Hastings—Lennox and Addington  Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour to stand in the House for the first time to thank the people of Hastings—Lennox and Addington for placing their trust in me as their elected representative. I would also like to thank my wife, family, friends, and supporters for their love, suppo

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member on his election. The member spoke about infrastructure, deficits, and that at some point we have to invest in our communities. I have had a number of community meetings over the last few months, and every one of them has

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the hon. member for his maiden speech in the House. It was very eloquently put. In the throne speech, our government emphasized infrastructure and its ability to create an environment for growth. By investing in our infrastructure, we open up our mar

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member on winning his seat in October and on his excellent speech this afternoon. I come from a rural riding, like the hon. member. What I see in the Speech from the Throne would benefit all of the ridings in this country. From the standpoint of

The Budget  Madam Speaker, our government is looking to invest in Canadians. I think we have learned over the last decade that we cannot cut our way to growth. Rather, we need to invest our way to growth. That means investing in innovation, in public transit, in increased productivity, and i

Clarence Kennedy  Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to pay tribute to the warden of Lennox and Addington County, Clarence Kennedy, who passed away in office in March. Integrity was his hallmark, and Clarence was a model of service to his community. He wore many hats, as many talented people

The Environment  Madam Speaker, last fall we campaigned on a promise to finally take action on climate change. Canadians understand that the economy and the environment are not two separate issues; they go hand in hand. To that end, I understand that the Prime Minister is in New York today to fo

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Ottawa South. I rise today to discuss how our government's budget would benefit rural Canada. I am very fortunate to chair a strong rural caucus that is working hard to identify key issues and challenges that exist i

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, like the member, I agree on the importance of rail. Once again, do we just throw money out there and hope that it creates this field of dreams? No, we have to do the reports, and we have to bring evidence and data to support the investment. We are a growth agenda

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more. As part of the funding formula, we really need to look at whenever there is an infrastructure project to be done, when a road is being dug up for example, at least the conduit for fibre should be laid when that road is being done. The member

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1.  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the finance minister for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians he consulted on this budget. To emphasize the benefits that this budget would have to my rural community and rural communities across Canada, the $500-million investment in digita

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the eloquent, passionate speech that he made and for the tireless efforts he puts in representing his constituents of Saint John—Rothesay. I could not agree more with his statements as far as the efforts that our budget is putting forwa

Suicide Prevention  Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the work that Jonathan Maracle and the Broken Walls team did this summer to help with the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat, a community that Jonathan tells me is full of gifted people, who have a lot of potential. Jonathan is a member of the Mohaw

Agriculture and Agri-Food  Mr. Speaker, expanding access into the Chinese market is incredibly important to boost the bottom line for Canadian farmers and agricultural industries. These industries contribute over $100 billion and two million jobs to our economy. Could the Minister of Agriculture update th

Paris Agreement  Mr. Speaker, I am happy to be sharing my time with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. As we know, rapid global climate change is occurring, which will have far-reaching impacts on society, biodiversity, and ecosystems. We have only to look at my own riding of Hastings—Lennox a