Request for Emergency Debate  Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask for an emergency debate on the urgent and escalating wildfire situation in Canada. I want to first say that our hearts are with the 30,000 Canadians who are still out of their homes and the many hundreds who have lost everything in these fires. I thank

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present petition e-4281, signed by almost 2,000 Canadians. The petitioners point out that a major source of bird mortality is collisions with windows and buildings. The Canadian Standards Association has a bird-friendly design standard that is already

Housing  Madam Speaker, natural disasters, including wildfires and floods, fuelled by climate change are making it difficult to get home insurance. Canadians cannot buy a home when there is an active wildfire within 50 kilometres and that covers most of the summer in B.C., and 10% of Cana

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Madam Speaker, the member mentioned, several times in his speech, the critical shortage of staff as one of the reasons people cannot access child care in Canada. When I talk to child care advocates in my riding and elsewhere, what comes up again and again is that staff need to b

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Mr. Speaker, the member's speech was very thoughtful. Child care is an important issue. My own daughter is struggling to find child care for her daughter, my granddaughter. We are here until midnight debating the bill. Actually, we are debating the Conservative amendment to th

Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for the member for Milton and his work on the health file. Health Canada has found that air pollution is a factor in 15,300 premature deaths and millions of respiratory issues every year in Canada, yet this bill has nothing in it about air q

Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. However, I am not holding my breath. I think that if the government wanted to do this right, it would have done it right the first time. All I would say is that my private member's bill has that enforceability part

Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, obviously, I think it is a good idea that we have a right to a healthy environment embedded in some legislation. I would say that the government was so timid about this that when they first brought forward Bill S-5, that right was only in the preamble. It had to be m

Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I was not there at the committee stage to hear that, but I have heard comments in debate here about it. It was an issue during the debate at report stage. However, the member would have to ask the Conservatives that question. I can only guess, and

Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I spent much of last week in Washington, D.C., with the international trade committee. We talked to quite a number of legislators and congressmen, and almost every one of them brought up this issue: How are we going to get materials mined so that we can get the clean

Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I am happy once again to rise and speak to Bill S-5, a bill that updates the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. I have spoken a couple of times on this bill at various stages, and I will repeat some of the messages I gave in those speeches. Here we are at third

Department of Public Works and Government Services Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Winnipeg North for that comment, because this is really what is at the heart of this bill. It is not forcing the government to pick and choose winners or losers. What it is aimed at doing, which has been its aim from the start, is

Department of Public Works and Government Services Act  Mr. Speaker, I would really like to thank the member for the opportunity to comment on that. It is very important that Canadian legislators go to Washington, and anywhere in the United States, to put forward our case on softwood lumber. In their laws, the Americans have the right

Department of Public Works and Government Services Act  Mr. Speaker, it is past high time for this bill to be adopted. Quebec brought forward the wood charter many years ago. British Columbia brought in its Wood First Act. This is the kind of bill we need in the federal world to push for federal infrastructure to be built with wood an

Department of Public Works and Government Services Act  moved that the bill be concurred in.