Abandoned Vessels  Mr. Speaker, as a proud representative of a coastal community on Vancouver Island, I am pleased to stand today to speak to the motion. I would like to thank the member for South Shore—St. Margarets for bringing it forward. This motion is a good step in the right direction, as i

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am rising yet again on behalf of the hard-working residents of Shawnigan Lake in my riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, who are fighting a contaminated soil dump in their area that affects a critical watershed. They ask that the federal government take some action

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by offering some comments about the hard-working United Steelworkers in my riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. My riding is home to two Western Forest Products mills, one in Cowichan Bay and one in Chemainus. Also many residents in my riding wo

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the residents of Shawnigan Lake in my riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, who petition the federal government to protect Shawnigan Lake from a contaminated soil dump under the Fisheries Act. I know it is primarily a provincial issue, but

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on a question that my friend, the member for Essex, asked. If I tell the people in my riding who work in sawmills that the government is hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, they are not going to take much stock. I would like the min

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am presenting comes from my riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, where the hard-working residents of Shawnigan Lake have been fighting against a contaminated-soil dump in their watershed. The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to sta

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, it is my honour today to rise in the House to present two petitions. The first petition deals uniquely with my area as critic on seniors issues. Petitioners are calling on the government to recognize the rapidly changing demographics of the Canadian population. Ther

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate his question because it really goes to the crux of the issue. Saudi Arabia and Iran are two opposite ends of the pole in the Middle East and both are competing for influence. However, we should not forget that while Iran is trying to further its influenc

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am more than happy to respond to those points. First, with respect to the member's statements about the committee work, the Standing Committee on International Trade has so many files to look at, such as softwood lumber. Our trade is so multi-faceted. Yes, the com

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by thanking the member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie for her incredible work on this issue, and for bringing this issue in today's motion as part of our opposition day. The motion comes at a very important and crucial time for Canada. Over the last nu

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, this week, the Chief Electoral Officer recommended limiting the length of election campaigns. It just so happens that I have introduced a bill that would cap the election period at 46 days. In the last election, Stephen Harper doubled spending limits by extending t

An Act to establish the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians  Madam Speaker, yes, I would go back to the parts of my speech where I talked about the committee basically going around in circles because the information it would be seeking might be “injurious to national security”. That just takes away from the purpose of the committee. How ca

An Act to establish the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians  Madam Speaker, absolutely, “smoke and mirrors” is very apt terminology for this practice. It is incumbent on us, here in the opposition, to play our job properly during the proceedings on the bill, not only by pointing out the deficiencies of the bill, but also by not letting t

An Act to establish the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians  Madam Speaker, we have seen in previous examples, most notably with northern gateway, that CSIS was complicit in providing information to oil companies about suspected activists and environmental protesters, so there is a very real threat. The bill could address that particular

An Act to establish the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians  Madam Speaker, I would also like to congratulate my friend, colleague, and neighbour from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke for a fantastic presentation and all of his work in the previous Parliament as the NDP's public safety critic. There are three main points I want to outline as part