Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of our party's opposition motion on the Canadian Wheat Board. I am pleased to split my time with my colleague, the member for Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine. I am very happy to hear there may be some movement on the other side in th

Senate Reform Act  Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned about the bill. First, it presents flimsy and minor changes designed to pander to a Conservative base. I am concerned that it will not have any real impact, and that if it does have any impact, as my colleague has pointed out, it is bound to be

Senate Reform Act  Mr. Speaker, I find it a bit strange today to hear members from the Conservative Party standing up and defending the Senate. It must make for awkward cocktail parties when they say that they want the status quo with a few extra bells and whistles. I was interested when the membe

Senate Reform Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for pointing out the folly of this bill. For me, this bill seems weak, ill-conceived and flimsy. I wonder if my colleague would agree that the Conservatives have proposed this weak legislation because they have put themselves in a trap. They ha

Senate Reform Act  Mr. Speaker, I cannot help thinking that this entire piece of legislation is a bit rickety. Where I come from we might call it held together with duct tape and chicken wire. It is hardly an overwhelming reform, and I do not think it has much of a chance of success. We are going t

Libya  Mr. Speaker, the members opposite seem intent on playing with their guns. Once we get past this playing with guns, we need to start talking about what is really on the ground that we can do in terms of facilitating humanitarian aid in Libya. Through my colleague's own experienc

Burnaby—Douglas  Mr. Speaker, on May 2 the voters of Burnaby—Douglas elected me to represent them in the House. I am honoured to serve as their MP and to have been appointed by the late Jack Layton as critic for western economic diversification. My main goal as MP is to make Burnaby an even bett

Libya  Mr. Speaker, today the defence minister talked about the overall costs for the Libya mission. I listened to the member's speech with interest. I am wondering if she could confirm the price tag of $100 million.

Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act  Madam Speaker, I think that might be an issue for another debate, because we are debating Bill C-6 right now, the back to work order. That is what we are opposing here and will continue to oppose.

Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act  Madam Speaker, again, from my experience, one does not impose a solution until one figures out what the problem is. I looked at the independent blue ribbon panel report. I am new to this issue, but I looked at the report today. This report from 2008 said that Canada Post is hel

Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act  Madam Speaker, the problem is twofold. The first problem is that the unfortunate person who wrote this note has been locked out. The second problem seems to be that the government, instead of acting responsibly and telling the public what is going on, keeps spreading informat

Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act  Madam Speaker, as for how a government might end a lockout, I will repeat the six options I just mentioned. The first option would be to leave the parties alone to let them negotiate in good faith. The second option would be to select a panel that might be able to advise the go

Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act  Mr. Speaker, I suggest, when we look at these sources, the fact is irrefutable that we are facing a lockout, that the government is facing a lockout, and that is its public policy problem that it has to deal with. It is critical to recognize the policy problem, because until we

Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act  Madam Speaker, I find the decorum in the House at this moment is preferable to what it was earlier this evening, and I hope we can continue in this way for the rest of this debate. We owe it to Canadians to show one another respect and to show them we are serious about getting to

Restoring Mail Delivery for Canadians Act  Mr. Speaker, the government side of the House keeps claiming that Bill C-6 is in response to a strike. This side of the House and in fact the entire national media say it is a lockout. Until we get this basic fact straightened out we are not going to move very far forward on this