Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that we have unanimity in the House on this very important issue. I agree with the hon. member that we should not reinvent the wheel. There has been tremendous work done in this place on the issue of pay equity. There have been motions that have come before the House.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, this is one of the things that I mentioned in my speech. It was very unfair that unions were not able to represent people under the 2009 law. I believe that if pay equity is a matter of an individual person having to come forward as a particular case, that does not address the problem.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today to contribute to the debate on pay equity in Canada. I thank the hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith for bringing this important issue to the floor of the House. In 2016, it is not acceptable that women in Canada are still earning 23% less than men.

Income Tax Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. Minister of Finance for reaching out and listening to Canadians and for introducing this important bill. In my riding of Ottawa West—Nepean, we have a number of middle-class families who are struggling with child care expenses, trying to pay the bills, and trying to put away a bit for their own retirement.

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 100th year of women's suffrage in Canada. On this day a century ago, a savvy group of Manitoba women succeeded in their campaign to give women the right to vote and hold political office, first in Manitoba, and three years later at the federal level, and only by the mid-twentieth century for indigenous peoples.

International Human Rights Day  Mr. Speaker, I rise today on the 67th International Human Rights Day, when we celebrate the day on which the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We all know that there are people throughout the world whose civil, economic, political, and social rights are being violated.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, this is exactly the reason our government is committed to consulting with Canadians regarding the kind of electoral system they would choose. The first-past-the-post system, if we look around the world, is never used as a best practice internationally. In fact, the bottom 10 countries globally that have the lowest number of women elected are all first-past-the-post systems.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for that question and for his kind words about me and my predecessor. I would also like to pay tribute to other predecessors in this role: Marlene Catterall, David Daubney, and many others whose shoes I plan to fill. With regard to international development, I believe that we have an opportunity now to look at global best practices and what other countries are doing, both in terms of how we structure our aid mechanisms and also in terms of where Canada can provide the best expertise, whether that be geographic or in particular areas such as governance.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, we are very proud that the Canada child benefit will help nine out of ten families and will raise over 300,000 children out of poverty. In addition, in the infrastructure funding we will be providing money for social infrastructure, which will also include things like housing, child care, and other things.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the hon. member for Brampton East. As this is the first time I am rising in the House, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the people of Ottawa West—Nepean for placing their confidence and trust in me to be their representative.