Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, as this is my first opportunity to speak in the House, I congratulate you on your appointment to your position. I would also like to thank the constituents of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek for giving me their confidence to represent them in the House. One of the things

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Nickle Belt. As the mayor of Hamilton, I dealt a lot with off-reserve aboriginal questions, including housing and poverty. I am wondering if there is a significant off-reserve component in Nickle Belt that needs to be addressed by t

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ajax for allowing me part of the time to have the honour and privilege of speaking to the 42nd Parliament today as the elected representative of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek. I owe my presence here today to a small but dedicated group of vol

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, the list is actually too short. The hon. member has forgotten that it was the federal government that enabled our brand new, wonderful stadium, Tim Hortons Field, with a $69-million investment. It is an international, multi-purpose, multi-sport facility. Once again,

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I know that all of us on this side of the House are concerned about the welfare of all working people and all employers. Our experience in Hamilton has been with large companies like ArcelorMittal Dofasco. The supply chain that extends from that actually creates the

Business of the House  Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed the historic record that our colleague across the way presented. One was left out, and that had to do with the potential for revenue generation for the government. Internal documents from the Canada Revenue Agency showed that it cut some of its most highl

Canada Labour Code  Madam Speaker, as the member would know, when I was a mayor in Hamilton and whenever there was an event where we were all to speak, we all wanted to know the list of speakers because nobody wanted to come after the member across the way because of his remarkable and formidable sp

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure, as the mayor of Hamilton, to entertain a delegation of Israeli mayors. Some were Jewish and some were Muslim. I still have a commemorative plate from the mayor of Zemer, an Arabic-speaking Muslim, who came with a delegation, as I have said, of bot

Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL  Madam Speaker, in October 2015, the United States pulled out the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, which had on it 65 aircraft. It was the first time since 2007 that there was no American carrier presence in the Gulf. Part of the reason for the removal of the carrier was b

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I am very interested in the comments on both sides of the argument. However, I want to point out that the idea of religious freedom is nominally accepted in many countries in the world, and I would be interested in the comments of our speaker in that regard. Amne

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments by my friend across the way, but I am confused about the emphasis on palliative care with the deadline that is presented to us, which is June 6. If we were going to venture into palliative care and incorporate it into the legislation, we wo

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, I want to assure my colleague across the way that in our group, we have taken all of these concerns to heart. I heard a lot in the discussion about political motives. We do not have any political motives other than having to answer the Supreme Court's request that

Disaster Assistance  Mr. Speaker, like all Canadians, the residents of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek stand in solidarity with the people of Fort McMurray. I have been moved by statements made by members in the House regarding this terrible situation, and in particular a statement by the member for Még

Public Service Labour Relations Act  Madam Speaker, I am delighted to address this issue because my son was standing in front of the Parliament Buildings for the last couple of months as a new member of the RCMP. I congratulate the hon. member for his service. I am wondering about the notion of RCMP members being i

Croatian Person of the Year  Mr. Speaker, Hamilton's Croatian community is one of Canada's oldest and most active. On Sunday I attended, as the only MP of Croatian heritage, the annual Croatian Person of the Year banquet. Michael Loncarich exemplifies the best of Canadian and Croatian values, an outstandi