Canada Labour Code  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-292, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (occupational disease and accident registry). Mr. Speaker, I am honoured today to introduce a bill that was tabled in the previous Parliament by my colleague the member for Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, and I thank my colleague from Jonquière for seconding the bill.

Marijuana  Mr. Speaker, after the Liberal leader promised he would be the pro-pot Prime Minister, Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned about the Liberals' rightward shift. They appointed a former police chief to handle the issue, who then encouraged police to crack down on marijuana, while continuing to hand out criminal records.

YWCA Women of Distinction Awards  Mr. Speaker, it is a tremendous honour to rise in the House today and recognize Ms. Maria Jane Linklater, an elder, mentor, cultural leader, and residential school survivor, living and teaching in Saskatoon West. Maria was born on Thunderchild First Nation, is proudly Plains Cree, and is unmatched in her capacity for generosity, kindness, and strength.

Status of Women  Madam Speaker, after decades of talking about pay equity, Canadian women are no closer to achieving it. When we asked if the Liberals would introduce proactive legislation needed to respect women's rights and close the gap, not one single Liberal minister said yes. Canadian women have waited long enough for their basic rights to be respected.

Labour  Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank my hon. colleague for his comments and for his government's leadership in that very early period of stepping out of the gate when becoming a new government and focusing on some very important legislation that, for workers, was important to get changed quickly.

Labour  Mr. Speaker, the right to refuse unsafe work is one of the three basic health and safety rights achieved by the labour movement, along with the right to know about the hazards in one's workplace and the right to participate in workplace health and safety decisions. While procedures and circumstances may vary from province to province, just about all workers have the legal right to a healthy and safe workplace that allows, and in some provinces obligates, them to protect their safety by refusing to perform work they believe has the potential to harm themselves or others at the work site.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of things I would like to ask my hon. colleague to immediately start. I totally understand that housing is a partnership between the federal and provincial governments, and I welcome the consultations between those two levels. I want to see the federal government stepping up and saying that housing is a right, providing a framework for those conversations and not just going into them with this wide open agenda.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, on March 11, in the wake of a horrifying incident where two homeless people from Saskatchewan were put on a bus to B.C., I asked the government to commit to a national housing strategy that would end homelessness in communities across Canada. I was encouraged to see that the first Liberal budget has committed some much-needed funds to support the housing needs of first nation communities, victims of domestic violence, and young Canadians, and to create more affordable housing.

Human Rights  Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to rise today to commemorate the 12th international day against homophobia and transphobia. There is much to celebrate when we think about the progress that has been made in this country, from 1979, when Svend Robinson became the first MP to come out as gay, to Bill Siksay, the former MP for Burnaby—Douglas, who introduced the first bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1  Madam Speaker, the previous government made a lot of negative changes to the employment insurance system over the last decade, and of course we see that many people in our communities are continuing to be hurt by that. Unfortunately, the bill that has been put forward by the government does not undo some of those changes, so I want to ask the member this.

Canada Post  Mr. Speaker, during the campaign, the Liberals made a solemn promise to save home mail delivery. The Prime Minister himself said, “We are committed to restoring home mail delivery”. Seniors and Canadians living with disabilities have been counting on the Liberal government to deliver on its promise.

Asbestos  Mr. Speaker, any Canadian who works in or visits a building that contains asbestos really does have the right to know that they may be exposed to harmful substances. With the recently announced registry of federal buildings containing asbestos, at least workers can verify if their workplace will expose them to asbestos.

Asbestos  Mr. Speaker, on February 2, I asked the Minister of Public Services and Procurement to stop using asbestos in federal public buildings. Asbestos has been called the greatest industrial killer that the world has ever known, and New Democrats have been fighting hard to get this carcinogenic and toxic material out of buildings and people's lives.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1.  Mr. Speaker, it is nice to know that the member's background is in the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club. I would like those in the House to know that the YMCA is the largest provider of child care spaces and services in Canada, so I obviously like the YMCA. That is a very good question and New Democrats got asked about that.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1.  Mr. Speaker, my colleague, the speaker prior to me, had asked for consent, through a motion, to separate out this bill so that some of the bigger, more complicated pieces could be referred to committee for study. Included in that, of course, were the issues surrounding veterans, and I fully support that.