Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act  Madam Speaker, I do not disagree with anything that my hon. colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands has said. The challenge in front of us is to take what we have been presented and to work as hard as we can to make it better, to have the courage to work together, to hold each other to account and to try to come out with something that is better than what we have had for the past 30 or 40 years.

Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act  Madam Speaker, to answer very briefly, standing up for the environment is not a special interest.

Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act  Madam Speaker, the essential characteristic of a good law on environmental responsibility, and in particular accountability, which is the focus of this discussion, is that it produces results and empowers independent bodies, just as we have officers of Parliament who hold us to account, to cut through the doublespeak and the spin of successive governments and give Canadians the unvarnished truth about where we are at and where we need to be.

Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act  Madam Speaker, I do not believe that the purpose of the advisory committee should be to represent all of the broad diversity of Canadian society. It should be an advisory committee of experts who recognize the imperative of action on climate change and who are positioned to provide expert advice to the government.

Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act  Mr. Speaker, there are times when we are called on to do big, hard, important things. I believe tackling the climate crisis is one of those things, and I know many in this place agree. It is such an important thing that I feel both compelled to speak and afraid that my words will not measure up to the hopes of my daughters’ generation, rather, that they will be added to the decades-long soundtrack of political platitudes, which, taken all together, have added up to so little.

Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act  Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the remarks of my hon. colleague. I agree with so much that he presented around ways to strengthen this accountability legislation. I wonder if he could provide the House with a change that he feels would go the furthest and would be the highest priority amendment to this legislation to improve accountability and strengthen the bill.

Airline Industry  Madam Speaker, Canadians have been waiting for over a year for Air Canada to return their hard-earned money for cancelled trips. While the Liberals stood by, thousands of jobs have been lost across the air sector. It should never have taken over a year to get help to airline workers or to make families whole by providing refunds.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I share many of the member's concerns. I know that most Canadians probably want not only to get to the bottom of these very concerning issues, but also allow the ethics committee to finish its work on pandemic spending and the other important matters it has before it.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I share much of my hon. colleague's concern and dismay at the lack of transparency and accountability. Although I wonder if he does not believe that it is important for the ethics committee to complete its study into pandemic spending and report to Parliament in a timely manner, particularly with a federal election rumoured to be on the immediate horizon.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I find this remarkable. We know now that Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney, when he was defence minister, were aware of the allegations and investigated them back in 2015. However, they then went on to appoint General Vance to lead the program to stamp out sexual misconduct in the military with Operation Honour.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, my colleague will not be surprised that I view the issue of mandatory minimums quite differently than he does. I believe that most people would agree that serious offences and serious offenders should receive commensurate sentences. However, I do not see anything in this legislation that prevents a judge from sentencing according to the unique circumstances of each crime.

Haida Gwaii Residents Tax Deduction Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-280, an act to amend the Income Tax Act with regard to residents of northern or intermediate zones. Madam Speaker, Haida Gwaii is well known across Canada, not only for its spectacular beauty and the rich culture of the Haida people, but also for its remoteness.

Haida Gwaii Residents Tax Deduction Act  Madam Speaker, the bill I am introducing today would amend the Income Tax Act to explicitly make the residents of Haida Gwaii eligible for the full northern residents tax deduction. Island residents have been pushing for this for over a decade and it is long overdue. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the parliamentary budget officer slammed the government's Infrastructure Bank on its failure to get things built. He found that after four years, the bank had finalized investment in only two projects and spent only 3% of its budget. The billions of dollars of private funding that the Prime Minister promised, not a single cent has arrived.

Employment Insurance Act  Madam Speaker, I want to talk about the EI sickness benefit. Twice now the House has voted for that benefit to be increased to 50 weeks, and it seems that it would have been a very easy addition to this legislation. Could the parliamentary secretary speak to why his government has ignored the clear desire of the members of the House?