Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the Minister of International Trade, for sharing his time with me today. Because we will be supporting the bill at third reading, I am sure it has made it easier for him. As well, we support the bill because of the inclusion of cl

Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain for sharing his time today. New Democrats support deepening trade relationships with Ukraine, particularly as it reaches out to the west while trying to deal with ongoing tensions and problems in Russia. W

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring the discussion back on track. During the 2015 election, I attended 12 community debates and three high school debates, and my Liberal colleague sat beside me and at every one of those sessions talked about the importance of moving forward with

Service Canada  Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government promised to improve the lives of Canadian seniors, yet residents in my riding of Kootenay—Columbia are not receiving their old age security, because Service Canada is so under-resourced it cannot keep up. At this rate, Canadians turning 65 will

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present a petition on behalf of my constituents from Revelstoke, who really are leaders in preventing food waste. This petition asks that we declare October 20 of each year to be national food waste awareness day; determine solutions to food wast

U.S. Decision Regarding Travel Ban  Mr. Speaker, I agree with many of the things my hon. colleague said. I just returned from a foreign affairs committee trip to Europe, and I would turn on the European news whenever I could. It was quite sad to see them start to refer not to the United States of America, this grea

Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Mr. Speaker, my grandfather and grandmother on my father's side, the Heshka and Stetski clan, all settled around Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and we still go back every five years for a family reunion. There is nothing better than a feast of petahe, holubsti, and kielbasa. The NDP wil

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, my second petition concerns food waste. Approximately $27 billion a year is wasted. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to declare October 20 of each year as national food waste awareness day; determine solutions to food waste through a national

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, my third petition is related to democratic reform. The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to adopt a fairer proportional voting system so that the Parliament of Canada can actually reflect how voters voted.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present three petitions today on behalf of my constituents from Kootenay—Columbia, and I thank them for caring about Canada. The first petition is in relation to climate change. The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to adopt

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, I would really like the member to help me out with something, because I am quite confused. With the average income being $31,000 across Canada, how did the Liberal Party decide that $45,000 to $190,000 describes the middle class in Canada for purposes of this tax b

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for the question, because it gives me an opportunity to be more complete in my answer as to why Bill C-29 is not going to be supported. First, the tax break for the middle class does not include the middle class in my riding, which s

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his hard work on behalf of his constituents. As I said in my speech, when I talk to constituents in my riding and tell them that the middle-class tax break starts at $45,000 and potentially goes to almost $200,000, they just shake their hea

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, as with many things in life, of course, the devil is in the details. What we would have liked to have seen is a better budget, for example, indexing of the Canada child benefit rather than waiting for five years to increase it. As inflation goes up over the next fi

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, it was only 13 months ago when I attended an orientation session for new members of Parliament here in Ottawa. There was a cameo appearance by the Prime Minister, which was very much appreciated by all of us. During that cameo appearance, he said that the role of o