Korean War Veterans  Mr. Speaker, our government deemed 2013 to be the Year of the Korean War Veteran. We are grateful to all the brave men and women who served during the Korean War, and we mourn the loss of the 516 Canadians who gave their lives in the defence of freedom. It is with great honour t

Respect for Communities Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to raise a few points that the member perhaps did not address very well. As someone who was formerly involved in local politics, decisions around what goes in neighbourhood zoning is very important to those communities. The ability for a community to ha

Respect for Communities Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciated my colleague's speech and perspective on this issue, but I think, as a nurse, she has probably had many patients over the years who were absolutely desperate to get into detoxification services and rehabilitation services. To be quite frank, those servi

Support for Volunteer Firefighters Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak on the second reading of Bill C-504, an act to amend the Canada Labour Code. First of all, I, too, like many people in this House, want to not only salute our volunteer firefighters, but our search and rescue folks, and the many

Employees' Voting Rights Act  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak today about the member for Wetaskiwin's private member's bill, the employees' voting rights act. This bill aims to amend the rules for union certification and decertification in federally-regulated workplaces, to ensure that all individuals

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2  Mr. Speaker, it is important to recognize that delegation of responsibility is very common in statute after statute. I go back to my previous world where I had delegation as a licensing officer for community care facilities. Delegation allows for consistency across the country. I

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2  Mr. Speaker, we obviously all have the same goal, and that is that workers are safe, workers are protected. Truly, I do not know how the member could stand up and say that when he looks at the statistics, which say that 80% of those who went forward on appeal were found to be n

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2  Mr. Speaker, absolutely senior citizens are critical to this country and they have contributed so much over the years. That is why I have constituents in my riding who have said to me that splitting their pension plan has made all the difference in the world to them. There have

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to stand today to speak to BIA 2 and, more specific, to the government amendments to part II of the Canada Labour Code. I want to be clear. The focus of our government and the purpose of these amendments is to improve the health and safety of Canad

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague's speech with great interest and noted that she said she studied occupational health and safety in school. In looking at the changes to the Canada Labour Code, it is important to note that in 80% of the appeals in the last 10 years, it has

First Nations Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, the member for Churchill is suggesting that the NDP is opposing this bill because of legislation that would provide a minister with the power to bring first nations into the first nations elections act in the event of a protracted leadership dispute that has signific

Main Estimates 2013-14  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the minister for again clearly articulating our position on moving forward with Senate reform. It has certainly been a long-standing commitment. No one ever said it would be an easy task. I suppose that if it were an easy task, it would be done.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Pickering—Scarborough East for a very articulate and well thought out speech in terms of what the responsibilities are, what the Constitution demands and where our government is planning to go. I would like to ask the member this

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I have spent a number of years in the House and, to be quite frank, I have never seen a motion from the opposition that is so absolutely ludicrous. It shows that the New Democrats have no respect for our Constitution or they do not understand. We know we have to mak

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, one of the pieces in the budget that was very well received and that people are excited about is the Canada job grant. Of course, that is going to take the federal government and the provincial governments, but most importantly, the employers. We are going to try to