Parliament Update – Week of February 26, 2018

This week, we covered topics including Budget 2018, the Canada Summer Jobs Program, the ongoing Phoenix Pay System issues, and the Prime Minister’s failed trip to India.

The following was debated in the House:

• Budget 2018

• Bill C-69 – An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (Second Reading)

• Bill C-364 – An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and to make a consequential amendment to another Act (political financing) (Second Reading)

• Bill C-374 – An Act to amend the Historic Sites and Monuments Act (composition of the Board) (Committee Stage)

• Bill C-375 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code (presentence report) (Second Reading)

• Bill S-210 – An Act to amend An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Civil Marriage Act and the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (Second Reading)

• CPC Opposition Motion – Canada Summer Jobs Program

• NDP Opposition Motion – Phoenix Pay System

On Monday, I participated in debate on Bill C-374, which seeks to update and amend the Historic Sites and Monuments Act. Specifically, the bill would ensure that Indigenous Canadians are represented on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board.

Also on Monday, I had the pleasure to meet with a young constituent from Grande Cache, Allyson Busch. She was visiting Ottawa as part of the Grande Yellowhead Public School Division’s Superintendent’s Youth Council to attend a conference by an organization called Encounters With Canada.

I also had the privilege of opening Question Period on Wednesday, asking the first question of the day. I asked the Prime Minister why he would ever meet with Jaspal Atwal in India, a convicted attempted assassin. I was one of the responding RCMP officers when Atwal attempted to murder an Indian Minister in 1986. I want to know how this convicted criminal was invited to a state dinner.

You can read my questions and comments in the House on the corresponding day’s Hansard on the House Publications page at www.ourcommons.ca/en.

In the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC), we continued our study on the state of Canadian museums. For more information on these meetings, visit the CHPC Committee website at www.ourcommons.ca/ Committees/en/CHPC .