Afghanistan  Mr. Speaker, despite the subject, it gives me great pleasure to rise here this evening. This is a matter of great importance for both Canada and Afghanistan. As we heard earlier, people have been asking questions that suggest they have already made up their minds. Nevertheless, this evening, I hope that I will be able to clarify the New Democratic Party's reasons for its position on this issue, which is simply that the combat mission in southern Afghanistan must end, and a comprehensive peace process must be undertaken.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' record on greenhouse gas production, including development of the oil sands, is catastrophic. This is what the Prime Minister said, “Kyoto is basically a socialist plot to suck money out of wealthy countries”. The Conservatives are always talking about respecting law and order.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, I too am very pleased to speak to this important motion, which, as my colleague just explained, concerns two relatively different topics that have a common element, and that is Canada's role in the world where we are needed most. I am pleased to rise to speak to the motion before the House.

Canada-U.S. Relations  Mr. Speaker, Ian Brodie, the Prime Minister's chief of staff, is behind the NAFTA affair. The questions are simple. Who was the anonymous source who fed CTV the story involving Senator Obama? Who was the source of the diplomatic memo illegally leaked to the Associated Press? Can the Prime Minister assure us that these people will be relieved of their duties?

Canada-U.S. Relations  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will not need to pull off a CSI-style investigation. Associated Press received a Canadian diplomatic cable that was classified secret. He should start by reviewing the call logs in his own office and tell this House who the Associated Press spoke to when it called that office.

Citizenship and Immigration  Mr. Speaker, it is with sadness that we learned earlier that, despite massive support from many groups and individuals in his community, Mr. Kulenthiran Amirthalingan will be deported this evening to his country of birth, Malaysia. Kulen called Montreal home and felt welcome in our country, which made no fuss about his sexual orientation, although unfortunately that is not the current situation in his country of origin.

Citizenship and Immigration  You should be ashamed of yourself.

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada recently approved the construction of the Rabaska liquefied natural gas terminal across from the provincial capital, Quebec City, at a very narrow spot along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Last summer—or rather, at the beginning of September—our new Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke out publicly against a similar project on the coast of Maine in the United States because, he said, he wanted “to protect the people and the environment”.

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, when I was the minister, I told the government that it was so dangerous, I would not even consider it. The government recently approved another project called Keystone that will send 100 million litres of Canadian oil per day to the United States. Just as in the Rabaska situation, NAFTA requires us to keep exporting, and we cannot stop this from happening.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, try telling that to the 130,000 people who lost their jobs last year in manufacturing. Statistics released just yesterday show that economic output contracted 0.7% in December, a major decrease in fourth quarter exports caused by a drastic 2.7% decrease in international shipment of goods.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, by lowering its key interest rate, the Bank of Canada has just sent a message that it believes the economic slowdown in the United States is going to have a strong negative impact on the Canadian economy. Unfortunately, the Conservative budget does nothing for the manufacturing sector, nothing for forestry workers and nothing for the middle class.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, that is garbage and nonsense. The only thing the Conservatives did in Bali was embarrass us. Contrary to what the hon. member just said, there are no binding targets. There are intensity targets. That means that if the amount of greenhouse gases emitted to produce a barrel of oil is at level 10, for example, then a polluter can indeed say that the intensity of greenhouse gases has been reduced when the amount emitted drops to level 8.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, to put this evening's debate into context, this discussion follows up on a question I asked the Minister of the Environment on November 26, 2007. It is now March. I would like to suggest that this is an indication of how important this issue is to the Conservative government.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, it is quite something to hear the hon. member for Lévis—Bellechasse defend the methane port project as sustainable development. The proposal is absurd. The risks of this project are known. If the hon. member is interested, he should go to Boston and talk to the coast guard, as I have had the opportunity to do.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, the answer for my colleague is no, there was no problem. Quite the contrary, employment statistics showed that we continued to have a quite robust economy in Canada. The choices made in a budget are, in the final analysis, societal choices. What do we want to do in this country with all this wealth?