Copyright Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's comment. I assure the member that I could find Conservatives who believe in the Canadian Wheat Board. He points to an example and says that John Manley said that for the most part the legislation is good and we should pass the bill. At the end of the day, if we can make the bill better, why would we not make it better?

Copyright Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak on Bill C-11, a bill that I understand has a bit of a history in the chamber. I can appreciate that at times the government is frustrated because it does not necessarily get what it wants. In previous minority governments, the Conservatives attempted to pass legislation of a similar nature, almost a word-for-word bill, but because of the frustrations of not being successful in getting it passed, we once again have Bill C-11 before us, the same bill with a different number.

Privilege  You had a responsibility to have a plebiscite before you brought in this legislation. Mr. Speaker, because the government did not do that it is in violation of the privileges of each and every member of the chamber. I would suggest that this is indeed a valid question of privilege.

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I will get right to the point. I would submit that to place this legislation before the House and seek its support would require members of the House to endorse legislation which begins from a premise that contravenes an existing law and thus places members of the House in an untenable and unacceptable position.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Madam Speaker, when individuals from the agricultural stakeholders in the United States are saying that this is a good thing, and when a majority of our Prairie wheat farmers are saying that they want to keep the Wheat Board, that should be sending up quite a few red flags. Let there be no doubt that there has been very little, if any, statistical or factual research that the government has been able to do on this issue that clearly enunciates why it is a good policy decision.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Madam Speaker, I can indicate to the House that the human rights museum is a wonderful project that I supported. When billions of dollars are spent, a lot of what is spent is fairly favourable toward good ideas and good projects. I do support those. However, at the end of the day, there are some outstanding issues that are fairly significant.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Madam Speaker, I know the member opposite does not like what he is hearing but I can assure the member that it is completely relevant to the debate. Had he been listening in terms of the comments and looking at the book, and I can appreciate it is a fairly thick book, he would find that there are many expenditures that deal with our agricultural community.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Madam Speaker, the clock is ticking as the vote is quickly approaching. I have been a parliamentarian for about 20 years now and never before have I seen a government take such strong action to prevent members in a chamber from being able to participate fully in what is one of the most important bills that we will debate in the House.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Madam Speaker, the member made reference on two occasions to health care. I agree in terms of the importance of that universal health care to which he makes reference. I would go further in just how important it is that we start to talk more about the health care accord that we hope will be put into place by 2014.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, over the weekend I was over at Maples Community Centre with a group of seniors. One of the discussion items was with regard to pension incomes. The feeling shared among opposition members is that we are not providing enough for our seniors and that they need to have more financial support.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, every member from the Conservative Party talks about the thousands of jobs that have been created. Every Conservative member has talked about that, yet the reality is that in August 2008, there were 14,631,300 Canadian full-time jobs. Today, that number is down by over 500,000 to 14,106,100.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, I was somewhat enjoying the member's speech until he hit the one part where he mentioned the Conservatives and the Liberals and their corporate tax cut agenda. There is no doubt that the Liberal Party has recognized the value of corporate tax cuts in certain situations, economic times and so forth.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I present a petition with regard to the Canadian Wheat Board. The petition is signed by a number of prairie farmers who believe it is absolutely critical that the government reverse its decision in regard to getting rid of the Canadian Wheat Board. Earlier today we heard the government refer to one letter saying that individual wants to get rid of the Wheat Board.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives and Liberals agree on one aspect of this bill, which is the volunteer firefighters tax credit. We recognize the valuable contributions our volunteer firefighters make. Where we tend to disagree is that the Liberal Party believes that volunteer firefighters at a low-income threshold should also get a tax benefit.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, it is always encouraging when we hear a moment of truth from the Conservative government. I will quote something from October 12, which I am sure my colleagues on the other side will appreciate. It is from the President of the Treasury Board. The article reads: ...is crediting much of Canada’s current economic success to actions taken long before his government came to power, telling a Washington business crowd Wednesday that Canada made the right moves when faced with serious debt troubles of its own in 1995.