Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition containing over 100 names of residents of Victoria. The petitioners call for changes to Health Canada's medical marijuana laws; specifically, calling upon the health minister to include individual licences to grow cannabis for person medical use, with an improved inspection system.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, the report on tax evasion and the use of tax havens, as tabled in the House, successfully details the problems of tax evasion and inappropriate use of tax havens. Unfortunately, the recommendations in the report failed to adequately confront these problems and for this reason, New Democrat members of the finance committee have submitted a supplementary report.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, they are doing everything they can to keep the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from doing its work but nothing to recover money associated with tax evasion. The Conservatives are sitting on $29 billion in unpaid taxes. Instead of allocating the resources needed to recover this money, they are cutting CRA's budget.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, we are talking about almost $30 billion in uncollected taxes, and all we hear from this minister is self-congratulation. Her own plan cut $68 million from the accounts receivable and returns compliance department alone. How can the government make these cuts, when there is $29 billion in uncollected tax debt?

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend referenced research, the Arctic Council and the record of research in Canada. He also spoke of adaptation planning in his remarks. I would like to ask him if he agrees with his natural resources minister colleague that “people aren't as worried as they were before about global warming of two degrees.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, one of cornerstones of environmental law is that the polluter pays. It is the requirement that the people who are proponents of projects, be they governmental or private sector, internalize, to use the jargon, the costs of projects that could or do cause harm to the environment.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I understand that the Minister of Natural Resources also went to the United States as recently as yesterday, where I am advised that he insulted one of the world's great climate scientists, which I really do not believe he had the expertise to do. I thought it disrespectful to an ally of Canada.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, when the break occurred I was emphasizing that people are most definitely and rightly worried about the climate change crisis and the tipping point for irreversible damage to the planet that a 2o increase could precipitate. Yet the Conservatives have been systematically dismantling environmental laws since they were elected and using their omnibus legislation to weaken environmental protection.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, while I thank the hon. member for her question, I do not think my comments reflect a lack of serious debate or a lack of concern about this issue. In contrast, I think this is a matter that should engage the attention and concern of all Canadians and all parties. To suggest that this is a partisan issue, that we are using this as some sort of stunt, if I understand her properly, is very disturbing indeed.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to an extremely important motion brought forward by my superb colleague, the member of Parliament for Halifax, our NDP opposition critic on the environment. The motion in the House asks that three things be done: first, that this House agree with many Canadians and with the International Energy Agency that there is a grave concern with the impact of the 2°C rise in global average temperatures; second, that this House condemn the lack of effective action by successive federal governments since 1998 to address emissions and meet our Kyoto commitments; and third, to call on the government to immediately table its climate change adaptation plan.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with that answer. Yesterday, the Minister of National Revenue claimed that cuts to her department will only affect internal operations. However, Le Devoir reported that 221 audit positions have been eliminated since the Conservatives came to power.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, we reject the premise of that answer. The minister needs to check with her department before repeating herself. Her own report on plans and priorities, the one with her portrait on the front, says that $120 million and over 250 staff are going to be cut from the reporting compliance section, the ones whose job it is to detect non-compliance through “risk assessment, audit, investigation”.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, the facts just do not support the minister's claims. The fact is that Conservatives are taking $68 million from the returns compliance section of the CRA, which is responsible for enforcing “compliance with Canada's tax laws”. They are also cutting $120 million and over 250 full-time staff from the reporting compliance section, whose job is detecting non-compliance “through risk assessment, audit, investigation”.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, instead of admitting the truth, Conservatives are yet again making things up to attack the NDP. The people, for example, who make and sell iPods agree that they are raising taxes on many items, including iPods. The Conservatives are simply making life more expensive for Canadians and are refusing to admit it.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, while families are being squeezed, the Conservatives are making life more expensive for Canadians and are simply refusing to admit it. The Conservatives, for example, are relying on billionaires to report their income in tax shelters and are pretending that this is a serious policy.