Sylvia Zeifman  Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the life and contribution of Sylvia Zeifman. Born in Toronto, Sylvia was raised by a single mother during the Great Depression. She attended Harbord Collegiate and then went on to teachers college. She met her husband Meyer in Shomer HaDati, a religious youth group, and they married at age 20.

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, I would simply like to point out that the hon. members of the Bloc did not say to whom this accusation was addressed. We did not accuse any member of this House of lying, on the contrary. Yet that is exactly what the leader of the Bloc has done today.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, it has been 29 days since the Liberal leader said, “We will have to raise taxes”. He also said that he is a “tax and spend, Pearsonian Trudeau Liberal”. For those Canadians who have been paying taxes in this country for as much as three and a half decades, we want to know which taxes he will raise.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, during his 34 years in the United States and the United Kingdom, the Liberal leader became a very distinguished wordsmith. I commend him for his words and I quote them: “We will have to raise taxes” or “I'm not going to take a GST hike off the table” or “I am a tax-and-spend, Pearsonian, Trudeau Liberal”.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act  Madam Speaker, recently I announced, on behalf of the health minister , a $1 million investment in the United Way effort to put together a drug treatment centre and prevention program in the nation's capital of Ottawa. This effort would include beds in which addicted youth could come in and clean up.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, a member in the House has said that she did not hear it, so I will repeat. He said, on April 14, “We will have to raise taxes”. He also said, on December 18, “I'm not going to take a GST hike off the table”. He said that he supported a carbon tax. In fact, he was the father of the idea and led his party to adopt it in the last election campaign.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that our government respects our public servants. That is why we decided to put an end to the Liberal practice of blaming public servants for the Liberals' historic scandals. We have put in place protection for whistleblowers, the same whistleblowers who were victims of abuse by the former Liberal regime during the sponsorship scandal.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his question. The hon. member says that measures contained in the latest budget violate the provisions of the Charter of Rights. That is a very serious charge. One wonders, then, why he voted for it. He then said that the measures were unjust, and he voted for it.

Air Passengers' Bill of Rights  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to contribute to the debate on the private member's bill introduced by the member for Elmwood—Transcona. This government shares the member's concern over travellers' best interests. We understand there are sometimes stresses associated with air travel, particularly around holidays.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, during his three decades-plus in the United States, the Liberal leader distinguished himself as a debater and an academic. Now he needs to put those skills to work to explain what he meant when he said, “We will have to raise taxes”, or when he said, “I'm not going to take a GST hike off the table--”, or when he said, “I am a tax-and-spend, Pearsonian, Trudeau Liberal”.

Privy Council  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his question. First, Mr. Wouters is a public servant who makes decisions according to government policy. As the hon. member mentioned, the Liberals were the ones who decided to cut transfers to Quebec and all of the provinces by slashing Canadians' health funding.

Public Appointments Commission  Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of establishing that public appointments committee. The process was delayed when opposition parties engaged in partisanship and blocked a very qualified person to begin that process in motion. However, the member is correct in saying that the Liberal Party is not accountable, and it will not be accountable until it explains the words of its leader, which were, “We will have to raise taxes”.

Public Appointments Commission  Mr. Speaker, if that member wants to do something really meaningful about accountability, right now he will stand up and point his finger at members of that caucus who broke their word to their constituents when they said that they would oppose the wasteful $1 billion gun registry.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, last month the Liberal leader said, “We will have to raise taxes”. I congratulate him on ascending to the role of leader of the Liberal opposition. I have some questions for him, though. Which taxes would he raise, by how much and who would be forced to pay? On Saturday his party answered with a resolution favouring a carbon tax.

Leader of the Liberal Party  Mr. Speaker, last month, the hon. leader of the Liberal Party said, “We will have to raise taxes”. Therefore, we asked him which taxes he would raise, by how much he would raise them and who would have to pay.? On Saturday, his party answered with a resolution favouring a carbon tax, which is a tax on everything.