Question No. 226  With respect to the employment insurance EI, programme expressed as averages: ( a ) what is the waiting time to receive EI benefits after an application has been filed in each EI region; and ( b ) what has been the waiting time in each EI region from January 2000 to the most rece

Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, last week the president of the Liberal Party stated “I think [Bill C-24] fuels the cynical fires”. If he thought Canadians felt cynical then, he can just imagine how they feel today upon discovering that, to placate his backbench, the Prime Minister has doubled Bill

Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, Canadians are unimpressed by the Prime Minister's decision to replace corporate donations with forced donations from taxpayers. As the keystone of the Prime Minister's precious legacy, why does he not take the high road, eliminate corporate donations and require the

First Nations Governance Act  Madam Speaker, I am astonished by the parliamentary secretary's response. I was asking about Canadian exports to the United States. She gave a very thorough explanation of what we are doing with regard to American imports to Canada. The problem here is not whether we are imposin

First Nations Governance Act  Madam Speaker, last month I rose in the House to ask a very important question on the subject of cross-border trade with the United States. More particularly, I asked about the effects that a possible requirement for 24 hour notice before crossing the border would have on such se

National Children's Memorial Day  Mr. Speaker, on the question of the unreliability of federal funding to provinces, the federal government has a much larger tax base than the provinces and certainly more than the local authorities, such as school boards and municipal governments. For that reason there is a perp

National Children's Memorial Day  Mr. Speaker, on February 20, I raised a question in question period expressing my concern with the federal government's unwillingness to respect provincial jurisdiction in its budget, which had been delivered a few days earlier. I noted that while there had been nationwide disapp

Agriculture  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express the concern of farmers across Ontario about the recent BSE outbreak and the effect it will have on this vital industry. Canada is the world's third largest exporter of beef and beef cattle, and the beef industry is an important part of Ontario

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured today to introduce a petition containing over 10,000 signatures from across eastern Ontario. The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry. They draw specific attention to the following facts: that th

Copyright Act  Mr. Speaker, the government imposes a levy on all blank recording media regardless of end use apparently on the assumption that all users are potential copyright thieves and that the guilty and the innocent should be punished equally. What this does is punish those who use large

Zimbabwe  Mr. Speaker, as part of its ongoing crackdown on dissenting voices in Zimbabwe, the regime of Robert Mugabe has unconstitutionally trampled on the rights of Zimbabweans to freedom of assembly, free property ownership and freedom of speech. To bring attention to the plight of opp

Parliament of Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to the bill. I must say that of all the private members' legislations to come before the House under the new rules, this strikes me as being one of the two or three that is the most likely to make it through the process and find its way towa

Parliament of Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I have a very brief question for the member. On the question of Bloc Quebecois members and people who regard themselves as belonging to a separate collectivity, that is of being loyal to what they hope will eventually become an independent Quebec and their ability t

Agriculture  Mr. Speaker, thanks to the heroic efforts of the government, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency is approving minor use regulations at 150th the rate in the United States. In 2000-01, a total of 1,200 minor use registrations were approved in the U.S.A. compared to 22 in Canada.

Agriculture  Mr. Speaker, I realize that the concerns of Canadian farmers are rarely top of mind for the Liberals but given that there is a byelection underway in the largely agriculture riding of Perth--Middlesex perhaps they will take them seriously today. The government and its Pest Manag