Pugwash Peace Exchange  Mr. Speaker, in 1957 industrialist Cyrus Eaton assembled a group of 22 prominent scientists from around the world to explore ways to promote peace and especially nuclear disarmament. The first meeting was held at the Thinkers' Lodge in Pugwash, Nova Scotia and included Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein and Joseph Rotblat.

Nova Scotia  Mr. Speaker, as members may already be aware, today is Nova Scotia Day here in Ottawa. Our premier, Rodney MacDonald, several of his cabinet ministers, MLAs and business leaders are here to display all that Nova Scotia has to offer. Nova Scotians take great pride in their shared history and also look to the future with great confidence and determination.

Government Appointments  Mr. Speaker, recently the Prime Minister appointed Barbara Hagerman as the Lieutenant Governor for Prince Edward Island. Yesterday the member for Malpeque tried to put a negative political spin on it by undermining her qualifications. As Mrs. Hagerman is a very well respected member of our community and our province, would the Prime Minister comment on this appointment?

Canada Post  Mr. Speaker, last year, many of my rural constituents temporarily lost their rural mail service. After years of having their needs ignored and abandoned by the Liberals, rural Canadians now need and deserve real and effective services. Could the minister responsible for the post office tell us what the government is doing to ensure real good service for rural delivery in all of Canada, wherever it is needed, including Colchester county?

Hockey  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to tell the House about a special group of people who have put the community of Salmon River, Nova Scotia, on the hockey map. Webb Deuville, builder and owner of the Salmon River arena, and Ellery Deuville, leader of the Salmon River Hockeyville committee, along with many more community members, showcased the town's great hockey spirit and were voted Hockeyville as part of a promotion by CBC and Kraft Canada in June.

Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member probably does not understand that I was a car dealer for 20 years and I know a good deal when I see one. This is a good deal. I am amazed at how the government has negotiated this deal. There was no splitting the difference on this. On almost every single issue we had our way, not 100%, but awful close to it, so much so that the hon.

Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006  Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member in that I think he should go along with the agreement, but he asked me to justify or explain why Atlantic Canada has this exemption. Again, Atlantic Canada earned this exemption. Those provinces worked hard at it. They have spent millions of dollars to get the exemption and to keep it.

Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the very distinguished member for Edmonton—Leduc who will be speaking to the softwood lumber debate on behalf of his constituents. I first want to thank the Minister of International Trade who has worked so closely with Atlantic Canadian industries and who has worked with us to try to resolve issues as they pop up all the way through this debate.

Softwood Lumber  Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that Liberal opposition MPs from Atlantic Canada are playing politics with the softwood lumber agreement by refusing to support the deal. The agreement reached by our government will result in the return of almost $5 billion to the lumber industry and will finally bring an end to this ongoing dispute.

Questions on the Order Paper  With regard to the potential risks to human health and the environment from the spreading of industrial and human wastes on agricultural lands: (a) what studies have been undertaken by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to evaluate the level of risk to rural or urban communities from the spreading of these materials; (b) have any CFIA studies been conducted aimed at ascertaining the level of risk from the application of rendering process materials on agricultural lands, including materials that may have originated from bovine or poultry species; (c) have any discussions taken place between the CFIA and the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour regarding risk assessments related to the land applications of rendering plant materials and, if so, what conclusions were gathered and will there be follow-up discussions or joint actions between the CFIA and the government of Nova Scotia based on these conclusions; and (d) what actions have been taken by the CFIA to minimize the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) materials being spread with other waste materials on agricultural lands?

Questions on the Order Paper  With regard to the Federal Ocean Energy Working Group (FOEWG): (a) which departments, agencies, or Crown corporations have representatives on the FOEWG; (b) how many representatives from the various departments and agencies make up the FOEWG in total; (c) how many times has the FOEWG met since its formation in 2005; (d) which department, agency, or Crown corporation is responsible for the funding and organization of the FOEWG; (e) what is the mandate of the FOEWG; (f) does the FOEWG have an official relationship with similar provincial organizations such as the Alternative Energy & Power Technology Task Force in British Columbia; (g) are there representatives from provincial or territorial governments in the FOEWG and, if so, how many; (h) what is the total amount of funding that has been distributed to the FOEWG to date; and (i) what are the long-term priorities and goals of the FOEWG?

Agriculture  Mr. Speaker, the Atlantic Farmers Council, the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture and the Nova Scotia Agricultural College made a proposal in January 2005 to the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food to establish the Atlantic alternative energy centre to determine ways to reduce energy costs and harmful emissions, using agricultural products.

Agriculture  Mr. Speaker, 872 Nova Scotia farmers received payments under the CAIS program for 2003 and 2004. Then in January, 272 of them started receiving collection letters from the Government of Canada demanding they pay all of the money back. That is a 32% failure rate for this Liberal program.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, for 13 very long years, the people of Sydney watched the Liberals dither, delay, stall and study the Sydney tar ponds but they did very little. Now that they are in opposition they have suddenly discovered that the tar ponds are a problem. Would the very distinguished Parliamentary Secretary for Public Works tell this House what the new Conservative government will do to clean up the tar ponds?

Softwood Lumber  Mr. Speaker, as you know, for years and years the Liberals failed to make one ounce of progress on the softwood lumber file. It was so frustrating that the provinces ended up sending representatives to Washington themselves. It was embarrassing. The provinces had negotiators in Washington but the federal Liberals were hiding out in Ottawa.