Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to pick up where things left off in June. Right before the long debate on back-to-work legislation I had the opportunity to speak to this bill for eight minutes. At that point I was making three general observations. The first is that refugees are

Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services Legislation  Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting the way the government characterizes the state of the economy. It goes from saying that the recovery is very fragile to saying that the economy is very strong, that we have recouped all the lost jobs since the recession and that we have had stro

Kirkland  Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the city of Kirkland. Kirkland's history begins with the arrival of the Brunet family in the area in 1667. The Meloche and Daoust families were also among the first families to arrive. Kirkland's town library is a testament t

Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act  Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise on this important piece of legislation which was introduced in the last Parliament but did not proceed much further because of the election. There is an observable pattern of behaviour with the Conservative government in terms of

Libya  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his question. He is absolutely right: we have to focus more on diplomatic efforts and contribute to building democratic institutions in Libya once the conflict is over. I hope that will be soon. That is what we did in Sudan. We p

Libya  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his kind words in my regard. Indeed, I enjoyed sitting on the environment committee when he was chairing it. I am a little saddened that neither of us will be on that committee working together. Canada has great democratic expertise. I would

Libya  Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will share my time with my colleague, the member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor. The military operation in Libya is, in a sense, the culmination of the evolution of the United Nations and international law, an evolution in

Baie-d'Urfé  Mr. Speaker, this year marks the centennial of the town of Baie-d'Urfé in my riding of Lac-Saint-Louis. On May 9, I attended a meeting of the Baie-d'Urfé junior council that re-enacted two of the town's earliest council meetings held on July 18 and September 16, 1911, respectiv

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to stand in the House to deliver my first complete speech following the recent election. Like other members with their ridings, I would like to take one moment to thank the voters of Lac-Saint-Louis for showing their confidence in me once again by r

Treasury Board  Mr. Speaker, we cannot say that the government leads by example. The President of the Treasury Board is demanding cuts, but cabinet offices have been going in the other direction. Since 2008, there has been a 14% increase in the budgets of ministers' offices. What does one say t

Zero Force Cycling Team  Mr. Speaker, last Sunday three extraordinary young men set off on a 7,200 kilometre bike ride across Canada. Drew Steeves, Mitch Torrens and Laurent Gazaille, the riders of the Zero Force Cycling Team, are graduates of John Abbott College in my riding of Lac-Saint-Louis. They wi

Government Appointments  Mr. Speaker, last December 18, the Prime Minister gave Larry Smith a patronage appointment to the Senate. The Conservatives like that word. He was paid for almost two months before even stepping foot in the chamber. Since the day he was sworn in, he has done very little there. As

Government Appointments  Mr. Speaker, on the radio, Mr. Smith claimed that the cost of the F-35s went from $16 billion to $30 billion because of inflation. That is quite the inflation rate. Did the Minister of Finance suddenly change his forecasts because of inflation? Did the Governor of the Bank of Ca

World Water Day  Mr. Speaker, today is World Water Day, a day to reflect on a resource we too often take for granted, a day to reaffirm our commitment to water as a public good. There are over one billion people in the world without access to safe drinking water. Over 2.5 billion lack access to

House debate  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for that interesting answer. Back in November I was at the conference here in Ottawa, that he mentioned, where there were discussions about matters of drinking water system security. At that conference I did speak to an RCMP official who deli