The temperature rises in Ottawa:

With the House of Commons now sitting until midnight for the
remainder of this session and with record temperatures being recorded in Ottawa, it is fair to say that the atmosphere has become heated and at times highly partisan on certain issues. Two of the most contentious issues this week included the ongoing investigation into the potential misuse of House of Commons funds by the NDP for partisan political purposes and more recently the appointment of a new Privacy Commissioner.

In both circumstances the Government and Liberals have been in agreement to further the investigation into NDP House resource spending and more recently the Liberals have supported the Government appointment of long time civil servant Daniel Therrien as Canada`s new Privacy Commissioner.

Our Prime Minister will be departing for Europe this week and along for the flight will be a delegation of Canadian veterans, including a veteran from Okanagan-Coquihalla to participate in ceremonies recognizing the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion. We should never
forget the thousands of Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in the Normandy campaign.

Also occurring this week will be the release of an important new report from the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. This report is the result of a comprehensive review of the New Veterans Charter and I can attest that local veterans have been supportive of a thorough review by the committee. Although I am not a member of this committee, I do make a point of covering for
absent members where possible as I believe that this is a important issue to many citizens in Okanagan-Coquihalla. Based on my particpation at these meetings and from comments from the other members, there is all party support recognizing the importance of this report in suggesting further improvements to the New Veterans Charter.

There will also be a number of Bills before the House this week including Bills C-27- "The Veterans Hiring Act", Bill C-35 "Justice for Animals in Service Act", Bill C-32 "The Victims Bill of Rights Act", Bill
C-18- "The Agricultural Growth Act", Bill C-20- "Canada-Honduras Economic Growth and Prosperity Act" and Bill C-21- "The Red Tape Reduction Act". There will also be a number of private member's bills and motions coming before the House on a variety of different subjects including the presentation of petitions.

I would also like to take a moment to thank the many citizens who took the time to voice support for Bill C-17 “Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act” that I referenced in last week’s MP report. From time to time there are bills that draw extremely wide support from a very diverse segment of citizens; without exception every citizen I heard from supports the ability of Government to have more options for issuing recalls against dangerous drugs and medical devices
that can potentially compromise patient safety as proposed in Bill C-17. I can also pass on that Bill C-17 has since received all party support to move on to Committee stage review.

If you have a comment, question or concern on any matter or Bill before the House of Commons, I can be reached via email at dan.albas@parl.gc.ca or toll free at 1-800-665-8711.

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