Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise today and speak on Bill C-43. The title of the bill is rather misleading as it describes a bill to implement the budget and other measures, which is exactly what I want to start with: the process that got us to this place today. This is yet another omnibus budget bill.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely appropriate that Canadians understand that we are no longer living in the 1960s, that there is a rigorous process for reviewing drugs, in which independent public servants make decisions on our behalf. Having said that, we always have more work to do and, having said that, vigilance has to always be eternal.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is about redress and address. Redress is what we are here to talk about today, and we have to do the right thing for these victims, but as I said in my remarks, we need constant vigilance going forward. At the Therapeutics Initiative in British Columbia, Dr. Wright and his colleagues are doing remarkable work.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the thoughtful remarks of my colleague from the Liberal Party. I am thankful for the Liberal Party's support throughout this initiative, and for that of the Green Party, and I am hoping as well for the support of the Government of Canada. I also need to talk about a very brave woman named Dr.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to follow my colleague from St. John's East and appreciate very much his words today. This is a very emotional speech for me. Two years ago yesterday, I had the honour of being elected in a byelection to serve the communities of Victoria and Oak Bay. It is, as every member in this place would know, a very proud day when one first comes to this place and speaks for one's community in this chamber.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have shown over and over again that they just cannot be trusted to safeguard our personal information. This week, there was yet another privacy breach at the Canada Revenue Agency. This time, private financial information on hundreds of Canadians just got sent to the media.

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, representatives of municipalities from across Canada are in Ottawa today, calling on the Conservatives to stop ignoring the infrastructure deficit. Decades of downloading and underfunding have left our cities struggling, with crumbling roads and bridges, inadequate water supplies, and an affordable housing crisis.

Parliament of Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased to rise on this important initiative in the spirit of non-partisan debate, which is something Canadians expect when we are talking about fundamental reform to our parliamentary institutions. We are talking about two things in this bill: reforms to the Board of Internal Economy and reforms to the Access to Information Act.

Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act  Mr. Speaker, we spent a lot of money and endured international embarrassment for what happened in the tragedy of Maher Arar. Justice O'Connor conducted a thorough investigation, which made a number of important recommendations that have yet to be implemented Justice Iacobucci did the same thing in the Almalki case.

Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise and speak about something that is very near and dear to my heart, oversight, in particular of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. We have before us Bill C-44. This legislation would amend a statute that is now 30 years old and obviously needs some fine tuning, which this bill would provide.

Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve Act  Mr. Speaker, I was particularly taken by the member's comments about climate change in the context of this northern park. I had the pleasure of hiking and backpacking across Auyuittuq National Park this summer. I saw climate change in Nunavut up close and personal as we could watch the glaciers recede and the waters were much higher.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, petitions calling on the government to retain defined benefit pension plans. Retirees from coast to coast to coast have delivered literally hundreds of these petitions to my office, asking the government to please stick with the program they have had, rather than move to something that would reduce benefits by way of what they term “shared risk plans”, stripping pension benefits and legal protections from so many employees.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are all talk and no action when it comes to tackling tax evasion. Most Canadians pay their fair share, but the Canada Revenue Agency acknowledged that last year alone it collected just 1% of the $220 million it lost to tax cheats. This comes amid reports that Canada is backing down on the commitment it made to the OECD to go after international corporations that avoid paying their fair share.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, let us be clear: inadequate Conservative measures just will not cut it. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of this report, “Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side”. Instead of acting to take on climate change, the Conservatives plan on cutting funding for climate change programs by 70% by 2016-17.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, the Public Accounts show the Conservatives lapsed more than $7 billion in approved funding last year. That is a whole lot of mismanagement. They also show that the Canada Revenue Agency is failing to collect millions of dollars from tax cheats. Of $220 million reported missing, CRA collected just 1%, and appears to have no plan to collect the rest, to say nothing of the billions stashed by Canadians in offshore tax havens.