Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, this has been an issue for a number of months, and the Prime Minister has essentially ignored it. He said it was up to the provinces to deal with it. When it was becoming a crisis, he was in Africa advocating for his UN seat and ignoring the crisis at home. The firs

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, we have a situation where our country is paralyzed. There are significant impacts throughout the country. We need to be a country where there is the rule of law. I recognize the RCMP needs to be given latitude to try to decrease tension and to do the job it is expec

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I share the member's concerns about the blockade of the railway. Today in the riding I represent the rail lines were blocked. It is a problem. When home heating for our seniors, chlorine for our drinking water, and many services that people need are jeopardized, hea

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to speak in the emergency debate the other night. At that time, I was able to talk about the profound impacts this crisis was having throughout the country. Today, I want to build on my comments from that night. I am really glad this is an oppos

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister just said he was going to resolve this in the coming months. The forestry industry in B.C. is in crisis. Two dozen mills have closed down and 10,000 workers' jobs have been impacted. Now we have blockades. Fifty percent of the product goes to mills

Relations with Indigenous Peoples  Madam Speaker, I outlined in my speech all the indicators with respect to the elected band councils, the referendum processes, the statements by so many of the members and the survey that indicated 85% support for the project. From what we have heard, and we are not in the commun

Relations with Indigenous Peoples  Madam Speaker, absolutely we respect section 35. However, what is very ironic is the member for Vancouver East sat in the B.C. legislature. She is part of the party that is supporting this pipeline. It is absolutely strange, absolutely ironic to hear the way she is arguing in the

Relations with Indigenous Peoples  Madam Speaker, I have been at a number of forums where we have had presentations on some of the work that has been done. There clearly are some local issues that need to be dealt with and the the current government has ignored the signals. Everything I have read, everything I h

Relations with Indigenous Peoples  Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River. I want to acknowledge that the Speaker allowed this emergency debate tonight. It is an issue of critical importance across the country. To be frank, it did not have to be this wa

Relations with Indigenous Peoples  Madam Speaker, I would like to suggest that the government has been asleep at the switch for the last number of months. This is a crisis that has been brewing. The Prime Minister was saying that it is up to the provincial government to deal with it, that it is up to whoever to de

Relations with Indigenous Peoples  Madam Speaker, there is a challenge in the debate we are having tonight. When my colleagues and I stand, we believe we are standing up for the Wet'suwet'en people and the decision that was made by their elected council and a number of the hereditary chiefs. I was at a resource fo

Forestry Industry  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said one of his most important roles was to protect jobs. Did he mean only certain jobs were worthy of his protection? He has failed to acknowledge the softwood lumber crisis in British Columbia. He did not put it in the mandate letter for the min

Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, certainly we share the concerns around softwood lumber, but the NDP historically has been very reluctant to support any trade agreement, and so I am not sure we have common ground there in terms of the best way to move forward. However, had the government reached o

Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I think that our record for ensuring that the appropriate documents were tabled and that the opposition was informed and had briefings is miles and miles ahead of what happened in this case. This is a trade agreement with our most important neighbours, and I will

Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, first of all, I want to talk a bit about the aluminum industry. In Canada, we need to be extremely proud of the amazing work that our aluminum industry is doing in heading towards a low-carbon product. For aluminum not to have the same protection as steel in the ag