Tourism Industry  Mr. Speaker, Canada's tourism market share continues to plunge. We have dropped from seventh to fifteenth in international tourism visits. The government's failed tourism policies are costing Canada's economy and small businesses thousands of jobs and billions of dollars each year.

Infrastructure Funding  Mr. Speaker, it appears that the Prime Minister is once again giving the people of Edmonton the back of his hand. First, there was the broken promise on the portrait gallery, then the Conservatives denied funding for the Edmonton folk music festival and then they failed to back Edmonton's bid to host the World Expo.

Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence  Mr. Speaker, I am sure members in this chamber can remember a teacher who played a critical role in their life, someone who taught them how to think, helped them feel good about themselves and encouraged them to continuously strive to do better. I would like to congratulate Vancouver Quadra constituent Laurie Cassie and her colleague Rebecca Robins for being that kind of teacher and for winning the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Madam Speaker, I want to speak to the minister's inconsistency. It is not true that the government moved time allocation on the basis that all of the elements have been debated. That is nonsense. When the minister claims that the data is the registry that is like saying the carpets, dishes and plates are the house.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Madam Speaker, I want to respond to the statement that the data is equivalent to the registry. That is not so at all. The registry is a process in a system for ensuring that there is a record of guns. It is a requirement. It is a regulation. It is an understanding. It is a process for putting that understanding in place that the government will actually track these weapons that are used in so many tragedies of suicide and domestic violence.

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, a new study from SFU confirms the evidence coming out of Texas that the Conservative government's misguided punishment policies just will not work. They discriminate heavily against first nations, who already account for a disproportionate percentage of prisoners. The evidence predicts increased prison overcrowding, reduced access to treatment and a higher likelihood of prisoners reoffending.

Newfoundland and Labrador Fishery Rebuilding Act  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to private member's Bill C-308 put forward by the member for St. John's South—Mount Pearl. I support this piece of legislation, as does the Liberal Party of Canada. Nearly two years after the first commercial fishing moratorium was introduced, there has still been no substantial recovery of fish stocks off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that mandatory minimum penalties remove a judge's discretionary power to determine an appropriate sentence based on the crime and the circumstances. Yesterday, the Quebec bar said that it would not allow Parliament to do that to our society. Will the government stop wasting billions of dollars on an approach that is bound to fail and that will only lead to more crime, less justice and skyrocketing costs?

Small Businesses  Mr. Speaker, this past week Canadians celebrated Small Business Week with over 350 events across the country. Canada is made up of small and medium-sized businesses. They are the vast majority of all companies and employ 6 of every 10 private sector workers. They are innovative and service-oriented.

House debate  Madam Speaker, the member opposite is expressing a commitment by the government that if it can save one child from the negative impacts of drugs it would do so. I would invite the parliamentary secretary to reflect upon the fact that those people in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside who are addicted to drugs are someone's child.

House debate  Madam Speaker, I am here to discuss a question I asked the Minister of Health on September 30 when the good news was received throughout Canada that the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled that Insite, the safe injection site in Vancouver, cannot be shut down by the Conservative government because it saves lives.

Canada-U.S. Relations  Mr. Speaker, for weeks U.S. legislators have mused about putting a new tax on U.S.-bound cargo transported through Canadian ports. Instead of confronting this job killing threat head on, the Conservative minister has essentially said, “Don't worry, be happy”. Well he should worry and he should act.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, under the Texas government's new approach of less jail time and more treatment, the rate of prisoners reoffending has dropped by 75%. In contrast, Conservative crime laws are already putting thousands more people into overcrowded jails and 85% cannot get the treatment programs they need, plus funding for treatment has been slashed while security costs soar.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke very convincingly about municipalities and the need for more infrastructure support. That ties really strongly into small business needs. In rural Canada, in particular, municipal governments, small business and tourism work very closely together.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, I heard a Conservative colleague talk about tax breaks for large corporations being a way to reinvest in the community and jobs. However, we know that the largest corporations are not net producers of jobs. It is the small and medium-sized enterprises that are the net producers of jobs.