An NDP motion on aboriginal Canadians is debated during the first opposition day of 2013.
From aboriginal affairs critic Jean Crowder:
That the House, recognizing the broad-based demand for action, call on the government to make the improvement of economic outcomes of First Nations, Inuit and Métis a central focus of Budget 2013, and to commit to action on treaty implementation and full and meaningful consultation on legislation that affects the rights of Aboriginal Canadians, as required by domestic and international law.
MPs also debate a private member's motion supporting the federal loan guarantee of up to $6.3 billion for the Muskrat Falls hydro project in Labrador.
Conservative MP Jay Aspin, who has several hydroelectric generating stations in and around his northern Ontario riding of Nipissing-Temiskaming, introduced the motion:
That, in the opinion of the House, a government loan guarantee to the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project is:
(a) an important part of a clean energy agenda;
(b) an economically viable project that will create thousands of jobs and billions in economic growth;
(c) regionally significant for the Atlantic region, which will benefit from a stable and sustainable electricity source for decades to come; and
(d) environmentally-friendly, with substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions through the displacement of power from coal-fired and oil electricity sources.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper travelled to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in late November to announce Ottawa's backing for the project by the Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia governments and their energy corporations.
-Andrew Thomson
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