Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague had a rather lengthy dissertation on various topics, some of which I thought did begin to stray a bit from the matter at hand here, but really he was talking in terms of what he felt were some of the causes for poorer participation in elections. As

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of the grade five students of James Keating Elementary School in the great town of Penetanguishene in my riding. The petitioners of course are actually the parents of these well-informed students. They draw the attention

Income Trusts  Mr. Speaker, as I listened to this hon. member I wondered what he would have to say about prominent members from his own party like, for example, Sheila Copps, who said that reversing the income trust decision “would...run afoul of espoused Liberal principles, by promoting a tax

Budget Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has waxed poetic about this notion of fairness and how he is essentially what appears to be opposed to it. He mentioned income tax, for example. He suggested that income tax reductions would be the fairest approach to extending tax savings to Canadia

Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, on the question of personal loans from individuals, the member brought up an important point. If the lender was to allow the person who had borrowed the money to not repay the loan, it occurs to me that might set up a situation where the lender might be able to decla

Senate Appointment Consultations Act  Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that the work of the Senate has been important to this Parliament throughout history. There has also been since the early days an expression that the Senate needs to be reflective of the considerations of the public in making sure that their work is

Senate Appointment Consultations Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his very insightful and very specific question. I did not get into the details in my remarks, but one of the features of this bill is the voting system. The voting system is done on a preferential ballot. If there were, as the member has

Senate Appointment Consultations Act  Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Fleetwood—Port Kells. I am pleased to rise in the House in support of Bill C-43, a new bill to implement and improve the way in which worthy citizens can be considered for appointment to the other place in this Parlia

Lake Simcoe  Mr. Speaker, citizens and environmental advocacy groups are hailing our government's commitment to provide $12 million over the next two years to clean up Lake Simcoe in central Ontario. This fragile ecosystem and watershed has been in a perilous state for over the last decade. I

Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, I have sat here and listened to most of the debate on the motion by the government House leader today. I think there is certainly great unanimity around the notion that we need Bill C-16 and we need it passed. What is lost in all of this is the whole reason we have b

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I have a petition to submit on behalf of several dozen constituents in the riding of Simcoe North. They are essentially compelling the government to reconsider and re-evaluate sentences handed to criminals, particularly that those sentences be in prop

Curling  Mr. Speaker, just over a week ago, Glenn Howard's Coldwater Ontario curling rink won the 78th Brier Curling Championship in Hamilton, Ontario. This was Glenn's first Brier win as skip and his third in a winning Brier rink. This is a proud moment for the citizens of Glenn's homet

CN Rail  Mr. Speaker, while the CN Rail strike continues it is costing Saskatchewan grain farmers an extra $300,000 a day because of delays. And that is not all. Two potash mines may close this week and two more next week. There are layoffs in lumber towns and there is a significant impac

Human Trafficking  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to stand in the House today to speak in support of Motion No. 153, sponsored by my friend and colleague, the member for Kildonan—St. Paul. Indeed, it was a privilege to be in the House this afternoon to hear the interventions by the other members, t

Agriculture  Mr. Speaker, agriculture and food production in my riding of Simcoe North represents 20% of the economy and is the third largest industry in our county. I know that dairy farmers in my riding will welcome the announcement by the Minister of Agriculture that Canada will restric