Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege to rise on behalf of the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. Oftentimes, people who watch question period with the Liberal government in power will remark that there is a reason it is not called answer period. We often cannot get, in a 35-second sound bite, much substance from the Liberals, which is why I am glad to have the opportunity to take another cra…
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Mr. Speaker, when the Artemis mission was on the far side of the moon, it was still closer to answering the question than the parliamentary secretary just was. I spoke about very real concerns, such as the price of fuel and groceries, and I mentioned a number of ways the Liberal government is not being respectful of taxpayer money. Instead, she came in here with a canned four-minute statement on j…
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Mr. Speaker, it is. There might have been an issue with the audio. I do not know if the member knew he was being asked when his office will open.
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Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals treat Canadians like a cash cow and spend so irresponsibly, they are adding more money to the national credit card, which means we have to put more money toward repaying the debt than funding public services. What are the consequences of this kind of spending?
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Mr. Speaker, the only thing worse than seeing left-wing activists in the media denigrate this country and its heroes is knowing that we Canadians had to foot the bill for it. The Liberals have heaped $1.5 billion on the CBC, and what is the CBC doing with this money? It is producing a show that lies, deceives and entraps Canadians who dare to disagree with the Liberals and dare to stand up for Sir…
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Mr. Speaker, food affordability remains a serious challenge for families in my community and across the country. Today, I want to recognize some of the unsung heroes who are meeting that challenge head-on. Founded just six years ago by Jim and Jacintha Collins, Harvest Hands in St. Thomas has rescued more than 45 million dollars' worth of surplus food, nearly $20 million last year alone. What star…
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Mr. Speaker, once again the Prime Minister is padding the pockets of consultants, insiders and elites while Canadians pay the price for his costly credit card budget. The Liberals blew $300 million on PrescribeIT with nothing to show for it. They said they were going to axe the fax, but instead they just embraced the waste. Now we learn that the health minister paid the Liberal-appointed head of t…
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Mr. Speaker, we also have a new record: the most hot air from a transport minister. The Liberals rejected Conservative calls to axe all federal taxes on fuel and save Canadians 25¢ a litre at the pumps. Let us look at what the Liberals do have money for: $200 million for a gravel pit, or, sorry, a launch pad, when the only thing the Liberals are sending into the stratosphere is the national debt. …
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals say this is a new government, but the only things that have changed are the colour of the Prime Minister's socks and the size of the deficit. This Liberal Prime Minister has doubled Justin Trudeau's deficit, maxing out the country's credit card and forcing Canadians to pay more to bankers and bondholders rather than roads and hospitals. Even The Globe and Mail sees throug…
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Mr. Speaker, I wish that member were laser-focused on answering a question for once. This budget proves that nothing has changed: the same Liberal excuses, the same Liberal spending addiction, the same Liberal credit card, just with a much higher limit. Canadians are paying more for groceries, more for rent, more in taxes, while this Prime Minister doubles down on the same failed borrow-and-spend …
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Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague and I disagree on a great many things, but if I extract the essence from it, which is that the Liberal government cannot be trusted, I think he and I are probably in alignment here. My question for my hon. colleague, though, stems from the fact that many of the problems he describes from the last several years of the Liberal government have been because the NDP of…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke about a voter in his riding who understands that the Liberals are not here to defend the interests of ordinary Canadians and Quebeckers. I would like to ask my colleague the following question. How do his voters feel about the fact that, even though Canadians elected a minority government and a strong opposition, the Liberals want to take control of committees so th…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague opposite likes to say that the Liberals are interested in working with all parties. Interestingly enough, the new Liberal member of Parliament for Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong had a very different story to say. In fact, she said that she was trying to get federal attention and investment in her riding, but did not get so much as a response until she crossed the floor to the …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right. I think that my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois asked some valid questions about the formula the Liberals are using, but I also think that it is important to look at how this majority came about. We have never seen a government use defections as a tactic to secure a majority that Canadians did not elect. Canadians do not want the Liberals to have complete con…
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Mr. Speaker, it is not just about amendments, as the member indicates; it is also about the agendas for committees. There are a number of committees that engage in studies that want to invite ministers to appear. As we have seen in the case of the ethics committee, the Liberals have staged a massive filibuster to block the finance minister from having to testify about his clear conflicts of intere…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Grande Prairie. I said in my maiden speech, when I got to this august chamber, that this seat does not belong to me. Indeed, it belongs to the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. I am a mere custodian of it. I say that to make the point that Parliament itself, this House of Commons, these institutions, are bigger than any of us as i…
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Mr. Speaker, small businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy, and that is truer than ever in St. Thomas, Elgin and London. Our small business owners are an incredible testament to the resilience, grit and innovativeness of our community. Some of our amazing entrepreneurs and professionals were recognized Friday at the St. Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce Impact Awards. I hope this…
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Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, during Statements by Members, I could not help but notice that the Minister of Finance took a photograph on his phone of the Secretary of State for Rural Development, which as you and the minister should know is very much against the rules of this House. I am hoping you could direct the deletion of that photo.
