Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to our opposition day motion. It is an extremely important motion and I am glad to hear it may have the support of all parties, although I am not so sure after hearing comments in question period. If our motion is passed, it will give the Chief Elec

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, there are a few corrections I can make. The number I was quoting earlier was a percentage. The Elections Canada website tracks the percentage of voters who turn out during elections. In the 1980s, there was an 80% turnout. That is on the Elections Canada website. In

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, of course one of the main problems with investigating elections is under-resourcing. That is not a direct answer to the question, but it is something we should critically look at. We should ensure that these offices will not get their budgets cut because that would f

Air Service Operations Legislation  Mr. Speaker, I am alarmed about the slippery slope that we are going down with this legislation. I wonder if the member could tell me which industry is next on the hit list.

Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act  Mr. Speaker, again, I will follow-up with this question. Let us say we have refugees from India. They are deemed to be bogus and are imprisoned. They have two or three kids who are between the ages of six and nine. What happens to these children? Are they imprisoned? Are they ke

Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act  Mr. Speaker, we just heard an extraordinary statement by the Minister of State (Sport) a few minutes ago. When I provided an example of an Indian family, including parents and children, arriving in Canada and being deemed bogus refugees and I asked the minister what would happen

Employment Insurance Act  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to Bill C-316. I have really enjoyed the robust debate we have had in the House. We have good speakers in favour and against the bill, and this is what Canadians of the House, to have motions put forward, to have good debate and, in the end,

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to grants, contributions and contracts by Western Economic Diversification Canada in 2009: (a) what funding applications were approved by the Minister’s office, identified by (i) project name, (ii) applicant name, (iii) number of times previously submitted, (iv) date

Financial System Review Act  Mr. Speaker, I was listening with great interest about how my colleague has been consulting her constituents about this issue and about how these cuts will affect their lives. I was very interested in what she had to say about co-ops, which are really an important and very under

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to rise today and join my NDP B.C. colleagues to present this massive petition of 57,000 signatures simply entitled, “Keep tankers out of the wild and pristine coastal waters of BC, forever”. Although we are not allowed to say whether we support thes

Government Policies  Mr. Speaker, last Wednesday a new report was tabled in this House concerning the state of Canadian pipelines and refineries. We support a central component of the report's main recommendation: that any changes to the environmental assessment process should not “reduce the curren

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, I am here to speak today about Bill C-38, the budget implementation act. This enormous omnibus bill is a disservice to the House and to Canadians. Many parts of this huge bill are of concern to my constituents, but one in particular is of concern to them. It is with

Employment Insurance Act  Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure to rise to finish off my speech that I started some weeks ago. We are again talking about the private member's bill brought forward by the member for Cariboo—Prince George which proposes to reform the EI system. It is a good idea to look at r

Employment Insurance Act  Mr. Speaker, having followed the right track and gone through this training program myself, I saw how those who had taken the wrong track were exposed to new opportunities through these training programs. I am really worried that the changes in the bill to the Employment Insuranc

Copyright Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I am worried about this bill. For 10 years I was a recording musician. I have authored a number of books that are used in courses in universities. I have also taught distance education courses. I am very worried that the people who I know through these various career