Greek Independence Day  Zito Ellas. Long live Greece.

Greek Independence Day  I take this opportunity to wish all Greeks a great Greek Independence Day. [Member spoke in Greek and provided the following translation:] Long live Greece. Long live Greeks in Canada.

Interparliamentary Delegations  Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian Delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association respecting its participation in a parliamentary mission to Athens, Greece, the next country to hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, and Zagreb, Croatia, the newest country to join the European Union, which was held in Athens, Greece, and Zagreb, Croatia, from November 14 to November 20, 2013.

Business of Supply  Successive economic action plans have supported Canadian families by keeping taxes low, better recognizing the costs of adopting a child, helping to lower the prices of consumer goods, and better protecting financial consumers. The economic action plan continues on this track. From Detroit to Greece, the dire consequences of ongoing and growing deficits are clear. This is one of the reasons why our government has reduced taxes, to keep more money in the pockets of Canadians. We are committed to reducing the tax burden on Canadians in our forthcoming budget.

Employment  Speaker, the government is implying that young Canadians are better off than young people in Greece. Those internships are actually funded by the youth employment strategy, which the Conservatives have cut by $60 million since 2010. Too many Canadians are being pressured into taking unpaid internships just for the work experience.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Last, I want to talk about my second favourite colour, next to blue, and that is green, and that is because our government is making Canada greener every day. This Conservative government has added an area the size of Greece to our national parkland, and that is a legacy for us to enjoy now and for our kids to enjoy in the future. It is a real game-changer. The former U.S. energy secretary, Steven Chu, says that it is one of our country's most amazing accomplishments, and he does not know why we are not touting it elsewhere.

Panagiota Bissas  Speaker, as the Queen Frederica docked on the shores of Halifax in late spring 1956, anxiety engulfed a young woman named Panagiota Bissas as she prepared to disembark the ship. A poor girl, she left her poor village in southern Greece to embark on a journey that brought her to Canada. This, she was told, was a welcoming country, with warm people, full of promise, a place where dreams could become a reality. She was the first in her family to travel abroad.

National Defence committee  I've looked in vain for the NATO statement of that target, in fact, by agreement, and I haven't found it. There are some countries, like Greece, for example, that expend more than 2% but that may be more a function of their GDP than their commitment to defence. I want to go straight to the topic of BMD. You seem to be a public proponent of that in various places, including the Senate and again this morning.

Natural Resources committee  Finally, on the matter of Canadian heavy blends, these certainly could displace imports to Greece and Turkey, but that would actually displace heavier gulf blends, not Russian Urals, and that is also true elsewhere in the basin. I would like to leave it there and await any questions you may have.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're not worried about being kicked out. My name is Menegakis. It's clearly not a native Canadian name. My parents came here from Greece. If I don't perpetrate the crime, my citizenship is not going to be revoked, nor is my children's or anybody else's in my family. That is the best way to avoid having it revoked. Let's just go back a little bit to reality here.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Since 2006, this government has added more than 160,000 square kilometres to our national parks and marine conservation system. That is more than the size of Greece. That has been added since the Conservatives came to office. An amount of $391 million over five years has been provided on a cash basis to Parks Canada. There is $15 million over two years to extend the recreational fisheries and conservation partnership programs and $10 million over two years to improve and expand recreational trails across the country.

The Economy  The Liberal leader has threatened dangerous new deficit spending that would take Canada down the same roads as Detroit and Greece. I am not surprised that someone who believes that “the budget will balance itself” would also believe that we can spend our way to prosperity.

Finance committee  I want to say right off the bat, with respect to Stats Canada, I think something needs to be said about the fact that when we compare to the OECD average, that also includes huge outliers like Greece, Spain, and Italy. We should be setting the bar perhaps a bit higher for ourselves in Canada. In that spirit, I want to quickly read a quote from the TD study that was referenced by one of our witnesses—I apologize, I don't remember which one.

Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act  In many different countries some refer to the holy covenant that the people of Israel had with their God, a kind of contract between a whole people and a God that had given law, according to which those people felt obliged to live. In ancient Greece, the concept of citizenship achieved a new level and a new recognition of the role of individuals in participating in the life of their cities, of their communities, of their political entities.

The Budget  This is not just talking points; this is what matters to Calgarians and what matters to Canadians. We only have to look at the floundering economies in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal to see what economic decisions that are not based on these kinds of fundamentals lead to in the face of a very difficult global economy. Thankfully, Canada is not there, because we have had responsible, sound government, with responsible, sound programs for our budgets.