Chatham-Kent-Essex MP Dave Van Kesteren says the House of Commons got a lot accomplished in the last parliamentary session.

He says the House went until midnight many nights over the last four weeks and passed many pieces of legislation. As for criticism from the opposition about the lack of debate, Van Kesteren isn’t sympathetic. “The debate that was happening was basically the same, nothing new,” he says. “It was just time for a lot of this stuff.”

Van Kesteren says the highlight for him was introducing his first private members bill. “In Canada today, if you were to murder your spouse or your parents you could get their entitlement to CPP or the orphan benefit or the OAS payment. It doesn’t happen often, but there were no provisions to stop this.”

The bill passed its second reading and Van Kesteren says he’ll tweak it for the next debate to see if it can’t include those convicted of manslaughter.