2016-04-22

Madam Speaker, that is why we have improved the plan to fight ISIL and to be sure that this awful terrorist group will stop killing people. Canada is more and more involved in a more effective way with our allies to be sure that we will win and that this terrorist group will stop its atrocities.

Madam Speaker, as my colleague knows, Canada has tripled its efforts to train combatants who are fighting this awful terrorist group on the ground. We have doubled our intelligence capacity in order to determine where this terrorist group is. We have enhanced our humanitarian and development assistance. We are supporting Jordan and Lebanon more than ever, and we will beat this terrorist group.

Madam Speaker, that is exactly why this government is refusing to recognize the genocide as such. This government decided to end Canada's combat mission against the genocidal terrorists of Daesh. It was this government that withdrew Canada's air force, which was combatting these genocidal terrorists in the Middle East.Will the minister admit that the reason he is refusing to recognize the genocide as such is that Canada ended its combat mission?

Madam Speaker, people choose a medical career because they want to care for the sick, but without conscience protection, doctors in Ontario will now be forced to facilitate killing. Dr. Nancy Naylor of Strathroy, Ontario, will not be renewing her licence. Dr. Naylor has practised family and palliative medicine for 40 years. She writes, “I have no wish to stop. But I will not be told that I must go against my moral conscience...”.Will the government implement conscience protection in euthanasia legislation and let Dr. Naylor continue her vital work?

Madam Speaker, I wish my arms were long enough so I could pat the hon. member on his back. On Tuesday, I asked the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship about the Liberals wasting $6.4 million to renovate Canadian forces bases for refugees who never came. The minister's response was, “My colleague beside me, the Minister of National Defence, confirms there is nothing truthful in the member's comments about defence.”The Minister of National Defence knew that money was spent. Why did the Minister of National Defence give the Minister of Immigration false information, and why did they both mislead Canadians?

Madam Speaker, on March 17, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said that ISIS “is responsible for genocide”, but five days later in this place, the minister of global affairs denied Secretary Kerry's recognition, saying instead that the U.S. wanted to do more research.The British Parliament and the U.S. House of Representatives have unanimously endorsed a recognition of the genocide as such. ISIS itself does not deny its efforts to exterminate these historic communities, so why will the government not just recognize this genocide?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals' first budget goes out of the way to discriminate against the Province of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan receives less than 1% of federal funding for transportation infrastructure in this budget, even though it represents 3% of the population of Canada.Under the Conservative government, transportation funding was allocated on a per capita basis.Why is the government shortchanging the people of Saskatchewan?

Madam Speaker, that is legal pettifogging. Those are word games. This is not about a judicial process. This House and the previous Conservative government recognized the historical reality of the Armenian genocide without an international judicial process. We did so with respect to other historic genocides. This is happening today. We do not have time to wait for lawyers. We do not want to give ISIS the benefit of the doubt in a judicial process. We need simply to reflect the reality that it is seeking to exterminate the indigenous communities of Mesopotamia. Why will the government not follow the lead of Britain and the United States and—

Madam Speaker, it is always nice to hear someone on the government side talking about Paul Martin, who, unlike the current government, hated deficits.Moving on to another issue, the Minister of Transport has been doing a lot of improvising with regard to Bill C-10, and that is putting it mildly. Yesterday morning, he was accusing the NDP. In the afternoon, he was saying that the Quebec minister did not understand, and in the evening, he had another answer.Will the minister at least give us a clear and solid explanation today? Why is he imposing a gag order on Bill C-10? Is he going to rattle off yet another answer?

Madam Speaker, the Edmonton-based Islamic Family and Social Services Association has said, “The government needs to step up” and that it needs to boost support for Syrian refugees who are increasingly turning to the food banks to eat. One representative said, “It's a huge problem”, that the Liberals are “not great with helping them resettle”. Did the Liberals just pick an arbitrary number and think they could wash their hands clean of the rest?

He did not answer the question, Madam Speaker. Maybe I will try one more time.One would think that those two ministers would have a handle on what is going on, considering how closely they supposedly worked on this file. Our Order Paper question, signed off by the Minister of National Defence, confirmed that this money was in fact spent on barracks which were never used.Did the Minister of National Defence not know what he signed, or is he deliberating trying to mislead Canadians?

Madam Speaker, it is only the Conservative opposition that can turn happy news into bad news.Surely to goodness it is good news that the barracks did not have to be used. Surely to goodness the ultimate deployment of $6 million to upgrade the facilities is good news. The good news is that all of these refugees are now located where they should be, in the towns and cities across the country.

Madam Speaker, one thing that is typical of this government is that it likes to go on and on about its lofty principles, but its actions say quite the opposite. Take transparency, for example. This government and its ministers must be accountable for all their expenses, yet a number of ministers have not yet reported their expenses. The example comes from the top. The President of the Treasury Board, the person who watches every penny spent every day by this government, was late in filing his expense report and did so only after we asked him questions.Why do these paragons of virtue say one thing and do the opposite?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are cancelling funding for the integrated soldier system project. This is a uniform that protects the individual soldier from chemical and radiological weaponry and enemy fire. Who can forget when the Liberals sent our soldiers into the desert of Afghanistan in forest green combat fatigues, making them targets?Why do the lives of the women and men who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces mean so little to the Liberals?

Madam Speaker, the British monarchy has caused irreparable harm to Quebeckers. This week, another survey indicated that 80% of Quebeckers are not in favour of the monarchy.In response, the Minister of Canadian Heritage arrogantly, or perhaps out of ignorance, said that we had made the decision to be a constitutional monarchy.Can the Minister of Heritage tell us when Quebeckers made that decision? Was it when the monarchy imposed the Act of Union in 1840 or Confederation in—

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are very good at self-promoting the refugee initiative. However, private sponsorship groups from Newfoundland have had to turn to a letter-writing campaign to demand action on their stalled applications. There are countless groups across the country in this position. Private sponsorship groups provide refugees with an instant support network and immediately help families transition to their new life in Canada. Therefore, if the refugee initiative is as successful as the Liberals claim, why are these private groups being ignored, while at the same time government-sponsored refugees have to rely on food banks?

Madam Speaker, I welcome the question from the opposition critic and her concern for the welfare of refugees in our country. We obviously share that concern. Our government shares it. I share it as a refugee myself. However, I find it highly implausible and a bit, let us say, inconsistent for that party to talk about the quality of life for our refugees when it eliminated health care for refugee applicants, in violation of the charter, when it was in office.

Madam Speaker, support groups from across the country are struggling to meet the needs of refugees brought to Canada. Government-sponsored refugees are using food banks to meet their day-to-day needs. They are not gaining language training services and they are not being empowered to successfully transition to life in Canada. Why did the Liberals focus on bringing in government-sponsored refugees if they had no plan to support these refugees?

Madam Speaker, business professionals are worried about the Liberal tax hikes on small professional corporations. Dr. Melanie, a physician in my riding, has said that these tax changes would mean less clinical hours in the community. That means less front-line health services.The Prime Minister thinks small businesses are just ways for wealthier Canadians to avoid taxes. Dr. Melanie is a hard-working GP serving her community, not a wealthy tax dodger.When are the Liberals going to shelve these tax hikes and stop punishing hard-working doctors like Dr. Melanie?

Madam Speaker, this government did not sign an agreement. The agreement was signed on October 30, five days before the new government took office.We believe the Catholic church and only the Catholic church can achieve its own reconciliation with indigenous people in our country. We are urging it to do the right thing, pay the money that it promised to pay. It has a moral obligation to do this for the healing of indigenous people.In clarification, the Prime Minister—

Madam Speaker, the answer to that is no. Again, I am refreshed by the fact that a member of the Conservative opposition is actually citing an Islamic-based organization in Edmonton to support his proposition. If we recollect, our position was not only to accept 25,000 refugees into our country by February 29, but also to accept them no matter what race, religion or perhaps persuasion they came from. This is a distinct contrast to the policy of the previous government, which cherry-picked religious minorities to the detriment of Sunni Muslims.

Madam Speaker, we agree with the results of the Conference Board of Canada. Ten years of inaction on the part of the previous government with respect to environmental matters relating to climate change, environmental assessments, and other things have left Canada in a very poor situation in the world in terms of our environmental record. This government is taking firm steps on the climate agenda, to which I have already referred. We have committed to launching a review of our environmental assessment processes. This is a government that understands that the economy and the environment must go hand in hand in the modern age, and that is exactly what we are going to do.

Madam Speaker, yesterday a new report from the parliamentary budget officer highlighted the lack of a national strategy for dealing with greenhouse gas emissions and how our current approach is going to cost us all dearly.Liberals continue to operate under the old Conservative plans and targets. They are great at environmental rhetoric, but time and again they fall down on getting anything done. The parliamentary secretary just refused to answer this question, so let us try again. Exactly how much will greenhouse gas emissions be reduced in each of the next three years?

Madam Speaker, let me re-establish the facts. Every time we turn around, the Liberals are destroying opportunities for job creators. The Liberals are knee-capping the clean technology sector by eliminating the hiring credit for small businesses. This tax credit helps small companies hire the people they need to develop clean technologies and bring those clean technologies to market. Under the Conservatives, this sector saw consistent growth.Why do the Liberals believe this tax is a great idea even though it is killing the sector they so eagerly pretend to support?

Madam Speaker, the horrors committed by the so-called Islamic State have the hallmarks of genocide, but official recognition of genocide is to be done by a credible judicial process, following a proper international investigation, an investigation that we will do everything to support, as I have said to the UN special advisor on the prevention of genocide. Our U.K. ally has also said that the government is not a prosecutor, a judge, or a jury. Canada continues to stand side by side—

Madam Speaker, talk is certainly cheap and Liberal talking points are even cheaper, but when it comes to Liberals talking about climate change without actually doing anything, the results are actually very expensive. Liberals signed the Kyoto accord with a promise to reduce emissions. By the time they left office, emissions had soared. Environment Canada just reported that they continue to rise under the new Liberal government. What a failure. The Liberals claim to have a plan, so here is a very simple question. How many tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are Liberals projecting to reduce in each of the next three years? No more talking points, just give some answers.

Madam Speaker, sadly, there are no answers and just more hot air from the Liberals on climate change. While the NDP government in Alberta is making strides, the lack of federal action leaves us failing to live up to our international commitments. The new report from the Conference Board gives Canada a D when it comes to protecting the environment, trailing far, far behind other countries. Canadians cherish our environment, and it is part of our identity. When will the Liberals make actual progress on our commitment to review the process?

Madam Speaker, Avis de recherche is a public interest television channel. No channel gives a higher priority to such issues as missing children and other missing persons, action on violence against women, and crime prevention than Avis de recherche. However, if nothing is done, the channel will have to shut down next week because of a CRTC decision. The minister can intervene under the law. What is she waiting for to do so?

