Veterans  Mr. Speaker, talk is cheap. Just two weeks ago, a damning report slammed the government's lack of mental health treatment for Afghan veterans. It called the situation a crisis. Currently, the 6,000-member base in Petawawa has no psychologists and just one working psychiatrist.

National Defence  Mr. Speaker, the defence minister said several times that operating costs for the F-35 would be the same as the CF-18 operating costs. Now, the former parliamentary secretary is admitting that the F-35 will be much more expensive to fly than our CF-18s, roughly $12,000 more per h

Education  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to share the outstanding achievement of two teams of students at Gladstone Secondary School in Vancouver Kingsway who won first and second prize at the VEX Robotics High School World Championship in Anaheim, California. Under the guidance of

Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-31, a bill that dramatically changes the refugee system in Canada and, in my respectful view, does so for the worst. I was our party's immigration critic when the bill was introduced some three short months ago. Following the introduc

Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague raised the concept of designated safe countries, where the minister can select a country and designate it as safe. The result of that is refugee claimants from that country would have certain rights denied them, like the right to appeal to the refug

International Trade  Mr. Speaker, the human rights impact assessment on the Canada–Colombia free trade agreement tabled yesterday leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Mysteriously, the report contains no human rights analysis. Instead, it simply recites basic economic information we already know.

International Trade  Mr. Speaker, Canadians also want democratic values to be respected by our trade partners. Does the minister agree that a human rights impact assessment should actually address human rights?

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order to bring to your attention that prior to question period the member for Kootenay—Columbia used his Standing Order 31 statement to launch a personal attack on me, no less on a completely baseless and false matter. This is the second time t

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Madam Speaker, I would say to my hon. colleague that what we are talking about here is the proper way to present a budget in the British parliamentary system. That traditionally has been to present the budget, not to present a 421-page omnibus bill that contains measures on envir

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Madam Speaker, I full agree with my hon. colleague when he says that the bill is ominous. It certainly is. I would point out as well that one of the greatest myths in Canadian politics is that the Conservatives are good money managers. Under the government when the Conservatives

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to stand and speak on the budget implementation bill, Bill C-38, on behalf of my constituents in Vancouver Kingsway and on behalf of all Canadians who want to see democracy, accountability and sound fiscal planning for a fair and prosperous Canada. I

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of Orwellianspeak in this House over the budget. The budget contains the words “long-term sustainability”, yet it contains within its pages the provision that would remove the protection of fish habitat from the Fisheries Act and instead replace

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to put a number of facts to my hon. colleague for his comment. First, he and other members of the government have said they do not believe it is fair to foist the economic problems of today on the generations of tomorrow. They have also commented tha

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Madam Speaker, when I was elected by the good people of Vancouver Kingsway in 2008 to come here, I was told by the people who operate this place and have a lot of experience here that our prime function as parliamentarians was to scrutinize and approve spending of government. The

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today. The first is a continuing campaign by the 100,000-strong Canadian Fijian population that is calling for the establishment of a high commission or regular consulate in the Republic of Fiji Islands. They point out that Canadians