Jobs and Growth Act, 2012  It was thoughtful and diverse. He touched on a lot of things and I agree with him. However, as an easterner and a Quebecker who pays a lot of money for expensive Venezuelan and Arabian home heating oil and gasoline, I was surprised that he talked about diversifying the economy without mentioning building a pipeline to bring bitumen to eastern Canada to be refined here to lower our costs and, perhaps most important of all, to provide energy security for Canada instead of exporting more than we import.

The Environment  It is disrupting national economies and ecologies. It is time for a real plan to prevent dangerous climate change in Canada. Canada's proposed targets only focus on methane and nitrous oxide emissions rather than CO2, which is the main greenhouse gas. The plan still does not include regulations on oil sands at all, which is one of the fastest growing sources of emissions here.

Infrastructure  Canada's infrastructure deficit of crumbling roads, rusting rail, and outdated water and sewage treatment is pegged at $171 billion in backlog. That huge backlog could, and would, be wiped out in five years with the revenue we are subsidizing to the oil, coal, and gas sectors, but our Prime Minister has refused repeatedly to even meet with the premiers to discuss it.

Post-Secondary Education  The Conservative government is writing off nearly $300 million in unrecoverable student debts this year, but, according to the IMF, it has also subsidized big oil to the tune of $34 billion this year. Ottawa must change its approach. The Conservatives must change. When will the government learn that investing in young Canadians, the future of our country, is a better investment than the corporate welfare cheques the Conservatives are handing out to their friends to big oil, gas and coal?

Infrastructure  While other countries are investing in infrastructure, Canadians are left dodging potholes and falling bridges and dealing with antiquated sewers that back up into basements in Thunder Bay—Superior North. Meanwhile, Canada is a world leader when it comes to handouts to rich multinational oil corporations. The government needs to smarten up, stop taxing average citizens each at $952 every year, and giving that money to oil executives to stash in Bermuda and Panama.

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  My question to the hon. member is, would she and her party support the building of a much better pipeline to eastern Canada to ensure energy self-sufficiency for Canada; more affordable oil products in the east; more job creation; and the creation, not the closing, of refineries across Canada?

The Environment  They rely on questionable carbon accounting practices in forestry and land-use sectors. They include international offsets to compensate for growing oil sands emissions, which is a scam if there ever was one, and only emphasize regulations for some greenhouse gases, not including CO2. Canada is required to release its emission targets for the G7 conference in Germany next month.

Health  Canada's global ranking in health care performance is dramatically decreasing, and the government's reckless cuts are only going to further increase that problem. Canadians can, however, take comfort in the knowledge that Canada is a world leader when it comes to handouts to oil companies.

Natural Resources  The Conservatives like to claim they have a good economic track record, but their economic and energy policies simply make no sense at all. We must end Canada's dependence on foreign oil and create a national energy strategy for Canada ASAP. The real long-term solution is to reduce our dependency on foreign oil through the Green Party's plan to implement a revenue neutral carbon dividend, which would reduce both poverty and CO2, and create many jobs for Canadians.

Canada-Panama Free Trade Act  Most of the oil that runs our cars and heats our homes in eastern Canada comes from those places. It does not come from our west at an affordable price with a guaranteed supply for the future. Rather it is imported from other places so large multinational oil corporations benefit by exporting those jobs and those litres of oil to the United States.

The Environment  Especially, where is his commitment to controlling all greenhouse gas emissions from all oil sands activities, not just some of them?

The Environment  Climate change is disrupting national economies and ecologies. It is costing us dearly here in Canada today and even more tomorrow. Canada must implement a carbon fee and dividend policy. It is a simple, transparent, revenue-neutral carbon pricing system that would be easy and inexpensive to administer.

Pipeline Safety Act  Speaker, my dad was an investment banker and taught me from the time I was two that the first rule of business is “Buy low, sell high.” Here in Canada, we buy the world's most expensive oil in the east. We have an 80% dependency on oil from places like Arabia, Nigeria, and Venezuela, oil that has a large carbon footprint and is very expensive, and we sell at a huge discount in the west.

The Environment  The financial burden of poverty in Canada is estimated to cost the government between $72 billion and $86 billion per year. C02 emissions, like poverty levels, have also been rising for years in Canada. The Conservatives have not taken any serious action to reverse either of these trends.

The Environment  Agenda-setting finance organizations such as the IMF and The Economist support a price on carbon. So do Shell Oil and BP. Why would they not? Carbon pricing has been very successful in other jurisdictions: in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, and even B.C. Here in Canada, a price on carbon has actually coincided with economic growth in B.C.