving great honour and bravery and the loss of life on the part of our individual soldiers, was not the result of an immediate commitment on the part of the government to assist the United States immediately following the events of September 11.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to take part in today's debate on the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. Canadians should be suspicious of this government and of the Prime Minister. They should know that this Speech from the Throne is nothing more than a new Liberal red book.

Softwood Lumber  Mr. Speaker, of course we like free trade. We invented it, unlike the minister opposite. The Minister for International Trade is ignoring the representatives of the softwood lumber industry but listening to the handful of CEOs who donated in excess of $30,000 to the Liberal Party.

Transportation Amendment Act  Regarding freight rail, the government needs to do something to ensure that we have all aspects of good free movement of grain for prairie farmers so that we can ensure that grain does get moved to the ports, that farmers are not being penalized with the inability to sell their grain with back charges on demurrage and so on.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague. The first part of his speech had to do with tuition fees and the role of the federal government in that field. The second part had to do with agriculture. On the tuition fees, it is a fact by the way that it is provincial jurisdiction but it is also a fact that the government has done its very best to deal with the matter of access to universities and colleges across the country.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, unlike the current Minister of Finance, I actually kept my promise to complete a leadership contest. The current minister is part of a government that broke its word on the GST, free trade, the helicopter contracts, the Pearson airport contract, every major promise the government made, so I will take no lessons from that man or anyone else about breaking promises.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will no doubt recall his great public pronouncement in 1993 when he said: It's time to elect politicians that serve the public rather than serve themselves. Things sure have changed in 10 years: broken promises on the GST; free trade; helicopters; fast-tracking government jets; the gun registry; the ad scandal; Shawinigate; and, who can forget, the HRDC boondoggle, speaking of which, we now have the HRDC minister adding her name to the list of those who stayed at the Irving lodge.