International Day of Peace  Mr. Speaker, it is International Day of Peace. It is a day for us to commit to building communities without fear, building communities of well-being instead of a sense of power that comes from control and fear. International Day of Peace is a new supplementation to the Universal

Accessible Canada Act  Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for her speech and interest in how we advance accessibility for the lives of all Canadians. I agree that we need to have clear standards so that everyone can follow them. I am a big proponent of that. I have heard from people who are genui

Accessible Canada Act  Madam Speaker, I do not want to give a blunt answer that the approach, as I said in my speech, is misguided. This gives me an opportunity to say this is why, as the minister mentioned, it is important to have the input of people with lived experience, because I have every confide

Accessible Canada Act  Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his dedication and interest on this file and for being responsive to the people in his constituency as we try to make lives better for people living with disabilities. A new agency is being established that is going to develo

Accessible Canada Act  Madam Speaker, I am so inspired by the work the minister is doing and her bravery in doing some really groundbreaking work. I understand how important it is for those of us who sincerely want to see impactful change to work in a collegial way on these amendments together. I abs

Accessible Canada Act  Madam Speaker, some of the easy ones, some of the low-lying fruit, which I did mention in my speech are things like when one is required to design an accessibility plan one is required to implement it. That is a no-brainer. I would reiterate the reflection that no one gets sweepi

Accessible Canada Act  Madam Speaker, these proceedings on Bill C-81, an act to ensure a barrier-free Canada, have the potential for tremendous historic significance. We are debating a bill that, if done properly, would create breakthrough legislation that would profoundly impact Canadian society for g

Accessible Canada Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my honourable colleague for his interest in moving forward an agenda to make lives better for persons living with disabilities. In our party, we have a persons living with disabilities caucus, so I do not need the governing party to provide me

Accessible Canada Act  Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague, the minister, for tabling this historic legislation today. I look forward to working in a collegial fashion so that all of us here can strengthen the bill, because it is something that all Canadians deserve. I was intrigued and i

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, speaking of looking inward, people with disabilities have been waiting for far too long for a national accessibility act. Canadians were disappointed when Liberal legislation was tabled with no timeline and no requirements. Services as important as VIA Rail could as

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise with probably the last piece of business we are going to have for the spring of 2018. I know that as we shutter this place and go home to our constituencies, all of us are going to be able to re-energize and have a very safe summer. I am rising with a petitio

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities eight long years ago but to this day we have failed to implement it. That is why Canadians are watching as the minister tables the government's long-awaited accessibility act thi

International Trade  Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of at least 50,000 workers employed directly by the steel and aluminum industries and the communities that rely directly and indirectly on their income. It is incumbent on the government to work with the U.S. to get a permanent exemption to these ta

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I listened earlier with interest as the member chastised someone else for not listening to his speech and for maybe not understanding. The issue is not black and white. If a government needs to close an office for safety, of course it can. It can also reopen it. Wha

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, we have so many knowledgeable people who have established relationships in troublesome places, in troublesome countries. When there are heated moments or there is a threat of escalating conflict, there is no denying we need to have safety. However, there is much in p