Madam Speaker, Quebec's entrepreneurial legacy is in jeopardy.Federal law makes it more lucrative to sell one's business to a stranger than a family member. The difference can be equivalent to the price of a luxury home. That is unacceptable. The Government of Quebec has called for change. Last week, I sent a letter to the minister. This morning, the president of CGI Group made a heartfelt plea. When will the federal government stop being indifferent towards Quebec companies?

Madam Speaker, these targets should include quality of life for these refugees. More than a dozen Ottawa food banks have reported an increased demand coming from government-sponsored Syrian refugees. Most of these families have turned to the Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard, where 75 Syrian families, for a total of over 400 people, have registered at the food cupboard. Will the minister tell the House what his plan is to address the needs of these families, or will he simply try to set up yet another photo op?

Madam Speaker, the fight against climate change is the greatest challenge of this century. We have a moral duty to exhaust all appropriate means of addressing this issue.Rhetoric, pretty pictures, and inaction are no longer enough. Young people are counting on all of us in the House to take action and get this done.Can the Prime Minister explain to young people and children how he will meet the Paris targets when he has no plan to do so? Will this be yet another fiasco like Kyoto?

Madam Speaker, the protection of species at risk was last on the list of Conservative priorities. In fact, 82 species had been recommended for inclusion in the species at risk public registry. Of course, the Conservatives did nothing, and we are still waiting for action. The Liberal minister has had six months, but she has not done anything either. This is not complicated. We are talking about adding species to the registry, as already recommended.When will the minister finally take action on this?

Madam Speaker, today, April 22, is Earth Day, and the Prime Minister just signed the Paris agreement on climate change. However, the parliamentary budget officer said yesterday that without a major change of course, the greenhouse gas reduction targets are unrealistic. What is worse, even the Conservatives' old inadequate targets are not being met, but the Prime Minister is giving his word to the entire world.Does the Prime Minister realize that he will not be able to keep his word unless he puts an end to the energy east pipeline project?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals have proven that they simply cannot be trusted to spend taxpayers' money responsibly. With their vanity trips to Hollywood, and now to a gym in New York, the Liberal government is all about photo ops and self-promotion.We are worried about where the Liberals will spend this $50 million dedicated to Destination Canada.Can the minister stand in the House today and tell us how the money will be spent, and how much of it will be spent on advertising?

Madam Speaker, I would like to stress to my hon. colleague that we have many programs within Canadian Heritage which are in line with celebrating the important landmarks of Canadian history.That being said, I would also like to stress that I will not take any lessons from a past government that forgot to include indigenous people as part of their way to commemorate our history. That is why the reconciliation with indigenous people will be part of the 150th anniversary.

Madam Speaker, I wish a happy Friday to everybody.I would like to thank the member for her question, and I could not agree with her more; it was an issue that was totally ignored by the previous government. I would like to inform the member and this House that actually yesterday I signed off on a whole bunch of those things, and we are addressing the backlog that is there.

Madam Speaker, the answer to that is simple. We concentrated on government-assisted refugees because we take seriously the duty of care that Canada has on the international stage to respond to a national and international humanitarian crisis. To purport that these individuals are being left unattended to or unsupported by the government is simply incorrect. The statistics speak to $600 million of settlement funding directed at the refugees themselves. Are there barriers along the way? Of course. Are there challenges we are trying to address? Of course. We are doing that in solidarity with Canadians who believe in this effort and believe in this government's response.

Madam Speaker, yesterday, in New York, the Prime Minister told a group of American students that Canada did not have the baggage of colonialism. Maybe that explains why six days after taking office, the government signed a deal to let the Catholic church off the hook in terms of its financial obligations to residential school survivors.How can the government talk about reconciliation when it is signing secret deals that undermine restitution?

Madam Speaker, the lower tax rate for small businesses had already been put in place by the previous Conservative government. The Liberals did nothing to make that happen. On the contrary, they introduced a bill this week that will raise the small business tax rate by 1.5% over the next three years. This goes against their own election platform.Would they agree to an amendment to implement their own election platform and allow our small businesses to keep more of their own money?

Madam Speaker, I am aware of the excellent work of Dr. Naylor and I am pleased that she has had such an illustrious career in palliative care.One of the reasons that we introduced Bill C-14 was the fact that Canadians need access to all options for care at the end of life. We are committed in this government to make sure, as the Supreme Court has indicated, that people have access to assistance in dying, and I am pleased that people like Dr. Naylor are also providing assistance for people to live well until the end of their lives.

Madam Speaker, for the second year in a row, the research vessel belonging to the Université du Québec à Rimouski, the Coriolis II, will have nowhere to dock. Actually, it will have a place to dock, but it will be in Quebec City, 300 km from Rimouski. Why? Because the federal government declared the west pier at the port of Rimouski to be condemned after neglecting it for many years.This situation is unacceptable for one of our country's leading oceanographic research institutions.Despite the efforts made over the past six months to get the minister's office to take action, there is still no plan to remedy the situation. The minister's office is being very cavalier about this extremely urgent situation.Will the Minister of Transport take his responsibilities seriously and help find a plan to solve the problem at the port of Rimouski?

Madam Speaker, the CAF has been engaged, along with other elements in the government, in this massive repatriating of these refugees. It has contributed to the medical screenings, to the air lift, and to the potential housing. However, because Canadians have stepped up, the housing that was renovated at the time, in anticipation of the refugees coming to our country, was not used.The happy consequence is that these refugees are—

Madam Speaker, members will be interested to know that in the last four years, while that member's government was the majority government, it cut back the funding for the forces by $3.3 billion. It took lapsing to an art form, to the point that it has lost a lot of money that was available for the men and women in uniform that she professes to be concerned about.Had her government done the proper procurement cycles, we would not have the problems that she—

Madam Speaker, in response to my hon. colleague's question, I am proud to say that we are delivering on our promise to restore science to Canada. Budget 2016 announced $2 billion to promote economic growth by improving research and innovation infrastructure at Canada's post-secondary institutions. These investments provide our research community with access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. These important tools will be used to make new discoveries that will better the lives of Canadians and grow our economy. This is a great investment in science and it is a great investment in Canada.

Madam Speaker, on March 11, I asked the Liberals if they could tell us the status of Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, and two others held captive in the Philippines. The parliamentary secretary assured us that he was on top of the file. We would like to see our fellow Canadians return home alive, so would the Liberals give us an update today on the situation?

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for reminding Canadians and all members in the House that this budget is squarely focused on revitalizing the Canadian economy, and that is what small businesses need most.We are engaging with small businesses and with Canadians. Our investments in budget 2016 will grow the economy. Increased economic growth is good and it is better for businesses. More orders and more sales mean better business. Our small business owners will be—

Madam Speaker, today, the Prime Minister is signing the Paris agreement on climate change.Unfortunately, the Prime Minister seems to want to keep the same targets that the Conservatives set. The Liberals seem to be happy with that.Aside from the rhetoric and pretty pictures, nothing has changed with this new Prime Minister. He has the same plan, the same timeframe, and the same targets as the Conservatives, and he seems quite happy with that.How will the Prime Minister honour his commitment when he has no plan to achieve the Paris targets?

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for the question. I know that she cares a lot, the whole House cares a lot, and she will understand that under the circumstances, it is preferable that I do not comment further.

Madam Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to read the entire budget. What we have done is historic. We are investing $1 billion in clean tech across the country to ensure we can invest in innovation and new technology. That is what Canadians wanted; that is what we are delivering.

Madam Speaker, unlike my colleague on the other side of the House, this government recognizes that Canada is a federation and it actually involves the provinces. We are working actively with our provincial and territorial colleagues to develop a pan-Canadian process to reducing carbon emissions and to actually developing a robust, clean growth economy. We are proud of the work we have done. We are proud of the work our Prime Minister has done. We are proud of the fact that he is one of the first signatories on this agreement in New York today.

Madam Speaker, I would highlight some of the significant investments this government made in the budget. We have made significant investments in public transit, a billion dollars in clean tech, and a range of investments to address climate change. We have embarked on a pan-Canadian discussion that will allow us to work with the provinces proactively to address climate emissions. This is the most that any Canadian government has done in the last 30 years. We intend to achieve our targets. We intend to be part of a productive international conversation. That is exactly what we will do.

Madam Speaker, this government came to power after 10 years of inaction on the part of the previous government with respect to climate change. In the short six months that we have been in power, we have launched a pan-Canadian process to address this on a critical basis. We have been a constructive part of actually achieving the Paris agreement. Today, on Earth Day, I think Canadians are extremely proud that our Prime Minister is in New York to be one of the first signatories to the historic Paris agreement.

Madam Speaker, that is very good and quite commendable.Nonetheless, beyond the mandate of these six advisory groups, the veterans want to know the following. Who will be part of these groups? What qualifications are needed to sit on them? Do members of the group have to sign non-disclosure agreements?Veterans expect transparency. They want to know why the list of members of each of these advisory groups has not been made public yet.

Madam Speaker, this government came into office after 10 years of complete and utter inaction on climate change on the part of the previous government.Since elected, this government has played a very significant role in the achievement of the historic Paris agreement. It has launched a federal-provincial-territorial process to develop a pan-Canadian plan to reduce emissions and to invest in the clean growth economy. We have concluded significant measures with our American friends relating to methane emissions and a number of other measures.We have done an enormous amount in six months. On Earth Day, I am extremely proud that the Prime Minister is signing an historic agreement in New York today.

Madam Speaker, next year Canada observes the 150th anniversary of Confederation, but a funny thing happened on the way to the celebrations: the new government left out Confederation. When the minister introduced the themes for the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Confederation was not there, not even the subject of Canadian history is a theme.Why the Liberal war on history?

Madam Speaker, last fall we campaigned on a promise to finally take action on climate change. Canadians understand that the economy and the environment are not two separate issues; they go hand in hand.To that end, I understand that the Prime Minister is in New York today to formally sign the Paris agreement on climate change. Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change please inform this House about the important step that the Prime Minister is taking today?

Madam Speaker, at committee, the minister justified excluding Confederation from the 150th anniversary themes by saying “...we shouldn't play politics with [it]”.Admittedly, Conservatives John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier drove the project, but Macdonald's archrivals, George Brown and Oliver Mowat, were partners and full founding fathers. In fact, Confederation is the ultimate bipartisan example of Canadian nation building.Why will the Liberal government not make Confederation a theme of the 150th anniversary of Confederation?

Madam Speaker, the tourism industry is an economic driver and a job creator, which is great. We recognize that $50 million has been committed to Destination Canada. We know that the previous government had no problem cutting tourism because it did not see the value in it. We will be working closely with Destination Canada. We will ensure that we have a presence on the international stage. Canada is a country that everyone should visit. We know that we offer the best and brightest. We look forward to ensuring the dollars are spent well. Destination Canada is excited, and Canadians are—

Madam Speaker, the Liberal government recently announced that it was setting up six ministerial advisory groups at Veterans Affairs Canada. Veterans are wondering about that and are talking to me about it more and more.Can the minister explain to the House the precise mandate of these groups?

