Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my wonderful colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue. I am proud to rise today to speak to an issue that is very important for all Canadians. This government brags non-stop about how open and transparent it is. In the mandate letter that the Minister of Finance received from the Prime Minister, it says: It is important that we acknowledge mistakes when we make them.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. In my view, we are spending an entire day discussing an important issue. We are talking about conflicts of interest and a concern for transparency. For more than two years, the government has been talking about a new era of transparency, but we are nevertheless spending a day talking about a potential conflict of interest and a minister who was unable or who supposedly forgot to declare certain assets.

National Security Act, 2017  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I am not an expert on security or intelligence. My old career was more about delivering information. I would rather answer his question by going over the issue of information gathering. What kind of information will they gather, and what do they do with it?

National Security Act, 2017  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. Earlier my colleague from Beloeil—Chambly suggested splitting up Bill C-59, so that we could study each act and vote on each of them separately. We do support some of the provisions of the bill, but there are others that we oppose because they are no different than the provisions of Bill C-51.

National Security Act, 2017  Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to say that the NDP opposes the motion to refer Bill C-59 to committee before second reading. Bill C-59 makes a lot of changes, but it does not chart a bold new course for Canada and make civil liberties and human rights central to Canadian security laws.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table in the House a petition from workers who want to end corporate pension theft. Many of those who signed the petition are Sears Canada employees from Chicoutimi. Workers count on their pensions and benefits to live and retire with dignity.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, transferring the employer's risk to the employee is not what I would call working for the middle class. It is working for the rich friends of the governing party. We have known from the start that Bill C-27 was bad for workers. Unions and workers across Canada agree that this bill should be scrapped.

Department of Employment and Social Development Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my wonderful colleague from Windsor—Tecumseh. I am rising to debate her bill in the House, but I would also like to take this opportunity to once again wish her a happy birthday. On a more serious note, today, we celebrate the birth of my colleague's Bill C-348, an act to amend the Department of Employment and Social Development Act regarding persons with disabilities.

Remembrance Day  Mr. Speaker, on Saturday November 11, we will commemorate Remembrance Day. This day is an opportunity to remember all the men and women who served in uniform. These past few days, we have proudly been wearing poppies, a symbol in memory of those who defended our country and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, according to a CBC/Radio-Canada report today, not only do public servants in Miramichi have to cope with the extra workload brought on by this government's Phoenix fiasco, but also, the working environment at the public service pay centre is just plain toxic. There is a lack of training, there is not enough support to answer employees' questions, and so on.

Softwood Lumber  Mr. Speaker, last week, we learned that the U.S. commerce department has made its final decision regarding the duties that will be imposed on Canadian softwood lumber. Export duties of up to 21% will jeopardize 11,000 jobs in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean. The government knew that this decision was imminent, but the Liberals continue to slip up and have made little to no progress when it comes to protecting the softwood lumber industry.

Pensions  Mr. Speaker, the NDP and the unions have sounded the alarm regarding Bill C-27, a bill that puts the Liberals' rich corporate friends first, ahead of our workers and pensioners. The risk associated with pensions is going to shift from employers to employees. Today my colleague is going to move a motion calling for the withdrawal of that bill, which is the right thing to do.

International Trade  Mr. Speaker, yesterday, many Quebec stakeholders gathered at the Quebec National Assembly to talk about the NAFTA negotiations. The Premier of Quebec and these socio-economic stakeholders were clear. They will not back down when it comes to supply management and the cultural exemption.

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been responsible for this fiasco for two years now. Even the senior director at IBM Canada who designed Phoenix admitted yesterday evening that the system was flawed. However, neither the company that designed the system nor the government seems to know how much longer it will take for 150,000 people to be paid correctly and on time, of course.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am going to address two of my colleague's points. First, as I mentioned, we wonder why the minister did not do what he was supposed to from the beginning. It is not complicated. You have to complete a questionnaire. Did he just forget because he has too many villas and too many assets?