Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member's party campaigned on transparency, but there seems to be a lot of secrecy and a lack of action regarding Bombardier's situation. Is his government planning to match the $1 billion lifeline for Bombardier?

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to comment on my colleague's take on secondary airports. He mentioned the Abbotsford international airport, which I am quite familiar with. I would suggest to him that Billy Bishop airport in the heart of Toronto is in a very different situation than Abbotsford out in the cornfields of the Fraser Valley.

Forestry Industry  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's trip to Washington is about more than cocktail parties and magazine spreads. The softwood lumber issue is important to Canadian industry from coast to coast, and workers are worried about how the new agreement will affect their livelihoods. Softwood lumber is again open to negotiation, and our industry is vulnerable.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition to the House from constituents in my riding of South Okanagan—West Kootenay, who point out that our present electoral system produces a Parliament where the number of MPs for each party does not reflect the number of voters who supported that party.

Canada Labour Code  Mr. Speaker, we in the NDP support this bill. It is a good first step. However, as the member mentioned in his speech, more needs to be done to protect hard-working Canadians in their workplaces. I would ask him to expand on his comments about health and safety concerns and when the government will enhance these provisions for our public sector employees.

Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL  Madam Speaker, I would give one answer to that, which I can say right away and briefly. This is not our war. If they want to point fingers, they could say it was the Americans and their ill-advised actions in Iraq who have created this instability. If the Americans feel obliged to try to fix it through military means, then good luck to them, because I do not think these sorts of military means are helping very much.

Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL  Madam Speaker, I will be dividing my time in the debate with the member for Timmins—James Bay. I am happy to rise in the House this afternoon to speak against both the motion and the amendment to that motion. I was encouraged to hear the speeches earlier this afternoon given by my NDP colleagues that I think really put the proper frame on this debate.

Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL  Mr. Speaker, we have heard the past few Conservative speakers defending the Canadian bombing mission, but as the other member across the floor mentioned, there is a long history in this region of bombing missions doing nothing but further destabilizing the area. In fact, most experts would point to the American bombing in Iraq as being one of the key points in the birth of ISIS.

Syrian Refugees  Mr. Speaker, I would first like to wish my son Russell a happy 29th birthday today. On a more serious note, all Canadians have been witness to the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Syria. The devastating images of entire families risking everything to flee the violence have pushed many of us to help.

Forestry Industry  Mr. Speaker, the softwood lumber agreement expired last year, but the government has shown no signs of working to get a new deal. There are thousands of jobs on the line in forestry communities throughout British Columbia and across this country. The clock is ticking on these good, family-supporting jobs, and communities are looking for action.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I want to ask the member opposite about the credibility of the National Energy Board and its really flawed assessment process. The environment commissioner's report recently showed that the NEB does not track compliance in over half of all of the cases studied. I want to know what concrete steps the Liberals will take to ensure that the NEB does its job more than half the time.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the Liberal government has been talking about restoring the confidence of Canadians in the environmental assessment process around these pipelines. Yesterday, at a hastily called news conference, it announced what it called a new process. However, it will not change anything with the NEB assessment process at all.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, the member opposite took some of the words right out of my mouth with his comments. However, the member for Beauce mentioned zero wealth creation, something about which the previous government knew a lot. It comes down to the fact that there are two sides to government finances, things that will get the government in and out of trouble.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to touch on the infrastructure question. When I was campaigning throughout the riding, I met with almost all the mayors and councillors in the 41 communities.. Infrastructure was at the top of their list at all times. They wanted the infrastructure funding from the federal government to be easier to access for small communities.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I must grudgingly admit that the member's riding of Kootenay—Columbia is almost as beautiful as mine. As I said, the South Okanagan—West Kootenay is an area that is unique in Canada. It is part of the dry interior of British Columbia that is one of the very last ecoregions of Canada that does not have a national park.