Madam Speaker, I am not sure if the hon. member was listening, but Canada is a federation, and that involves provinces and territories. The Canadian government is working with the provinces and territories to develop a pan-Canadian framework that is focused on reducing emissions and on investing in the clean growth economy. We will be working over the next several months with our provincial counterparts to develop that. We are also working in conjunction with our American partners and have already announced a number of measures in that regard.This is the responsible and the Canadian way to approach things, and this is exactly what we are going to do.

Madam Speaker, I did not change my answer yesterday evening as my colleague said. We clearly explained the situation throughout the day.The governments of Quebec and Manitoba intend to drop their lawsuit against Air Canada. That gives us, here at the federal level, the opportunity to clarify the Air Canada Public Participation Act, and that is what we are doing.I hope that my colleagues in the House will work with us on this bill at all stages of the process.

Madam Speaker, six years ago, Canada endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Since then, little has been done to implement it.The bill I introduced yesterday for the second time would ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the declaration. The Prime Minister gave his ministers a mandate to establish a new nation-to-nation relationship starting with the implementation of the declaration.My question is a simple one. Will the Liberals support my bill as they did when they were in opposition, or not?

Madam Speaker, clause 34 of this week's budget bill raises the tax rate on small businesses by a half point, a point, and a point and a half over the next three respective years. This contradicts the Liberal platform and the Prime Minister's mandate letter to his minister to maintain the low 9% rate that the previous Conservative government had enacted. Would the Liberals entertain a friendly amendment, which would use wording right out of their election platform, to keep the rate low at 9% so our job creators can flourish and hire more Canadians?

Madam Speaker, let me once again say how proud I personally am that the Prime Minister of Canada is in New York to sign the historic Paris agreement.Our government is also incredibly proud and I think Canadians are proud of the work that Canada has done with respect to climate change since coming into office. The parliamentary budget officer's report discussed the pathway on climate change. It is one pathway. What we are focused on is developing a pan-Canadian pathway that is inclusive, that brings in the provinces, territories, and indigenous peoples to create a strategy that is a Canadian strategy that will allow us to manage our emissions down while concurrently creating a clean growth economy.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his important question. Again this week, I received some very positive comments from different organizations that we support because with this delegation of authority, funding applications are processed much more quickly.Payments are now being made two to four months earlier than before. One can only imagine what a pleasant surprise this must be for the organizations. We are now working on multi-year agreements to enhance organizations' planning process.The issue has finally been solved.

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question. It is an excellent question, because this is something I really want to share with the rest of the House.The Minister of Veterans Affairs wants to find out what the issues are for veterans. He wants to give veterans the opportunity to come to Ottawa to sit down with the people and share that information. In the past, that information had been controlled. I am going to sit down with all of these six groups, and we are going to find out, and we are going to—

Madam Speaker, we all know the importance of Canadian research to the national economy. Science and innovation help create economic growth, foster a positive environment for entrepreneurs, and find new solutions for sustainable economic development. For these advancements to take place, we must ensure that researchers have the tools and resources they need.Could the Parliamentary Secretary for Science tell the House what our government is doing to ensure research infrastructure is properly funded?

Madam Speaker, as my colleague will know because he was involved in the past government, there are programs within Canadian Heritage to support the history of Confederation. For example, last year, an entire play was supported 100% by Canadian Heritage on Sir John A. Macdonald. In that context, we will continue to support historical landmarks. I must stress again that we will make sure to put emphasis on—

Madam Speaker, Canadians deserve openness and transparency, and the Liberal Party has been a leader on that. In fact, it was a Liberal prime minister, Paul Martin, who was the first to proactively disclose the expenses of ministers. Then it was a Liberal leader, our Prime Minister, who in opposition led the charge on being the first party in the House of Commons to have open and transparent disclosure of MP's expenses, and other parties, sometimes reluctantly, followed suit. We will continue to disclose our expenses, because it is the right thing to do.

Madam Speaker, the outpouring of support for the national effort to settle refugees in the country has been overwhelming. As the minister has stated repeatedly in the House, a grand national project of this size and scope is not without its challenges. We have met targets to bring in 25,000 individuals by the end of February. We are working to bring in 44,800 humanitarian people under the refugee category alone in 2016. That includes government-sponsored individuals and privately-sponsored individuals. We are thankful for the incredible support in Newfoundland and other provinces, and we are working to address those needs as quickly as possible.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.I am very aware of the demands that Avis de recherche, or ADR, is making and of its mission to broadcast important information. From what I understand, ADR still has its licence and can therefore develop the full potential of its licence.Furthermore, the CRTC is the one that made the decisions regarding this channel, and as my colleague is well aware, under the the Broadcasting Act the CRTC has the sole authority to order mandatory distribution.

Madam Speaker, let us be clear once and for all on this issue. The tax rate for small businesses went from 11% to 10.5% as of January 1, 2016. Those are the facts. What Canadian businesses need is a strong economy, and it is exactly what budget 2016 would do. We are investing in infrastructure. We are investing in innovation. We are investing in clean tech. Canadian businesses are going to benefit from this budget, and Canadian families as well.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question because it is about making sure that this government consults and gets out there, gets the right information, and gets the advice it needs in order to make the right decisions.Right now, because of the inaction of the previous government, the list of work that needs to be done in Veterans Affairs is huge. We need to talk to all these different groups of people to find out how to prioritize all this work that needs to be done.

Madam Speaker, to ensure greater transparency and efficiency, and in keeping with this government's approach, the Minister of Canadian Heritage recently delegated significant authority for the funding of various organizations.Can the minister share with us the purpose of this delegation of authority and the results to date?

Madam Speaker, my colleague informed me of the problem. We are looking into that situation and the situations of other ports under federal jurisdiction.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his long-standing commitment to reconciliation.The government is absolutely determined to implement the United Nations declaration. We have to work with First Nations, the Inuit, and the Métis Nation to examine all of the implementation mechanisms available, including legislation.The bill was just introduced, and we are examining it.

Madam Speaker, that question gives me the opportunity to say how pleased I am with the budget and with how much money is being invested in infrastructure. A record $60 billion is being invested, including $20 billion in public transit infrastructure.That is excellent news for all the provinces, communities, and municipalities. The hon. member should be pleased as well.

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.Let us get the facts straight on this. The tax rate for small businesses went from 11% to 10.5% in January 2016. Our commitment during the election campaign was to invest in the Canadian economy specifically to benefit small businesses, Canadian families, and the middle class.That is exactly what we did in budget 2016 and exactly what we will continue to do.

Madam Speaker, as the House knows, it was the Queen's 90th birthday yesterday, and we celebrated the occasion. I would once again like to wish the Queen a happy birthday and remind members of her importance as Canada's head of state.

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.Our government is committed to creating a positive economic environment that is conducive to helping businesses succeed across the country. We will continue to support innovative Canadian companies, so that they can prosper in this competitive global environment.Then, we will do everything we can to ensure that jobs and innovation remain in our economy, through programs—

Madam Speaker, business professionals are worried about the Liberal tax hikes on small professional corporations. Dr. Melanie, a physician in my riding, has said that these tax changes would mean less clinical hours in the community. That means less front-line health services.The Prime Minister thinks small businesses are just ways for wealthier Canadians to avoid taxes. Dr. Melanie is a hard-working GP serving her community, not a wealthy tax dodger.When are the Liberals going to shelve these tax hikes and stop punishing hard-working doctors like Dr. Melanie?

Madam Speaker, people choose a medical career because they want to care for the sick, but without conscience protection, doctors in Ontario will now be forced to facilitate killing. Dr. Nancy Naylor of Strathroy, Ontario, will not be renewing her licence. Dr. Naylor has practised family and palliative medicine for 40 years. She writes, “I have no wish to stop. But I will not be told that I must go against my moral conscience...”.Will the government implement conscience protection in euthanasia legislation and let Dr. Naylor continue her vital work?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are cancelling funding for the integrated soldier system project. This is a uniform that protects the individual soldier from chemical and radiological weaponry and enemy fire. Who can forget when the Liberals sent our soldiers into the desert of Afghanistan in forest green combat fatigues, making them targets?Why do the lives of the women and men who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces mean so little to the Liberals?

Madam Speaker, my colleague informed me of the problem. We are looking into that situation and the situations of other ports under federal jurisdiction.

Madam Speaker, as my colleague knows, Canada has tripled its efforts to train combatants who are fighting this awful terrorist group on the ground. We have doubled our intelligence capacity in order to determine where this terrorist group is. We have enhanced our humanitarian and development assistance. We are supporting Jordan and Lebanon more than ever, and we will beat this terrorist group.

Madam Speaker, we agree with the results of the Conference Board of Canada. Ten years of inaction on the part of the previous government with respect to environmental matters relating to climate change, environmental assessments, and other things have left Canada in a very poor situation in the world in terms of our environmental record. This government is taking firm steps on the climate agenda, to which I have already referred. We have committed to launching a review of our environmental assessment processes. This is a government that understands that the economy and the environment must go hand in hand in the modern age, and that is exactly what we are going to do.

Madam Speaker, the answer to that is simple. We concentrated on government-assisted refugees because we take seriously the duty of care that Canada has on the international stage to respond to a national and international humanitarian crisis. To purport that these individuals are being left unattended to or unsupported by the government is simply incorrect. The statistics speak to $600 million of settlement funding directed at the refugees themselves. Are there barriers along the way? Of course. Are there challenges we are trying to address? Of course. We are doing that in solidarity with Canadians who believe in this effort and believe in this government's response.

Madam Speaker, yesterday, in New York, the Prime Minister told a group of American students that Canada did not have the baggage of colonialism. Maybe that explains why six days after taking office, the government signed a deal to let the Catholic church off the hook in terms of its financial obligations to residential school survivors.How can the government talk about reconciliation when it is signing secret deals that undermine restitution?

Madam Speaker, today, April 22, is Earth Day, and the Prime Minister just signed the Paris agreement on climate change. However, the parliamentary budget officer said yesterday that without a major change of course, the greenhouse gas reduction targets are unrealistic. What is worse, even the Conservatives' old inadequate targets are not being met, but the Prime Minister is giving his word to the entire world.Does the Prime Minister realize that he will not be able to keep his word unless he puts an end to the energy east pipeline project?

Madam Speaker, Avis de recherche is a public interest television channel. No channel gives a higher priority to such issues as missing children and other missing persons, action on violence against women, and crime prevention than Avis de recherche. However, if nothing is done, the channel will have to shut down next week because of a CRTC decision. The minister can intervene under the law. What is she waiting for to do so?

