Indigenous Affairs  Madam Speaker, one thing the government has in common with government lawyers is that it is basically continuing to try to minimize the aboriginal fishing rights of the Nuu-chah-nulth. That is clear in what I just heard today and what we see in the courts. This is not a nation-t

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague, our critic for finance, for his great work in making sure that people understand what the bill proposes. In my riding of Courtenay—Alberni and certainly right in Alberni Valley, one-third of the children are living in poverty. I

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I think my hon. colleague and I both share concerns about the huge debt that families are seeing. Especially over the last year, families have been carrying enormous debt. With that, we are seeing a significant increase in the rate of child poverty in Canada, which i

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, when we look at pay to play, and I hear the Liberal member across the floor saying that no one likes pay to play, but they are still doing it. Let us look at October 13, when a private Liberal fundraiser was held at the home of a developer in Halifax at $1,500 a per

Canada Pension Plan  Madam Speaker, it is clear that the Conservatives deny that there even is a retirement income crisis and they claim that the government has not made a clear case for CPP enhancement. The most recent figures show that 30% of single, elderly women live in poverty. This was a decrea

Canada Pension Plan  Madam Speaker, right now in Courtenay—Alberni, we are seeing record numbers of seniors turning up at our food banks. The Port Alberni homeless shelter has never seen more seniors than in the last year, when it has doubled. When I went door knocking during the campaign, I met seni

Canada Pension Plan  Madam Speaker, we have talked to the seniors living in poverty in Courtenay—Alberni who cannot afford to buy medicine, who are showing up at food banks and homeless shelters in record number. The Conservatives came up with a number, saying that 3% of seniors were living in pover

Canada Pension Plan  Madam Speaker, one thing the member for Edmonton Manning and I have in common is that we were both small business owners. We both know that small business owners care about their employees. They have a more intimate relationship with their employees than any other business sector

Canada Pension Plan  Madam Speaker, when I meet seniors on the doorsteps in Courtenay—Alberni, they tell me that it was not enough, that we have not collected enough and people have not had an opportunity to save enough, and because of the increased cost of living, people cannot afford to pay for the

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for his speech and for talking about investments in mitigating the impact of climate change in particular. Right now, heavy rainfall has led to a state of emergency at the Tseshaht First Nation in Port Alberni. These flood warnings are exp

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Burnaby South for standing up for coastal British Columbians. The member understands how important social licence is in British Columbia. Where I come from, he knows in my community 25 years ago there was a plan to log 90% of Meares Isl

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, the member talked about this budget as being people centred. Well, the budget forgets a lot of people. I will start with the middle-class tax break. This line in the budget benefits one-third of Canadians. Two-third of Canadians, 17.9 million Canadians, do not get a

Housing  Mr. Speaker, we are so fortunate to live in Canada, where we aspire to be a nation that takes care of each other. In Courtenay—Alberni, access to affordable housing has become an urgent and desperate matter. The situation is critical. People are living in unsafe derelict boats

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, dangerous debris from a cargo ship is washing up on the west coast, posing serious threats to our sensitive ecosystems. It has been almost a week since this began, and there is still no real action by the federal government. We know its response to the Bella Bella

Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for his speech and for breaking down the history of his party working on this deal. Before I move forward with my question, I would ask the member to join me in shouting out to the lighthouse keeper who saved a life off Denman Island thi