Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for raising that particular case, but I am not familiar with it. When I say it is not always a matter of political will I am saying yes, there seems to be political will to solve the problem, but the political will cannot just be superficially exp

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the experience the hon. member has on this issue by virtue of the fact that he has the Algonquins of Barriere Lake in his community. I have many good friends in that community. I do not know if he knows Dave Nawhegabow, someone I have known for a very lo

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank the hon. member for his kind words for the work that we both did, and in fact that the Liberals did on the environment committee to raise the profile of an issue which actually had something to do with source water protection, and that was the monitor

Business of Supply  First, Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend and congratulate the hon. member on the good work he did in the north in helping to provide health care for our aboriginal brothers and sisters. No doubt he would agree with the quote I read from the 2005 report of the Commissioner of t

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure to speak in this debate because, as many of my colleagues know, water issues are something in which I have a profound interest and have been working on almost since being elected in 2004. Of course, there is perhaps no more urgent water issue i

Water Management  Mr. Speaker, Canada's drinking water report card says the government is failing in almost every aspect of water protection. Only marginal improvements have been made to municipal water treatment since the government was first elected, an area where we should be investing to hel

Firearms Registry  Mr. Speaker, because of the decision to eliminate the gun registry, dangerous weapons will be circulating freely in our society. Owners of the powerful Ruger Mini-14, the weapon used by Marc Lépine and in Norway last summer, will not have to declare their weapons. The same applie

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I have never suggested that for a minute. As a matter of fact, I argued the opposite. I argued that gun owners are law-abiding and sterling citizens.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, based on what I have read, my sense is that it costs about $4 million year. However, one has to look at things comparatively. I am not trying to be partisan but we know the government is liberal when it comes to advertising its budgetary initiatives. We have all he

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I am familiar with the point the hon. member is making. I recently read in the National Post that in the past 15 years homicides by rifle have dropped 50% and firearm homicides against women have dropped 30%. Obviously, fewer homicides mean fewer men and women are k

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, what I said, and I stand to be corrected, was that many of my constituents are shocked and greatly disappointed that the government has gone ahead with this. Of course that is no surprise to me. I have been following the issue for many years. All members in the Hous

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I have known the hon. member by reputation since before I was elected. I worked here as an assistant when the hon. member first arrived in 1993, I believe it was. I know that this has been an issue that he has been studying for a very long time. I respect his knowled

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today because I believe that it is my fundamental duty to participate in this debate on behalf of my constituents who, like me, are concerned, shocked and upset by the very unfortunate legislative step that the Conservative government has taken by

Firearms Registry  Mr. Speaker, the government claims to defend—

Firearms Registry  Mr. Speaker, the government claims to defend victims and taxpayers. We have heard it all before. However, it is clear that it is turning its back on victims by eliminating the firearms registry. Victims themselves are saying this, and they have the support of the Federal Ombudsm