Madam Speaker, it is always nice to hear someone on the government side talking about Paul Martin, who, unlike the current government, hated deficits.Moving on to another issue, the Minister of Transport has been doing a lot of improvising with regard to Bill C-10, and that is putting it mildly. Yesterday morning, he was accusing the NDP. In the afternoon, he was saying that the Quebec minister did not understand, and in the evening, he had another answer.Will the minister at least give us a clear and solid explanation today? Why is he imposing a gag order on Bill C-10? Is he going to rattle off yet another answer?

Madam Speaker, talk is certainly cheap and Liberal talking points are even cheaper, but when it comes to Liberals talking about climate change without actually doing anything, the results are actually very expensive. Liberals signed the Kyoto accord with a promise to reduce emissions. By the time they left office, emissions had soared. Environment Canada just reported that they continue to rise under the new Liberal government. What a failure. The Liberals claim to have a plan, so here is a very simple question. How many tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are Liberals projecting to reduce in each of the next three years? No more talking points, just give some answers.

Madam Speaker, that is legal pettifogging. Those are word games. This is not about a judicial process. This House and the previous Conservative government recognized the historical reality of the Armenian genocide without an international judicial process. We did so with respect to other historic genocides. This is happening today. We do not have time to wait for lawyers. We do not want to give ISIS the benefit of the doubt in a judicial process. We need simply to reflect the reality that it is seeking to exterminate the indigenous communities of Mesopotamia. Why will the government not follow the lead of Britain and the United States and—

Madam Speaker, six years ago, Canada endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Since then, little has been done to implement it.The bill I introduced yesterday for the second time would ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the declaration. The Prime Minister gave his ministers a mandate to establish a new nation-to-nation relationship starting with the implementation of the declaration.My question is a simple one. Will the Liberals support my bill as they did when they were in opposition, or not?

Madam Speaker, one thing that is typical of this government is that it likes to go on and on about its lofty principles, but its actions say quite the opposite. Take transparency, for example. This government and its ministers must be accountable for all their expenses, yet a number of ministers have not yet reported their expenses. The example comes from the top. The President of the Treasury Board, the person who watches every penny spent every day by this government, was late in filing his expense report and did so only after we asked him questions.Why do these paragons of virtue say one thing and do the opposite?

Madam Speaker, I wish my arms were long enough so I could pat the hon. member on his back. On Tuesday, I asked the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship about the Liberals wasting $6.4 million to renovate Canadian forces bases for refugees who never came. The minister's response was, “My colleague beside me, the Minister of National Defence, confirms there is nothing truthful in the member's comments about defence.”The Minister of National Defence knew that money was spent. Why did the Minister of National Defence give the Minister of Immigration false information, and why did they both mislead Canadians?

Madam Speaker, the British monarchy has caused irreparable harm to Quebeckers. This week, another survey indicated that 80% of Quebeckers are not in favour of the monarchy.In response, the Minister of Canadian Heritage arrogantly, or perhaps out of ignorance, said that we had made the decision to be a constitutional monarchy.Can the Minister of Heritage tell us when Quebeckers made that decision? Was it when the monarchy imposed the Act of Union in 1840 or Confederation in—

Madam Speaker, for the second year in a row, the research vessel belonging to the Université du Québec à Rimouski, the Coriolis II, will have nowhere to dock. Actually, it will have a place to dock, but it will be in Quebec City, 300 km from Rimouski. Why? Because the federal government declared the west pier at the port of Rimouski to be condemned after neglecting it for many years.This situation is unacceptable for one of our country's leading oceanographic research institutions.Despite the efforts made over the past six months to get the minister's office to take action, there is still no plan to remedy the situation. The minister's office is being very cavalier about this extremely urgent situation.Will the Minister of Transport take his responsibilities seriously and help find a plan to solve the problem at the port of Rimouski?

Madam Speaker, sadly, there are no answers and just more hot air from the Liberals on climate change. While the NDP government in Alberta is making strides, the lack of federal action leaves us failing to live up to our international commitments. The new report from the Conference Board gives Canada a D when it comes to protecting the environment, trailing far, far behind other countries. Canadians cherish our environment, and it is part of our identity. When will the Liberals make actual progress on our commitment to review the process?

Madam Speaker, the answer to that is no. Again, I am refreshed by the fact that a member of the Conservative opposition is actually citing an Islamic-based organization in Edmonton to support his proposition. If we recollect, our position was not only to accept 25,000 refugees into our country by February 29, but also to accept them no matter what race, religion or perhaps persuasion they came from. This is a distinct contrast to the policy of the previous government, which cherry-picked religious minorities to the detriment of Sunni Muslims.

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.Let us get the facts straight on this. The tax rate for small businesses went from 11% to 10.5% in January 2016. Our commitment during the election campaign was to invest in the Canadian economy specifically to benefit small businesses, Canadian families, and the middle class.That is exactly what we did in budget 2016 and exactly what we will continue to do.

Madam Speaker, clause 34 of this week's budget bill raises the tax rate on small businesses by a half point, a point, and a point and a half over the next three respective years. This contradicts the Liberal platform and the Prime Minister's mandate letter to his minister to maintain the low 9% rate that the previous Conservative government had enacted. Would the Liberals entertain a friendly amendment, which would use wording right out of their election platform, to keep the rate low at 9% so our job creators can flourish and hire more Canadians?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals' first budget goes out of the way to discriminate against the Province of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan receives less than 1% of federal funding for transportation infrastructure in this budget, even though it represents 3% of the population of Canada.Under the Conservative government, transportation funding was allocated on a per capita basis.Why is the government shortchanging the people of Saskatchewan?

Madam Speaker, next year Canada observes the 150th anniversary of Confederation, but a funny thing happened on the way to the celebrations: the new government left out Confederation. When the minister introduced the themes for the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Confederation was not there, not even the subject of Canadian history is a theme.Why the Liberal war on history?

Madam Speaker, I did not change my answer yesterday evening as my colleague said. We clearly explained the situation throughout the day.The governments of Quebec and Manitoba intend to drop their lawsuit against Air Canada. That gives us, here at the federal level, the opportunity to clarify the Air Canada Public Participation Act, and that is what we are doing.I hope that my colleagues in the House will work with us on this bill at all stages of the process.

Madam Speaker, as my colleague will know because he was involved in the past government, there are programs within Canadian Heritage to support the history of Confederation. For example, last year, an entire play was supported 100% by Canadian Heritage on Sir John A. Macdonald. In that context, we will continue to support historical landmarks. I must stress again that we will make sure to put emphasis on—

Madam Speaker, the Liberals have proven that they simply cannot be trusted to spend taxpayers' money responsibly. With their vanity trips to Hollywood, and now to a gym in New York, the Liberal government is all about photo ops and self-promotion.We are worried about where the Liberals will spend this $50 million dedicated to Destination Canada.Can the minister stand in the House today and tell us how the money will be spent, and how much of it will be spent on advertising?

Madam Speaker, the Edmonton-based Islamic Family and Social Services Association has said, “The government needs to step up” and that it needs to boost support for Syrian refugees who are increasingly turning to the food banks to eat. One representative said, “It's a huge problem”, that the Liberals are “not great with helping them resettle”. Did the Liberals just pick an arbitrary number and think they could wash their hands clean of the rest?

Madam Speaker, that is exactly why this government is refusing to recognize the genocide as such. This government decided to end Canada's combat mission against the genocidal terrorists of Daesh. It was this government that withdrew Canada's air force, which was combatting these genocidal terrorists in the Middle East.Will the minister admit that the reason he is refusing to recognize the genocide as such is that Canada ended its combat mission?

Madam Speaker, the protection of species at risk was last on the list of Conservative priorities. In fact, 82 species had been recommended for inclusion in the species at risk public registry. Of course, the Conservatives did nothing, and we are still waiting for action. The Liberal minister has had six months, but she has not done anything either. This is not complicated. We are talking about adding species to the registry, as already recommended.When will the minister finally take action on this?

Madam Speaker, I am not sure if the hon. member was listening, but Canada is a federation, and that involves provinces and territories. The Canadian government is working with the provinces and territories to develop a pan-Canadian framework that is focused on reducing emissions and on investing in the clean growth economy. We will be working over the next several months with our provincial counterparts to develop that. We are also working in conjunction with our American partners and have already announced a number of measures in that regard.This is the responsible and the Canadian way to approach things, and this is exactly what we are going to do.

Madam Speaker, on March 17, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said that ISIS “is responsible for genocide”, but five days later in this place, the minister of global affairs denied Secretary Kerry's recognition, saying instead that the U.S. wanted to do more research.The British Parliament and the U.S. House of Representatives have unanimously endorsed a recognition of the genocide as such. ISIS itself does not deny its efforts to exterminate these historic communities, so why will the government not just recognize this genocide?

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for the question. I know that she cares a lot, the whole House cares a lot, and she will understand that under the circumstances, it is preferable that I do not comment further.

Madam Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to read the entire budget. What we have done is historic. We are investing $1 billion in clean tech across the country to ensure we can invest in innovation and new technology. That is what Canadians wanted; that is what we are delivering.

Madam Speaker, last fall we campaigned on a promise to finally take action on climate change. Canadians understand that the economy and the environment are not two separate issues; they go hand in hand.To that end, I understand that the Prime Minister is in New York today to formally sign the Paris agreement on climate change. Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change please inform this House about the important step that the Prime Minister is taking today?

Madam Speaker, this government came to power after 10 years of inaction on the part of the previous government with respect to climate change. In the short six months that we have been in power, we have launched a pan-Canadian process to address this on a critical basis. We have been a constructive part of actually achieving the Paris agreement. Today, on Earth Day, I think Canadians are extremely proud that our Prime Minister is in New York to be one of the first signatories to the historic Paris agreement.

Madam Speaker, members will be interested to know that in the last four years, while that member's government was the majority government, it cut back the funding for the forces by $3.3 billion. It took lapsing to an art form, to the point that it has lost a lot of money that was available for the men and women in uniform that she professes to be concerned about.Had her government done the proper procurement cycles, we would not have the problems that she—

Madam Speaker, Canadians deserve openness and transparency, and the Liberal Party has been a leader on that. In fact, it was a Liberal prime minister, Paul Martin, who was the first to proactively disclose the expenses of ministers. Then it was a Liberal leader, our Prime Minister, who in opposition led the charge on being the first party in the House of Commons to have open and transparent disclosure of MP's expenses, and other parties, sometimes reluctantly, followed suit. We will continue to disclose our expenses, because it is the right thing to do.

