Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague across the way for his speech. It is really good to hear that the government supports agriculture. I was also happy to hear the previous speaker talk about poultry and chickens and eggs. I have a few chickens at home, which I can as

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to agree with the government House leader that this is perhaps not the most fruitful topic we could spend an entire day debating, but that said, I agree with the motion in that the appearance of a conflict of interest is as important as any real conflict

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, the second petition is with regard to physician-assisted suicide. The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to allow sufficient time for broad and timely consultations on this issue and that any legislation passed be stringent and serve to minimize the occurren

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to present two petitions from my constituents. The first petition calls upon Parliament to establish a department of peace that would reinvigorate Canada's role as a global peace builder and that would have the abolition of nuclear weapons as a t

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, the member for St. Catharines talked in various ways about how we have to help Canadians who need help the most, and yet his government has proposed tax changes that would not help almost two-thirds of Canadians. Instead of helping those who need help the most, Canad

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, one of the first comments my colleague made was about care for elderly parents. In the election campaign the Liberals promised $3 billion in funding for home care for seniors. Where are those funds? They are absolutely nowhere to be seen in this budget.

Public Service Labour Relations Act  Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, it is a mystery to me why these have been excluded. They are essential parts of most collective bargaining agreements across the country, even in all the other police forces. I do not understand why we would not have issues around harassm

Public Service Labour Relations Act  Mr. Speaker, I am not a lawyer, certainly not of the Supreme Court level, so I do not want to make pronouncements as to whether this bill meets those needs or not. I assume it must at some level because the bill has come to the House. However, the issues that I and the NDP feel a

Public Service Labour Relations Act  No, Mr. Speaker, I do not think I need to add anything to that. I do sense a real coming together within this House in that most people, although not everyone, who have debated this issue have come up with the idea that collective bargaining would be good for the RCMP. The only d

Public Service Labour Relations Act  Mr. Speaker, I am happy to rise here today to discuss Bill C-7, which would give RCMP members, at long last, the right to collective bargaining. Many speakers before me have talked about how the RCMP is an important and even iconic police force, underlying how critical this discu

Stewardship Groups in South Okanagan—West Kootenay  Mr. Speaker, I am fortunate to represent the riding of South Okanagan—West Kootenay, a riding full of magnificent mountains and deep valleys. Each of those watersheds has a group of hardworking citizens, almost all of them volunteers, who have dedicated themselves to the task of

Citizenship Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague opposite for his comments, and I totally agree with him that we do need to remove these unnecessary barriers to citizenship, whether they are in the form of delays or in the form of onerous fees. To bring in a new family costs literally thousan

Citizenship Act  Madam Speaker, the clear difference is that this fraud we are talking about happens before the person becomes a citizen. They obtained their citizenship fraudulently. In the other case, a person is a legitimate, legal citizen of Canada, but as a result of their illegal actions, t

Citizenship Act  Madam Speaker, I am happy to speak in support of Bill C-6 today, although I do feel that it falls short in a number of areas. As has been said by several speakers here today and yesterday, most Canadians come from immigrant families, and many of us have stories of parents and g

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from some of my constituents regarding their concerns about the present electoral system in Canada and the fact that it does not result in a Parliament that reflects the number of voters who cast ballots for each party. They ask that the