Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague just highlighted the reason we are in this situation. It all comes down to hope. We really hope that the best of this will come forward. We are just going to stand back and hope that these two groups resolve this problem. The Liberals have failed t

Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. No one questions the dedication and commitment of our postal workers. Walking around yesterday was proof enough of what they have to endure. There is also the greater good. When we have small businesses across the country losing thousands

Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, I am not questioning, and nowhere in my intervention did I question, the importance of collective bargaining. I am not saying that the process should not be going on, but it has been going on since January. There is no question that the Liberals could have taken act

Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, my colleague is exactly right. The Liberals are not taking responsibility for the consequences of their actions. The member hit on a very important point. We are talking about the crisis that small businesses are facing, but this is yet another cut in what has been

Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, it is great to finally hear some fire out of the New Democratic Party, which is reintroducing itself to Canadians after months of no-shows. This is great to see. Not once did I say that we do not appreciate what postal workers do, but let us be clear. There are Cana

Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act  Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for the member. We serve on the HUMA committee together, and he is quite engaged when we have discussions at committee. I hope his intervention today shows a change in the attitude of the Liberal government when it comes to its approach to sma

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I look at Bill C-81 as a missed opportunity. It was a chance for us to all work together at committee, which I think was what the minister wanted to see. She wanted to see good amendments brought forward by all parties. I think it is no surprise that the bulk of the

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I worked very well and very hard together on this bill, and I share her frustration. As I said, I think the minister wanted to do the right thing with this bill, but for whatever reason, got cold feet in the end and was not able to follow through. I

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to speak to Bill C-81. Those of us who are members of the HUMA committee worked extremely hard to come up with a bill that we thought would address the needs of disabled Canadians across the country. As I said at the outset, I look at

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, my colleague has always been very good to work with. I do agree that we work well on the committee. However, unfortunately, she does have to take some responsibility for what this bill is. To go back to what the Conservative government did in the past, the minister h

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I did not have an opportunity to address that in my speech and I appreciate my hon. colleague's bringing that up. One of the biggest frustrations with Bill C-81 is that we had representatives from first nations communities come to committee and it is almost like th

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary brings up a good point. On his direction, he is right. This could have been a great starting point. However, if it was a great starting point, why do we have letters from dozens of stakeholders who are upset with the bill and questioning w

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, that is something we all have to take to heart. When we ask Canadians to come to Ottawa or to participate in a study because we want to consult with them and get their opinion and their input to help build legislation, and they come up with something that we then ign

Resumption and Continuation of Postal Service Operations Legislation  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to pose questions to the minister on this issue. Yesterday during her presentation she talked about the crisis that our small businesses across Canada are facing. We have heard from small businesses across the country that have said many

An Act to Provide for the Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services  Madam Speaker, I would certainly not be one to profess that the Conservatives and NDP would agree on a lot of issues when it comes to labour. However, I would agree with her on the point that when we brought this issue up in 2011, we did give members of the opposition every oppor