Madam Speaker, the CAF has been engaged, along with other elements in the government, in this massive repatriating of these refugees. It has contributed to the medical screenings, to the air lift, and to the potential housing. However, because Canadians have stepped up, the housing that was renovated at the time, in anticipation of the refugees coming to our country, was not used.The happy consequence is that these refugees are—

Madam Speaker, this government did not sign an agreement. The agreement was signed on October 30, five days before the new government took office.We believe the Catholic church and only the Catholic church can achieve its own reconciliation with indigenous people in our country. We are urging it to do the right thing, pay the money that it promised to pay. It has a moral obligation to do this for the healing of indigenous people.In clarification, the Prime Minister—

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question. It is an excellent question, because this is something I really want to share with the rest of the House.The Minister of Veterans Affairs wants to find out what the issues are for veterans. He wants to give veterans the opportunity to come to Ottawa to sit down with the people and share that information. In the past, that information had been controlled. I am going to sit down with all of these six groups, and we are going to find out, and we are going to—

Madam Speaker, the horrors committed by the so-called Islamic State have the hallmarks of genocide, but official recognition of genocide is to be done by a credible judicial process, following a proper international investigation, an investigation that we will do everything to support, as I have said to the UN special advisor on the prevention of genocide. Our U.K. ally has also said that the government is not a prosecutor, a judge, or a jury. Canada continues to stand side by side—

Madam Speaker, this government came into office after 10 years of complete and utter inaction on climate change on the part of the previous government.Since elected, this government has played a very significant role in the achievement of the historic Paris agreement. It has launched a federal-provincial-territorial process to develop a pan-Canadian plan to reduce emissions and to invest in the clean growth economy. We have concluded significant measures with our American friends relating to methane emissions and a number of other measures.We have done an enormous amount in six months. On Earth Day, I am extremely proud that the Prime Minister is signing an historic agreement in New York today.

Madam Speaker, we all know the importance of Canadian research to the national economy. Science and innovation help create economic growth, foster a positive environment for entrepreneurs, and find new solutions for sustainable economic development. For these advancements to take place, we must ensure that researchers have the tools and resources they need.Could the Parliamentary Secretary for Science tell the House what our government is doing to ensure research infrastructure is properly funded?

Madam Speaker, the lower tax rate for small businesses had already been put in place by the previous Conservative government. The Liberals did nothing to make that happen. On the contrary, they introduced a bill this week that will raise the small business tax rate by 1.5% over the next three years. This goes against their own election platform.Would they agree to an amendment to implement their own election platform and allow our small businesses to keep more of their own money?

Madam Speaker, yesterday a new report from the parliamentary budget officer highlighted the lack of a national strategy for dealing with greenhouse gas emissions and how our current approach is going to cost us all dearly.Liberals continue to operate under the old Conservative plans and targets. They are great at environmental rhetoric, but time and again they fall down on getting anything done. The parliamentary secretary just refused to answer this question, so let us try again. Exactly how much will greenhouse gas emissions be reduced in each of the next three years?

Madam Speaker, Quebec's entrepreneurial legacy is in jeopardy.Federal law makes it more lucrative to sell one's business to a stranger than a family member. The difference can be equivalent to the price of a luxury home. That is unacceptable. The Government of Quebec has called for change. Last week, I sent a letter to the minister. This morning, the president of CGI Group made a heartfelt plea. When will the federal government stop being indifferent towards Quebec companies?

Madam Speaker, let us be clear once and for all on this issue. The tax rate for small businesses went from 11% to 10.5% as of January 1, 2016. Those are the facts. What Canadian businesses need is a strong economy, and it is exactly what budget 2016 would do. We are investing in infrastructure. We are investing in innovation. We are investing in clean tech. Canadian businesses are going to benefit from this budget, and Canadian families as well.

Madam Speaker, let me re-establish the facts. Every time we turn around, the Liberals are destroying opportunities for job creators. The Liberals are knee-capping the clean technology sector by eliminating the hiring credit for small businesses. This tax credit helps small companies hire the people they need to develop clean technologies and bring those clean technologies to market. Under the Conservatives, this sector saw consistent growth.Why do the Liberals believe this tax is a great idea even though it is killing the sector they so eagerly pretend to support?

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for reminding Canadians and all members in the House that this budget is squarely focused on revitalizing the Canadian economy, and that is what small businesses need most.We are engaging with small businesses and with Canadians. Our investments in budget 2016 will grow the economy. Increased economic growth is good and it is better for businesses. More orders and more sales mean better business. Our small business owners will be—

Madam Speaker, the tourism industry is an economic driver and a job creator, which is great. We recognize that $50 million has been committed to Destination Canada. We know that the previous government had no problem cutting tourism because it did not see the value in it. We will be working closely with Destination Canada. We will ensure that we have a presence on the international stage. Canada is a country that everyone should visit. We know that we offer the best and brightest. We look forward to ensuring the dollars are spent well. Destination Canada is excited, and Canadians are—

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are very good at self-promoting the refugee initiative. However, private sponsorship groups from Newfoundland have had to turn to a letter-writing campaign to demand action on their stalled applications. There are countless groups across the country in this position. Private sponsorship groups provide refugees with an instant support network and immediately help families transition to their new life in Canada. Therefore, if the refugee initiative is as successful as the Liberals claim, why are these private groups being ignored, while at the same time government-sponsored refugees have to rely on food banks?

Madam Speaker, I would like to stress to my hon. colleague that we have many programs within Canadian Heritage which are in line with celebrating the important landmarks of Canadian history.That being said, I would also like to stress that I will not take any lessons from a past government that forgot to include indigenous people as part of their way to commemorate our history. That is why the reconciliation with indigenous people will be part of the 150th anniversary.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question because it is about making sure that this government consults and gets out there, gets the right information, and gets the advice it needs in order to make the right decisions.Right now, because of the inaction of the previous government, the list of work that needs to be done in Veterans Affairs is huge. We need to talk to all these different groups of people to find out how to prioritize all this work that needs to be done.

Madam Speaker, to ensure greater transparency and efficiency, and in keeping with this government's approach, the Minister of Canadian Heritage recently delegated significant authority for the funding of various organizations.Can the minister share with us the purpose of this delegation of authority and the results to date?

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.I am very aware of the demands that Avis de recherche, or ADR, is making and of its mission to broadcast important information. From what I understand, ADR still has its licence and can therefore develop the full potential of its licence.Furthermore, the CRTC is the one that made the decisions regarding this channel, and as my colleague is well aware, under the the Broadcasting Act the CRTC has the sole authority to order mandatory distribution.

Madam Speaker, I wish a happy Friday to everybody.I would like to thank the member for her question, and I could not agree with her more; it was an issue that was totally ignored by the previous government. I would like to inform the member and this House that actually yesterday I signed off on a whole bunch of those things, and we are addressing the backlog that is there.

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.Our government is committed to creating a positive economic environment that is conducive to helping businesses succeed across the country. We will continue to support innovative Canadian companies, so that they can prosper in this competitive global environment.Then, we will do everything we can to ensure that jobs and innovation remain in our economy, through programs—

Madam Speaker, I would highlight some of the significant investments this government made in the budget. We have made significant investments in public transit, a billion dollars in clean tech, and a range of investments to address climate change. We have embarked on a pan-Canadian discussion that will allow us to work with the provinces proactively to address climate emissions. This is the most that any Canadian government has done in the last 30 years. We intend to achieve our targets. We intend to be part of a productive international conversation. That is exactly what we will do.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his important question. Again this week, I received some very positive comments from different organizations that we support because with this delegation of authority, funding applications are processed much more quickly.Payments are now being made two to four months earlier than before. One can only imagine what a pleasant surprise this must be for the organizations. We are now working on multi-year agreements to enhance organizations' planning process.The issue has finally been solved.

Madam Speaker, today, the Prime Minister is signing the Paris agreement on climate change.Unfortunately, the Prime Minister seems to want to keep the same targets that the Conservatives set. The Liberals seem to be happy with that.Aside from the rhetoric and pretty pictures, nothing has changed with this new Prime Minister. He has the same plan, the same timeframe, and the same targets as the Conservatives, and he seems quite happy with that.How will the Prime Minister honour his commitment when he has no plan to achieve the Paris targets?

Madam Speaker, these targets should include quality of life for these refugees. More than a dozen Ottawa food banks have reported an increased demand coming from government-sponsored Syrian refugees. Most of these families have turned to the Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard, where 75 Syrian families, for a total of over 400 people, have registered at the food cupboard. Will the minister tell the House what his plan is to address the needs of these families, or will he simply try to set up yet another photo op?

Madam Speaker, at committee, the minister justified excluding Confederation from the 150th anniversary themes by saying “...we shouldn't play politics with [it]”.Admittedly, Conservatives John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier drove the project, but Macdonald's archrivals, George Brown and Oliver Mowat, were partners and full founding fathers. In fact, Confederation is the ultimate bipartisan example of Canadian nation building.Why will the Liberal government not make Confederation a theme of the 150th anniversary of Confederation?

Madam Speaker, the fight against climate change is the greatest challenge of this century. We have a moral duty to exhaust all appropriate means of addressing this issue.Rhetoric, pretty pictures, and inaction are no longer enough. Young people are counting on all of us in the House to take action and get this done.Can the Prime Minister explain to young people and children how he will meet the Paris targets when he has no plan to do so? Will this be yet another fiasco like Kyoto?

He did not answer the question, Madam Speaker. Maybe I will try one more time.One would think that those two ministers would have a handle on what is going on, considering how closely they supposedly worked on this file. Our Order Paper question, signed off by the Minister of National Defence, confirmed that this money was in fact spent on barracks which were never used.Did the Minister of National Defence not know what he signed, or is he deliberating trying to mislead Canadians?

Madam Speaker, on March 11, I asked the Liberals if they could tell us the status of Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, and two others held captive in the Philippines. The parliamentary secretary assured us that he was on top of the file. We would like to see our fellow Canadians return home alive, so would the Liberals give us an update today on the situation?

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his long-standing commitment to reconciliation.The government is absolutely determined to implement the United Nations declaration. We have to work with First Nations, the Inuit, and the Métis Nation to examine all of the implementation mechanisms available, including legislation.The bill was just introduced, and we are examining it.

Madam Speaker, unlike my colleague on the other side of the House, this government recognizes that Canada is a federation and it actually involves the provinces. We are working actively with our provincial and territorial colleagues to develop a pan-Canadian process to reducing carbon emissions and to actually developing a robust, clean growth economy. We are proud of the work we have done. We are proud of the work our Prime Minister has done. We are proud of the fact that he is one of the first signatories on this agreement in New York today.

Madam Speaker, the Liberal government recently announced that it was setting up six ministerial advisory groups at Veterans Affairs Canada. Veterans are wondering about that and are talking to me about it more and more.Can the minister explain to the House the precise mandate of these groups?

Madam Speaker, that is very good and quite commendable.Nonetheless, beyond the mandate of these six advisory groups, the veterans want to know the following. Who will be part of these groups? What qualifications are needed to sit on them? Do members of the group have to sign non-disclosure agreements?Veterans expect transparency. They want to know why the list of members of each of these advisory groups has not been made public yet.

