Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, changes to the Canada Elections Act have resulted in more than one million rural Canadians losing the right to vote in the next election. Twenty-five per cent of voters in Newfoundland and Labrador, 30% in Saskatchewan, 30% in the Northwest Territories and a whopping

Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to accentuate the point. I thank the hon. minister for his response, but the government and indeed this Parliament have a responsibility to fix this. All Canadians have the right to vote. It is unacceptable to have such a large portion of the population

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I listened with quite a bit of attention about open federalism and I also want to make a comment about these solid relationships that are taking place now with the provinces. Recently, as the minister pointed out, the Conservatives signed a deal with Nova Scotia, or

Equalization Payments  Mr. Speaker, not only did the government sign a phantom side deal with Nova Scotia that did not even honour its promise, but after years of preaching about the evils of side deals, the government announced the deal one day after Danny Williams won a massive mandate to fight the P

Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I find this absolutely rich that here we have the member for Avalon who so dishonoured his own constituents in Newfoundland and Labrador that his reply to the Speech from the Throne is absolutely ludicrous. We have a government that says it is strengthening the uni

Equalization Formula  Mr. Speaker, once more, two respected Newfoundlanders have provided clarity in this Atlantic accord betrayal. John Crosbie and Roland Martin said this today about the 2005 Liberal agreements: “The government of Canada intends to provide additional payments to the province”, offse

Equalization Formula  Very good, Mr. Speaker, and if we do not believe that from the government, it will sue us. How about that? By imposing a fiscal cap, the government is breaking its own election promise in addition to changing the spirit of the accords. The minister's own Conservative colleagues

Ocean Ecology  Mr. Speaker, I am indeed proud of Jeremy Wedallas, a 12-year-old from Erin, Ontario, who recently wrote me a letter, visited my office, and was welcomed by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans as well. He outlined his concerns about ocean ecology. Jeremy pointed out three areas

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have the distinct honour of presenting to this House of Commons a petition on behalf of a gentleman named Steve Saunders of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. It states that the undersigned residents of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador would like to dr

Atlantic Accord  Empty threats, Mr. Speaker. Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia signed a deal in 2005 and it must be followed to the letter. Now the Prime Minister wants to send a bill to the taxpayers for a court battle just to satisfy his own ego. Perhaps now is the time to bring back t

Atlantic Accord  There you have it, Mr. Speaker, a slight disagreement, certainly the understatement of the year by far. The minister for Newfoundland and Labrador is now on record as saying his government did break its word on the Atlantic accord. Here is what he said: People at home are sayi

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, we are not really arguing the budget today. This is about one aspect of the budget that concerns the Atlantic accords. I would like the hon. member to answer two questions. First, he talked about the offset payments involved here. However, an independent economis

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague from New Brunswick has made some very, very good points. Let me point out again what was said this morning by the hon. member for St. John's East on the open line show: We have a new equalization formula, a formula that was agreed upon by seven ou

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague points out, he and I have both worked on the issue of Bill C-45. We have been inundated with questions from all interests, environmental groups, aboriginal groups, fishing groups far and wide. They are wondering what the government is talking abo

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, this is certainly a very important time in the history of my province of Newfoundland and Labrador and certainly a very important time in the history of Atlantic Canada. Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague from Kings—Hants, a beautiful str