Brandon Winter Festival  Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I congratulate the volunteers and organizers of the 13th Annual Brandon Winter Festival. I am proud of how our winter festival has grown and thrived over the years. None of it would be possible without the volunteers and countless residents who participated and attended this end-of-January ritual in Brandon.

Canada Labour Code  Madam Speaker, my colleague makes the very point that these workers are middle-class Canadian citizens and they work hard every day. Why should they not have the democratic right to a secret ballot to be in a union? I do not know what they are afraid of when 40% is all we were asking for in that bill to have a union.

Canada Labour Code  Madam Speaker, that is the hub of what we are talking about here in this debate on Bill C-4, brought forward by the member for Kildonan—St. Paul. It is very true that the intimidation that I spoke about in my own remarks here is exactly why they need to have a secret ballot. Under the old mechanisms, a 35% sign-up gave them a union, but they had to have 50% to decertify a union.

Canada Labour Code  Madam Speaker, again that question makes the point that when they have a 35% sign-up to have a union and 50% to decertify, what was wrong with sawing that off at 40% to have a union or to decertify it? I am not surprised that my colleague who just asked the question from the New Democratic Party agrees with this bill brought forward by the former NDP minister in Manitoba who is now the Liberal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour in Canada.

Canada Labour Code  Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak against Bill C-4, which would roll back the rights of hard-working union members and repeal transparency legislation that finally allowed some sunshine to be let into the financial ledgers of opaque unions. I respect the Minister of Employment.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am enamoured by the fact that my hon. colleague has been listening to the debate that has been carried on here today and heard the words that have been said by the opposition, which is the view of most of the citizens of this country as well. Because of the resources we have in Canada, with the minimal number of six fighter jets and the refuelling planes and reconnaissance planes, plus the people who we already have on the ground providing humanitarian aid and training Kurdish soldiers for the ground troops, we can do more.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, of course we are not using the unilateral process, and I am pretty sure the member understands that. We are using all fronts. We are using humanitarian aid in Iraq as well as Syria. I have stated in the House before in debates on this very topic that I am just as concerned about making sure that the humanitarian aid gets to the front where it is required, including the training of the Kurdish soldiers by our soldiers, as I am about saving the lives of many of the women and children who are being raped and pillaged, as had been indicated here in this House and around the world, on a regular basis.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to first and foremost thank the constituents of Brandon—Souris who have once again given me the great honour of representing them in this House. It's a great responsibility to be the voice of so many, and a source of immense pride to call western Manitoba home.

Baldur Regals  Mr Speaker, it is my honour to rise today and pay tribute to the Baldur Regals senior baseball team, which earlier this month was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame. As the member of Parliament for Brandon—Souris, I wish to congratulate all of the players, coaches, and supporters on being bestowed this worthy distinction.

Justice for Animals in Service Act (Quanto's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak in support of Bill C-35, the justice for animals in service act, also referred to as Quanto's law. I want to thank specifically my colleague from Richmond Hill for bringing forth this important legislation. I have come to appreciate even more how important this legislation is through the testimony of witnesses who appeared and gave evidence before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia for the excellent work he has done and he is so well respected across the country, never mind just in his constituency. I thank him for the question regarding the expansion of the Brandon Airport. One of the reasons it was needed was because of the growing economy in our region that my colleague has referred to.

Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak to those points and I thank my colleague for those comments. We have balanced the budget, and that is a key for the economy in Canada. It gives our industries and our families confidence in being able to invest in their own livelihoods and in their own businesses, and that makes a stronger country.

Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, the premise of the question is wrong. The Canada pension plan is there, it is viable and we are offering a voluntary mechanism for citizens in Canada to contribute to more on a voluntary basis. Unlike the Kathleen Wynne program that the Liberals have put forward in regard to a forced mandatory inclusion of CPP contributions that would end up costing not just $1,000, for an individual who is making $60,000, but also $1,000 for the employer as well.

Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, we have kept our promise to Canadians, and the budget is balanced. Some underestimate the discipline involved. It was widely reported that there were some in the House that believed budgets magically balanced themselves. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Agriculture  Mr. Speaker, last week Canadian farmers, supported by our Conservative government, celebrated a great victory over American protectionism when the World Trade Organization ruled against the United States mandatory country of origin labelling policy. This is the fourth time the WTO has ruled in Canada's favour and denounced this protectionist policy that has been costing our meat industry billions of dollars on an annual basis.