Madam Speaker, I welcome the question from the opposition critic and her concern for the welfare of refugees in our country. We obviously share that concern. Our government shares it. I share it as a refugee myself. However, I find it highly implausible and a bit, let us say, inconsistent for that party to talk about the quality of life for our refugees when it eliminated health care for refugee applicants, in violation of the charter, when it was in office.

Madam Speaker, it is only the Conservative opposition that can turn happy news into bad news.Surely to goodness it is good news that the barracks did not have to be used. Surely to goodness the ultimate deployment of $6 million to upgrade the facilities is good news. The good news is that all of these refugees are now located where they should be, in the towns and cities across the country.

Madam Speaker, let me once again say how proud I personally am that the Prime Minister of Canada is in New York to sign the historic Paris agreement.Our government is also incredibly proud and I think Canadians are proud of the work that Canada has done with respect to climate change since coming into office. The parliamentary budget officer's report discussed the pathway on climate change. It is one pathway. What we are focused on is developing a pan-Canadian pathway that is inclusive, that brings in the provinces, territories, and indigenous peoples to create a strategy that is a Canadian strategy that will allow us to manage our emissions down while concurrently creating a clean growth economy.

Madam Speaker, the outpouring of support for the national effort to settle refugees in the country has been overwhelming. As the minister has stated repeatedly in the House, a grand national project of this size and scope is not without its challenges. We have met targets to bring in 25,000 individuals by the end of February. We are working to bring in 44,800 humanitarian people under the refugee category alone in 2016. That includes government-sponsored individuals and privately-sponsored individuals. We are thankful for the incredible support in Newfoundland and other provinces, and we are working to address those needs as quickly as possible.

Madam Speaker, that is why we have improved the plan to fight ISIL and to be sure that this awful terrorist group will stop killing people. Canada is more and more involved in a more effective way with our allies to be sure that we will win and that this terrorist group will stop its atrocities.

Madam Speaker, I am aware of the excellent work of Dr. Naylor and I am pleased that she has had such an illustrious career in palliative care.One of the reasons that we introduced Bill C-14 was the fact that Canadians need access to all options for care at the end of life. We are committed in this government to make sure, as the Supreme Court has indicated, that people have access to assistance in dying, and I am pleased that people like Dr. Naylor are also providing assistance for people to live well until the end of their lives.

Madam Speaker, that question gives me the opportunity to say how pleased I am with the budget and with how much money is being invested in infrastructure. A record $60 billion is being invested, including $20 billion in public transit infrastructure.That is excellent news for all the provinces, communities, and municipalities. The hon. member should be pleased as well.

Madam Speaker, in response to my hon. colleague's question, I am proud to say that we are delivering on our promise to restore science to Canada. Budget 2016 announced $2 billion to promote economic growth by improving research and innovation infrastructure at Canada's post-secondary institutions. These investments provide our research community with access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. These important tools will be used to make new discoveries that will better the lives of Canadians and grow our economy. This is a great investment in science and it is a great investment in Canada.

Madam Speaker, as the House knows, it was the Queen's 90th birthday yesterday, and we celebrated the occasion. I would once again like to wish the Queen a happy birthday and remind members of her importance as Canada's head of state.

Madam Speaker, support groups from across the country are struggling to meet the needs of refugees brought to Canada. Government-sponsored refugees are using food banks to meet their day-to-day needs. They are not gaining language training services and they are not being empowered to successfully transition to life in Canada. Why did the Liberals focus on bringing in government-sponsored refugees if they had no plan to support these refugees?

Madam Speaker, support groups from across the country are struggling to meet the needs of refugees brought to Canada. Government-sponsored refugees are using food banks to meet their day-to-day needs. They are not gaining language training services and they are not being empowered to successfully transition to life in Canada. Why did the Liberals focus on bringing in government-sponsored refugees if they had no plan to support these refugees?

Madam Speaker, as the House knows, it was the Queen's 90th birthday yesterday, and we celebrated the occasion. I would once again like to wish the Queen a happy birthday and remind members of her importance as Canada's head of state.

Madam Speaker, in response to my hon. colleague's question, I am proud to say that we are delivering on our promise to restore science to Canada. Budget 2016 announced $2 billion to promote economic growth by improving research and innovation infrastructure at Canada's post-secondary institutions. These investments provide our research community with access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. These important tools will be used to make new discoveries that will better the lives of Canadians and grow our economy. This is a great investment in science and it is a great investment in Canada.

Madam Speaker, that question gives me the opportunity to say how pleased I am with the budget and with how much money is being invested in infrastructure. A record $60 billion is being invested, including $20 billion in public transit infrastructure.That is excellent news for all the provinces, communities, and municipalities. The hon. member should be pleased as well.

Madam Speaker, I am aware of the excellent work of Dr. Naylor and I am pleased that she has had such an illustrious career in palliative care.One of the reasons that we introduced Bill C-14 was the fact that Canadians need access to all options for care at the end of life. We are committed in this government to make sure, as the Supreme Court has indicated, that people have access to assistance in dying, and I am pleased that people like Dr. Naylor are also providing assistance for people to live well until the end of their lives.

Madam Speaker, that is why we have improved the plan to fight ISIL and to be sure that this awful terrorist group will stop killing people. Canada is more and more involved in a more effective way with our allies to be sure that we will win and that this terrorist group will stop its atrocities.

Madam Speaker, the outpouring of support for the national effort to settle refugees in the country has been overwhelming. As the minister has stated repeatedly in the House, a grand national project of this size and scope is not without its challenges. We have met targets to bring in 25,000 individuals by the end of February. We are working to bring in 44,800 humanitarian people under the refugee category alone in 2016. That includes government-sponsored individuals and privately-sponsored individuals. We are thankful for the incredible support in Newfoundland and other provinces, and we are working to address those needs as quickly as possible.

Madam Speaker, let me once again say how proud I personally am that the Prime Minister of Canada is in New York to sign the historic Paris agreement.Our government is also incredibly proud and I think Canadians are proud of the work that Canada has done with respect to climate change since coming into office. The parliamentary budget officer's report discussed the pathway on climate change. It is one pathway. What we are focused on is developing a pan-Canadian pathway that is inclusive, that brings in the provinces, territories, and indigenous peoples to create a strategy that is a Canadian strategy that will allow us to manage our emissions down while concurrently creating a clean growth economy.

Madam Speaker, it is only the Conservative opposition that can turn happy news into bad news.Surely to goodness it is good news that the barracks did not have to be used. Surely to goodness the ultimate deployment of $6 million to upgrade the facilities is good news. The good news is that all of these refugees are now located where they should be, in the towns and cities across the country.

Madam Speaker, I welcome the question from the opposition critic and her concern for the welfare of refugees in our country. We obviously share that concern. Our government shares it. I share it as a refugee myself. However, I find it highly implausible and a bit, let us say, inconsistent for that party to talk about the quality of life for our refugees when it eliminated health care for refugee applicants, in violation of the charter, when it was in office.

Madam Speaker, that is very good and quite commendable.Nonetheless, beyond the mandate of these six advisory groups, the veterans want to know the following. Who will be part of these groups? What qualifications are needed to sit on them? Do members of the group have to sign non-disclosure agreements?Veterans expect transparency. They want to know why the list of members of each of these advisory groups has not been made public yet.

Madam Speaker, the Liberal government recently announced that it was setting up six ministerial advisory groups at Veterans Affairs Canada. Veterans are wondering about that and are talking to me about it more and more.Can the minister explain to the House the precise mandate of these groups?

Madam Speaker, unlike my colleague on the other side of the House, this government recognizes that Canada is a federation and it actually involves the provinces. We are working actively with our provincial and territorial colleagues to develop a pan-Canadian process to reducing carbon emissions and to actually developing a robust, clean growth economy. We are proud of the work we have done. We are proud of the work our Prime Minister has done. We are proud of the fact that he is one of the first signatories on this agreement in New York today.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his long-standing commitment to reconciliation.The government is absolutely determined to implement the United Nations declaration. We have to work with First Nations, the Inuit, and the Métis Nation to examine all of the implementation mechanisms available, including legislation.The bill was just introduced, and we are examining it.

He did not answer the question, Madam Speaker. Maybe I will try one more time.One would think that those two ministers would have a handle on what is going on, considering how closely they supposedly worked on this file. Our Order Paper question, signed off by the Minister of National Defence, confirmed that this money was in fact spent on barracks which were never used.Did the Minister of National Defence not know what he signed, or is he deliberating trying to mislead Canadians?

Madam Speaker, on March 11, I asked the Liberals if they could tell us the status of Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, and two others held captive in the Philippines. The parliamentary secretary assured us that he was on top of the file. We would like to see our fellow Canadians return home alive, so would the Liberals give us an update today on the situation?

Madam Speaker, the fight against climate change is the greatest challenge of this century. We have a moral duty to exhaust all appropriate means of addressing this issue.Rhetoric, pretty pictures, and inaction are no longer enough. Young people are counting on all of us in the House to take action and get this done.Can the Prime Minister explain to young people and children how he will meet the Paris targets when he has no plan to do so? Will this be yet another fiasco like Kyoto?

Madam Speaker, these targets should include quality of life for these refugees. More than a dozen Ottawa food banks have reported an increased demand coming from government-sponsored Syrian refugees. Most of these families have turned to the Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard, where 75 Syrian families, for a total of over 400 people, have registered at the food cupboard. Will the minister tell the House what his plan is to address the needs of these families, or will he simply try to set up yet another photo op?

Madam Speaker, at committee, the minister justified excluding Confederation from the 150th anniversary themes by saying “...we shouldn't play politics with [it]”.Admittedly, Conservatives John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier drove the project, but Macdonald's archrivals, George Brown and Oliver Mowat, were partners and full founding fathers. In fact, Confederation is the ultimate bipartisan example of Canadian nation building.Why will the Liberal government not make Confederation a theme of the 150th anniversary of Confederation?

Madam Speaker, today, the Prime Minister is signing the Paris agreement on climate change.Unfortunately, the Prime Minister seems to want to keep the same targets that the Conservatives set. The Liberals seem to be happy with that.Aside from the rhetoric and pretty pictures, nothing has changed with this new Prime Minister. He has the same plan, the same timeframe, and the same targets as the Conservatives, and he seems quite happy with that.How will the Prime Minister honour his commitment when he has no plan to achieve the Paris targets?

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his important question. Again this week, I received some very positive comments from different organizations that we support because with this delegation of authority, funding applications are processed much more quickly.Payments are now being made two to four months earlier than before. One can only imagine what a pleasant surprise this must be for the organizations. We are now working on multi-year agreements to enhance organizations' planning process.The issue has finally been solved.

