Stan Hagen  Mr. Speaker, the people of British Columbia lost one of our most honourable and loyal public servants last year, Stan Hagen. The sudden passing of Stan, a 12 year member of the legislative assembly in B.C. and cabinet minister, is a great loss to his friends, his family, his col

Forestry Industry  Mr. Speaker, I would like to invite the minister to Mackenzie where 1,400 people have lost their jobs in the forestry sector and she can explain to them how effective her plan has been Yes, the pine bark beetle has hammered the B.C. forestry sector, but the Conservatives have fa

Forestry Industry  Mr. Speaker, the British Columbia forestry industry is experiencing record lows in sales. Tens of thousands of forestry workers in B.C. are out of work, their families are suffering, and whole communities are being flattened; and I might add, while the cabinet across the aisle an

Ray Perrault  Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that parliamentarians and Canadians mourn the loss of our colleague and friend Senator Ray Perrault. Before his 1973 appointment to the Senate, Mr. Perrault served in the British Columbia legislature before entering the Canadian House of Co

Aboriginal Affairs  Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Kelowna Accord Implementation Act received royal assent and became law. This means that the Conservatives must finally honour the accord they have shamefully ignored for the past two years. Cancelling Kelowna has meant that improvements have not been

Excise Tax Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-572, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (no GST on bicycles, adult tricycles and related goods and services). Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce my first bill as a member of Parliament, entitled An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (no GST o

China  Mr. Speaker, China is important to Vancouver Quadra, to Canada and to the global economy. World leaders from France, Britain and Australia get it. Our Prime Minister does not. As the world's second largest economy, China represents enormous economic opportunities for Canada.

Food and Drugs Act  Mr. Speaker, I would contend that many of these natural products do not contain claims. Perhaps some do. I think the natural products industry is pretty careful not to make claims. I purchase many products that I know work. I know that based on my 35 years of experience in using

Food and Drugs Act  Mr. Speaker, I share the member's deep concern about the bill. I am in complete agreement that extensive changes are needed. However, this coming vote is a vote in principle. The principle is that patients have safe, effective and high quality products and that regulating pharm

Food and Drugs Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to Bill C-51 today. This is an issue that deals with something of top concern to people across the country and certainly people in Vancouver Quadra, and that is the issue of health care. More importantly, health prevention and ma

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the B.C. government for passing a cap and trade law last week to complement its groundbreaking carbon tax. On March 12 the Prime Minister was quoted as saying that his “national plan and British Columbia's plan complement each other”. If the

Health  Mr. Speaker, the health minister falsely claims that the science on Insite is mixed and, therefore, we should get rid of it. This gives me a bad feeling of déjà vu. Was this not the tactic of big tobacco and Conservative climate change deniers to block needed action for so long

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, I asked that question because I have quite an interest in sewage. The environment minister talked about billions of dollars for sewage treatment. As the provincial environment minister, I ordered new scientific monitoring that led to the requirement to treat the sewag

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, the B.C. government, of which I was a part, put in a place a successful rebate program of tax incentives for fuel efficient vehicles. The current federal government brought in the eco-auto rebate with much fanfare in a recent budget, then flip-flopped and reversed it.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, I could agree that the minister--