Committees of the House  moved that the fifth report of the Standing Committee on International Trade presented on Wednesday, December 13, 2006, be concurred in. I am pleased to share my time with the member for Winnipeg Centre who also has a very keen interest in the subject that we are discussing here today.

Transportation  Mr. Speaker, that did not answer the question. I have three words for the parliamentary secretary, release the report. The derailments yesterday show that the use of replacement labour is not a solution, another reason we need to have anti-scab legislation in this country. Handing safety regulations to CEOs in the railway sector has been a total disaster and, unbelievably, the government now wants to do the same thing with the airlines.

Transportation  Mr. Speaker, yesterday, CN added two more accidents to the string of mishaps that occurred in 2005 and 2006. The government is still refusing to make the internal audit report public. For years, CN has refused to comply with safety standards, and people have died because of it.

Rights of Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, the minister did not answer the question. There is a pattern to the Conservatives. When they cut services, they act with irresponsible and reckless abandon. When it is something that will actually help people, it is denial, delay and dithering. Half of the growing number of homeless in Canada's streets are Canadians with disabilities.

Rights of Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, Canadian organizations played a leadership role in drafting the new International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 13. Canada should have been the first country to ratify the convention.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise on behalf of the New Democratic Party to speak to private member's Bill C-376 that has been brought forward by the member of Parliament for Kelowna—Lake Country, a person with whom I have worked in committee. I would like to congratulate him for bringing this private member's bill forward.

Canada Transportation Act  Mr. Speaker, the member from Abbotsford is absolutely right to say that there was cooperation from all four corners of the House to work on this bill and that there have been substantial improvements. There is no doubt about that. Let us get back to the essential consideration before us now, which is the amendment motions that have been brought forward by the NDP regarding the compulsory nature of the Canadian Transportation Agency in forcing people to live in Ottawa and eliminating or lessening the potential pool of candidates for the Canadian Transportation Agency.

Canada Transportation Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to congratulate the member for Eglinton—Lawrence for his new position as transportation critic. I look forward to working with him and our other colleagues on the transportation committee. We have had an initial meeting. I look forward to working productively together to advance Canada.

Canada Transportation Act  Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party has changed its speech. I can remember a few years ago when the Conservatives would stand up for western Canada, but obviously that has changed. Now they are saying, “Come to Ottawa. We are not going to make any changes”. The hon. member is well aware that the Canadian Transportation Agency currently has seven people on its statutes.

Canada Transportation Act  moved: Motion No. 11 That Bill C-11 be amended by deleting Clause 56.

Canada Transportation Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to discuss Motions Nos. 1 to 12 that are on the order paper, some of which come from the government and some of which come from the New Democratic Party. I should begin by saying that Bill C-11 was supported by all parties. There were some important elements within Bill C-11 that needed to be brought forward.

Canada Transportation Act  moved: Motion No. 2 That Bill C-11 be amended by deleting Clause 3. Motion No. 3 That Bill C-11 be amended by deleting Clause 4.

Canada Transportation Act  moved: Motion No. 5 That Bill C-11 be amended by deleting Clause 5.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, the NAFTA environmental secretariat condemns the government's attitude towards the dumping of toxic substances in our rivers by pulp and paper mills. This report resulted from a complaint filed by seven environmental groups regarding 1,000 offences committed between 1995 and 2000.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, action needs to be taken now. The Liberals failed to enforce Canadian environmental laws and the Conservatives broke their promise to be different. It is same old, same old. First they hid the report and they have taken no action. It sounds familiar. We are talking about significant amounts of toxic waste going straight into our rivers.