Madam Speaker, I would highlight some of the significant investments this government made in the budget. We have made significant investments in public transit, a billion dollars in clean tech, and a range of investments to address climate change. We have embarked on a pan-Canadian discussion that will allow us to work with the provinces proactively to address climate emissions. This is the most that any Canadian government has done in the last 30 years. We intend to achieve our targets. We intend to be part of a productive international conversation. That is exactly what we will do.

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.Our government is committed to creating a positive economic environment that is conducive to helping businesses succeed across the country. We will continue to support innovative Canadian companies, so that they can prosper in this competitive global environment.Then, we will do everything we can to ensure that jobs and innovation remain in our economy, through programs—

Madam Speaker, I wish a happy Friday to everybody.I would like to thank the member for her question, and I could not agree with her more; it was an issue that was totally ignored by the previous government. I would like to inform the member and this House that actually yesterday I signed off on a whole bunch of those things, and we are addressing the backlog that is there.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.I am very aware of the demands that Avis de recherche, or ADR, is making and of its mission to broadcast important information. From what I understand, ADR still has its licence and can therefore develop the full potential of its licence.Furthermore, the CRTC is the one that made the decisions regarding this channel, and as my colleague is well aware, under the the Broadcasting Act the CRTC has the sole authority to order mandatory distribution.

Madam Speaker, to ensure greater transparency and efficiency, and in keeping with this government's approach, the Minister of Canadian Heritage recently delegated significant authority for the funding of various organizations.Can the minister share with us the purpose of this delegation of authority and the results to date?

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question because it is about making sure that this government consults and gets out there, gets the right information, and gets the advice it needs in order to make the right decisions.Right now, because of the inaction of the previous government, the list of work that needs to be done in Veterans Affairs is huge. We need to talk to all these different groups of people to find out how to prioritize all this work that needs to be done.

Madam Speaker, I would like to stress to my hon. colleague that we have many programs within Canadian Heritage which are in line with celebrating the important landmarks of Canadian history.That being said, I would also like to stress that I will not take any lessons from a past government that forgot to include indigenous people as part of their way to commemorate our history. That is why the reconciliation with indigenous people will be part of the 150th anniversary.

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are very good at self-promoting the refugee initiative. However, private sponsorship groups from Newfoundland have had to turn to a letter-writing campaign to demand action on their stalled applications. There are countless groups across the country in this position. Private sponsorship groups provide refugees with an instant support network and immediately help families transition to their new life in Canada. Therefore, if the refugee initiative is as successful as the Liberals claim, why are these private groups being ignored, while at the same time government-sponsored refugees have to rely on food banks?

Madam Speaker, the tourism industry is an economic driver and a job creator, which is great. We recognize that $50 million has been committed to Destination Canada. We know that the previous government had no problem cutting tourism because it did not see the value in it. We will be working closely with Destination Canada. We will ensure that we have a presence on the international stage. Canada is a country that everyone should visit. We know that we offer the best and brightest. We look forward to ensuring the dollars are spent well. Destination Canada is excited, and Canadians are—

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for reminding Canadians and all members in the House that this budget is squarely focused on revitalizing the Canadian economy, and that is what small businesses need most.We are engaging with small businesses and with Canadians. Our investments in budget 2016 will grow the economy. Increased economic growth is good and it is better for businesses. More orders and more sales mean better business. Our small business owners will be—

Madam Speaker, let me re-establish the facts. Every time we turn around, the Liberals are destroying opportunities for job creators. The Liberals are knee-capping the clean technology sector by eliminating the hiring credit for small businesses. This tax credit helps small companies hire the people they need to develop clean technologies and bring those clean technologies to market. Under the Conservatives, this sector saw consistent growth.Why do the Liberals believe this tax is a great idea even though it is killing the sector they so eagerly pretend to support?

Madam Speaker, let us be clear once and for all on this issue. The tax rate for small businesses went from 11% to 10.5% as of January 1, 2016. Those are the facts. What Canadian businesses need is a strong economy, and it is exactly what budget 2016 would do. We are investing in infrastructure. We are investing in innovation. We are investing in clean tech. Canadian businesses are going to benefit from this budget, and Canadian families as well.

Madam Speaker, Quebec's entrepreneurial legacy is in jeopardy.Federal law makes it more lucrative to sell one's business to a stranger than a family member. The difference can be equivalent to the price of a luxury home. That is unacceptable. The Government of Quebec has called for change. Last week, I sent a letter to the minister. This morning, the president of CGI Group made a heartfelt plea. When will the federal government stop being indifferent towards Quebec companies?

Madam Speaker, yesterday a new report from the parliamentary budget officer highlighted the lack of a national strategy for dealing with greenhouse gas emissions and how our current approach is going to cost us all dearly.Liberals continue to operate under the old Conservative plans and targets. They are great at environmental rhetoric, but time and again they fall down on getting anything done. The parliamentary secretary just refused to answer this question, so let us try again. Exactly how much will greenhouse gas emissions be reduced in each of the next three years?

Madam Speaker, the lower tax rate for small businesses had already been put in place by the previous Conservative government. The Liberals did nothing to make that happen. On the contrary, they introduced a bill this week that will raise the small business tax rate by 1.5% over the next three years. This goes against their own election platform.Would they agree to an amendment to implement their own election platform and allow our small businesses to keep more of their own money?

Madam Speaker, we all know the importance of Canadian research to the national economy. Science and innovation help create economic growth, foster a positive environment for entrepreneurs, and find new solutions for sustainable economic development. For these advancements to take place, we must ensure that researchers have the tools and resources they need.Could the Parliamentary Secretary for Science tell the House what our government is doing to ensure research infrastructure is properly funded?

Madam Speaker, this government came into office after 10 years of complete and utter inaction on climate change on the part of the previous government.Since elected, this government has played a very significant role in the achievement of the historic Paris agreement. It has launched a federal-provincial-territorial process to develop a pan-Canadian plan to reduce emissions and to invest in the clean growth economy. We have concluded significant measures with our American friends relating to methane emissions and a number of other measures.We have done an enormous amount in six months. On Earth Day, I am extremely proud that the Prime Minister is signing an historic agreement in New York today.

Madam Speaker, the horrors committed by the so-called Islamic State have the hallmarks of genocide, but official recognition of genocide is to be done by a credible judicial process, following a proper international investigation, an investigation that we will do everything to support, as I have said to the UN special advisor on the prevention of genocide. Our U.K. ally has also said that the government is not a prosecutor, a judge, or a jury. Canada continues to stand side by side—

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question. It is an excellent question, because this is something I really want to share with the rest of the House.The Minister of Veterans Affairs wants to find out what the issues are for veterans. He wants to give veterans the opportunity to come to Ottawa to sit down with the people and share that information. In the past, that information had been controlled. I am going to sit down with all of these six groups, and we are going to find out, and we are going to—

Madam Speaker, this government did not sign an agreement. The agreement was signed on October 30, five days before the new government took office.We believe the Catholic church and only the Catholic church can achieve its own reconciliation with indigenous people in our country. We are urging it to do the right thing, pay the money that it promised to pay. It has a moral obligation to do this for the healing of indigenous people.In clarification, the Prime Minister—

Madam Speaker, the CAF has been engaged, along with other elements in the government, in this massive repatriating of these refugees. It has contributed to the medical screenings, to the air lift, and to the potential housing. However, because Canadians have stepped up, the housing that was renovated at the time, in anticipation of the refugees coming to our country, was not used.The happy consequence is that these refugees are—

Madam Speaker, Canadians deserve openness and transparency, and the Liberal Party has been a leader on that. In fact, it was a Liberal prime minister, Paul Martin, who was the first to proactively disclose the expenses of ministers. Then it was a Liberal leader, our Prime Minister, who in opposition led the charge on being the first party in the House of Commons to have open and transparent disclosure of MP's expenses, and other parties, sometimes reluctantly, followed suit. We will continue to disclose our expenses, because it is the right thing to do.

Madam Speaker, members will be interested to know that in the last four years, while that member's government was the majority government, it cut back the funding for the forces by $3.3 billion. It took lapsing to an art form, to the point that it has lost a lot of money that was available for the men and women in uniform that she professes to be concerned about.Had her government done the proper procurement cycles, we would not have the problems that she—

Madam Speaker, this government came to power after 10 years of inaction on the part of the previous government with respect to climate change. In the short six months that we have been in power, we have launched a pan-Canadian process to address this on a critical basis. We have been a constructive part of actually achieving the Paris agreement. Today, on Earth Day, I think Canadians are extremely proud that our Prime Minister is in New York to be one of the first signatories to the historic Paris agreement.

Madam Speaker, last fall we campaigned on a promise to finally take action on climate change. Canadians understand that the economy and the environment are not two separate issues; they go hand in hand.To that end, I understand that the Prime Minister is in New York today to formally sign the Paris agreement on climate change. Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change please inform this House about the important step that the Prime Minister is taking today?

Madam Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to read the entire budget. What we have done is historic. We are investing $1 billion in clean tech across the country to ensure we can invest in innovation and new technology. That is what Canadians wanted; that is what we are delivering.

Madam Speaker, on March 17, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said that ISIS “is responsible for genocide”, but five days later in this place, the minister of global affairs denied Secretary Kerry's recognition, saying instead that the U.S. wanted to do more research.The British Parliament and the U.S. House of Representatives have unanimously endorsed a recognition of the genocide as such. ISIS itself does not deny its efforts to exterminate these historic communities, so why will the government not just recognize this genocide?

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for the question. I know that she cares a lot, the whole House cares a lot, and she will understand that under the circumstances, it is preferable that I do not comment further.

Madam Speaker, I am not sure if the hon. member was listening, but Canada is a federation, and that involves provinces and territories. The Canadian government is working with the provinces and territories to develop a pan-Canadian framework that is focused on reducing emissions and on investing in the clean growth economy. We will be working over the next several months with our provincial counterparts to develop that. We are also working in conjunction with our American partners and have already announced a number of measures in that regard.This is the responsible and the Canadian way to approach things, and this is exactly what we are going to do.

Madam Speaker, the protection of species at risk was last on the list of Conservative priorities. In fact, 82 species had been recommended for inclusion in the species at risk public registry. Of course, the Conservatives did nothing, and we are still waiting for action. The Liberal minister has had six months, but she has not done anything either. This is not complicated. We are talking about adding species to the registry, as already recommended.When will the minister finally take action on this?

Madam Speaker, that is exactly why this government is refusing to recognize the genocide as such. This government decided to end Canada's combat mission against the genocidal terrorists of Daesh. It was this government that withdrew Canada's air force, which was combatting these genocidal terrorists in the Middle East.Will the minister admit that the reason he is refusing to recognize the genocide as such is that Canada ended its combat mission?

