Main Estimates, 2017-18  Madam Speaker, I am very interested in how the Senate has made a change in the government, after 150 years of history, in moving toward a more open process and the merit-based system. We now have a mix of senators. Some are partisan appointments and some are from the new system.

Cannabis Act  Mr. Speaker, finally, I am starting to see agreement on both sides of the aisle, but that might be because the hon. member is from a different part than the other people on the other side of the aisle. We have been discussing issues of governance, and the hon. member mentioned his private sector experience.

Cannabis Act  Mr. Speaker, I have been listening throughout the course of this discussion to try to understand the viewpoint of the other side. We have contrasting management systems: the Stephen Harper Conservatives top-down approach; and the current Government of Canada approach, which is across all regions of the country, with gender diversity and all backgrounds, all at the table as one voice.

Canada 150 Poetry Contest  Mr. Speaker, today I am thrilled to represent Guelph High School student Michaela McBryde's winning submission in Guelph's Canada 150 Poetry Contest, titled “150 Years of Greatness”: A Queen's signature Leads to the birth of a nation A nation called Canada Free to make our own choices In hopes they lead to greatness Choices that created Many ways to make life better Many mistakes to learn from Many decisions to change the world Many opportunities for greatness A strength on our own Partnering up with others To help the world In war, in politics, in humanity Peacekeepers for greatness A country of 36 and a half million people Citizens contributing thoughts, discoveries, advancements, technology, art, music, history, exports and services Canadians strive for greatness Canada is strong and unified We stand together To celebrate our history A celebration of 150 years of greatness.

Transportation Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I hope I can comment sufficiently on the question from the member for Sherbrooke. Bill C-30 really looked at grain. It was looking at a bumper crop situation and it had to do something. It was really a Band-Aid solution that focused on the grain market. In the case of today's market and what we propose in Bill C-49, we would also be handling lumber.

Transportation Modernization Act  Mr, Speaker, the long haul switching looks at a couple of things. We have mentioned a 1,200 kilometre limit, but also it would be able to break off up to 50% of the haul in situations where that needed to be done, something like the emergency the hon. member described. Each shipment would be negotiated.

Transportation Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I enjoy sitting on the agriculture committee with the hon. member. I am going to go back a few years. Before politics I was on the advisory board of the local airport in Waterloo, YKF. We were trying to attract small air carriers to a smaller community to go to other smaller communities, communities that the larger airlines would never service, communities that we could not get the larger airlines into even if we wanted to because of the cost of their operations versus the cost of the other lower-cost airlines that we are talking about in the bill tonight.

Transportation Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak today to Bill C-49, which proposes amendments to the Canada Transportation Act to advance the efficiency and competitiveness of our freight rail system. This is especially important to Guelph, which is home to one of Canada's three federally chartered railways.

Transportation Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the problems the hon. member saw in the legislation. He mentioned the use of equipment for recording audio and video, and that this had some problems around it. The Railway Safety Act is very specific that this equipment is only to be used under prescribed circumstances defined within the act, and that rail equipment needs to have that equipment on board for it to be operated within the limits of the legislation.

Transportation Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of her speech the member was referencing all of the different transportation aspects the bill touches on. Knowing that we have an integrated transportation network within Canada and we are moving toward a transportation 2030 integrated strategy, is there one type of transportation that you would like to see removed from this discussion, such as air transportation?

House debate  Madam Speaker, we have been talking a bit about debt and deficits, and I want to point out that between 1996-97 and 2005-06, the Liberal government paid down $81.4 billion against the national debt, a lot of the debt that had been created under the Brian Mulroney government. The Stephen Harper government inherited a debt of $481 billion in 2006.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, 3,000 people were found to have drugs in their system when picked up in impaired driving situations in 2015, so 3,000 people were endangering the lives of other Canadians, as well as their own lives, so a zero tolerance program is what we are suggesting in part 1 of our legislation.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, it is good to have the member in the House. He always asks great questions. I am a mechanical engineering technologist, not a lawyer, and I do not sit on justice committee. What I said in my answer was that the justice committee would look at some of the details in application of sentencing, but our bill proposes to prevent crimes from occurring in the first place by deterring people from getting behind the wheel when they have any drugs in their body.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, we have a zero tolerance policy and detection would be at the very minimum standards. If individuals are above that standard, their licence would be suspended, their vehicle towed, and they would have to deal with things after that.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the work that he does on the justice committee. I know that he will bring questions like this to the committee, and I am sure the committee will be able to get experts in to address those. In general, I would say, rather than focusing on the sentencing provisions, what we are looking at is zero tolerance, and to make sure that people who have any drugs in their blood or saliva are not behind the wheel.