Fairness at the Pumps Act  Mr. Speaker, as it has been two days since I started my speech, I will take some time to refresh the House a little. This all came about because of an investigation by the Ottawa Citizen which revealed that between 1999 and 2007, government inspections of over 200,000 fuel pumps found that about 5% of the pumps delivered less fuel than reported on the pump display.

Fairness at the Pumps Act  Madam Speaker, the speech by my colleague from Trinity—Spadina was all about accountability, which we have not seen from the Conservative government. The deregulation of Measurement Canada and having industry investigate itself is the same as the Conservatives saying they are going to be tough on crime and then turning around and saying that the offenders should regulate themselves.

Fairness at the Pumps Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his fine speech on Bill C-14. It is clear that an investigative process will not help individual people. I agree with what the member said about not letting the industry govern itself. There is also the fact that a lot of taxes were paid on gasoline that people never received.

Bill C-3--Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the comments and the speech that my colleague just made, given the fact that this discrimination has gone on for years and years even under the Liberal government. I attended the aboriginal committee dealing with this issue. I heard very clearly from Sharon McIvor that the bill continues to discriminate against women.

Jobs and Economic Growth Act  Madam Speaker, my colleague just spoke with respect to the Conservatives not getting up and talking on this issue. I can understand why they do not want to get up. They are probably ashamed of the fact that they are only giving $3.25 a week as part of an increase in the child tax credit and they consider that to be a child care subsidy.

Jobs and Economic Growth Act  Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's comments on this bill. My question is regarding pensions and seniors. We have heard a lot of talk about seniors. We have heard that they do not have enough money for housing, food and medication. The budget does not address the crisis facing the pension system.

Jobs and Economic Growth Act  Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's comments on the budget. The budget does not provide for extending the benefit period for the unemployed. What is more, there is no additional funding for creating jobs. Nor is there anything to make access to employment insurance easier for women.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table this petition about strengthening the animal transportation regulations. The petitioners state that the regulations for the transport of animals under the Health of Animals Act are outdated and they ask that they be reviewed. Some of the animals, cattle, sheep and goats, have to be legally transported up to 52 hours and for pigs, poultry and horses it is 36 hours.

Jobs and Economic Growth Act  Madam Speaker, I truly appreciate my colleague's comments. She spoke about employment insurance and the money taken from the employment insurance fund. We cannot blame only the Conservatives. We really must blame the Liberals; we cannot forget that they were the ones who diverted this money from the employment insurance fund.

Jobs and Economic Growth Act  Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned the housing strategy among many other things. On the housing strategy, the Liberals were in power for over 13 years and they still did not address it even though they kept saying that they would. So, it is a little late on that one. They also talked about pay equity earlier today, which touches on the budget again.

Health  Mr. Speaker, last week doctors reported that people in Grassy Narrows who were exposed to levels of mercury deemed safe by Health Canada still show signs of poisoning. Pulp mills that used the mercury cell process operated in Thunder Bay, Hamilton and Saskatoon. Potentially over a million Canadians might have been exposed to levels of mercury that Health Canada considers safe.

Aboriginal Healing Foundation  Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his comments and especially for reminding us what the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, said. I would like to ask him some questions. The hon. minister said that the Conservatives were willing to provide services to aboriginal people in their communities, and if this is not possible, they would be willing to pay for those people to travel.

Aboriginal Healing Foundation  Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with my colleague with respect to the fact that these programs already existed. These programs complemented themselves. As I have indicated, what the hon. minister has put forward is not community based. These are people who understand their communities and their people.

Aboriginal Healing Foundation  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister's comments. What we have seen since the residential school apology is basically a removal of rights to first nations. We have seen this with the imposition in Ontario and B.C., especially in Ontario, with regard to the HST on first nations, and we know that we have aboriginal communities that are opposing that.

Aboriginal Healing Foundation  Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be able to give my support to this issue raised by my colleague, the hon. member for Churchill, and to add a few words to the appeal to maintain the funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Before I continue, I want to recognize some of our first nations people who are in the audience tonight because this is an issue that is important to them.