Multiple Sclerosis  Mr. Chair, again, here is an example of a colleague, the member of the government, who is abdicating its responsibility. It is about leadership. If there are issues within the provinces, then let us get the Minister of Health to bring together her provincial and territorial counterparts and let us deal with it, rather than the government saying that the provinces are not dealing with it so therefore it is not its responsibility.

Multiple Sclerosis  Mr. Chair, I watched that charade over there and listened to the comments that came from the member who is a part of a government. The government should take some leadership. It recognizes there is an issue here, but is not prepared to act on it. This is not about what provinces and territories are doing.

Multiple Sclerosis  Mr. Chair, yes, I am aware, and that is a serious issue for, particularly, MS patients. It is important that they have this opportunity. However, when they are left to the, I guess, whims of whatever happens in a particular study and then they are unable to access a particular treatment because of another side effect, then that is a serious issue.

Multiple Sclerosis  Madam Chair, the issue is not whether I agree or disagree with my colleague from eastern Canada. I listen to MS patients who are contacting me and telling me that they want access to this treatment. They know the research needs to go on, but they also think they should have access to the treatment that has proven to be effective.

Multiple Sclerosis  Absolutely not, Madam Chair. It is important that MS patients have access to the treatment which has proven to be effective. I know from speaking with MS patients who have been reading on the Internet, have been watching what has been happening, listening and following this issue on television, that they want and expect to have the same right to health care so that they can have a quality of life that most of us take for granted.

Multiple Sclerosis  Mr. Chair, it is imperative that both treatment and research coexist. It is really important. I do not have the medical expertise as some others who have been speaking during the debate tonight, but I do know that Canada is recognized the world over for its publicly funded medical system.

Multiple Sclerosis  Madam Chair, I am pleased to take part in tonight's debate made possible by my colleague, the member for Etobicoke North, who has lived this disease through friends, family members, and through the thousands and thousands of emails she has received. Emails that were directed to the federal government in fact to the federal Minister of Health.

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order coming out of today's question period, when I put two questions to the Prime Minister. These questions had to do with the Prime Minister's refusal to allow his director of communications, Dimitri Soudas, to appear before the ethics committee.

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, let me just read it again. It says: Questions about these matters can be directed to me there. Unless one is to believe that the Prime Minister misled the House, then I would expect that he would have taken those questions as the employer of Mr. Dimitri Soudas.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, Conservative political staffers have been caught illegally interfering with requests made under the access to information law and no one is being held accountable. As part of its investigation, the ethics committee has exercised its right to call Dimitri Soudas as a witness.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, the fact is that no one has the right to block a committee from calling a non-parliamentarian as a witness, neither the Prime Minister nor his cabinet. What is happening here is that a committee is being frustrated for no good reason. Will Mr. Soudas' boss, the Prime Minister, agree to appear before the ethics committee and explain why he is ordering his staffer to break the law and not respect a legal summons?

House debate  Mr. Speaker, as I listened to what my colleague across the way had to say, I could not help but wonder whether or not he actually heard what had been said at the ethics committee. It is clear and it was made clear that day that, in fact, political staff did tell bureaucrats and officials to unrelease a report.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, on April 14, I asked a question of the President of the Treasury Board about why the government was under so much secrecy, why it was refusing to be transparent, as requested under the Access to Information Act. In fact, the Information Commissioner, who was interim at the time, reported that the right of Canadians to timely access to information was at risk of being totally obliterated because delays threatened to render the entire access regime irrelevant in our current information economy.

Cadet Medal of Excellence  Madam Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge a young woman from the riding of Random—Burin—St. George's in Newfoundland and Labrador. Chief Petty Officer First Class Maria Hennebury of Lord's Cove, a rural community of 140 people on the Burin Peninsula, is the coxswain of 289 Corvette Sea Cadet Corps in Lamaline.

Offshore Drilling  Mr. Speaker, President Obama has announced a moratorium on deep water oil wells and halted all drilling in northern waters. Meanwhile, this government has taken no action to ensure that all current drilling is safe or that a disaster off one of our coasts would not result in the same catastrophic scenes we have seen in the Gulf of Mexico, with oil gushing on and on for more than five weeks.