National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act  Madam Speaker, I recognize that my hon. colleague's party is fulfilling a campaign promise, but I should point out the Liberals' campaign platform. It stated: To increase accountability, we will strengthen the role of Parliamentary committee chairs, including elections by secret ballot.

National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my friend from Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound for his good work on this file. I would like my friend to talk about the level of hypocrisy we are seeing on the other side of the House now. When Liberal members were in opposition, they yelled, screamed, jumped up and down as if, my goodness, the world was ending because the PMO had too much power.

Food and Drugs Act  Mr. Speaker, as my friend from Lethbridge probably knows, a large section of my riding is agriculture-based. A large section of that economy is based on the success of agriculture, whether it be beef, canola—just name it and we probably have it in Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock.

Food and Drugs Act  Mr. Speaker, I think we are on the same side on this. We on both sides of the House see the importance of ratifying this deal. We all know trade is a growing part of the world economy. We are seeing that nations across the world are reducing their trade barriers. They are not being protectionist.

Food and Drugs Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by welcoming all my colleagues on all sides of the House back from their summer. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. Like many of them, we attended fairs, we did farmers markets, we did parades, we met with constituents, and championed causes.

Business of Supply  Wow. Seriously?

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1  Madam Speaker, first, I would like to mention that small businesses in my area are concerned. They are trying to invest, to hire, and to develop. I would like to ask about the overall government plan on spending. If spending for the sake of spending were true, Ontario would be the economic engine of Canada.

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, it happened yesterday, but at least twice today, the parliamentary secretary for infrastructure stood and claimed there was no Minister of Infrastructure in the previous Parliament. I would like to let the parliamentary secretary know that the member for Lac-Saint-Jean was the Minister of Infrastructure in the last Parliament, which disputes their claim that they had to spend a million dollars for—

Income Tax Act  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-240, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (tax credit — first aid). I thank my colleague from Cambridge for bringing this important issue to the House. I was excited to see my colleague opposite offering Canadians a tax credit rather than increasing their taxes.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I think any of us in this place could come up with maybe half a dozen different ways to vote. That is fair because we are in this place and we are engaged. However, I will use an analogy that my predecessor used and it is a good one. Because we are Canadian, it is a hockey analogy.

National Order of the Legion of Honour  Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize two constituents from my riding: Mr. Allan McPhail of Cannington and Mr. Gordon Allen of Fowlers Corners. These men were both awarded, by order of the President of the Republic of France, the rank of knight of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest honour France awards to foreigners for their involvement in the liberation of France during World War II.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance went to Quebec City yesterday to defend his surplus-slashing, deficit-building budget and delivered a cringeworthy performance reminiscent of the worst wedding speech anyone has ever heard. Let us just say he shared a little too much information.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, we did have consultations with the public. It was published in the Canada Gazette when there was news of the negotiations coming through. I should mention that protectionist measures, as we saw during the global economic slowdown, resulted in the “buy American” or “buy France first” slogans, which resulted in massive job layoffs.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the TPP gives us access to 800 million potential more customers. In my riding, agriculture is enormous. The spin-off jobs that result from the benefits of agriculture are huge. I have spoken with beef and dairy farmers, and anyone in supply management. They are wholeheartedly for this trade agreement.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, that it is a great question. As I mentioned, 800 million new customers is a combined GDP of $29 trillion. It represents 35% of the global GDP. Without ratification of this agreement, we could lose billions of dollars worth of trade opportunities. The importance of this agreement cannot be overstated.