Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak in today's debate. This is my first time speaking on a privilege motion, and it is not a subject I take lightly. Respecting privilege is a critically important part of the work we do as parliamentarians. I will get right to the point.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, while my colleague seems to be on a bit of a roll this morning, unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the discussion at hand of refugees. He seems to be thinking that this debate happens to be about Bill C-23. I would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to ask the member to come back to relevance and the issue before the House.

Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Act  Mr. Speaker, earlier today we heard the minister as well as the parliamentary secretary outline the great amount of work, in both negotiations, over the past years. It has been a lot of hard work and dedication by all sides. I would like the parliamentary secretary to elaborate further, particularly on the co-operation and consultation that worked toward the supplemental agreement in 2008 with the Federation of Newfoundland Indians.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, last week the Leader of the Opposition visited my beautiful riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla. While in the riding, the Leader of the Opposition visited Structurlam Products in Okanagan Falls. Structurlam is an exciting and innovative success story as the producer of value-added wood products, using a new technology called cross-lam construction.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's speech. I paid very close attention, particularly when he was speaking about the gas tax, as well as municipalities and their needs. Absolutely, municipalities have a lot of needs. My area of West Kelowna is a great example of a community that is trying to build up from a rural standard to a more urban standard.

Veterans  Mr. Speaker, the question is misleading. Veterans with service-related conditions are covered by the new veterans charter program. What we are discussing here are changes to voluntary supplementary health benefits. It is fair and reasonable that the costs of this voluntary supplementary health care coverage be split evenly with the taxpayers of Canada.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I have certainly come to expect that kind of overheated rhetoric from the third party. That is one of the reasons it is relegated to that end of the chamber. I would like to ask the member a factual question. Does he not recognize that there has been a 6% escalator since this government took office in 2006?

Public Service of Canada  Mr. Speaker, we thank the Parliamentary Budget Officer for his report. His report confirms that public servants take, on average, 18 days of paid and unpaid sick leave per year. This rate of absenteeism is unacceptable. This is why we are committed to introducing short- and long-term disability plans, which will help public servants get healthy and back to work.

Public Service of Canada  Mr. Speaker, as I said, we thank the Parliamentary Budget Officer for his report. On page 3 of his report, it confirms that public servants take, on average, 18 days of paid and unpaid sick leave per year. This rate of absenteeism is unacceptable. That is why we are committed to introducing short- and long-term disability plans, which will help public servants get healthy and back to work.

Small Business  Mr. Speaker, it is a great question and I am happy to answer for the hon. member. On this side of the House, we are proud to have heard and listened to the calls of Canadian business owners. Here is a concrete example of how we have helped. The one-for-one rule has resulted in allowing pharmacy technicians to transfer drugs to other pharmacies, a practice previously restricted only to pharmacists.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, we certainly know that Canada Post is an important institution in this country, and it is good to have the debate. Canada Post lost $129 million before tax in the third quarter alone, and that is despite growth in parcels. If home delivery is as expensive as is said, then to continue with that service is going to cost Canada Post a lot more money.

Winter Olympic Games  Mr. Speaker, in less than two weeks' time, the world will be going to Sochi for the Olympic Winter Games. Among our contingent of proud Canadian athletes will be three Olympians from my riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla. Competing in both the two-man and four-man bobsleigh event is Justin Kripps, from Summerland, B.C.

Protecting Taxpayers and Revoking Pensions of Convicted Politicians Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to Bill C-518, an Act to amend the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act. When I became elected as a member of Parliament, one of the first messages that I heard loud and clear from the citizens in my area was the need to take action on gold plated MP pension plans.

Open Government  Mr. Speaker, there has been much discussion of late on the topic of increasing democracy and how we can improve Parliament. On that note, I would like to take a moment to recognize the excellent work of the Open Parliament website. Openparliament.ca is a valuable online resource that allows Canadians the opportunity to keep up to date on the work we do here in this place.

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2  The hon. member for Kootenay—Columbia.