Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for highlighting the importance of our role as facilitators in this discussion. It is clearly a role we need to be taking seriously versus saying the federal government is not there at the table. Our role is to be at the table and to make these conversations happen.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the hon. member across the way is even more honourable now that he is a grandfather. I congratulate him on the birth of Clovis. It is a great role and I also enjoy my three grandchildren, Michael, Anna and Jack. A lot of the work we do in this place is for them, including investing in infrastructure.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I congratulate you as well. I thank the hon. member for joining us in this House. In the throne speech, there is an entire section on strengthening the middle class where we address poverty and the progress we have made. We are two years ahead of the mandate already in reducing chronic homelessness in Guelph by 23% just last year.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I welcome hon. member across the way to the House. It is great to have another person in the House talking about agriculture. My riding is Guelph. Agriculture is very important to my constituents and really it is important to all the country. I sat in the previous Parliament on the agriculture committee and I hope he is considering that committee.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I am very interested in housing and homelessness. In the last four budgets there has been money put into solving the crisis of homelessness in Canada. As in the member's riding and my riding, it is an issue that is facing Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Could the hon. member talk about the importance of continuing our programs in national housing and investing in housing for the homeless in Canada?

Homelessness  Mr. Speaker, according to the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, “Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy” is the single most important change in national homelessness agenda for over 20 years, and we are seeing the positive results across Canada. Although we have made great progress, we know there is still work to be done.

Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, the member across the way is a fellow member on the INDU committee. We have had a lot of great discussions there, and a lot of them came as a result of our connections with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. I was the president of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce. I was on the board of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and worked very closely with Perrin Beatty and his group at the Canadian chamber, who were supportive all the way through our negotiations on the new NAFTA, in particular saying we had to hold our ground when it came to the section 232 provisions on steel and aluminum.

Petitions  Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise to table a petition that was signed at the Guelph Farmers' Market. A lot of advocacy goes on there every Saturday between 6 a.m. and noon. This petition is delivering community power to the post office in the post-carbon economy. There are a lot of ideas around greening the post office and providing more services for seniors.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, that was also part of the question from the hon. member for the Green Party across the way, which was how do we have sustainable development in terms of pipelines and getting oil to export markets? That is really the purpose of Bill C-69 and Bill C-48 working together.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the quote was actually referring to a quote from a Guelph economist, Ross McKitrick, who was looking at the connection between climate change and the economy. It is inflamed rhetoric from the other side. We heard the member for Calgary Nose Hill. Some of the words she was using were intended to inflame the argument and divide, versus working together, working across party lines, working with provinces, territories and municipalities.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I enjoy working with Mike Schreiner, who is the MPP in our area. What it shows is that all orders of government need to work together, including the municipality, on something that is not a partisan issue as we go forward. We should not be fighting each other, we should be fighting climate change.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am going to be sharing my time with the hon. member for Winnipeg North, and I look forward to his comments after I have had a chance to speak. Our government is taking climate change seriously. We know that climate change is real and that we have a plan to tackle it.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I was into the speech right up until the end, when the member mentioned the fossil fuel phase-out. The fossil fuel phase-out also includes fossil fuel subsidies for remote communities that need to use diesel until we are able to get them other fuels to generate electricity.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member across the way for a stimulating discussion on this today. I was thinking of my middle daughter when he was talking. When she was small and we were living in Winnipeg, she hated putting on her coat in the wintertime. When we would get her coat on, she would struggle and struggle.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. Minister of Justice. He has done a tremendous job on not only this but also the judicial appointments, and looking at improving efficiency and effectiveness in our judicial system. During his presentation, when talking about the Senate amendments, the minister made comments about expanding preliminary inquiries to 14 years, which used to only be for more serious offences.