Federal Sustainable Development Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to discuss Bill C-57, an act to amend the Federal Sustainable Development Act. I would like to begin by thanking everyone who has helped shape Bill C-57. The contributions of many hon. members and senators have been invaluable to the process, a

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I know that the hon. member does not support our plan for the environment, but I have asked a question several times today and not had a reply. Can he name one thing that the Conservative Party is going to do to fight climate change?

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, to correct the record, the member laid out a number of fallacies on the status of the economy. He was correct to point out that unemployment is historically low, but we have added more than half a million jobs to the Canadian economy over the past few years. When i

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his speech. The motion suggests that a tax on higher salaries would have an adverse effect on jobs in Canada. Does the hon. member believe that the Canada pension plan is a payroll tax? If so, will his party repeal the measures our gover

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, one of the interesting parts of the motion mentions higher payroll taxes. The member talked at length about the difficult time businesses are having, which by the way is not based on fact when we look at the economic record of our government. I am curious. One of t

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, to begin, a couple of shots were taken at me for having spent some time out in Calgary. As an Atlantic Canadian, I can say that one of the things that actually makes us more from Nova Scotia is spending a couple of years out west. One of the reasons so many people do

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague and I work fairly closely, he in the natural resources portfolio and me on the environment. He spent a decent amount of his remarks on Bill C-69, which seeks to restore the confidence that was lost in the environmental assessment process under 10 ye

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, before I answer the question directly, I would ask a favour of my hon. colleague. After we finish this round of remarks, if he could go into the lobby and tell all of his colleagues on that side of the House that climate change in fact is real, he would be doing a se

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for acknowledging that at the very least we are on the same page when it comes to putting a price on pollution, and that climate change is a real threat that we need to address. There are a number of environmental policies we are implementing that

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I want to say that I know how hard it is for the community of Oshawa right now to deal with the job losses and how disappointed I am with GM's decision to close its facility there. However, what we have seen over the past few weeks in this chamber is

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, with respect, the critique in the member's question is that the Liberal government would dare discuss the environment in response to a motion about the economy. Here I note in particular that there are at least seven references in the motion to our government's envir

Business of Supply  I am being chided from the other side by people sarcastically suggesting that the consequences will not be dire, as I am giving this speech. It is remarkable. Perhaps there is a generational divide, but on this side of the House I can say that there is not a single MP I have talk

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to take part in this debate today. The motion before the House this morning seeks to pit the economy against social and environmental progress. Over the past few years in Parliament, I have come to expect this trend from the Conservative Party of Can

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I noticed a lot of rhetoric about our environmental policies, both contained in the text of today's motion but also during my hon. colleague's remarks. I am curious. Is it her position that climate change is a serious threat that we need to take action on? If so, w

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, one of the points the hon. member made during his remarks was the threat of higher payroll taxes, as he phrased it, to jobs and workers in the Canadian economy. I am curious then if it is the Conservative Party of Canada's plan, should it have the opportunity to form