Farm Families  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak in the House for the first time since my election. I would like to thank the constituents of Peace River who have bestowed on me the responsibility and the privilege of representing their vision for the future. This wee

RESUMPTION OF DEBATE ON ADDRESS IN REPLY  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my fellow member for his first speech in the House. He did a wonderful job of highlighting some of the important things that were put forward in the Speech from the Throne. Would the member give the House a little clarification on the child ca

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister of Transport for his speech and for his willingness to split his time with me. I appreciate the opportunity to stand in this House to offer a speech for the very first time since my election to this legislative body. I am humbled t

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the opportunity to sit with the hon. member as well. I am glad the member used the word “dumb” because I would like to talk about the dumb things we saw in the previous administration. We saw good money being spent on a sponsorship situation

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I certainly count it as a privilege to serve in this House alongside the hon. member. Her question was about choice and where there is no choice. I will tell the member that there was no choice in the proposed Liberal program that was cast as a universal benefit to

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals dismiss the value of helping families with the expense of enrolling their children in sports activities. The government values the benefit of sports and that was evident in last week's budget. Could the Minister for Sport explain the value of the sports

Spirit River Academy  Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to recognize a group of students who are visiting our national capital today from my constituency of Peace River. The students from Spirit River Academy are participating in a musical exchange with the Carleton Place High School band. While on th

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou. I appreciate the opportunity to address the House with respect to cultural heritage in Canada, but I have to admit up front that I am against the motion as it is written. I think that the motion

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would go back to what I stated at the end of my last response which is that we should be careful of what we ask for because we just might get it and it might be exactly the opposite of what we wanted. This is probably what the motion would bring forward. It is a ca

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more. It is very important for a government to have a strong understanding as to how it wants to assist our cultural communities and it does have a very important role to play. What I am concerned about is that the motion, however well-intentioned

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, the record of the Liberals on the environment is all over the map. Their last environment critic voted against Kyoto and said that the agreement was basically written on the back of an airplane napkin on the way to Kyoto. The current critic says that we will not be a

Atlas of Canada  Mr. Speaker, in 1906 the first edition of the Canadian Atlas was published by what is now the Department of Natural Resources. That atlas contained vital information for the European immigrants who helped build this great country. Through its subsequent editions, the atlas has gr

Liberal Party of Canada  Mr. Speaker, recently Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy continued the Liberal attack on hard-working rural Canadians. He suggested that they pay even more tax on the vehicles that they depend on for their livelihoods. In saying this, Kennedy took another low blow at o

Western Provinces  Mr. Speaker, for years the relationship looked to be nearing an end. With all that cheating, lying and verbal abuse, the western provinces were ready to pack their bags and leave. Under the leadership of the previous Liberal government, the western provinces had been forced to c

Children  Returning this fall to Parliament, I come with the renewed motivation and inspiration to build a safer, more healthy and prosperous Canada, a Canada that I will be proud to leave future generations. This renewed inspiration is a little girl named Abigail. On August 29, I held fo