Canada Transportation Act  Madam Speaker, it is certainly a pleasure to take part in this debate. I am going to focus on the impact on consumers. Many of my colleagues have discussed several aspects of the bill and referred to the committee work that we spent so much time on, but I want to focus on consumers.

Trade  Mr. Speaker, the Minister for International Trade is aware that a company in my riding, Oxford Frozen Foods, has been for some months seeking relief from a duty that was imposed on February 28 on processed cheese products. This duty is charged even though the binding tariff decision in 1994 said there would be no duty and even though an American product comes to Canada with no duty.

Trade  Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his answer and I appreciate his attention. However, I want to emphasize how important this is because the company has already lost a contract that would have meant 50 full time jobs in my riding and it prevents the company from an expansion which might develop 150 full time jobs.

National Defence  Mr. Speaker, once again I want to bring to the attention of the Minister of National Defence that for over two years the Lannon family of Truro, Nova Scotia has had an ongoing dispute with the Department of National Defence regarding health benefits and assistance that they feel is due to a member of the Lannon family as a result of his service in the Canadian Forces.

House Of Commons  Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the member, I am a member from Nova Scotia. I hope I represent the interests of Nova Scotia in the way I vote on issues. I respect his right to represent his constituents in the way he feels he should vote. However, that is not the issue we are talking about on this motion.

House Of Commons  Mr. Speaker, in an attempt to address the concerns and ensure that this does not occur again, I make an amendment to my request that we consider by unanimous consent to have this motion withdrawn. I would like add to that motion a condition that the Board of Internal Economy be ordered to examine as a matter of priority the legal services provided to the members of the House, and not only would that be ordered but it would be agreed by all parties that agreed to that motion, if it is agreed to.

House Of Commons  Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am asking for unanimous consent that this motion be withdrawn.

House Of Commons  We are entitled to two votes. The government House leader is especially culpable in this. The House leader has a special duty to parliament. He is an officer of the House and he has a special duty to ensure the rules are followed. He has a special duty to not follow the rules or instructions of the PMO and to protect the procedures and the operations of the House.

House Of Commons  Mr. Speaker, I will be using the full time. Sometimes in the House one is not really anxious to speak on issues and sometimes one is, and this is one time that I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to speak. When I walked in this morning it was interesting to look around and think how strange a world we work in and how strange the situation is.

Research And Development  Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry. When the department developed the research chair program to provide research money for universities across the country, it left out a small group of universities that do great work, like Nova Scotia Agricultural College and many, many more.

Westray Mine  Madam Speaker, it is certainly a pleasure for me to talk about this issue which stems from an awful disaster that happened in 1992 in Nova Scotia not too far from my riding. I remember it well. I was the member of parliament for Cumberland—Colchester at the time. I represent an area that has a large number of coal mines and we have seen our share of coal mine disasters in Springhill, River Hebert, Joggins and all those places that thrived on coal in the early years.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today to present a petition signed by 130 citizens of Truro, Nova Scotia. It is sponsored by the United Church of Canada, the St. Andrews United Church in Truro and Maggie's Place, also located in Truro. They call on the government to address the issue of child poverty and, in particular, they have several issues they want to make the House aware of.

Trans-Canada Highway  Mr. Speaker, today Premier Bernard Lord of New Brunswick announced that tolls are to be removed from the New Brunswick section of the Trans-Canada Highway, just as he promised months ago. The previous Liberal government created this toll highway and established legislation forcing all trucks from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland through the tolls, effectively transferring money from all the other provinces into New Brunswick.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, my question is a supplementary to the question asked of the Minister of Transport. I direct my question to the very distinguished Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport. Last summer the Minister of Transport announced that there was a crisis in the aviation industry.

Gasoline Pricing  Mr. Speaker, there is no fuel like an old fuel, but anyway I want to point out that the minister is trying to go back a decade. He is responsible. That party is responsible today. In the last five years—