Animal Welfare  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend one of my outstanding constituents from Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, Planet Paws business owner and internationally known pet nutrition blogger, Rodney Habib. Rodney's life changed forever after his own dog was harmed during the melamine-tainted pet food crisis.

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, I will get to it a little more quickly this time. The member said that the role of the opposition, on the other side of the room, was to criticize the government. That implies criticizing for the sake of criticizing. Does the member not think that the job of the official opposition should be to work with the folks on this side to come up with better policy on behalf of Canadians?

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his wonderful speech. I would suggest that he is a rising star in the House. The Canada child benefit, the income tested tax-free child benefit, was a promise that effectively became our biggest strength during the campaign.

National Sickle Cell Awareness Day Act  moved that Bill S-211, an act respecting National Sickle Cell Awareness Day, be read the first time. I am very pleased to rise in this House to introduce Bill S-211, an act respecting National Sickle Cell Awareness Day, which, about two weeks ago, passed in the Senate unanimously and without amendment.

National Strategy for Safe Disposal of Lamps Containing Mercury Act  Mr. Speaker, I am happy and, in fact, thankful to rise to speak again on my private member's bill, Bill C-238, a national strategy for safe disposal of lamps containing mercury act. We know that mercury is toxic, and we must keep it out of our waterways and off our lands. I would like to take a second, if I could, to thank the good people, the constituents of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, and also the stakeholders, locally and from across the country, who have reached out with their feedback and support for the bill.

Team Canada  Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the productive summer I had in the riding. I held a few town halls and had some pretty great funding announcements and some great community engagement. However, along came Sidney Crosby from my riding of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour. Since June alone, “Sid the Kid” has racked them up.

Infrastructure  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to and offer my support for private member's Motion No. 45. Private member's Motion No. 45 hearkens back to our government's Speech from the Throne, which said, ...a clean environment and a strong economy go hand in hand.

Gordie Howe  Mr. Speaker, sadly I also rise to honour the passing of a true Canadian legend, Mr. Hockey, our beloved Gordie Howe. We could stand here for hours talking about his accomplishments and his love of the game. His career spanned more than six different decades, and he retired as the leading all-time scorer in the NHL.

National Strategy for Safe Disposal of Lamps Containing Mercury Act  Mr. Speaker, I cannot imagine a national strategy not having an educational component. However, this bill does not speak to what the national strategy would look like. It does not offer suggestions. It is a start of a conversation and the beginning of dialogue. However, I will say that I have talked to hundreds of people across the country about this, and almost to a person, nobody knew that there were recycling facilities for mercury-bearing light bulbs across this country; nobody had contemplated that.

National Strategy for Safe Disposal of Lamps Containing Mercury Act  Mr. Speaker, as my friend said, we are on the environment committee together. There have been no discussions at this point. This is the beginning of the process. This is where we would start the consultation when and if we get the bill passed. I want to point out that the idea of moving forward on this is more of an opportunity than a cost.

National Strategy for Safe Disposal of Lamps Containing Mercury Act  moved that Bill C-238, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for the safe disposal of lamps containing mercury, be read the second time and referred to a committee. Mr. Speaker, I am proud and delighted to rise today to speak to Bill C-238, a national strategy for the safe disposal of lamps containing mercury act.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, if the folks across the way want to see cuts, I will show them my speech later. As part of the development of a defence policy for Canada, the government has stated that it will be a consultative process. Could the minister please inform the committee very quickly on how the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces will engage stakeholders from across Canada?

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, I will try to figure out how to edit along the way. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in these proceedings tonight. I will use my formerly 10 minutes, my current four minutes, to make a couple of minutes of comments and a couple of minutes of questions. Each line item in the main estimates represents an important activity for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces, but as we review these individual expenditures, we should also step back and consider the broader strategic vision for defence.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, Halifax and Dartmouth have welcomed the Prime Minister and numerous ministers since January. We witnessed a new level of respect for Atlantic Canada from our government. This government understands that Atlantic Canada has a culture of hard work and innovation. In fact, the finance minister kicked off his pre-budget consultations in Nova Scotia.

Gloria McCluskey  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour the fiercest warrior from my hometown, the legendary last mayor of Dartmouth, Gloria McCluskey. My six years on city council would have been far less interesting if I had not had the pleasure of being seatmates with Gloria. Gloria entered politics as an alderman for the City of Dartmouth back in 1985.