House debate  Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to have this opportunity to talk about Bill C-44. I would like to start with a quote by Pope Francis, who stated: And every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: “Do I love my people i

Cannabis Act  Mr. Speaker, I was reading a book by a gentleman named Dr. Gabor Maté, from east-side Vancouver, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction. It is about addiction. He was talking about how addiction affects many people, from high-functioning workaholics, all t

Cannabis Act  There probably is. Many of us are workaholics and we are away from our families. It is not a normal lifestyle. How do we then combat, for instance, alcoholism or drug addiction? What do we actually do then to make a difference, to ensure that people have positive addictions that

Winnipeg Pride  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Ryan Richard and the other organizers for the very first Canadian two-spirit powwow, celebrated in Winnipeg last Friday. It is incredible to see how indigenous peoples are returning to traditions and teachings that demonstrate the strength of our herit

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, Jeff Ward from Victoria, British Columbia, asked me to table petition e-607, national holidays. The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to designate June 21st of each year as a legal holiday to be kept and observed throughout Canada. They feel that this day s

Violence against Women  Mr. Speaker, [Member spoke in Cree and provided the following translation:] Recently in the Prairies two high profile violent events occurred where young indigenous women were killed and severely hurt. These events occurred while people stood by and recorded these incidents.

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I used the words “anger, anger” and “games, games”, and now I can add the words “time, time, wasted, wasted”. I think the Chair has made a good ruling. I think the Chair has offered some suggestions for repair to make sure this does not occur in the future, and we ha

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I believe I know the intentions of the Prime Minister. He wants me here voting all the time, as much as I possibly can be. I hope he does, anyway, even though sometimes I do not always vote with the government. Nonetheless, he wants me here, because he believes it is

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, games, games, anger, anger: that is a lot of what I seem to be hearing. It is important that we do debate this, but at some point we need to move on. We need to listen to the Speaker. What l said before was that the Speaker has already made a ruling, and yes, he has

Privilege  It was, but there is traffic. At the end of the day, I was able to find a way to get to the House and carry out my functions—

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the fine comments coming from the other side. It is a wonderful thing. I love the heckling in the House. It is always most enjoyable. It actually adds some theatre to this place sometimes. It is very much appreciated. I remember when I was an elementar

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the opportunity and the comments from the member from Skeena, though I must say I have heard in this House, in this debate, people talking not only about parliamentary privilege but also about rules and regulations, and we have to have a bit of

Privilege  That is why we do have buses, yes. It is a good idea to have these buses. However, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day I am also able to plan for that long-term thought about where I should be, so when I hear the bells, I try to get out. It does not mean that there has not been a

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to the member that at the end of the day, we all have responsibilities in this chamber. With that responsibility has to come a sense that we have to be able to plan forward. When we hear the bells, we know we are supposed to come to this pla

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the opportunity to speak to this. I would like to start with a little quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”. I bet members do not know who said that, but it was Uncle Ben to Spiderman, Peter Parker. That is important. Not to make