Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition to the House from the constituents of the riding of Mississauga--Brampton South and other concerned Canadians with respect to parental sponsorship applications. The petition outlines a few concerns that have been addressed. The fir

William Hall  Mr. Speaker, as we mark Black History Month I am proud to draw my hon. colleagues' attention to the heroics of William Hall, the first Nova Scotian and the first black person to earn the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth's highest award for bravery. Mr. Hall was born in Horton Bl

Skills for Change  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate an outstanding young man from my riding. Eric Acuna, who works for Newark Paperboard Products, has been selected to receive the 2005 New Pioneers Graduate Award from the Skills for Change organization. Skills fo

Marriage  Mr. Speaker, the opposition campaign against equal rights for civil marriage has taken another turn for the worst. The Leader of the Opposition recently stated that extending civil marriage to same sex couples “is a threat to any Canadian who supports multiculturalism and is a t

International Aid  Mr. Speaker, Canada has a long history of helping the world's poorest countries. As finance minister the Prime Minister positioned Canada as an international leader on debt relief. Yesterday the current finance minister opened a new chapter. Could the finance minister tell the H

Charles Carman Core  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to Charles Carman Core who died last week at the age of 96. Charles Carman Core was Brampton's 33rd mayor, holding the position from 1959 to 1962. Previously to being mayor, Mr. Core had served on Brampton's t

First Nations, Métis and Inuit War Veterans  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in debate on this motion. A little earlier my colleague from this side of the House spoke mainly of the history of veteran benefits available to first nation veterans, specifically status of Indians living on the reserves after the

Kids for a Cure  Mr. Speaker, last week I met with two children from my riding. Both are living with juvenile type 1 diabetes. They were here with approximately 38 other children visiting various MPs to help promote Kids for a Cure--Mission Possible. The mission of Kids for a Cure was to raise a

Sudan  Mr. Speaker, as the House knows, the Prime Minister will be travelling to Khartoum to meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. As we all know, over 70,000 people have died and over 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes in the Darfur region of Sudan. Can we

Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act  Mr. Speaker, as a student not too long ago, I also share the hon. member's concern. I agree with him that there is a great deal of debt burden on students today. That is why we are presenting this bill. This bill reflects the government's commitment to ensure that we make sound i

Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act  Mr. Speaker, the member clearly demonstrated and highlighted that the success of our nation going forward in the 21st century will be dependent on our ability to ensure that we are able to educate our population. More importantly, we must address and reach out to low income famil

Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak in support of Bill C-23, an act to create the Department of Human Resource and Skills Development. I would like to use the bulk of my time today to discuss something that I heard members raise yesterday, which is access to post-se

Justice  Mr. Speaker, as the minister knows, this is Restorative Justice Week in Canada. It is a time when interested groups come together to discuss new ways to resolve disputes and new ways to view Criminal Code acts. Can the minister tell us what the Liberal government has done and is

Visually Impaired  Mr. Speaker, three million people or 10% of the population cannot access regular print due to a disability and therefore require alternative formats. Only 3% of what is available in print is actually available in audio, electronic text or large print. Microsoft, in my riding of

Health  Mr. Speaker, this past weekend I had the honour of speaking at an HIV-AIDS education fundraiser. This fundraiser was organized by Aiding Youth for Life. It is a non-profit grassroots organization aimed at addressing the problems of HIV-AIDS among youth worldwide. This organizati