Health  Mr. Speaker, Canadians from coast to coast to coast are slowly becoming comfortable with the importance of getting the H1N1 vaccine. While millions of vaccines have been produced and are being distributed, obviously we are seeing major lineups and a lot of people concerned about not being able to get the vaccine.

Health  Surely, however, we can keep going and do a lot more, Mr. Speaker. We were too late in informing people about the vaccine and we were too slow in getting it out. Now we need the vaccine administered as quickly as possible. The need for action is no less urgent and the concern is not lessened.

Health  Mr. Speaker, H1N1 should not be about politics. It should be about the health of all Canadians. According to the latest information, vaccines will be coming out sooner rather than later. While it is good news for some Canadians, first nations are not heard in this report. We have been asking for months to put aboriginal people as a priority on the list of recipients of the H1N1 vaccine.

Canada Grain Act  Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to sit in this House and hear members of the Conservative Party go on and on about everything they are doing for farmers and rural Canadians. I represent one of the largest rural ridings in Canada and a lot of questions are being asked as to where the federal government is when it comes to supporting communities and people who are working hard in industries, such as farming or resource extraction, or in relation to the port in my home riding of Churchill that is shipping out Canadian grain.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With respect to acknowledging and addressing the link between youth unemployment and youth homelessness, using the age range of 15-24: (a) what is the youth unemployment rate over the past three years, broken down by month and by province; (b) what was the impact of the 2006 Human Resources Development Canada investment in youth employment; (c) how much money does the government plan to invest in 2009-2010 to address the problem of youth unemployment; (d) how many additional homeless youth will be caused by the increase in youth unemployment; (e) what is the youth homelessness rate over the past three years, broken down by month and by province; (f) how much money the effects of youth homelessness cost the government in 2009-2010; (g) how much money will the government invest in 2009-2010 to address the problem of homeless youth; and (h) what is the government’s position on committing additional funds for youth internships and work study programs?

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  What is the total amount of government funding since fiscal year 2004-2005 up to and including the current fiscal year, allocated within the constituency of Churchill, listing each department or agency, initiative, and amount?

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With respect to educational grants and awards issued by the government for the last five years: (a) how many grants have been awarded annually; (b) what was the average amount awarded to each grant recipient from (i) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), (ii) Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), (iii) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC); (c) what is the gender split for awardees from (i) NSERC, (ii) CIHR, (iii) SSHRC; (d) what is the provincial breakdown for funding awarded by (i) NSERC, (ii) CIHR, (iii) SSHRC; (e) how many NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC grants are anticipated to be awarded in the next three years, on an annual basis and what is the estimated average value of these awards, on an annual basis; and (f) with regards to changes in SSHRC funding announced in Budget 2009, what was the rationale behind orienting funding toward business-related degrees or areas of study?

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regards to the Broadband for Rural and Northern Development Program Pilot Program: (a) how much did the program cost on an annual basis; (b) did the government achieve its stated goal of universal access by 2005 and, if not, what level of coverage did it achieve, overall and in each participating community and what factors prevented the program from attaining universal access; (c) for what reasons was the program not expanded beyond the pilot stage; (d) which communities participated in the pilot project, what funding did each community receive on an annual basis and what level of accessibility did each recipient community achieve; (e) what was the funding allocation, broken down by province; (f) what is the current level of broadband connectivity in each area that took part in the pilot program; (g) according to province, which communities are still without broadband access and how many of those are First Nations; (h) on a per capita basis for the last five years, how does access to broadband in rural and northern communities compare with Canada’s major urban centres; and (i) what strategies is the government currently undertaking to improve broadband access to rural and northern communities and what resources have been committed to such initiatives?

Petitions  Madam Speaker, I am proud to stand here with the signatures of over 17,000 students, researchers, academics and concerned individuals, people from coast to coast and around the world. The petitioners are protesting the budget in 2009 that notes a focus on only business-related research when it comes to new funding for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Aboriginal Affairs  Mr. Speaker, three chiefs in my region of northern Manitoba came to Ottawa this week and were able to have a meeting with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Aboriginal Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the chiefs drew attention to the appalling living conditions in first nations communities. I would like to note that we demanded many times for this meeting. This is a crisis that these people are facing in their communities. While this meeting was extremely important, what we really want to see is an immediate plan of action.

Health  Mr. Speaker, yesterday I visited two first nations in my region that have been hit with H1N1. I saw people who were afraid, anxious, tired and a pandemic plan full of paper, no resources, no action. The pandemic is spreading across first nations in Manitoba and across Canada, and the government's inaction is quite apparent.

Health  Mr. Speaker, what we need to see is leadership from the federal government. This is a national disgrace. The H1N1 emergency on first nations is not in a vacuum. Decades of indifference from federal governments have proven for living conditions that are an embarrassment in a country as wealthy as Canada.

Health  Mr. Speaker, today the World Health Organization announced H1N1 as a full-blown pandemic. In Manitoba over half of the people in intensive care are aboriginal, many from Nunavut. The government insists that H1N1 affects all Canadians equally, even after the WHO and Manitoba's medical officer agreed that it was hitting aboriginal Canadians the hardest.

Artists  Madam Speaker, I am proud to stand here on behalf of my party, the NDP, to support the motion put forward by the member for Verchères—Les Patriotes and seconded by the member for Laval. As my colleague for Edmonton—Strathcona said, we recognize a number of aspects of the motion as being very important, for example, the call for an increase in the direct assistance given to artists by increasing the annual budget of the Canada Council for the Arts to $300 million, noting that the government should not roll back the cuts it announced in the culture sector and that it should restore funding for a number of programs, including the arts promotion program, trade routes, the national training program for the film and video sector and many more programs that are very important to our arts community.