Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is very helpful. In fact, I do not have any questions about your submissions. I thought they were very clear and succinct, and I'm also very much in agreement with the recommendations you've made. I do have one question that I'd like to tap into, and it is your legal expertise. Feel free to say this is beyond your expertise if it is, but some of our previous witnesses have talked about how we might go back to the original Indian Act and discuss ending gender discrimination all the way back.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I know the Canadian Bar Association has recommended that we get rid of clause 9 altogether. It wasn't quite clear to me, but is that opinion shared by Ms. Dufour and Ms. Dupuis? There was also some mention of how it interacted with the repeal of section 67, and I was just wondering if you could take a minute to clarify that for me.

Environment committee  If we take a look at lobster fishing area 34, with the refugia for the lobster fishery there, we can see the clear benefits at the south end of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. So from my perspective, and as you come here and you bring these recommendations, I would suggest to you, Ms. Gelfand, that you could hire every university graduate who has walked within 50 yards of a biological sciences building, whether they've even gone in or not, and you would not have enough people hired in Environment Canada to do a biophysical inventory across Canada that would let us know whether there's any realistic chance that we have how many species, subspecies, or whatever it is we have.

Environment committee  The distinctions are fairly clear, at least to me. Aquatic species and migratory birds are the domain of the federal government. Caribou and other mammals are generally and foremost the domain of the provincial government.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The Barreau du Québec fears the effects of this type of amendment on the logical structure of the act. It does become increasingly difficult to get a clear overview of the act as a whole. Piecemeal legislating undermines the consistency of the act. In this case, this bill, introduced in response to the McIvor judgment, creates new disadvantageous distinctions for persons in the same group as the applicants and disregards other disadvantages set out in the Indian Act.

International Trade committee  In all of that, as soon as I mentioned to them that I sit on the Standing Committee on International Trade, the interest was huge, because they're all interested in doing more business with us. By the way, we do business with them. Let's be clear; we trade with every country in the world in varying degrees--except for Canadian beef in Jordan, perhaps--but we clearly do trade all around the world. Here's what strikes me. I made reference to the United States.

Finance committee  I appreciate that you can say that. It's clear that you have permanent employment, if you can say such a thing. Ms. Di Vito, have you consulted with the government about your RRSP rollover idea? I think being able to roll RRSPs over to our children tax-free is an idea worth considering.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is a really important question, and one that I hope I'll be able to provide an answer to that makes clear the distinction between what you're asking--between Bill C-3 and the exploratory process. I do not necessarily see the two as existing in isolation. I view Bill C-3 and the amendments to the Indian Act and the rectification of discrimination as it is right now, and potentially as it could be to rectify all gender discrimination, as a step forward certainly.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Specific to Bill C-3, I think it's important I get on the record that Bill C-3, of course, would not preclude further legislation. At the same time, I heard you loud and clear when you said that long-term solutions do not lie in further tinkering with the Indian Act. That puts us in quite a dilemma here, in a sense, because Bill C-3 is designed to address a very specific case, the McIvor case.

International Trade committee  We had some discussions with departmental officials a couple of days ago, and it didn't seem clear at all that there were any consultations, even with some of the key export sectors that would be impacted by the agreement. Secondly, I have questions concerning promotional budgets.

Public Safety committee  Yes, he has personally made that very clear.

Jobs and Economic Growth Act  What we need to do is protect pensions and this budget gives us that opportunity because there is some mention about what we do about unfunded liabilities and pensions, but it is not very clear. However, there are bills in this House that talk about how we should fix it. We can do that. The unfunded liabilities and pensions is a budget issue. I have something to read to my colleagues, which I know my good friend from Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor will like to hear.

Public Safety committee  How does the CPC help the RCMP with gaining the trust of the Canadian public, you may ask? When I spoke to a large gathering of Alberta-based RCMP members several weeks ago, it was clear to me that from the commissioner on down, the RCMP shares the perspective that strengthened oversight is essential to RCMP credibility. In terms of my vision for the CPC in the short term, it is simple: I want to consolidate the excellent work of my predecessor by maintaining strict service standards in response times to complaints and reviews.

Health  Mr. Speaker, throughout all this obfuscation, one thing is clear. The government's sudden reversal is a blow to Winnipeg, a blow to Canada, and a blow to the people whose lives depend on a breakthrough in vaccine development. Will the government at least guarantee that the $88 million set aside for the vaccine production facility will be invested in Canada, will be used for the acceleration of HIV vaccine development, will be used toward discovery research, will enhance Winnipeg and Canada's world-renowned research capacity in AIDS, will support dual capacities and will, in fact, keep sites—

Access to Information  Mr. Speaker, it has become very clear that the Prime Minister wants to keep Canadians in the dark. He has decided to impose a culture of secrecy and to govern against the will of Canadians by covering up the truth. Thirteen departments received below average marks or completely ignored the access to information deadlines set out in the legislation.