Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, the NDP has spent the better part of the day trying to demonstrate how it would never get into a situation where it would force unions back to work. The reality of the situation is that there have been seven provincial NDP governments that have done that, and they have done it 15 times.

Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, the member in his statement referenced the fact that some members might not be in the House. As you know, Mr. Speaker, it is not appropriate to do that. Perhaps you could remind the member of that.

Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, I have been here the majority of the day listening to the debate that has been going back and forth, and one of the questions I continually ask the NDP is: where is that threshold of knowing that we have done enough work and that it is time to bring in a piece of legislation to move the process along?

An Act to Provide for the Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services  I just told you.

An Act to Provide for the Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services  Madam Speaker, during the first bit of his speech, the member said that the NDP across the country would always stand up for the rights of workers. However, the evidence that we have been putting out there today does not really lend itself to that statement. In Saskatchewan, an NDP government sent dairy workers back to work.

An Act to Provide for the Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services  Madam Speaker, we have heard today, from various members of the NDP, that there should be virtually no time that such legislation should be brought forward to get employees back to work. One member did say earlier that certain circumstances, such as for the police, might warrant it, yet NDP governments across Canada provincially have never even done that for the police.

An Act to Provide for the Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services  Madam Speaker, we continue to hear the same thing from the NDP today, basically that we should never put ourselves in a situation where we force people to go back to work, as is being proposed today. At what point is it acceptable? Where is the threshold according to the New Democrats?

Resumption and Continuation of Postal Service Operations Legislation  Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up with a question relating to a previous question and exchange that happened prior to his speech. It was in relation to something that happened in the early 1990s with the NDP government in Ontario. At that time, in the fall of 1993, there were three occasions when the NDP government of the day instituted back-to-work legislation for school boards in Lambton County, East Parry Sound and Windsor.

Resumption and Continuation of Postal Service Operations Legislation  Mr. Speaker, the member has some decent arguments today. However, it is disingenuous to suggest there is not going to be enough time for debate, given the fact that today we will see just about every member from the NDP who wishes to speak on this having an opportunity to do so.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member for Barrie—Innisfil wants to talk about facts. Let us talk about facts. The fact is that over the last 150 years, the Conservative Party has been governing Canada for 38% of the time, yet it has racked up 73% of the budget. This is a fact. It has nothing to do with circumstances, as Conservatives would like us to believe, but everything to do with Conservative Party policy.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, let us go back to the previous question, because the member did not actually answer it. Is the member supportive of what the current Ontario provincial government is doing with its massive cuts to very important social programs, such as protecting French as a second language in Ontario and social services and education?

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, it has been 1,126 sleeps since Prime Minister Stephen Harper was here and since we learned the reality of the situation: there was no fictitious surplus, as purported by the preceding government. The reality of the situation is that in Canada, the debt is relatively low compared to other western countries.

Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, I will attempt to pick up where I left off on this when we last debated it. I do again want to thank the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville for bringing forward this motion. I know that one of the criticisms that we heard a little bit when the debate happened in the first hour was the fact that this was only focused on one particular area of the country.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, as we heard from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada earlier, it was in the minister's mandate letter to review and to provide reforms to speed up the criminal justice system. Based on the evidence and testimony that has come forward through the committee process to the House, that is exactly what the bill accomplishes There is a time and a place to have a discussion about mandatory minimum sentences, and I am very interested in having that discussion.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, I mentioned at the beginning of my speech that numerous different organizations and groups had come forward, some representing indigenous communities and others representing very different fields of law throughout the country. It became very clear from the information provided by Statistics Canada that indigenous people are more likely to enter into the criminal justice system, and that it then becomes a revolving door.