Canada Pension Plan  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise to speak to this important issue today. New Democrats were first to fight on behalf of an enhanced Canada pension plan in this century, launching a multi-faceted plan that would have ensured retirement security for Canadians back in 2009. While we are supporting the current level of enhancements, we nevertheless understand that for many retirees it will be inadequate.

Canada Pension Plan  Mr. Speaker, I am hoping that the hon. member can assure me that he understands that in order to pay for the increased benefits to CPP, the increases will have to be phased in gradually over a number of years. The reason we are doing that, as he stated, is that home ownership is threatened.

Canada Pension Plan  Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have this opportunity to ask a question of the hon. member. I stress that what we are talking about here with CPP enhancement is not wealth management. Therefore, this pillar definitely is important. It is nice to hear about how in certain circles that one moves in, everybody is doing okay so there is not a crisis in retirement.

Canada Pension Plan  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. member across the way what he sees as some of the ways that we can reverse the increasing levels of poverty among seniors today. As we know, the CPP enhancement, which we do support, will not be fulfilling its full intent for almost 50 years.

Canada Pension Plan  Mr. Speaker, I listened to the comments the hon. member made, and I am having a hard time not having an emotional reaction, because it is very insensitive and an affront to suggest that seniors have made a choice to struggle in retirement. As a matter of fact, we have a regulatory regime that requires that certain payments be taken out of our paycheques, and we need to have the protection of deferred wages legislated.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her comments with respect to the whole situation and how alarming it is. Sometimes there are ulterior motives that exacerbate the lives of people and families that are separated in several different countries. I would agree. People want the freedom to be reunited wherever they are. ¸ Canada has a role to play in the transitional justice that is required so that people who want to stay in their homeland, in their hometown, are part of the informal caregiving and support they need after suffering PTSD from this life.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I come from a riding, Windsor—Tecumseh, where there is huge awareness of social justice and social responsibility. There is also an awareness and an acceptance that it is almost implied that Canadian citizens have a role in activism. Members can imagine how perplexing it is for me coming to this honourable place and seeing some of the political strategizing that takes place.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, at this point in the debate I will be re-asserting facts that have already been stated here, which I think are important. Where are we at this point this afternoon in this honourable chamber after speaking about something so desperately alarming? As my hon. colleague just said, every day counts for these Yazidi women.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague, who sits with me on the Subcommittee on International Human Rights, for his excellent speech, especially with regard to the increasing role the international community sees as extremely crucial in combatting Daesh, aside from what we call traditional combat.

Food and Drugs Act  Mr. Speaker, I have seen in the House in the past that people like to frame my caucus as being against trade. This is a great example of the kind of collaboration that we would like to use to achieve healthy agreements that facilitate trade. This is in contrast, of course, to the TPP, which is actually not a trade deal but an investor rights deal that undermines democracy and some of those frameworks.

Disaster Assistance  Mr. Speaker, I want to start out with a salute to everyone in Windsor—Tecumseh who is dealing with the aftermath of flood damage. The Prime Minister stated that he was glad to see relief in the weather forecast for flood victims, but what about financial relief? The Conservatives drastically cut federal emergency funding in 2015.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will try to make this quick. I am trying to get my head around the disappointments that are happening in this chamber today. I just heard one member extrapolate data to justify denying human rights. Now, I am hearing another member tell us that he is proud of his government's transparency.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my hon. colleague if he could expand a little on how this issue of human rights deserves to have its own committee so that it can adequately address the weaponization he referred to in his speech.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's work in advancing the conversation and advancing awareness around human rights and the government's role and responsibility, and what regulation looks like for things such as weapons sales, has been so important and inspiring to me. This is an example of something where it seems a lot of times that statistics and datasets are what are most important to government bureaucracies.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, that is a wonderful demonstration of some of the rhetoric I was talking about, because those words are very clear distinctions about our priorities in human rights. I stated at the very beginning of my statement that we have pressing issues that are growing. There is a lot we know.