Supply  Mr. Speaker, what would $50,000 buy for the member's municipality or any other municipality? That is what it works out to in terms of the government's plan. The comments of the member for Churchill were about the fact that the plan actually provides less funding over the 10 years as they ramp down other programs.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I agree that it needs to be municipally driven. In fact it is imperative. That is part of the process to unravel the programs. I disagree with the parliamentary secretary though. I think the member for LaSalle—Émard, the former finance minister, is very much married to the motion.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise to speak to municipal issues again. It is always a good debate. I believe the subject has come up a number of times and we have had a good chance to review some of the things that have happened. We also have had a chance to talk about the future of Canada, and we know there are so many different problems related to municipalities.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to hear the conflict that the government has on this. The member for LaSalle—Émard is supporting this and is married to the Alliance motion. Similarly, we are seeing conflicts where the parliamentary secretary talked about the fact that it is a provincial responsibility, being the municipalities, but at the same time he cannot abrogate responsibility to them.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, hearing the government's position on this is very disturbing to say the least. It is ignoring its responsibility and it is also not calculating the other downloading that is happening. Has the province of Quebec, similar to Ontario, been under the siege of massive funding cuts at the same time as the government is usurping other taxes and surpluses?

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I found those comments interesting. This is a very important debate for Canadian municipalities. It is important for us in the New Democratic Party because Jack Layton is the immediate past president of the FCM. What was left out from the discussion, which is kind of interesting, is that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities has now indicated a $57 billion deficit in infrastructure spending.

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, when this government announced the four page Windsor-Detroit gateway action plan, it left public safety in the dust and holding a time bomb. Approximately 9,000 hazardous material trucks per year illegally cross this border breaking U.S. and Canadian laws. Despite the security risk, the industry and finance minister do not seem to care.

Pension Act  Madam Speaker, it is my privilege, on behalf of the New Democratic Party, to throw our support behind this beneficial change. We believe members of the RCMP play a significant role in contributing to Canadian society. This pension issue could be classified by some as housekeeping or just some type of modern modification, but in reality it is about building confidence and showing that we can do some small things that go a long way.

Public Service Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to ask a question of the member from the Bloc who I know has been very active on this case file. The Bloc has put over 120 amendments because Bill C-25 is so deficient with a number of different working relationship issues that it will make the services more difficult for people being employed by the federal government.

Public Service Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to speak to Bill C-25, but we see that the government is not interested in the deliberations at this time, so I move: That this House do now adjourn.

Public Service Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, one concern I have is it seems from the last discourse that the amendments put forth by the union were done in a fashion that they were late or in a time frame that did not provide the opportunity to make improvements to the bill. That is not entirely accurate. We know that over 100 amendments were defeated at the committee.

Public Service Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary still has not addressed the issue of $7.7 billion, as claimed by the government, going to border security. The city of Windsor has to pay for putting police on the streets because the government will not provide assistance. The U.S. is saying that our goods and services, and also its own, because the drivers are Americans and Canadians, are considered a security risk to the United States.

Public Service Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today to follow up on a question that I asked with regard to the border security in Windsor, Ontario. Specifically the question related to the fact that municipalities have had to pay the price when border security has been raised. When the United States goes on orange alert, which happened during the war with Iraq and it still is happening today, traffic backs up.

Pharmaceutical Industry  Mr. Speaker, a new study shows that the drug testing funded by the pharmaceutical industry is four times more likely to show results favouring the sponsor's product than publicly funded research. The government has a pattern of getting rid of responsibilities so it can pass the blame on to others.

Public Service Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, one of the disappointing aspects of the bill is that whistleblowing has not been identified in it. This would have given workers the confidence they needed to bring forth situations in a way that would ensure their protection in the workforce and move forward on many of the sensitive issues that often complicate an area and a person's career.