Railway Operations Legislation  Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We would like to submit for your consideration that it is inappropriate and out of order for us to proceed to the vote and the point of order is predicated on the following. The motion itself reads in part that the bill: --shall be disposed of as follows: (a) commencing when the said bill is read a first time and concluding when the said bill is read a third time, the House shall not adjourn except pursuant to a motion proposed by a Minister of the Crown....

Employment Insurance Act  Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the opportunity to join in the debate on Bill C-265. I would first like to join other colleagues from all parties who have acknowledged the work done by the member for Acadie—Bathurst and the commitment he has to this issue and to unemployed people.

Employment Insurance Act  Yes, and it was $20 billion 10 years ago and the alarm was raised by the member for Acadie—Bathurst, who said that Canada could do better. He said then that Canada had a bigger obligation than it was providing for people who find themselves without a job. Now, 10 years later, not nearly enough has happened.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, my constituents in Hamilton Centre watched this week's budget announcement closely, hoping for something, anything, that would alleviate the growing challenges they face every day, but for Hamilton and other municipalities, there was only disappointment. There was nothing for our public transit system.

Transfer Payments  Mr. Speaker, sending the NDP's gas tax transfer to cities is good news but the Federation of Canadian Municipalities says: The bad news is that the Budget fails to deliver a long-term strategy to meet the challenges in our cities and communities, particularly to erase the $60-billion municipal infrastructure deficit, fix the municipal fiscal imbalance, provide Canadians with the transit options they need, or help new immigrants settle.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I also have a petition to present today from the Canadian Polish Congress, Hamilton Branch. As a result of the Republic of Poland now being a successful member of the European Union since 2004 and given that Poland is an active participant in NATO, the petitioners are asking and I am pleading with the House to please consider lifting the issue of visas for those coming in from Poland.

Aboriginal Affairs  Mr. Speaker, tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the Six Nations land claim dispute in Caledonia. This situation has caused tremendous hardship and upset for all the people involved. The root of this problem is the chronic buck-passing between the federal and provincial governments.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, this is not the only example of neglect we have seen at the Canada Revenue Agency. The Auditor General reported this month that taxes on foreign incomes were not being investigated or collected either. In fact, in Toronto, which has 40% of the workload, there are no investigators with international tax expertise.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, an internal audit at Canada Revenue Agency has revealed that the government is unwilling to investigate big corporations for fear of harming relations with them. That fear is costing ordinary Canadians about $1.4 billion in owed corporate taxes. That is equivalent to the income tax paid by almost 400,000 ordinary Canadians earning $40,000 a year.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I think if anybody was listening, they would be a little confused. To hear the debate today one would think we were talking about globalization, good or bad, or Canada's role in globalization. We are nowhere near anything quite that lofty. We are talking about a change in the World Trade Organization rules as a result of China joining.

Anti-Terrorism Act  Mr. Speaker, like the previous questioner, I am a former solicitor general in Ontario as he was in Quebec. Although I was not the debate when the law was originally passed, I have some real trouble understanding the logic put forward by the minister. As I understand it, at that time members of the House were seized of ensuring that all the laws, which could possibly be there in a democracy, were in place to prevent the kind of events about which he talked.

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, today in Ottawa, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities big city mayors caucus is meeting, including the City of Hamilton's new mayor, Fred Eisenberger. I met with Mayor Eisenberger yesterday and he updated me regarding the severe crisis that cities, like Hamilton, are facing.

Sales Tax Amendments Act, 2006  Mr. Speaker, that is why I commented earlier that it makes no sense to do this. It makes no common sense; it makes no dollar sense. The reality is that the amount of money involved is relatively small when we talk about the GDP of Canada or our national budget. Its impact from a marketing point of view, its impact in terms of making Canada an appealing destination point for a whole host of reasons including conferences, conventions and outright tourism means that this was a non-starter.

Sales Tax Amendments Act, 2006  Mr. Speaker, that is interesting and it is fun and I appreciate the time that the parliamentary secretary has taken, but there are a couple of things. First of all, your $1,200 a year, sure, who is not going to be happy if they get a cheque for 1,200 bucks a year, $100 a month?

Sales Tax Amendments Act, 2006  Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I am sliding back into Queen's Park ways. I apologize and will try to be more vigilant. The member talked about the fact that he is pleased we are over here and that we have not formed the government. We would have liked that opportunity and we still strive toward that, but were it not for a small and sometimes smaller NDP caucus in this House, were it not for the fact that the NDP and the CCF were here, we would not have the Canada pension plan.