Elections Canada  Mr. Speaker, it is the Conservatives' budget, so it is the Conservatives' cuts to Elections Canada. The fact is, Conservatives are cutting the budget of Elections Canada and they are weakening our electoral system. Elections Canada is already stretched thin investigating thousands of allegations of wrongdoing from the 2011 election without the legislative tools it needs.

Parliamentary Budget Officer  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. What it means is that even this government is not above the law. The justice wrote: ...Parliament not only intended that the Parliamentary Budget Officer be answerable to it and to its committees, but also to every backbencher irrespective of political stripe.

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, once the government brings in a budget that actually deals with the issues that affect Canadians, we will be there to support it. It will take the NDP to bring it in. Just before Christmas Jane Kittmer of Stratford, Ontario, won a legal fight over EI. This is a mother with cancer who was denied EI while she was on chemotherapy.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the NDP will never vote for budgets that deceive the Canadian people. The Conservatives are even hiking taxes on hospital parking. Conservatives are trying to claim that hospital parking is like any other commercial parking, but it is not. These people are not going shopping; they are going to visit friends and family who are sick or dying in the hospital.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are having a hard time defending their budget. They cut infrastructure but pretend that it is new spending. They cut hundreds of millions in provincial skills training but pretended that it is new money. They leaked information about a small tariff reduction on hockey equipment, then turned around and actually raised tariffs by over $300 million.

Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion  Mr. Speaker, last November, in my riding of Hamilton Centre, I was honoured to join with the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion as it held its first ever conversation café at the Beasley Community Centre on Elgin Street. Attended by more than 150 people, the conversation café brought together members from many of Hamilton's cultural communities, including the Turkish, Somali, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic communities, as well as seniors and youth representatives, to discuss changes residents would like to see in their neighbourhoods and how they would like to get involved in their community life.

Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, my first thought is how lucky we are in the official opposition to have such a fantastic defence critic who understands these issues so well. I am not a lawyer, not everyone here is. I am a layperson so I bring whatever practical experience and knowledge, as well as tapping into expertise.

Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I would just point out to the member that, apparently, there were witnesses who came forward and gave evidence to this effect. In fact we know that once the bill is passed, it will still need more work because an entire review needs to be done. We have made the commitment that the NDP, when it forms government, will do that wall-to-wall review, even if the current government will not.

Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, when I glance at the other side, I will move my glance past that member and move on to the parliamentary secretary, who is clearly here to do some serious business. Before the hon. member got up on who knows what point, I was commenting on the level of co-operation, and I was glad for that.

Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to join in the debate. I am pleased to be on my feet yet again to speak to the bill. We are of course supportive of the amendments that are in front of us. We have been supportive of the negotiated and agreed bill that came out of previous Parliaments.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in relation to its study of chapter 5, “Oversight of Civilian Aviation—Transport Canada”, of the 2012 Spring Report of the Auditor General of Canada.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question and for the fantastic work she is doing on this file. Quite frankly, it is a bad bill the government has in front of the House in terms of reforming the Senate. It is made worse by the fact that the government did not even bother to take care of what is clearly unacceptable policy and unacceptable legislation in this country in this year—that is, that there is an age limit.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the answer is contained in the motion itself that we are debating. The whole point of this is to begin and initiate a discussion with the provinces, because they are equal partners in our Constitution. Therefore, before we get into all these kinds of academic games that the member wants to get into, let us first start with a basic premise that his party was not very good at and that the current government does not do at all, which is to sit down and ask the provinces what they think and what role they want to play.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, there are days I dream of being offered this opportunity. However, the point is not whether we individually bring independent notions. Of course we all do. I say to my colleague through you, Mr. Speaker, that yes, we all do in our caucuses. However, when we structurally put together a chamber that is supposed to be non-aligned—that is what the “sober second thought” means—it does not matter what the parties have done, it does not matter when the next election is and it does not matter who the prime minister is; what matters is the law in front of me and whether I think it is good or bad.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak to one of my favourite subjects. I would like to acknowledge that I will be sharing my time with the member for Hull—Aylmer. I will focus my remarks a bit differently than some members, simply because, to me, a lot of these scandals that are happening right now with respect to expenses and where people live is really a symptom of the problem and not the real issue.