International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers  Mr. Speaker, 125 years ago today, on November 28, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers got its start in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1891, the electrical industry was in its infancy. Electrical workers were expected to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with no safety equipment or standards to speak of.

Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. If we compare the CETA consultation process to the electoral reform consultation process, what emerges is enough to make anyone cynical. On CETA, the Liberals do not even want to let Canadians send in written submissions. The Liberals do not want to hear what Canadians have to say even though this is a major agreement that will have long-lasting repercussions.

Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, the Belgium issue gave a lot of people a surprise, Liberals and Conservatives especially, because they were not paying attention. People have been criticizing the invest-state dispute settlement clauses in these types of agreements for a long time, and so it was not a surprise to New Democrats when we found out that people in Europe were looking at those same issues and saying that they had a problem with them.

Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today and provide a bit of an antidote to the Conservative-Liberal love-in that has been taking place in the House of Commons today over CETA, which we cannot deny has been pretty cozy. When we have the international trade minister and the international trade critic of the Liberals and Conservatives respectively hugging in the House of Commons over a deal, I think it is fair to say if there was anything we could call a love-in within Parliament, that is it.

Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, the member just mentioned Brian Mulroney fighting an election over NAFTA, but of course it was not NAFTA. It was the free trade agreement. NAFTA was actually brought in by the Liberals. To be sure, it was negotiated by Brian Mulroney and the Conservatives, but it was actually the Liberals who ran on a promise to change it and who gave Canadians the impression they were not very committed to it, then went ahead and brought it in.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to table a petition, signed by RCMP members and their families, calling on the government to fix Bill C-7 and remove the exclusion of bargaining items they fought very hard in court to get the right to bargain for.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for the opportunity to consider the committee's pre-budget consultation report. We know that infrastructure was a big part of the Liberal plan, and a promise. It was certainly talked about in the pre-budget consultations. There was a lot of controversy, it seems in the report, from various groups, about whether going ahead with a certain model of infrastructure bank was actually a good idea.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Except this part.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, I want to return to the issue of privatization, because a central piece of the Liberal promise and budget was to invest in infrastructure. What we learned from the economic update is that the way the government will do this is by selling that infrastructure and having that new infrastructure owned by private investment firms, many of which are not from Canada.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, I could not help but notice the coincidence that the motion for closure on the budget bill that would establish this new privatization bank was tabled on the very same day that the Prime Minister got together with investors of trillions of dollars of world capital, and that we are going to be voting on that motion the day after.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, I was surprised to learn that privatization was an integral part of the Liberal's infrastructure strategy. Can my dear colleague tell us whether he was surprised by that? Does he understand the differences between a strategy financed solely by public funds and one that receives significant funding from the private sector?

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, if it is the contention of the member for Don Valley West that the child benefit offsets the lack of a tax cut for those making $45,000 or less a year so therefore we should not mind that it is not those people who receive the benefit of a tax break, then why will he not support indexing that benefit right away?

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, when the member ran in the last election for the Liberal Party and there were big promises made about investing in public infrastructure, was she aware at the time that $15 billion of that money was actually going to be used as a pool to attract foreign investment that would then partially or wholly own that important public infrastructure the Liberals ran on a promise to build?

Canadian National Railway  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address an issue that may affect other rail communities like mine. Transcona's new Plessis underpass opened on October 31, 2015, making the daily commute easier for many people. However, for residents of Mission Gardens, the new underpass has had significant, unforeseen costs.

Post-Secondary Education  Mr. Speaker, over half of the strategic investment funding for post-secondary institutions has been announced. There is a 2018 deadline on the money but not a dime has been committed to Manitoba. The Conservative government in Manitoba does not get the importance of investing in post-secondary education for students, for construction workers, or for employers.