Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for pointing out that on this side of the House, we have people who really believe in what they stand for, and they are willing to stand up and talk about it. I congratulate my colleague on his speech. I would like him to expand on section 176.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, I want all members of the House and all Canadians to know that Conservatives fully support any changes in this bill that would clarify and strengthen sexual assault provisions in the Criminal Code. The health committee recently conducted a study on the effect of pornography.

Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, I do not want to belabour the point that the real reason we are here tonight on both Bill C-24 and Bill C-50 is because of miscalculations on the part of the Prime Minister. In the first instance, he promised gender parity in cabinet, and suddenly realized he did not have it.

Salaries Act  Madam Speaker, my colleague infers that the idea of having ministers of state and ministers was somehow Stephen Harper's idea. This system has been in place for a long time. All Canadians, other than the Liberals, who are now bent on correcting this mistake that the Prime Minister made, recognize the huge difference in workload.

Salaries Act  Madam Speaker, would you check to see if we have quorum at this point in the deliberations.

Salaries Act  Madam Speaker, we have been very much aware of the genesis of this bill. It has been pointed out time and time again that in 2015, when the government was elected, it took great pride in the fact that it had a gender balanced cabinet. Then the Liberals suddenly realized, when somebody pointed out to them, that five of the junior ministers were all women, and there were no men among that group.

Salaries Act  Madam Speaker, like many of my colleagues tonight, I feel it is very unfortunate that at this point, almost halfway through the government's mandate and approaching the summer months, we are sitting until midnight dealing with this kind of legislation. Canada is entering tough negotiations with the United States regarding NAFTA.

Salaries Act  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his impassioned speech and his commitment to parliamentary democracy, but I think if he would have had more time he would have probably delved into the area of these three mysterious ministers that cabinet has given approval for. They have no job descriptions.

Salaries Act  Mr. Speaker, I heard my colleague reference northern Ontario, the Maritimes, ACOA, and the western economic diversification fund. He may have mentioned FedDev Ontario, but I missed that if he did. It is another very important economic development agency. I have seen first hand the incredible difference that is made by one of these regional groups.

Salaries Act  Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, with all of the representation in this House from Atlantic Canada, on that side of the House there is not one person from Atlantic Canada who has the interest of Atlantic Canadians at heart to a sufficient degree to qualify to be the minister of ACOA.

House debate  Madam Speaker, the point is well taken that the Liberal government promised there would be no omnibus bills, yet in this bill there are a number of issues that are not related directly to the budget, including the independence of the parliamentary budget officer and the infrastructure bank.

House debate  Madam Speaker, what does not make any sense is to invest all of this money, billions and billions of dollars, in public transit infrastructure, light rail transit, subways, buses, and so on, yet we are not encouraging increased ridership. Why would we want subways or LRT buses half full?

House debate  Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the constituents of Kitchener—Conestoga to speak about the Liberal government's second budget. Perhaps I should call it the Liberal government's wishful election budget, as the majority of the spending outlined falls after the next election.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, earlier today the finance minister commented a number of times about the importance of clean technology for the economy. On page 111 of the budget, we see the investment in Canada's innovation economy, clean technology, digital industries, and agrifood. However, if we look at the numbers, most of this funding will be after the present government's mandate expires.

Cannabis Act  Mr. Speaker, no one is suggesting that the status quo is good enough. There is always room for improvement. However, in fact, the use of marijuana has decreased since 2008, from 33% to 24%. That is from a study by addiction and mental health research people. As it relates to age, and we keep coming back to this, CMA was clear in its recommendations that brain maturation occurs around age 28.