National Philanthropy Day Act  moved, seconded by the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, that Bill S-203, An Act respecting a National Philanthropy Day, be read the first time. (Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

Opposition Coalition  Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that the Liberals and the NDP share many of the same policies. As former Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella has recently said, “When you look at the fundamentals, what divides us on the policy side, it's actually not a lot”. That is why recently, in a Helen Thomas moment, the position of the coalition became clear.

Ministerial Responsibility  Mr. Speaker, we believe that cabinet ministers are responsible for what happens in their names and responsible to Parliament. This is called ministerial responsibility and it is one of the oldest traditions here in our country. The Liberal leader wants to do away with this tradition.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I know that Charlottetown, as well as many constituencies across the country, has benefited from the budget that allocated the funds for the G8 and the G20 preparations for the community of which he spoke. In fact, I can reference many projects in my own constituency where tens of millions of dollars have gone to improving infrastructure and building the necessary infrastructure not only to host people who might come, but to host people who live there.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons Canada has been selected as being the host country for these summits was because of the shining light that Canada has been in terms of economic growth and the ability to recover from this recession. We know people are still out of work. It is our belief that we need to continue to support those folks.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak the motion today. It gives me an opportunity to explain the process that was followed to come to the costs in the estimates with respect to the incremental security-related costs incurred by provincial and municipal security partners in relation to the G8 and G20 summits.

Firearms Registry  Mr. Speaker, ministers of justice from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and now Yukon have all come out opposing the long gun registry. They have been clear in saying that the long gun registry is a massive waste of taxpayer money and unfairly targets innocent law-abiding citizens.

Firearms Registry  Mr. Speaker, Canadians across the country have been speaking out against the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry. It not only unfairly targets innocent hunters and farmers, but it does nothing to deal with serious gun crime in our neighbourhoods and on our streets. One Canadian who opposes the registry is the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Alberta, Alison Redford.

Points of Order  Madam Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to raise this point of order. Today during question period the member for Winnipeg Centre made a wild accusation that a minister of the Crown had taken a bribe. While much of the question was indeed unparliamentary, I would like to point out that without a doubt it was unparliamentary to suggest that a minister did anything illegal.

Human Resources and Skills Development  Mr. Speaker, today is perhaps a precedent-setting day in the history of a Westminster system of parliament. This morning a minister of the Crown appeared at committee as an individual. According to our system of government, she is ultimately accountable for her ministry and yet the opposition, led by the chair of that committee, dismissed our system of ministerial accountability and would not let her answer for her department or for herself.

Questions on the Order Paper  With regard to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and seniors in poverty, what would it cost the government on an annual basis to increase the GIS until the combined GIS and Old Age Security payments raised the income of seniors to the level of the low-income cut-off?

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, in my time up, I referenced two different documents, one is the reference for the transcripts of the meeting that I was discussing and the other is the transcript from The Hill Times, which I would like the opportunity to table because I think they are pertinent to the discussion that we have had this afternoon.

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak to the issue brought forward by my colleague across the way. What we have here this afternoon is an issue of debate. It is dispute between myself and my colleague on our opinion of his actions and in what way they might be classified.

Heroism  Mr. Speaker, this morning I rise in the House to pay tribute to a young hero from my community. On July 12, 2007, Aaliyah Braybrook, a 12-year-old resident from the town of Clairmont, was babysitting two young neighbour boys when a fire broke out in the home. Immediately, Aaliyah did what her training at the Red Cross babysitting course had taught her to do.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, this morning the Liberal chair of the ethics committee showed yet again the ethical bankruptcy of the Liberal Party, when it was revealed that he had a private conversation with the interim Information Commissioner about an ongoing investigation. Is this how the Liberal Party respects the independent officers of Parliament?