Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to discuss this legislation introduced by the member for Vancouver Centre that proposes to strengthen our ability to deal with cyberbullying. Bill C-273 seeks to amend three Criminal Code offences: section 264, criminal harassment; section 298, defama

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I have the honour and pleasure of speaking in favour of Bill C-394, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the National Defence Act (criminal organization recruitment). It is my honour to present a bill that is of particular importance to me and that is also very impo

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Burlington. I am proud to rise today in support of our Conservative government's 2011 budget plan. This plan is a cornerstone of our continuing unwavering commitment to provide Canadians with a stable economic road map w

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, I think there were two questions in there. First, certainly, we do not see the environmental assessment process as a burden. We see it as a necessity. However, we also see the need for clarity. For those who wish to move forward or who may not, in fact, be able to

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, yes, we have an economy that is the envy of the world, and that was the point of my remarks—that we have been doing extremely well—but we are still in a fragile time, given our interdependence with other economies in the world. That is why sound stewardship and havin

Benjamin Alan Russell  Mr. Speaker, Benjamin Alan Russell, veteran, lawyer, valued mentor, constituent, passed away on March 30, at age 88. Al was a modest and great Canadian who lived a life of service through the war, through his 32-year law practice and through volunteerism. Always good at sports,

New Democratic Party of Canada  Mr. Speaker, recently the NDP leader announced his new shadow cabinet. He has appointed the member for Newton—North Delta as the immigration critic. Before running for the NDP, that member was known for her time as the radical teachers' union president who led a two-week long ill

Pooled Registered Pension Plans  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to add my voice in support of today's debate on retirement income security. Before I commence my remarks, I will correct something that I believe the member opposite just said, which is that old age security is only available to the poorest seniors. O

Pooled Registered Pension Plans  Mr. Speaker, the point here is that we are trying to broaden the scope of retirement savings options for Canadians. We have some 60% of Canadians who do not have pensions through employment. This is an opportunity for employers and employees to work together to create an option f

Pooled Registered Pension Plans  Mr. Speaker, the fact is that we have been applauded for this initiative, not just by industry and employers but by employees and the groups representing them. All the provinces are on board with the idea of providing small and medium businesses with such a plan. We are being lau

Pooled Registered Pension Plans  Mr. Speaker, as someone who was self-employed throughout most of my career before becoming a member of Parliament, and in small to medium-sized law firms in my case, I know this is something that would be most welcome. We did not have a vehicle to offer this sort of retirement se

Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in the debate at second reading of Bill C-37, the Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act, concerning victim surcharges. Bill C-37 would make offenders more accountable by doubling victim surcharges for offenders and by ensur

Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act  Mr. Speaker, my colleague asks a good question and one that gets right to the point of what I have been talking about today. As my colleague knows, we have ongoing dialogue with the provinces and territories on justice issues. As I mentioned in my speech, there are actually ter

Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act  Mr. Speaker, I reject the assumption underlying that question that we have raised those costs. We are talking about bringing into force of a mandatory and automatic victim surcharge that will not go into general revenue. One of the problems I highlighted is of people wondering wh

Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act  Mr. Speaker, as I set out in my speech, there have been several studies done to understand why the victim surcharge machine, which has been in place for some time, does not seem to raise the revenue needed for the victims and the services they need in an adequate way. Those studi