House debate  Mr. Speaker, I am not the Government of Canada, so I cannot answer that question, which was sent to the Government of Canada, other than to say that, as the parliamentary secretary pointed out, the Minister of Finance had indicated that there is always room for improvement and ro

House debate  Mr. Speaker, I am not going to repeat what I just said, because I think I covered it. The important thing is to look at what this bill actually is doing. This bill will change the lives of future generations. This bill will contribute to the security of young people today as the

Governor General's Literary Award  Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to recognize Steven Heighton, a resident of my riding of Kingston and the Islands, who recently won the Governor General's Literary Award for his fifth poetry collection, The Waking Comes Late. This award brings valuable and much-deserved r

U.S. Decision Regarding Travel Ban  Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight. I thank my colleague from Mount Royal for sharing his time with me. He is such a passionate speaker, as we all just witnessed. He is definitely a hard act to follow. I am sure that most members in this House would agr

U.S. Decision Regarding Travel Ban  Madam Speaker, my colleague has asked this question a number of times tonight. I hope she is not disappointed that I might not be the one to give her the answer she is looking for. It is important to point out that the government has made it very clear what its position is on t

U.S. Decision Regarding Travel Ban  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for not only addressing her question here, but for reading a letter that one of her constituents wrote to her. That is extremely noble. I would argue that there has not been merely symbolism coming from the government. As pointed out by other

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech a few minutes ago, and in particular his comments about how this motion got on the floor. He said that this was put on the floor a few days ago, and that somehow this side of the House caught wind of it and was reacting. In realit

Kingston and the Islands  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding citizen from my riding of Kingston and the Islands, Mr. Jamshad Hassan. Jimmy, as he is more commonly known in Kingston, was born and raised in Pakistan. Many years ago, he chose to leave his life there in search of somethin

Statistics Act  Mr. Speaker, perhaps my contribution is more a comment than it is a question. I would just like to say that I take exception to the fact that the member suggests that somehow the set of questions that Statistics Canada uses should be coming back to the political world in order to

Statistics Act  Mr. Speaker, going back to the discussion we were having about the 92 years and the requirement for that data to become accessible to the public, the fact that the member is suggesting we need to consent to that in advance underscores the disregard for how important it is for the

Statistics Act  Mr. Speaker, there have been some comments from the official opposition today with respect to the manner in which the questions would be created, and the fact that there is a lack of political influence over whether that would come back to the minister or this House. Can the memb

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition that was submitted to me by a constituent of mine, Mr. Samuel Laldin, calling on the government to assist over 12,000 members of minority groups from Pakistan who have fled that country due to human rights violations and discrimination.

Rail Transportation  Mr. Speaker, having the fifth busiest VIA station in Canada, the constituents of my riding of Kingston and the Islands value the passenger service VIA Rail provides in the Windsor-Quebec City corridor and want to make sure that it is properly maintained. Could the Minister of Tr

Income Tax Act  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today in this House on behalf of my constituents of Kingston and the Islands to speak in support of Bill C-323, an act to amend the Income Tax Act. I will begin by thanking my colleague for York—Simcoe for putting forward this substantive and

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I think I will go with a comment as opposed to a question. The atmosphere in the room is providing as much rhetoric as it normally does. However, I will say to the member's comments specifically with respect to the previous budgets and how they were embraced with su