Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present petitions from residents of Gabriola Island who are opposed to the establishment of five new bulk commercial anchorages, each to house 300-metre-long vessels that are going to be exporting Wyoming coal to China, where it will be burned in powe

Indigenous Affairs  Mr. Speaker, with respect to the parliamentary secretary, we want the inquiry to work well, and we are glad that the government launched it, but building one violence-against-women shelter on reserve, one a year for the next five years, is not enough, because we are so far behind

Indigenous Affairs  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured once again to convey my personal hope and New Democrats' hope that the national inquiry into the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls is successful and does the work for the country for healing to end violence against indigenous wome

John Howard Society  Mr. Speaker, at Christmastime, Nanaimo—Ladysmith celebrates groups serving on some very tough front-line social issues, such as the John Howard Society, which helps prison inmates stop reoffending and falling back into addiction. After its staff Christmas party, Nanaimo business

Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, while I have the floor I want to thank the cafeteria staff for feeding us perogies at lunch today, which was very appropriate given the deal we are debating. I want to thank the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Trade for bringing forward a

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, today I present a petition signed by constituents from Nanaimo—Ladysmith and across Canada. The petitioners, in the spirit of continuing to support the care, treatment, and re-establishment in life of Canadian veterans, point out that veterans throughout Canada are

Child Care  Mr. Speaker, child care costs continue to grow at an alarming rate. A new report shows that average infant child care fees in Vancouver are more than $1,200 a month. In St. John's, they come in at $1,400. In Toronto, they surpass $1,700. This rivals the cost of housing. The Libe

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement  Mr. Speaker, the member is so right. We are at a time that the Salish Sea, the sea between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia, has increasing vessel traffic of every sort and an aging workforce that has meant that some of the most knowledgeable senior tugboat drivers

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement  Mr. Speaker, I note that Canada is already one of the most sued countries in the world under the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism and we have won only three of 39 cases against foreign governments. I am concerned, from my experience as a developer of local regulation

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House to convey my constituents' concerns. I am very grateful to voters from Nanaimo—Ladysmith who have been sending me their ideas by email, Facebook, and Twitter, letting me know what concerns them about the trade deal, CETA, that is on

Indigenous Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the member is so right. Our self-proclaimed feminist Prime Minister promised a nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people, particularly women. But approving pipelines without consent is not a nation-to-nation relationship. We see the same unwillingness to

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I am very glad there is co-operation in the House to bring this motion forward to use the questions from the all-party parliamentary committee with the help of very objective parliamentary staff. Their very even questions feel like a great improvement on the governme

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, in 2011, I asked Transport Canada to study bitumen when I was Islands Trust council chair. In 2013, Stephen Harper said, “We're going to study bitumen.” The only thing mentioned in the oceans protection plan that was announced last month was, “We are going to study b

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, I am here today to stand up for the coast and ask the government about its oil spill response plans. Along with my New Democrat British Columbia colleagues, we represent the waters that the 2013 tanker safety review identified as being one of the four areas in Cana

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, today we honour the memory of the women murdered in the École polytechnique massacre. In Canada and around the world, violence against women is intolerably high. More than half of Canadian women will experience violence, and thousands of indigenous women have gone