Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, we need to know that the government is prepared to set up a Canadian outreach program for veterans exposed to mefloquine. What they want to see is independent research by physicians and scientists to better study the drug's side effects and treatments. Can the minister recommend and encourage independent studies of this issue?

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, all over the world our allies are already far ahead of us on this issue. The Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs has established a dedicated mefloquine support team to assist the military community with mefloquine claims and to provide them with a special point of contact.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, this evening I would first like to focus on some issues around the ombudsman's office. He has been put forward a case for a permanent and independent ombudsman's office and a recommendation that the Minister of National Defence support the enactment of legislation aimed at giving the office of the defence ombudsman organizational permanence and independence from the Department of National Defence with respect to all functional authorities.

Saskatchewan Centenarians  Madam Speaker, Florence Tetreault is a wonderful 103-year-old woman who was born in the beautiful community of St. Brieux, Saskatchewan, located in my riding of Yorkton—Melville. Florence has been in the news a lot lately. As it turns out, at the age of 103 she is still regularly attending mass and playing bridge.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member for Elmwood—Transcona and his explanation using the kitchen. I can really relate to that. He spoke a bit about P3s and said that if proper scrutiny was done, it could be done well. For my kitchen, which I am paying to use, when it needs repair, how is that taken care of?

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member mentioned that the bank would be revenue generating, in the public interest, and an alternative method of growing infrastructure in large projects. Since this is an alternative method for those larger projects, which are situated mostly in our cities, why is the government's own infrastructure spending not then being reallocated more toward our rural communities where our agriculture and agrifood people are trying to continue to work with the big green combines?

Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I am not sure the member was in the House this morning when the Minister of Finance was giving his rationale as to why the Liberals needed to invoke closure on the budget bill. One of his reasons was that Canadians are becoming impatient and want to see this budget take effect.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am standing this morning to present a petition in regard to the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee, which was created to ensure that the views of Canadians be heard when changes are considered to firearms policies, laws, and regulations in Canada, and that the committee, including firearms experts and representatives of the gun industry in Canada, advise the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness of those views when considering these items.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition with regard to the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee, which was created to ensure that the views of Canadians were heard when changes were considered to firearms policies, laws, and regulations and that the committee would include firearms experts and representatives of the gun industry in Canada to advise the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on those views when considering these items.

Ovarian Cancer  Mr. Speaker, today is World Ovarian Cancer Day. Representatives of Ovarian Cancer Canada recently were in Ottawa seeking $10 million to conduct life-saving research into this deadly disease. While survival rates for other forms of cancer continue to improve, survival rates for women with ovarian cancer have not improved for 50 years.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a question in regard to a comment made across the floor to a previous question, that this is not a big issue to the public, that it is not something on the minds of Canadians. I have received many letters and talked to many individuals within our Canadian Armed Forces who are distraught but are not able to maybe speak out on the way that they would like to.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition in regard to the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee, which was created to ensure that the views of Canadians be heard when changes are considered to firearm policies, laws, and regulations; and to ensure that the committee, including firearms experts and representatives of the gun industry in Canada, advise the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness of those views when considering these items.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand today to present this petition that states: “Whereas hospice palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual; and whereas hospice palliative care provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms, affirms life, regards dying as a normal process, and intends neither to hasten nor postpone death; and whereas hospice palliative care is not specifically mentioned in the Canada Health Act; and whereas hospice palliative care is not accessible and available to all Canadians; we, the undersigned, residents of Canada, request the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to specifically identify hospice palliative care as a defined medical service covered under the Canada Health Act, so that provincial and territorial governments will be entitled to funds under the Canada health transfer system to be used to provide accessible and available hospice palliative care for all residents of Canada in their respective provinces and territories.”

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I would like to go a little different direction. The member across has been very proud of his feminist PM and suggests that the impact of our actions has not been positive. I would like to suggest that his feminist PM has lost touch with what is important to women overall and has become quite selective in that feminism.

The Budget  Madam Speaker, I just want to refer to what the government has committed to national defence spending, which is nothing. Despite the clear need for investments in Canada's national defence, the Minister of Finance stated this week that the government believes the military is appropriately provisioned, and yet day after day in this House we have battled back and forth, with the government saying we have a capability gap.