Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, I am also from a rural riding. It is a relief to hear a Conservative member from a rural riding understand and recognize how important this issue is to people in rural communities. We have had over 20 people die in 2016 in the Alberni Valley as a result of the fentanyl and opioid crisis.

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, it is not often that the member for Winnipeg North and I agree on something. In this case, saving lives is critical. In my riding of Courtenay—Alberni in particular, as a result of 20 deaths last year in this small community due to deadly carfentanil, Inspector Brian Hunter from the RCMP brought the community, the mayor and council of the city of Port Alberni, Island Health, and front-line resources together to have a conversation about how to move forward.

Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1  Madam Speaker, the member talked about first nations and investments in indigenous peoples. The government said that the most important relationship is working nation-to-nation with indigenous people. It also promised to stop fighting indigenous people in court. The member said that he is getting funding in his riding, and I appreciate hearing that.

Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1  Madam Speaker, in budget 2017, the government promised greater access to mental health, wellness, and suicide prevention services for indigenous young people. It did this without designating the actual program investments that are desperately needed in their communities. These are encouraging words to read in a federal budget, but they are meaningless for the young people who are without the community supports that are only possible with actual program investments.

Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for talking about affordable housing. We saw in this budget, and the government takes pride in saying it, that it has announced $11 billion for affordable housing. However, when we look at it closely, it would be $20 million in the first year and $300 million before the next election.

Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1  It's shameful.

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague, the member for North Island—Powell River. She is someone we can really admire for the way she represents her constituents. She has held 28 town halls. Like me, she lives in a rural riding, and it is very difficult to do that in a rural riding, never mind being in one of the most distant ridings in Canada.

Forestry Industry  Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Courtenay—Alberni, our mills have been deeply affected by layoffs, which have hammered our communities. On Vancouver Island, raw log exports have increased tenfold in the last 10 years because of bad B.C. Liberal job-killing policies that continue to fail to protect the industry.

Poverty Reduction  Mr. Speaker, this week, a working group of local mayors, regional district directors, the MLA, the MP, first nations, and community groups like the Alberni-Clayoquot Health Network put together the Alberni-Clayoquot working together to reduce poverty protocol agreement. The protocol agreement compels leaders to consider the innate connections between poverty and health outcomes when formulating policy and planning for the future of our communities.

Consumer Protection  Madam Speaker, voluntary is not good enough. Other countries have looked at it. They have studied the issues and determined that rates of 0.5% in Australia and 0.3% in the European Union are more appropriate. Small business owners simply do not have the negotiating power of large multinational corporations like Walmart, which recently cut a deal with Visa to reduce its credit card bills.

Consumer Protection  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak today about the dynamic, entrepreneurial culture we enjoy here in Canada. Small business is the real economic driver in our country. More than three-quarters of all new jobs across this land are created by small business. In fact, more than one-third of the GDP in our country comes from small business.

The Budget  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for talking about this being a “screw the west” budget. I share those sentiments. The forecast for salmon on the west coast is critical. A fisheries and oceans bulletin for the west coast of Vancouver Island indicates that for 2017, the recommended management forecast for Somass sockeye, which is in the Alberni Valley, is the critical zone for harvest management corresponding to an expected return of less than 200,000 adult fish.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, one thing that the Liberals have failed to mention in this budget is their promise to close the stock option loopholes for the wealthiest CEOs in our country, which cost Canadian taxpayers over $750 million a year. They talk about their record investments into housing, and how they will spend over $8 billion.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, there are organizations in the riding of Courtenay—Alberni working hard to end homelessness, such as the Comox Valley Coalition to End Homelessness, Dawn to Dawn, the Port Alberni Shelter Society, and the Oceanside Task Force on Homelessness. These organizations are all working hard to get people off the street and into housing so we can save money, reduce costs in our health care system and our criminal justice system, and to help support our economy.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, one of the rare times that Conservatives and New Democrats agreed on how to tackle climate change was through the home energy retrofit program that the Conservatives had in the last Parliament. Although we wished it had lasted longer and was not cut short, we know that it was one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce emissions and help Canadian households reduce their monthly bills while creating good local jobs.