Transportation  Mr. Speaker, as the member would know, Marine Atlantic is an independent crown corporation responsible for its operational decisions. That corporation has the responsibility to ensure investments by Canadian taxpayers are used in the best interests of Newfoundland and Labrador to serve the needs of its citizens.

Air Transportation  Mr. Speaker, to the specifics of the member's request to this government, I will take it under advisement and report back to the House. However, when it comes to making investments in airport infrastructure through programs like the airport capital assistance program, I would remind the member that she and her colleagues continue to vote against those substantial investments to provide safe airport infrastructure for small communities.

Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act  Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to the member's intervention. Obviously, this bill would help Canada fulfill its important commitments with respect to international protocols without binding us from our own unilateral action to exceed the intent of such a protocol. The member noted that the United States was not a signatory to that international protocol.

Georgian Bay Channel to Lock 45 – Port Severn  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to speak to the motion at hand, sponsored by the member for Simcoe North. I want to thank him for bringing it forward, as well as the interventions already by the member for Beaches—East York and Ottawa South in the debate today. I hope to explain a bit about Transport Canada's role under the motion in front of us today.

Privilege  Mr. Chair, it is my privilege to be able to have the service in this House in my language, which is English. My testimony in this House was that I did not hear the words “unanimous consent”. The only word I heard was “consent”. My instinct was to say “no”, and say it twice. That was my intervention before the House leader even came in to make the question about it.

Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act  Mr. Speaker, with my earpiece in, I believe I only heard the word “consent”, but said no.

Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act  Mr. Speaker, the matter immediately before the House is the use of time allocation, which I point out is routinely used by Liberal majority governments in this country, but also, as I understand it, is used writ large in the mother Parliament back in the U.K. As the minister has rightly pointed out earlier, this is an efficiency tool in terms of ensuring that the House, in a timely fashion, not only considers issues but makes decisions on them, and it also ensures that these matters get to committee in a timely fashion, so that the detailed study can occur.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Madam Speaker, one of the important measures in Bill C-31, of course, is for the Minister of Transport to be able to issue recalls on safety. I wonder if the member would comment on whether he supports that measure.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member did not pay attention to my intervention, but I will try to answer his question on FATCA nonetheless. I will not speak to what the U.S. motives are in all of this. It is its own sovereign decision as to whether it wants to start looking at dual citizens abroad, for example, but I will say that if the government did not act, the U.S. rules would still be in place.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I am not sure that is actually in the budget implementation act. Having said that, our government has announced the longest and largest infrastructure program, and because we have participated with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, for example, in over a dozen round tables and because we work closely with them, the way this plan is structured responds to some of the very things that the FCM members have been asking for.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, one of the key items that has been discussed little in this Parliament with respect to Bill C-31 is the increase in the cap of the adoption expenses tax credit. In our last budget we recognized that some 30,000 Canadian children are adoptable but are not being adopted.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I was not digging for a compliment, but I appreciate it. I was simply looking to increase the visibility of adoption as an issue in this House. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today on Bill C-31, our government's budget implementation act, to speak about the importance of the budget that we put forward for Canadians.

Veterans  Mr. Speaker, I welcome the intervention by the member opposite. Let me first start by affirming, of course, that not only the Minister of Veterans Affairs but the parliamentary secretary and members of this government from the Prime Minister on down have nothing but the utmost respect for our veterans.

Veterans  Mr. Speaker, I am not sure the member was listening. We have more points of service for veterans than we did before. Presumably, the member wants veterans to have to drive from Leamington to Windsor to drop off their paperwork. They do not have to do that anymore. They can go to a Service Canada office and get Veterans Affairs services there in Leamington.

Canada Post  Mr. Speaker, I will not admit that I do have a TV that has rabbit ears. Apart from that, Canada Post is facing an urgent situation, and it is facing it now. If we look at Canada Post's five-point plan, we see it is not suggesting somehow that it is cutting back on the profitable parts of its business.