Michael Barrett

Mr. Speaker, today we pay tribute to our veterans. As a former member of the armed forces, I know that serving our country requires courage, but it also requires sacrifices for the whole family. Canada will always be grateful to our veterans and their families. Their service and sacrifices will never be forgotten. We will remember them: the Canadians who have served and continue to serve our [more]

Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to speak to this important motion. I note that I will be splitting my time with my hon. colleague, the member for, who is a veteran. Like other veterans in the House, I want to thank him for his service. I want to take this opportunity to remind and encourage Canadians to wear a poppy. It is a very small but really [more]

Prime Minister Madam Speaker, we can see quite plainly that this decision does not align with what are plainly Canadian values. It is not aligned with what Canadians expressed in the last election. Most importantly, I think the motion and the discussion today measure the's words against his actions. We want him to make good on what Canadians expect him to do. They expect him to do it because he [more]

Madam Speaker, as a legislator today, who has committed himself to serving veterans and to serving all Canadians, I can tell members that what I am hearing from veterans is that they are not interested in focusing exclusively on the rearview mirror. If we want to compare outrages on where the government has fallen down over the last 11 years, I think it is a damning indictment of the government [more]

Mr. Speaker, we have among us in our hospices and among those who provide palliative care some of the most compassionate and most important people. I aspire to have the strength to care for people when they are at their worst in the way that these people do. We need to do more to make sure that we have the resources to provide dignified and sufficient care for people, and I think hospice and [more]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time this afternoon. C-41 Billis a profound and deeply personal issue, I think, to everyone who will consider it, and everyone who has intervened on it today approaches it from different life experiences, different backgrounds and different beliefs. Today, I am approaching this from my perspective as a Roman Catholic. I am guided by my faith and my belief in [more]

Mr. Speaker, I will go back to the example I offered about veterans. We have seen demonstrated the failure of existing legislation to safeguard against abuses. I cannot think of anyone who is more vulnerable than someone living with an operational stress injury like PTSD after serving our country. They seek help, have the courage to call for help from the government they served, and then they are [more]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate what I infer from the hon. member's comments to be his respect and advocacy for the individual autonomy of every person. While I arrive at this debate informed by my beliefs, I would offer in reply that the opportunity we have with this bill is to provide safeguards for individuals who exercise that choice, which is legal in this country. We must make sure that there is [more]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell the House and Canadians about Bob Gibson, who is a retired air force pilot. He and his wife, Charmaine, are on Parliament Hill today. Their son followed in his dad's footsteps and is also a pilot in the air force. Something members might not know is that members of the Canadian Armed Forces are more likely to be diagnosed with ALS. Unfortunately, Bob has an ALS [more]

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his condolences for the fallen and their families and the injured in Wainwright, a training area he and I know well from our time in the Canadian Armed Forces. It is hard to imagine that our men and women who are preparing to go into the battle space are now having to deal with the recovery and the loss of their brothers and sisters in arms. On the [more]