Building Trades Monument  Mr. Speaker, today I will join the Prime Minister , the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour and hundreds of the country's best tradespeople as they unveil the new monument dedicated to those who have built the foundations of our country. Canada's building trade unions will be across the canal from this chamber, at Major's Hill Park, to celebrate, in monument, the contribution of the hard-working and devoted men and women who do incredible work day in and day out, as well as to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in doing so.

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, the member should know, and I think Canadians know, that we are absolutely fully committed to moving forward on tabling proactive pay equity legislation by the end of 2018, and we are working toward that date. Our government highly values women's rights in keeping with the principles of equality and fairness.

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, I respect the member's dedication and passion to this issue. She did give a shout-out to Barb Byers, someone I have worked with over the last five or six years. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her as an advocate. I appreciate her body of work over that period of time on the national scene.

TELUS Cup  Madam Speaker, it is an immense pleasure to stand today to congratulate the Cape Breton West Islanders on the team's TELUS Cup victory, emblematic of Canadian midget hockey supremacy. After four decades of this national competition, this marks the first time a team from Atlantic Canada has won the title.

Canada Labour Code  Madam Speaker, I always appreciate the interventions by my friend and colleague from Carleton, as misdirected as they may be. I first have to recognize the fact that he made no comment whatsoever about Bill C-377. Therefore, I am thinking the Conservatives now understand the folly in that bill and the error of their ways.

Canada Labour Code  Madam Speaker, I will provide some context for new members here today as to what motivated the member for Wetaskiwin's private member's bill. He said in the House that it was to address the mountain of grievances against big union bosses, “the mountain of grievances”. I spoke with the chair of the Canada Industrial Relations Board, and there have been two grievances in the past 10 years.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Edmonton Riverbend is absolutely right to champion the needs of Albertans and to seek on their behalf some assurances on what is happening today in Lethbridge or Stony Mountain or Stony Plain. It is very much on the minds of all of us here, certainly on the government side.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, $550 million alone, just in infrastructure, has already been signed off for Alberta. Those are projects that are ready to go. What is also good is that now there is some hope in Alberta, and there is hope in B.C., because this government undertook the hard work of working with communities, getting broad social support for initiatives like the pipelines.

Workplace Safety  Mr. Speaker, on April 29, workers from across the country marked the National Day of Mourning, which remembers workers who have lost their lives or suffered injury or illness on the job. This day is always a reminder of why more can and must be done by governments to protect workers by not only enacting but effectively enforcing laws that prevent workplace injury, illness, or death.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we are doing as a government. We are equipping the youth for the jobs of today and the jobs of tomorrow by providing those opportunities in skills training, apprenticeships, access to post-secondary education, co-op placements, work integrated learning opportunities, and summer jobs, doubling the number of summer jobs that went 10 years under the last government without any investment.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, we know that these talks are ongoing, that the province and the federal government are in the midst, and we anticipate decisions will be made in the near future.

Forestry Industry  Mr. Speaker, Canadians elected our government to grow the economy and create jobs of the future. Certainly, the investments we have made to date are showing some benefit. We are seeing that in the last eight months alone, a quarter of a million full-time jobs have been created in the country.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I have the greatest respect for my friend and colleague across the way. However, of the throngs of people who are watching this debate today, I am sure most are sitting there with their laptop, iPad or phone, and can do something as simple as search on Google for past deficits by Canadian governments.

Workforce Development  Mr. Speaker, the reality is that, yes, we enter into agreements with the Province of Quebec, as we do with all provinces, and there is an amount agreed upon. What we understand from Quebec, for example, is that it stands alone with its student loan program. In the last budget, we increased the amount for loans and grants for the students of Quebec by $80 million, which they were very pleased with.

Employment and Social Development  Mr. Speaker, yesterday's budget would invest $2.7 billion to help unemployed and underemployed Canadians get the skills they need for their next and better job, and $470 million for adult workers so they can go back to school, upgrade their skills, and upgrade their credentials.