Madam Speaker, the Edmonton-based Islamic Family and Social Services Association has said, “The government needs to step up” and that it needs to boost support for Syrian refugees who are increasingly turning to the food banks to eat. One representative said, “It's a huge problem”, that the Liberals are “not great with helping them resettle”. Did the Liberals just pick an arbitrary number and think they could wash their hands clean of the rest?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals have proven that they simply cannot be trusted to spend taxpayers' money responsibly. With their vanity trips to Hollywood, and now to a gym in New York, the Liberal government is all about photo ops and self-promotion.We are worried about where the Liberals will spend this $50 million dedicated to Destination Canada.Can the minister stand in the House today and tell us how the money will be spent, and how much of it will be spent on advertising?

Madam Speaker, I did not change my answer yesterday evening as my colleague said. We clearly explained the situation throughout the day.The governments of Quebec and Manitoba intend to drop their lawsuit against Air Canada. That gives us, here at the federal level, the opportunity to clarify the Air Canada Public Participation Act, and that is what we are doing.I hope that my colleagues in the House will work with us on this bill at all stages of the process.

Madam Speaker, as my colleague will know because he was involved in the past government, there are programs within Canadian Heritage to support the history of Confederation. For example, last year, an entire play was supported 100% by Canadian Heritage on Sir John A. Macdonald. In that context, we will continue to support historical landmarks. I must stress again that we will make sure to put emphasis on—

Madam Speaker, next year Canada observes the 150th anniversary of Confederation, but a funny thing happened on the way to the celebrations: the new government left out Confederation. When the minister introduced the themes for the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Confederation was not there, not even the subject of Canadian history is a theme.Why the Liberal war on history?

Madam Speaker, the Liberals' first budget goes out of the way to discriminate against the Province of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan receives less than 1% of federal funding for transportation infrastructure in this budget, even though it represents 3% of the population of Canada.Under the Conservative government, transportation funding was allocated on a per capita basis.Why is the government shortchanging the people of Saskatchewan?

Madam Speaker, clause 34 of this week's budget bill raises the tax rate on small businesses by a half point, a point, and a point and a half over the next three respective years. This contradicts the Liberal platform and the Prime Minister's mandate letter to his minister to maintain the low 9% rate that the previous Conservative government had enacted. Would the Liberals entertain a friendly amendment, which would use wording right out of their election platform, to keep the rate low at 9% so our job creators can flourish and hire more Canadians?

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.Let us get the facts straight on this. The tax rate for small businesses went from 11% to 10.5% in January 2016. Our commitment during the election campaign was to invest in the Canadian economy specifically to benefit small businesses, Canadian families, and the middle class.That is exactly what we did in budget 2016 and exactly what we will continue to do.

Madam Speaker, the answer to that is no. Again, I am refreshed by the fact that a member of the Conservative opposition is actually citing an Islamic-based organization in Edmonton to support his proposition. If we recollect, our position was not only to accept 25,000 refugees into our country by February 29, but also to accept them no matter what race, religion or perhaps persuasion they came from. This is a distinct contrast to the policy of the previous government, which cherry-picked religious minorities to the detriment of Sunni Muslims.

Madam Speaker, sadly, there are no answers and just more hot air from the Liberals on climate change. While the NDP government in Alberta is making strides, the lack of federal action leaves us failing to live up to our international commitments. The new report from the Conference Board gives Canada a D when it comes to protecting the environment, trailing far, far behind other countries. Canadians cherish our environment, and it is part of our identity. When will the Liberals make actual progress on our commitment to review the process?

Madam Speaker, for the second year in a row, the research vessel belonging to the Université du Québec à Rimouski, the Coriolis II, will have nowhere to dock. Actually, it will have a place to dock, but it will be in Quebec City, 300 km from Rimouski. Why? Because the federal government declared the west pier at the port of Rimouski to be condemned after neglecting it for many years.This situation is unacceptable for one of our country's leading oceanographic research institutions.Despite the efforts made over the past six months to get the minister's office to take action, there is still no plan to remedy the situation. The minister's office is being very cavalier about this extremely urgent situation.Will the Minister of Transport take his responsibilities seriously and help find a plan to solve the problem at the port of Rimouski?

Madam Speaker, the British monarchy has caused irreparable harm to Quebeckers. This week, another survey indicated that 80% of Quebeckers are not in favour of the monarchy.In response, the Minister of Canadian Heritage arrogantly, or perhaps out of ignorance, said that we had made the decision to be a constitutional monarchy.Can the Minister of Heritage tell us when Quebeckers made that decision? Was it when the monarchy imposed the Act of Union in 1840 or Confederation in—

Madam Speaker, I wish my arms were long enough so I could pat the hon. member on his back. On Tuesday, I asked the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship about the Liberals wasting $6.4 million to renovate Canadian forces bases for refugees who never came. The minister's response was, “My colleague beside me, the Minister of National Defence, confirms there is nothing truthful in the member's comments about defence.”The Minister of National Defence knew that money was spent. Why did the Minister of National Defence give the Minister of Immigration false information, and why did they both mislead Canadians?

Madam Speaker, one thing that is typical of this government is that it likes to go on and on about its lofty principles, but its actions say quite the opposite. Take transparency, for example. This government and its ministers must be accountable for all their expenses, yet a number of ministers have not yet reported their expenses. The example comes from the top. The President of the Treasury Board, the person who watches every penny spent every day by this government, was late in filing his expense report and did so only after we asked him questions.Why do these paragons of virtue say one thing and do the opposite?

Madam Speaker, six years ago, Canada endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Since then, little has been done to implement it.The bill I introduced yesterday for the second time would ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the declaration. The Prime Minister gave his ministers a mandate to establish a new nation-to-nation relationship starting with the implementation of the declaration.My question is a simple one. Will the Liberals support my bill as they did when they were in opposition, or not?

Madam Speaker, that is legal pettifogging. Those are word games. This is not about a judicial process. This House and the previous Conservative government recognized the historical reality of the Armenian genocide without an international judicial process. We did so with respect to other historic genocides. This is happening today. We do not have time to wait for lawyers. We do not want to give ISIS the benefit of the doubt in a judicial process. We need simply to reflect the reality that it is seeking to exterminate the indigenous communities of Mesopotamia. Why will the government not follow the lead of Britain and the United States and—

Madam Speaker, talk is certainly cheap and Liberal talking points are even cheaper, but when it comes to Liberals talking about climate change without actually doing anything, the results are actually very expensive. Liberals signed the Kyoto accord with a promise to reduce emissions. By the time they left office, emissions had soared. Environment Canada just reported that they continue to rise under the new Liberal government. What a failure. The Liberals claim to have a plan, so here is a very simple question. How many tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are Liberals projecting to reduce in each of the next three years? No more talking points, just give some answers.

Madam Speaker, it is always nice to hear someone on the government side talking about Paul Martin, who, unlike the current government, hated deficits.Moving on to another issue, the Minister of Transport has been doing a lot of improvising with regard to Bill C-10, and that is putting it mildly. Yesterday morning, he was accusing the NDP. In the afternoon, he was saying that the Quebec minister did not understand, and in the evening, he had another answer.Will the minister at least give us a clear and solid explanation today? Why is he imposing a gag order on Bill C-10? Is he going to rattle off yet another answer?

Madam Speaker, Avis de recherche is a public interest television channel. No channel gives a higher priority to such issues as missing children and other missing persons, action on violence against women, and crime prevention than Avis de recherche. However, if nothing is done, the channel will have to shut down next week because of a CRTC decision. The minister can intervene under the law. What is she waiting for to do so?

Madam Speaker, today, April 22, is Earth Day, and the Prime Minister just signed the Paris agreement on climate change. However, the parliamentary budget officer said yesterday that without a major change of course, the greenhouse gas reduction targets are unrealistic. What is worse, even the Conservatives' old inadequate targets are not being met, but the Prime Minister is giving his word to the entire world.Does the Prime Minister realize that he will not be able to keep his word unless he puts an end to the energy east pipeline project?

Madam Speaker, yesterday, in New York, the Prime Minister told a group of American students that Canada did not have the baggage of colonialism. Maybe that explains why six days after taking office, the government signed a deal to let the Catholic church off the hook in terms of its financial obligations to residential school survivors.How can the government talk about reconciliation when it is signing secret deals that undermine restitution?

Madam Speaker, the answer to that is simple. We concentrated on government-assisted refugees because we take seriously the duty of care that Canada has on the international stage to respond to a national and international humanitarian crisis. To purport that these individuals are being left unattended to or unsupported by the government is simply incorrect. The statistics speak to $600 million of settlement funding directed at the refugees themselves. Are there barriers along the way? Of course. Are there challenges we are trying to address? Of course. We are doing that in solidarity with Canadians who believe in this effort and believe in this government's response.

Madam Speaker, we agree with the results of the Conference Board of Canada. Ten years of inaction on the part of the previous government with respect to environmental matters relating to climate change, environmental assessments, and other things have left Canada in a very poor situation in the world in terms of our environmental record. This government is taking firm steps on the climate agenda, to which I have already referred. We have committed to launching a review of our environmental assessment processes. This is a government that understands that the economy and the environment must go hand in hand in the modern age, and that is exactly what we are going to do.

Madam Speaker, as my colleague knows, Canada has tripled its efforts to train combatants who are fighting this awful terrorist group on the ground. We have doubled our intelligence capacity in order to determine where this terrorist group is. We have enhanced our humanitarian and development assistance. We are supporting Jordan and Lebanon more than ever, and we will beat this terrorist group.

Madam Speaker, my colleague informed me of the problem. We are looking into that situation and the situations of other ports under federal jurisdiction.

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are cancelling funding for the integrated soldier system project. This is a uniform that protects the individual soldier from chemical and radiological weaponry and enemy fire. Who can forget when the Liberals sent our soldiers into the desert of Afghanistan in forest green combat fatigues, making them targets?Why do the lives of the women and men who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces mean so little to the Liberals?

Madam Speaker, people choose a medical career because they want to care for the sick, but without conscience protection, doctors in Ontario will now be forced to facilitate killing. Dr. Nancy Naylor of Strathroy, Ontario, will not be renewing her licence. Dr. Naylor has practised family and palliative medicine for 40 years. She writes, “I have no wish to stop. But I will not be told that I must go against my moral conscience...”.Will the government implement conscience protection in euthanasia legislation and let Dr. Naylor continue her vital work?

Madam Speaker, business professionals are worried about the Liberal tax hikes on small professional corporations. Dr. Melanie, a physician in my riding, has said that these tax changes would mean less clinical hours in the community. That means less front-line health services.The Prime Minister thinks small businesses are just ways for wealthier Canadians to avoid taxes. Dr. Melanie is a hard-working GP serving her community, not a wealthy tax dodger.When are the Liberals going to shelve these tax hikes and stop punishing hard-working doctors like Dr. Melanie?