Veterans  Mr. Speaker, Remembrance Day approaches. The Conservatives are commemorating this occasion by cutting more than $200 million in funding to Veterans Affairs and axing more than 500 jobs. They suggest that the cuts will be absorbed through attrition, which is false, and by calculat

Purple Day Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by commending the member for Halifax West for introducing this important bill, Bill C-278, the purple day act. The member, as we know, has served his constituents very well over the years, having been an MP for much of the last two decades, and

Veterans  Mr. Speaker, the minister's political staff had access to a veteran's personal medical information. Ironically, the minister cannot discuss individual cases, precisely because of privacy protection concerns. Can the minister explain why and under what circumstances political sta

Veterans  Mr. Speaker, when a veteran makes a complaint, the response from the Conservatives is to check and access his personal medical information. It is an abuse of power whose clear goal is to threaten anyone who dares question or challenge them. The minister suggested last week that

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With respect to the considered cuts to Environment Canada: (a) which specific departments and programs are affected, and what was the process taken to determine whether or not to make cuts to a specific department and program, (i) what, if any, Environment Canada Research Scienti

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's comments and emphasis on job creation. There are a couple of specific initiatives in my province related to job creation that I would like to raise, specifically as it relates to the discontinuance of the various infrastructure funding pro

Preventing Persons from Concealing Their Identity during Riots and Unlawful Assemblies Act  Mr. Speaker, my concern with the legislation also relates to the wide breadth given to the phrase “lawful excuse” by the hon. member and the fact that this bill to amend the Criminal Code has been brought forward as a private member's bill. It strikes me that with the government

Preventing Persons from Concealing Their Identity during Riots and Unlawful Assemblies Act  Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to Bill C-309, but I want to begin by confronting the Conservatives on their obsession with crime. We have before us a bill ostensibly produced by the folks in the Prime Minister's Office or the Conservative House leader's office. I

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to believe that in 2011 many of our harbours, including Charlottetown's, are still receiving raw sewage. New federal environmental rules force municipalities to treat raw sewage and we welcome that. However, these regulations mean additional costs to

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, I was interested in the comments of my colleague with respect to the gas tax. He went on at some length about how the gas tax is now a guaranteed amount. In actual fact, this budget has capped the gas tax transfer to municipalities. What I found interesting was how

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by about 100 residents of Saskatoon. They call upon Parliament to request that the federal Minister of the Environment consider bringing in legislation to require all unsolicited admail and flyers to be produced using easily recycl

Canada Water Preservation Act  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise to speak in support of the bill by my colleague from Lac-Saint-Louis, who very kindly attended my riding of Charlottetown not very long ago. We had a very well-attended town hall on water. This is a very important issue right across the coun

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Windsor—Tecumseh for his, as usual, insightful remarks. I certainly share the member's concern with respect to the rate at which bills are being jammed through the House and how debate is being limited, especially at committee. The member wou

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to the bill before the House. I will begin with a quote that sums up the government's approach quite nicely: If one says “mandatory life imprisonment” quickly and often, without thinking about it too deeply, it sounds tough and t

Safe Streets and Communities Act  Mr. Speaker, my question for the member relates to his comments with respect to the impact on provincial treasuries. What will invariably happen is more people will be in provincial institutions and that will result in charter challenges based on the overcrowding of jails or a