Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I do not know why my friend thinks his particular version of the constitutional requirements is the correct one because we have a reference to the Supreme Court of Canada now. My hon. colleague thinks a change to the Senate would require unanimity in the Constitution, and some would think that.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to stand in support of the motion today: That, in the opinion of the House, the government of Canada, in consultation with the provinces and territories, should take immediate steps towards abolishing the unelected and unaccountable Senate of Canada.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague for a thoughtful speech. I would like to get his views on the following. First, I have heard members opposite say that we have to have a second chamber to counter what they have termed “majoritarian rule”. I am reminded that four provinces in the country did have senates at one time and managed to abolish them and retain one body in the province governed by the principal of majority rule without any noticeable deterioration with respect to democracy.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, if I am correct, my research has told me that some four provinces of this country had senates at one time and abolished them. I think if we went to the citizens of those provinces, they would tell us they have absolutely no memory whatsoever of there being a senate nor any loss in terms of the political governance of those provinces.

Search and Rescue  Mr. Speaker, the fact is we were lucky no one was hurt this weekend. The situation is only going to get worse this summer when our coast is full of kids learning to sail, families on vacation and more marine traffic. Sea Island took 31 minutes, not 11 minutes, to respond in English Bay.

Search and Rescue  Mr. Speaker, this past weekend a ship ran aground in English Bay near Vancouver. If the Kitsilano base were still open, the Coast Guard could have responded in a matter of minutes, but instead the response time from Sea Island was over half an hour. British Columbians are concerned about the closure of Vancouver's only Coast Guard station, but the Conservative government is not listening.

Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act  Absolutely, Mr. Speaker. If we just stop and think for a moment, in 2013 I think Canadians expect that when men and women walk through the workplace door, they do not check their rights. When they walk through the workplace door, they expect to be treated professionally. They expect to have their civil rights respected.

Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act  Mr. Speaker, some of the amendments that the NDP proposed dealt with adding mandatory harassment training for RCMP members, specifically in the RCMP Act. When we have a national scandal going where 200 women have launched a class action lawsuit alleging sexual harassment in the workplace, does one not think that putting mandatory harassment training in a bill dealing with the RCMP would be logical response?

Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to stand to speak to Bill C-42, an act to amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act., an issue that is not only of importance to all members in the House, but is of great interest to the public at large, from coast to coast. To put this in context, I want to pick up on some of the themes that were mentioned by my hon. colleague from Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, who gave one of the most thoughtful speeches on this subject, or any subject that I have heard in the House in years.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, the New Democratic Party is very supportive of deepening and broadening Canadian economic relations with Japan. We share the view that closer economic relations between Canada and Japan can lead to greater prosperity for the people of both nations. We believe that pursuing an effective economic partnership agreement between our two countries is an important means to this end, and we support in principle and in many specifics the findings and recommendations contained in the report.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the New Democrats believe that a long-term effective infrastructure plan should be included in the 2013 budget, which is developed through continuous consultation with provinces, territories, municipalities and aboriginal communities and which would span a period of 20 years to allow for better long-term planning and support of long-term projects, sets clear funding criteria and program targets, uses transparent accountable and non-political allocation mechanisms to facilitate this process, something from which the Conservative government can learn.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's intelligent and thoughtful question gives me an opportunity to point out the other forms of infrastructure that are important to Canadians such as broadband Internet, hospitals, schools, airports, power lines, dams, wind farms and energy plants. Those also make up a wide array of the public infrastructure of Canada.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Western Arctic. I am incredibly pleased and proud to speak to what I think is one of the most excellent motions ever presented in the House this session, and that is the opposition day motion drafted by my colleague from Trinity—Spadina.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, while I listened with interest to my hon. colleague's speech, I was also present in the House when the government produced an economic update in November 2008 that projected a surplus for 2009 and completely failed to see coming what it now refers to as the “great recession” and had to be pressed into making investments to help save the Canadian economy by the New Democrats and this side of the House.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the website of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities says there has been an infrastructure deficit, a backlog of delayed repairs and construction that hurts every Canadian family and business. It says that, for 25 years, Canadians have watched the symptoms of the infrastructure deficit grow—rusting bridges, crumbling roads, crowded buses and subways and thousands of drinking water warnings.