Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I will focus a little on the agriculture aspect of the member's question. I will start by answering with a quote from Terry Pugh, the executive secretary of the National Farmers Union, who said: —the most critical and highly negative aspect of this deal, from our

Canada–EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to speak to the issue before the House for a number of reasons. We are debating Bill C-2, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the States of the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein,

The Budget  Madam Speaker, the hon. member says that the economic update in November was deceptive. The hon. member claims that the Conservatives have mismanaged the surpluses that accumulated under his government. He says that the government cannot be trusted and that the budget is replete

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I join with the hon. member in both the tenor and particulars of his question. It is extremely important for government to keep its promises. This is reflected strongly in Vancouver Kingsway, where the citizens of my riding watched a member of Parliament cross the f

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, poverty is an extremely critical issue in my riding. As I mentioned in my inaugural speech, one out of every four children in my riding lives statistically below the poverty line. Children do not live in poverty by themselves. They live in families. That means there

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, it is with great humility and reverence that I rise in this honourable chamber to address it substantively for the first time. I offer first my most heartfelt thanks to the people of Vancouver Kingsway for allowing me the privilege of representing them. I will do ev

Health  Mr. Speaker, natural health products are under attack. The Conservatives have made a mess of the approval process with unreachable deadlines to regulate a massive number of critical health products. Canada has over 10,000 natural health stores, with over 25,000 people employed

Governor General's Persons Award  Mr. Speaker, recently, one of my constituents, Ms. Shelagh Day, received the prestigious Governor General's Persons Award. This honour recognizes a lifetime of work on equality, social and economic rights for all Canadian women. I rise to offer my congratulations and thanks on b

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member on his re-election to this House. My question concerns some of his remarks about unemployed workers. The member was in the House, as was I, earlier when we heard some statistics about employment insurance. We heard that