Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member on his re-election to this House. My question concerns some of his remarks about unemployed workers. The member was in the House, as was I, earlier when we heard some statistics about employment insurance. We heard that

Governor General's Persons Award  Mr. Speaker, recently, one of my constituents, Ms. Shelagh Day, received the prestigious Governor General's Persons Award. This honour recognizes a lifetime of work on equality, social and economic rights for all Canadian women. I rise to offer my congratulations and thanks on b

Health  Mr. Speaker, natural health products are under attack. The Conservatives have made a mess of the approval process with unreachable deadlines to regulate a massive number of critical health products. Canada has over 10,000 natural health stores, with over 25,000 people employed

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, it is with great humility and reverence that I rise in this honourable chamber to address it substantively for the first time. I offer first my most heartfelt thanks to the people of Vancouver Kingsway for allowing me the privilege of representing them. I will do ev

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I join with the hon. member in both the tenor and particulars of his question. It is extremely important for government to keep its promises. This is reflected strongly in Vancouver Kingsway, where the citizens of my riding watched a member of Parliament cross the f

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, poverty is an extremely critical issue in my riding. As I mentioned in my inaugural speech, one out of every four children in my riding lives statistically below the poverty line. Children do not live in poverty by themselves. They live in families. That means there

The Budget  Madam Speaker, the hon. member says that the economic update in November was deceptive. The hon. member claims that the Conservatives have mismanaged the surpluses that accumulated under his government. He says that the government cannot be trusted and that the budget is replete

Canada–EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to speak to the issue before the House for a number of reasons. We are debating Bill C-2, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the States of the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein,

Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I will focus a little on the agriculture aspect of the member's question. I will start by answering with a quote from Terry Pugh, the executive secretary of the National Farmers Union, who said: —the most critical and highly negative aspect of this deal, from our

Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Welland for his astute observations and for bringing up a player in this entire debate that perhaps has not been focused on enough and that is the Canadian consumer, and the fact that we take for granted in this country that we

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to introduce a petition on behalf of many of my constituents and Canadians across the country, seeking to ban the residential burning of wood for environmental reasons except in remote areas where no other heat sources is available. The petitioners als

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, once again it is my privilege to address this budget on behalf of the residents and constituents of Vancouver Kingsway and all British Columbians and Canadians. In general, this is a budget that can fairly and only be described as one of missed opportunities and mis

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, the question is not whether there is anything in the budget for science and technology and research; it is whether or not there is sufficient money in the budget for science, research and technology. If we were to ask the aerospace industry today if it thinks this b

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, I agree completely that there are more efficient mechanisms to deliver infrastructure to the municipalities and I think sharing the gas tax revenue is a wonderful idea in that regard. It is a program that already exists and it can flow money more quickly. It actually

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the member two questions. The first one is on environmental assessments. We now know the government intends to add to the budget that was tabled originally, provisions that will decrease the ability to conduct environmental assessments on certain