Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will not often say this in my lifetime, but I agree with my colleague. I believe that we should ban ten percenters in envelopes, which would save 40¢ per envelope. The Bloc Québécois agrees with this suggestion and will support it in the Board of Internal Economy when the time comes.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, that is true; we agree with the member. I think it is important to keep these ten percenters, which are effective tools when they are used appropriately to inform our constituents. However, our position is clear: we no longer want members of Parliament from other ridings to be able to send ten percenters to our constituents.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. Obviously, political party financing is an important issue. I believe that in order to allow for a diverse opposition and in order to ensure that a democracy and its Parliament function well, it is important to maintain this financing.

Business of Supply  The Conservative government continues in its arrogance towards those less fortunate. For example, the budget maintained the very generous tax arrangements for banks and the oil industry, but it does nothing to help people. It is shameful that military spending will continue to rise and that there are no measures to put an end to tax breaks for oil companies or the use of tax havens.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Québec. This Conservative government's motto seems to be “Do as I say, not as I do.” The Conservatives are asking the middle class and the poorest members of our society to tighten their belts and cope with the ever-present effects of the recession.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the minister spoke about the sectors where he was considering making cuts. I would like him to talk about the different solutions that the Bloc Québécois has suggested to the government. Why does he not go after tax evasion by the banks, which represents $2 billion?

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I truly appreciate my colleague's question. However, he has forgotten to mention the programs that were very popular, such as the ecoAUTO Rebate Program, which was not renewed. Programs that do not work have been kept; others that worked very well have been abolished.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. In fact, we both believe that the government's priority is not really the environment. That was made abundantly clear in Copenhagen, and in the throne speech and the budget. We need only think of the cuts to funding for climatology research foundations.

Business of the House  Mr. Speaker, I also wish to seek the unanimous consent of the House to adopt the following motion: That this House denounce the use of the word apartheid to describe the Israeli policy on Palestinians and the word anti-Semitic to describe any criticism against Israel, and that this House reaffirm its support for Israel's right to live in peace and security within sound, established borders, and reaffirm its support for the right of the Palestinian people to have its own state within sound borders and to live there in peace and security.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today in the debate on the throne speech. The throne speech reveals the full extent of the Conservative ideology and makes it clear that Canada will never meet the expectations and needs of Quebeckers. The speech leaves one with the feeling that there are the privileged, the protected, the favourites and the untouchables.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present petitions on behalf of the towns of Franklin, Ormstown, Howick, Saint-Urbain-Premier, Saint-Rémi and Saint-Chrysostome, all of which are located in my riding of Beauharnois—Salaberry. These are in addition to the petitions on the same topic previously received from other towns, which I presented before the prorogation.

Standing Orders  Mr. Speaker, I seek the unanimous consent of the House to adopt the following motion: That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, Bill C-434, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (day parole — six months or one sixth of the sentence rule), be deemed to have been read a second time and referred to a Committee of the Whole, deemed considered in Committee of the Whole, deemed reported without amendment, deemed concurred in at report stage, and deemed read a third time and passed.

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, the job market continues to deteriorate. For instance, White Birch Paper, which has mills in Rivière-du-Loup, Masson-Angers and Quebec City, is under the protection of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. Despite increasing layoffs, yesterday's budget does not offer any measures to improve access to the EI system.

Employment Insurance  Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister to listen: 50% of unemployed workers do not have access to the EI system. Not only did the government refuse to improve the EI system and not only did it plunder the EI fund for many years, but it is about to pilfer another $19.2 billion from the fund between 2012 and 2015.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I can see that the minister has not listened to what Quebec wants. Using 2006 as the reference year instead of 1990 will wipe out 16 years' worth of efforts by industries in Quebec. Does the minister realize that what he will propose in Copenhagen goes against Quebec's economic and environmental interests and benefits western oil producers instead?