Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I move that the first report of the Standing Committee on Status of Women presented on Thursday, November 29, 2007, be concurred in. As we all know, having heard consistently from NGOs and witnesses to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, human trafficking in Canada and in the Vancouver area in particular is a problem that governmental and non-governmental authorities are only beginning to confront.

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, January 28 was the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada's Morgentaler decision, which decriminalized abortion in Canada. The legal decision was a victory for Canadian women. The court fully recognized that the law was unfair and that it presented unreasonable obstacles to women seeking abortions.

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order to issue a formal and unqualified apology to the member for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam. On Wednesday, I stood in this House on a point of order and drew the attention of this House to images I saw on the computer screen of the member.

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, last evening I was in the House to raise a question on behalf of my constituents. At that time, I saw the member for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam with an open laptop on his desk and on the screen was an image of a scantily clad woman. This was in my clear view and in the clear view of the public gallery.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact, I do have the facts. One fact is very clear: funding starting in 2010 is not going to do a whole lot for the people of London to address the infrastructure problem they have right now. According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the 2006 budget renewed existing infrastructure programs and extended to four years a $1.3 billion fund dedicated to transit.

House debate  Mr. Speaker, on November 2 I asked the minister about infrastructure funding for the city of London. The minister did not answer my question and I would like to take this opportunity to ask again about the funding. My question was in regard to a water main break causing a large sinkhole at the corner of Dundas and Wellington, a main intersection in downtown London.

Employment Insurance Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Laurentides—Labelle for bringing forward this very important piece of legislation. The bill makes a number of important amendments to the Employment Insurance Act. It reduces each qualifying period by 70 hours. It increases the benefit period.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, I guess it is a matter of priority. I will follow up with a couple of observations. He talked about seniors. The status of women committee looked at the economic security of women primarily, but we also touched on senior women and seniors in general. We discovered that far too many of our seniors were living in poverty.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, that is interesting. I have a little story in regard to those surpluses and that reduction of the deficit. In 1997, at a luncheon, Jean Chrétien congratulated himself for reducing the deficit and bringing about prosperity. What he did not tell everyone was that he had raided the EI fund and people entitled to employment insurance were receiving none.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, while I certainly would never support unparliamentary behaviour in this place, it would seem to me that we should be a lot more focused on the needs of the people of our community, their economic needs and the security of those communities, than to be dancing on words.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, I am certainly pleased to have an opportunity to speak to the 2007 economic update. I must say, though, that it is a woefully inadequate document. It simply does not take Canada in the direction that Parliament and the House of Commons is obligated to take our country.

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, this weekend FAFIA, the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, will be holding its national symposium in Gatineau, Quebec. It will be honouring Professor Jody Williams, Nobel peace prize laureate, who has been recognized for her leadership in the international campaign to ban landmines.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, I am quite taken with all of the discussion about good planning. I saw an example of that good planning in the city in which I live, London. About three weeks ago, the street literally caved in, and the city of London has been desperately trying to address the situation that this huge sinkhole has created downtown, in the busiest part of the city.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague spoke at length about the employment insurance fund. I remember the election of 1997 when a certain prime minister, Mr. Chrétien, gave a speech in front of a crowd of supporters who had paid $250 a plate for their lunch. The business elite of the day were applauded by the then prime minister for all of their sacrifices in terms of wrestling that deficit down.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, I have many questions and many of them pertain to manufacturing. The hon. member will know that I am from London—Fanshawe where we have experienced a manufacturing crisis of our own. Three hundred thousand jobs have been lost across Canada and a significant number of them have been in London--Fanshawe.