Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, this is a pilot project to encourage EI claimants to pursue and accept all opportunities to work. We will always consider refinements to ensure it achieves these goals.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, again, it is our firm belief that working is better than not working. As I pointed out in my remarks, there are 250,000 jobs that are going unfilled right across the country. These jobs are in rural, suburban and urban areas. We are encouraging people to work and acq

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that under this program the majority of people who work while they are on claim will benefit and will be better off. However, it is clear that opposition members do not want anyone to benefit from working while on claim. In fact, they voted a

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, before I begin my remarks on the topic at hand I want to say how disappointed I was in the response to my question by the member for Beaches—East York. The contempt that he has for rural communities and natural resource industries was proudly on display. I guess the

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my colleague's comments about the nature of work. He talked about people often having multiple sources of income as if that is a bad thing, or the nature of a job being much more flexible and different. My question is a sincere one

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, when referring to the speech by the member for Churchill, talked about the “hits” to the natural resource economy in her constituency. I would point out to the House that Manitoba is under the dead thumb of an NDP government and

Carbon Tax  Mr. Speaker, four years ago our Conservative government campaigned against the Liberal Party's plan to impose a job-killing carbon tax on Canadians. In that campaign Canadians agreed with us and sent us back to this place with a strengthened mandate. A year ago, our Conservative

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, the NDP leader dismisses the role that the natural resource sector plays in the Canadian economy. He claims that the strength of Canada's natural resources sector has been at the expense of manufacturing. The economy of my riding is based on natural resource develo

Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act  Mr. Speaker, I listened with jaw-dropping amazement to the comments from the member for Churchill as she blamed the federal government for every ill in Manitoba. I hate to break it to her, but there is an NDP government in Manitoba right now that is responsible for the high crime

Increasing Offenders' Accountability for Victims Act  Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. friend's comments and, with all due respect, I found them very insulting to Canadians who live on low incomes. It is almost as if people who have low incomes are automatically guaranteed to commit crimes, which is appalling.

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. friend for her great work as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance. I have listened to members opposite, especially members of the NDP. They have never talked about how to create wealth, but they are good at talking about h

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, in relation to the comment from the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, I do not doubt that environmental lawyers are upset because when we are streamlining processes, that is a direct hit at their incomes. It is obvious why they are protesting. In terms of the economi

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Madam Speaker, I enjoy serving with the hon. member on environment committee. I always welcome her comments and expertise. I would like to talk about something that has not been talked about much and that is the environment itself. Is the member aware that the Canadian environ

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, I must say that I do respect the hon. member's long and distinguished career in environmental policy-making. In terms of Yukon, it is a model act and it was a good piece of legislation. However, I would remind my friend and others opposite that I do sit on the envi

Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act  Mr. Speaker, there are two world oil prices: Brent gas prices and West Texas gas prices. The West Texas price is, I gather, always the lower price. Because we are a captive supplier to the United States, we are forced to take a lower price, the West Texas price. Whereas, if we ha