Justice committee  A recent study by McMaster University estimated that in 2008 1.7 million Canadian identity theft victims spent 20 million hours and $150 million clearing their names. Of course, individuals aren't the only victims. Stolen identities are also used to commit frauds involving government services, benefits, and official documents. Financial institutions and retailers, the foundation of our economy, suffer growing losses every year.

Employment Insurance Act  I heard people in my riding very clearly all through the summer say, “$1 billion for unemployment or a $300 million election, take your pick”. It was pretty clear which direction we should go in. Why does the member think there are members of the House who are not interested in making those baby steps, eventually becoming large steps, in the right direction?

Employment Insurance Act  There is work to be done and that is why as the official opposition we are telling the government and the NDP that what is being proposed is not good enough. When we talk about Bill C-50, we are telling the government loud and clear that this is not acceptable, not only to us, but it is not acceptable to the majority of Canadians who need a government to understand that this recession has taken its toll on them. The recession has put them in an untenable position where they cannot provide for their families, where they cannot make ends meet and where they really need a government that understands and is sympathetic to the situation in which they find themselves.

Health committee  Examples of critical services offered by the Government of Canada are—and these are just some examples—the production and dissemination of weather warnings by Environment Canada, the daily operations of the Bank of Canada in terms of payments and securities clearing and settlement functions, and the monitoring of adverse reactions to products such as drugs by Health Canada. As I said, those are just a few examples of critical services that need to be maintained at all times.

Justice committee  Given the combined scope of the definition and the proposed offences, we believe that the bill's proposal to add new defences to the existing concept of lawful excuse is appropriate. It is a clear attempt to restrict the reach of these provisions and is consistent with the concerns we have addressed in the past. In spite of Bill S-4's proposed restrictions, other jurisdictions go further to restrict the reach of similar provisions in two ways.

Public Accounts committee  Effective financial and resource management practices are crucial for National Defence to ensure that resources are aligned to enable the Canadian Forces to do what the government and Canadians expect of them and to be prudent stewards of public funds at all times, especially in the current economic and fiscal context and the ongoing imperative for clear and effective accountability. l'm pleased to advise the committee that we have developed an action plan detailing how we are addressing each of the five recommendations in chapter V of the report.

Employment Insurance Act  We froze EI premiums for 2009 and for next year, 2010, because we understood that employers and employees needed to keep more of their money in their pockets to help them through these troubled times. We were also clear that more may be needed and that we would monitor the economy and the EI system to ensure needs were being met with appropriate actions. While we heard these good, affordable and responsible ideas for EI improvements from Canadians, we heard different things from the veritable coalition of opposition parties and from the usual suspects.

Finance committee  Because Canada does not have the kind of observing conditions to be a world leader. It's necessary that the atmosphere be very clear and not very turbulent and this is found on the tops of high mountains located at southerly latitudes close to the equator. The best sites in the world, and the places where all of the major observatories that exist are located, are typically within 20 degrees or 30 degrees of that, on the tops of mountains that are 10,000 feet or higher.

Employment Insurance Act  Speaker, I want to first congratulate the hon. member for Berthier—Maskinongé on his speech and for making it clear that we will be voting against this bill. This bill is full of measures to prevent even more people from getting employment insurance. I would like my colleague to describe once more the situations in his riding where people who lose their job would no longer be eligible for benefits under Bill C-50, despite what the government claims.

Finance committee  That is terrible. I think there is a direct link with the health of the environment. That is a very clear sign of major environmental degradation, not only for salmon, but also for humans. This morning, Mr. Otway gave a presentation. I am not sure if you know him. He wants the federal government to invest $200 million, while you asked for $100 million, so half the money.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, it is clear. We are negotiating with Quebec , negotiating in good faith. The Premier of Quebec said that some things needed to be tweaked and the Minister of Finance agreed. That is what is happening now.

Finance committee  The case for it, I think, depends a little bit on who actually gets the money and how it's justified from a public policy point of view. I wasn't quite clear on that from your presentation.

House debate  This is the third incident faced by people in my riding related to Kinder Morgan. There was a clear cutting of a pipeline right-of-way through the Forest Grove neighbourhood, where it became clear that Kinder Morgan did not know the location of the pipeline. There was the pipeline incident on July 24, 2007, which we have been discussing.

House debate  The Transportation Safety Board, TSB, released its report into this incident in March of this year. It is clear from the TSB report that confusion existed about the exact location of the pipeline in the area of the construction project. Design drawings and maps of the pipeline in the area date from the 1950s when the pipeline was originally constructed, and no longer accurately indicate the exact location of the pipeline.

Finance committee  We didn't hear about that 25 years ago, but it definitely is not sustainable to put a heritage building into landfill, so that's another good reason. Costs have gone up, and it's clear that it's very difficult for many owners to actually restore their heritage buildings without some incentive. It is of benefit to everyone when this happens, not just to the owner. Looking at the next question on whether incentives actually work, we have the example of the U.S. government, and in our brief we've outlined how successful that has been.