Economic Recovery Act (stimulus)  Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the excellent speech by my hon. colleague and I want to follow up on his comments about the HST. I know that the HST was first brought into this country in 1997 by the previous Liberal government, which signed HST agreements with maritime provinces.

Canada Shipping Act, 2001  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-458, An Act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (prohibition against oil tankers in Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound). Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce a bill that would ban oil tanker traffic in ecologically sensitive waters, and I appreciate the seconding of this bill by the member for Edmonton—Strathcona, who does so much for the environment.

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, the RCMP in British Columbia is closing all detachments in communities with a population under 5,000 that are currently served by one officer. In places like Tahsis, this means that the closest police station will be an hour and a half away. The mayor says that her community will be less safe as a result.

Salmon Fishery  Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to one of the most profound issues facing British Columbia today: the endangerment and potential extinction of our wild salmon. There is no way to overstate the critical importance of wild salmon to B.C.'s economy, society, culture and indeed civilization.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from constituents in British Columbia regarding the HST. The petitioners point out that taking money from the pockets of hard-working families makes no sense in these difficult economic times and it represents an unfair tax shift from corporations onto consumers.

Parliament of Canada Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-446, An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (members who cross the floor). Mr. Speaker, three years ago, in Vancouver Kingsway, a member of Parliament was elected as a Liberal and crossed the floor to sit as a Conservative two weeks after that election.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, my hon. friend talked about propaganda and misinformation. Liberals promised a national child care system. They promised a national housing program. They promised to pull out of NAFTA. Talk about propaganda and misinformation. This member has the audacity to talk about breathing life into government.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, I will withdraw my last comment.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, what is an absolute fact is that for 13 years, through three successive majority governments, the Liberal Party did nothing to improve EI for the workers of our country. In fact, the Liberals gutted EI and they took $57 billion of workers' and employers' premiums and they put it into general revenues.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, 1.6 million Canadians are unemployed. This winter that number will grow. Many will run out of EI and risk ending up on welfare, and we have a responsibility to help. New Democrats have long called for improvements to our EI system, particularly during this time of economic recession, and we are pleased that the government has moved forward on this.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present two petitions on the same subject, signed by my constituents and other residents of Vancouver. The petitioners assert that every country has an obligation to protect the human rights of its citizens and Canada should be a strong voice for human rights around the globe.

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, in January the government promised to deliver infrastructure dollars to cities and municipalities to get our economy moving. In my riding of Vancouver Kingsway, we are counting on those federal dollars to boost business and create jobs. However, just this weekend I spoke to the mayor of Vancouver and was shocked to learn that Canada's third largest city had not received one single penny of infrastructure funds.

Infrastructure  Actually, Mr. Speaker, those are not Vancouver. He should look at a map. The Conservative government seems to have forgotten the action in its own action plan. The government cannot get infrastructure dollars into Vancouver, but it has no problem getting money out of people's pockets through the HST.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Mr. Speaker, I want to echo comments I heard earlier. I believe every member in the House is a proponent for human rights and that no right-thinking person advocates violence against any person because of one's political beliefs. I would like to make that point clear. The question really is one of philosophy.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Mr. Speaker, since we are ahead of trade agreements at this point, should we make Colombia demonstrate improvement before we sign a free trade agreement with it?