Jobs and Growth Act, 2012  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of State said that we must not boil things down to just process. The government has just moved a time allocation motion, another means of shutting down parliamentary debate. The motion is about process, and that is nothing new for this government. Closure, prorogation and omnibus bills are all types of processes that the government uses to weaken the democratic framework in which we are supposed to work.

Government Accountability  Mr. Speaker, Canadians want to know how budget cuts will affect the services they rely on. It is a sad day when the Parliamentary Budget Officer has to go to court because the Conservatives are hiding information. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has a mandate to provide analysis to Parliament on the planned spending of the government and the state of the nation's finances.

Government Accountability  Mr. Speaker, what is the point of voting on accountability legislation when we cannot enforce it? On the very day that the Conservatives introduced another massive budget bill, they are refusing to take action and implement important recommendations that would allow Parliament to better monitor government spending.

Budget Implementation  Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. There is not a single practical measure in the budget implementation bill to help Quebeckers who are receiving employment insurance. With their new mammoth bill, the Conservatives are once again going after environmental protection. Undermining the Navigable Waters Protection Act will once again jeopardize wetlands, which cover 10% of Quebec's land mass.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, that is a highly relevant question. First I would like to extend my sympathies to the workers currently affected, who deserve our compassion as a result of what is going on. They are currently in an absolutely impossible situation. In fact, most of the facts, indicators and alarm signals about the way things were being done came from the workers and the union.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I entirely agree with what the member for Guelph said. The only audit that was done was a financial audit, which has nothing to do with food safety or food security. Many other parts of the Weatherill report have not been acted upon. Among other things, most employees at XL Foods had not yet been trained in the new compliance verification system.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I rise in this House today to point out something that seems obvious to me and that seems obvious to most Canadians, but that the government appears not to know anything about. The Conservative government and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food learned absolutely nothing from the listeriosis crisis in 2008.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, in response to a question asked by my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food said that his responsibility in all of this was limited to simply developing regulations and verifying legislation to ensure that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency can do its job.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of State for Finance knows, I am a member of the Standing Committee on Finance. I have a keen interest in finance. In committee, we did indeed study Bill C-38, passed by the House, which changed, created, amended or eliminated nearly 70 pieces of legislation.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, today I would like to present a petition on behalf of many Canadians who oppose closing the Experimental Lakes Area research station. I am passionate about this because, as my colleagues probably know, I am presently fighting cuts to science at the Maurice Lamontagne Institute.

Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my riding neighbour for his speech on Bill C-37. I have a specific question to ask him. We talk a lot about judges' discretionary power, but I would like to address another matter Senator Boisvenu raised with respect to the bill, when he presented it to Canadians.

Agriculture and Agri-Food  Mr. Speaker, $116 million was spent on food safety and biosecurity risk management systems in 2011. The government is cutting that number by nearly $32 million to just $85 million for 2012-13. Our food safety program is being cut by 5%. This information can be found in the government's financial documents that the Conservatives themselves tabled in the House of Commons.

Agriculture and Agri-Food  Mr. Speaker, what the NDP did was vote against the cuts, and we are proud of that. Am I to understand that what the Conservatives are now saying is that the documents they tabled in the House of Commons were inaccurate? The government's own financial documents show that food safety is down by 5%.

Gilles Roy  Mr. Speaker, this week, the Lower St. Lawrence region lost a great man who made his mark on the area's recent history. Gilles Roy was the founder of Opération dignité III and a strong supporter of rural living and regional development. It is builders such as Mr. Roy who have kept the Lower St.

Food Safety  Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, the Conservatives are trying to confuse the matter. As I said in my speech, what we are seeing now could just be the tip of the iceberg. In budget 2012, the Conservatives imposed cuts by reducing the number of inspectors at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which means that we cannot be sure of what will happen with regard to the processing of meat in processing plants.