Preclearance Act, 2016  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. minister for what has been put forward here as excuses, but I am not persuaded at all that this is an appropriate time for time allocation. At the largest level of concern that I have for parliamentary democracy, it is that what became common under

Preclearance Act, 2016  Mr. Speaker, I think I have found another train advocate in this place, the member for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek. I am very pleased to see that. I agree that pre-clearance before boarding in Montreal or Toronto or Penn Station would be absolutely fantastic. I am not opposed to

Preclearance Act, 2016  Mr. Speaker, in the course of the debate on Bill C-23, I have not had a chance to reflect on an experience I always find troubling. I do not know how many members have ever taken the train from Montreal to New York, but I love doing it. As the train gets to the U.S. border, the U

Preclearance Act, 2016  Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague entirely that tourism is an important part of Canada's economy. My family and I grew up in the tourism industry on the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia. However, the change in Bill C-23 is worth a critical examination. We need to be very clear th

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, the second petition is of a national flavour. It is signed primarily by residents of my own riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands. It calls upon the Government of Canada to develop a national homelessness strategy. It particularly points out the creative notion that we shou

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise this afternoon to present two petitions. The first petition, signed by many local residents, is with respect to an issue of real concern. The Saanich Inlet is an extremely important and sensitive ecosystem. It has a very low flushing capacit

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, briefly, no, because the impact is very dependent on whether the government is actually taking that money as revenue and keeping it or redistributing it immediately in tax cuts, so the effect on every household's income is entirely dependent. That is why I strongly

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I have been astonished by how popular it is. Regarding the carbon tax in British Columbia, and I do not want to make a political comment because it is only through the good graces of the NDP that I am standing here, it was a fatal mistake of the NDP provincially to

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I do believe in transparency. The specific document that the member for Carleton has found and he wants released was redacted because, as I understand it from other media commentary, it includes confidential advice to cabinet. That is the previous cabinet of the Ha

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I want to follow up on the speech given by the member for Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa with the member who just spoke. I just flipped to the Wikipedia page for the member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay, because I know he is one of British Columbia's leading bird

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the preceding speaker, the member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay, and in fact, the whole NDP caucus for allowing me 10 minutes to speak in this very important debate. I have been struggling today. I keep thinking to myself that peopl

Business of Supply  On a point of order, Madam Speaker, I would like a ruling. The term “alternative facts” has come to mean lies. I wonder if the language my hon. colleague used was appropriate. Anyone can check what I said, because it is true.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, we are revisiting historical information in the House, which is useful to do, but let us not put on rose-coloured glasses looking backward. The only reason, and I underscore “only”, that greenhouse gases dropped during the years of the Harper administration was due

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, particularly since the hon. member is a member of Parliament from Ontario, I want to address this conflation of electricity prices in Ontario, which have a lot to do with stranded nuclear debt, a lot to do with institutional problems within Ontario Hydro, and equat

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, this is not a question, but very quickly to correct some factual errors. The member for Yorkton—Melville said that forests absorbed more carbon than we emitted. That reversed a couple of decades ago. Forests now actually emit more carbon than they absorb. The m