Liber Ero Fellowship Program  Mr. Speaker, as an ecologist, I know how important scientific research is to this country, particularly that done by young scientists, with their brilliant curiosity, exploring the world through fresh eyes. That is why I was so happy today to meet with the Liber Ero fellows. These young Canadian post-doctoral scientists tackle management challenges and conservation issues with novel analyses, novel perspectives, and novel collaborations on subjects as diverse as climate change, marine ecosystems, grasslands, birds, butterflies, bumblebees, and bats.

Canada Pension Plan  Mr. Speaker, figures show that 30% of single elderly women in Canada live in poverty. Could my colleague tell me what her party's plan is to get those women out of poverty?

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today. The first petition calls upon Parliament to offer an unequivocal, sincere and public apology to British home children survivors and their descendants. These Canadians were taken as children from their homes in Great Britain over many decades, and served often as indentured servants in Canada.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have another petition that calls upon Parliament to adopt a carbon policy that applies a fee to greenhouse gas emissions at their sources, and urges all nations around the world to adopt a similar carbon policy.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, as I said in my speech, the forest industry does not want an agreement at any cost. We want a good agreement. We do not want an agreement that would be more punitive than the one that we have. We recognize that perhaps it is a difficult time to negotiate an agreement with the protectionism that is going on in the United States.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, at that same committee meeting where Mr. Davies was testifying, when asked about the kind of conflict of interest he might have in this regard, he did point out that Interfor and the various other Canadian companies that have bought up U.S. mills still have considerable Canadian operations, and they do not want those operations to get in trouble if we have a bad deal.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have the opportunity to speak here this afternoon in favour of the motion because I am concerned about the future of Canada's forest industry. I come from British Columbia, which, as most people know, has some of the most magnificent forest resources anywhere in the world.

Softwood Lumber  Mr. Speaker, in less than a week, the softwood lumber agreement grace period will run out, and this could mean massive export tariffs on Canadian lumber, anywhere from 25% to 30%. If we do not get a new agreement, we could lose up to 22,000 jobs in British Columbia and across Canada.

Standing Orders and Procedure  Mr. Speaker, I am from British Columbia. My riding is between my colleague's Vancouver riding and the riding of the member for Yukon. My travel time is about 12 hours each way, so 24 hours of my time going home for the weekend is spent on planes and in airports. I do not mind that too much because I get some work done.

Paris Agreement  Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure of accompanying the minister to the clean energy ministerial meetings in San Francisco this spring. It was a very positive meeting. There were attendees from, I believe, 27 countries from all over the world. He mentioned mission innovation. One remarkable moment I remember was when George Shultz, the former secretary of state with Ronald Reagan, someone who probably would not vote NDP if he lived in Canada, exhorted the world leaders there to put a $200-a-tonne price on carbon.

Paris Agreement  Mr. Speaker, as an ecologist I am quite familiar with a lot of the predictions and projections around the increase in climate change over the next few decades. One of the clearest projections in British Columbia especially, as my colleague mentioned, was the warming of our rivers.

Paris Agreement  Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned in his speech the decline in carbon dioxide emissions in Canada while his government was in power in the 2008 to 2010 era. Everyone knows that those emissions only went down because the economy tanked in 2008 and Ontario took coal-fired plants off the grid.

Paris Agreement  Mr. Speaker, I am happy to say that I am in favour of the Paris agreement. I was glad that the Canadian government accepted the necessary temperature targets of between 1.5º and 2º Celsius to keep our earth below those temperature increases. It is a real concern in my riding of South Okanagan—West Kootenay, where we are facing depleting water resources, increasing irrigation needs, and increasing forest fires.

Modernizing Animal Protections Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to Bill C-246 today and I thank the member for Beaches—East York for bringing it forward. It deals with three rather loosely related issues: animal cruelty, the importation of dog and cat fur, and shark finning. I have received a lot of feedback on this bill from constituents, most of it in favour of the bill because it seeks to strengthen animal cruelty law, but I have also heard serious concern from outdoor enthusiasts who felt that the bill might have inadvertently caught up hunting, fishing, and trapping in the web of animal cruelty provisions.

South Okanagan—West Kootenay  Mr. Speaker, there are 41 communities in my riding, and rather than going on the barbeque circuit this summer, I thought that a cycling circuit, riding the riding, would be a healthier alternative. Therefore, for seven days in late August, I cycled 435 kilometres through South Okanagan—West Kootenay.