Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the hon. House leader mentioned at the start of his speech that the time in the House is “precious time”. I could not agree more. In fact the House of Commons belongs to the people, and the debate here in this House is the oxygen of our democracy, although not always as clean as oxygen.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, we often hear that Canadians are somewhat politically apathetic. In fact, they have tuned out because the politics of the House have almost become a blood sport. When the Prime Minister muzzled his cabinet, Canadians did not pay heed. Conservative backbenchers have been heard to refer to the PMO as the Kremlin, but Canadians did not pay attention.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, it seems that Canadians woke up and realized what was at stake. It was not someone else's democratic rights that were being taken away. It was their House of Commons that was being padlocked. Would the hon. member not agree that this has now provided us with an opportunity to put checks and balances in place to ensure this sort of abuse never takes place again and that the vast majority of Canadians and young Canadians would support such a measure?

Haiti  Mr. Speaker, on January 12, when the devastating earthquake hit the poorest country in our hemisphere, Canadians responded as Canadians do: we opened up our hearts and we opened up our wallets. The government announced it would match dollar for dollar donations made to the Haiti earthquake relief fund following a desperate appeal for immediate help.

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, yesterday, during question period, I directly quoted from a document signed by the Minister of Finance, and I feel honour bound to table that document. I ask the House's permission to do so.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, on December 20, 2000, the current finance minister wrote in a letter: Federal hate crimes legislation offers protection only on the basis of race, religion and ethnicity. This...would make it difficult to proceed with a prosecution for alleged hate crime relating to gender....

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act  Mr. Speaker, other than our indigenous peoples, our first nations, all the rest of us in Canada are recent arrivals. We either arrived ourselves or are the descendants, the sons and daughters of wave after wave of arrivals to Canada's shores over the last few centuries. The assumption is that all of these arrivals to Canada were immigrants, when in fact, especially during the latter part of the 20th century, a large proportion of those who arrived on Canada's shores were refugees, those who were seeking sanctuary.

Resumption and Continuation of Railway Operations  Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As you well know, in the chambers of the Speaker of the Senate, unfortunately one does not hear the bells and the calm of the Senate side is not broken by the Commons bells. Unfortunately, I was not here for the vote, but I would have voted in favour.

Ukraine  Mr. Speaker, Canadians remember with pride the role that our 1,000 observers and mission leader, former prime minister John Turner, played during the 2004 election in Ukraine. In January 2010, the first presidential election since the Orange Revolution will take place. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has asked for Canada to send 500 observers this time but the minister only announced 60.

Ukraine  Mr. Speaker, that is a symbolic gesture, not a real commitment. Sixty is one-tenth of 2004's number. Mr. Davidovich, the former deputy chair of Ukraine's electoral commission, who refused to sign off on the previous fraudulent results, recently came to Ottawa. Our House gave this democratic hero a standing ovation.

Holodomor Memorial Day  Madam Speaker, at the height of the Holodomor, the Kremlin-engineered famine genocide in Ukraine of 1932-33, Zina, a village girl, wrote to her city-dwelling uncle: We have neither bread nor anything else to eat. Dad is completely exhausted from hunger...unable to get on his feet.

Ukraine Presidential Election  Mr. Speaker, today we welcome Mr. Yaroslav Davydovych. Mr. Davydovych is the former chair of Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission. He was almost singularly responsible in not accepting the fraudulent second round results of the Ukrainian presidential elections in 2004. He did this at great potential danger to himself and his family.

Boris Cikovic  Mr. Speaker, I recently attended a candlelight vigil for Boris Cikovic who was gunned down in a local park by teen thugs trying to rob him. The murder of Boris forever shattered the lives of his parents Vesna and Davorin and his many friends. Soon after I was first elected, this lighthearted teen came into my office pointing out that “Borys” was misspelled on the office sign.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, the H1N1 pandemic is now in full bloom in Canada. Canadians are scared. Over the last couple of weeks, Canadians have been getting sick and Canadian children have been dying. The pandemic train has left the station. Unfortunately, the immunization program has just arrived in chaos.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I would like to present a petition signed by over 130 constituents who oppose the legislation providing Canadian veteran benefits to Red Army veterans. The Soviet Red Army was an instrument of the Kremlin in the commission of unspeakable mass atrocities and war crimes against the peoples of Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic States, Hungary, the Czechs, the Slovaks and other countries and peoples.