Justice  Mr. Speaker, today marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and it is 150 years since he published his theory of evolution in the seminal book The Origin of Species, which has contributed so much to our understanding of the natural world and human behaviour. Social

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Madam Speaker, I listened to the comments of the member for Burnaby—New Westminster. I want to acknowledge the member as being a master of righteous indignation. I appreciate the member's list of deficiencies of the current government, and I share those views. I agree with much o

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's dilemma with respect to his province and the unwarranted attack by the Prime Minister on Newfoundland and Labrador. However, I would like to correct a statement about the Liberal Party agenda. The Liberal Party agenda is pretty straigh

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, the member made a comment about there being only one real difference between last November's budget and today's budget, and that the Liberals will not be opposing the budget this time. That seems more than a little myopic. I presume the member opposite does not belie

House debate  Madam Speaker, I am disappointed that the member opposite has come with a full-blown message box and is apparently not responding at all to the concerns I am raising. He talks about announcing funding. That is the very problem I am pointing at. The Ottawa Congress Centre was anno

House debate  Madam Speaker, on January 29 I asked a question in the House and I did not receive a satisfactory answer from the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. I asked whether the Conservative government was actually getting money out the door for crucial infrastructure

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, it sounds like we have a new buzzword from across the aisle. In December, while the Prime Minister was busy protecting his own job and insisting that this was just a “technical recession”, the people of B.C. were suffering. Bankruptcies jumped 42% from the previous

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that regrettable attack on pay equity in my remarks. However, the member's party, the NDP, has no understanding of economics, which is perhaps why the economic measures are immaterial. I disagree with that. We need to assist Canadians who are losing the

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, the member made an error in his statement. We have put the government on probation, not Canadians. It is the NDP members who have put Canadians on probation. If they had really cared about solving the economic crisis, they would have first looked at the budget before

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, as far as I know, there is no money yet. My colleague was generous in calling it a commitment. I would say that it is an announcement. The Conservative government is very generous with making announcements. It tends to announce things over and over again. We will b

Budget Implementation Act, 2009  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the budget implementation bill. I would like to thank the voters in Vancouver Quadra for their vote of confidence in me in the October federal election. I am very grateful for their dynamic support. This is a unique and diver

Chinese New Year  Mr. Speaker, [Member spoke in Chinese as follows:] Kung hay fat choi, xin nian hua leu. [English] Happy Chinese new year. I have the privilege of being elected twice in the riding of Vancouver Quadra, where many constituents have roots in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, the crumbling infrastructure of our cities ought to be a priority for the Conservative government, especially in a time of economic crisis. However, the money has not been flowing. In British Columbia, only seven building Canada fund projects have been announced, and

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, on November 15, 2007, the transport minister held a $50 million photo op for the Ottawa Congress Centre expansion but no money flowed. Again on September 5 last year, on the verge of the last election, the minister held another photo op and forgot to bring his walle

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, the minister's department confirms that only $80 million of the $1.5 billion allocated for the building Canada fund has actually left federal coffers. That is five cents on every dollar promised. The minister brags about projects that are piled on his desk. That is p