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Mr. Speaker, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is the Liberals have finally recognized once again that the Conservatives had the answer when it comes to rising gas prices. The bad news is they are not really implementing the whole thing. Once again, it is a half-measure. Actually, it is less than that. They are taking one-third of the taxes off gas for only a third of the year. Our…
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Mr. Speaker, I support any initiative that seeks to strengthen our democracy and our electoral system. We agree on the importance of providing a framework for the longest ballot committee by ensuring that an official agent may represent only one candidate per election. However, is there a risk that some people may act as a fake official agent on paper in order to circumvent this rule?
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Mr. Speaker, as always, the Liberals are claiming collaboration but delivering obfuscation. They are accepting the Conservative argument that the gas prices in this country are too high, but, as always, they give a half measure, not even half, delivering a third of the proposed tax cut the Conservatives have offered, and for a third of the year. If the Liberal government is serious about affordabi…
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Mr. Speaker, if my car ran on hot air, I would not care about the tax cut after that answer. However, most Canadians do not have the ability to do what these Liberal insiders are doing and weather all of this. The Liberals blame Iran, neglecting the fact that 25¢ a litre goes directly into government coffers. This is a very real suggestion. People in Elgin, St. Thomas and London do not view drivin…
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Mr. Speaker, I have been soaking in the words of my colleague's brilliant speech on this, and I want to ask him about the strange pattern we have seen. Certainly ever since I became a member of Parliament, almost a year ago, the Liberals rail against a Conservative proposal. They will call it reckless and say all sorts of things about it. Then they will say that they are adopting it as their own, …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure that law enforcement officers have the tools they need to do their job. However, we cannot accept violations of Canadians' right to privacy by the government, which has refused to respect basic civil liberties. That is why Canadians have responded to this bill and others with a lot of skepticism, and why it is important to examine and study it in detail.
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Mr. Speaker, I never said I was voting against it. In fact, I acknowledged the parts of the bill that law enforcement officials want while cautioning the problem with not acknowledging the civil liberties concerns raised by the bill. Again, if there is the urgency to this that the member suggests, I would question why this bill is numbered Bill C-22. The government could have presented the bill at…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his tremendous work on this and on Bill C-8 as our shadow minister for public safety. In fact, as soon as Bill C-22 was tabled, I printed it off and started going through it with a highlighter. I then made time to ask law enforcement officials in my riding about the very real situation they face now, what they think would be improved or not by Bill C-22, and w…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour, as always, to rise on behalf of the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. This is an incredibly important issue, and it is one that, as lawmakers, we cannot afford to get wrong. On one hand, we are talking about ensuring that the people enforcing the laws that we set out in this place have the tools, resources and laws in place to do their jobs. On the other h…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Windsor West, not just for his great question but also for his service to the people of Windsor and Canada. As with all law enforcement agencies, I cannot stress enough that I support them and want them to have the tools they need to do the work of keeping Canadians safe, but why it is so important, as my colleague touched on here, is that no one is protected…
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Mr. Speaker, it means we need to truly read every single line and provide, as lawmakers, the necessary scrutiny and, yes, skepticism on bills that even touch charter rights and freedoms. That is what we will do with respect to Bill C-22. It is what we have done and will continue to do with respect to other bills.
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Mr. Speaker, I have no interest in standing up for the rights of criminals or terrorists, which is why I am not crossing the floor. What I would point out to my hon. colleague is that when we look at the government, which claims that everyone is protected by the charter, it neglects the fact that it has a demonstrable record of not doing that. Therefore, the question I have for my colleague would …
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Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to have been ready and willing to rise on this adjournment proceeding on behalf of the good people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. The question on which I am following up is one that has become even more timely since I asked the original question of the government in question period, although if we look at the response, we realize that question period is not an appropri…
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Mr. Speaker, no community in this country will be protected from hate with legislation that threatens to imprison them for deeply and sincerely held religious beliefs, but that is precisely what Bill C-9 would do. This is a bill the Liberals are forcing to a vote today despite the cries of millions of Canadians from multiple faiths and civil society groups that this bill would violate their civil …
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Mr. Speaker, when I came to this House, I made a commitment to work to make Canada a freer place. I wish it were not the case, but today I have to make good on that pledge. I will be voting against Bill C-9. This is not a surprise to people who have been following the discussions we have been having over the last few months. Instead of focusing on the fact that we are not complying with what the L…
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have an illustration of what I mentioned in my speech. This is the Liberals doing the “It does not do anything, therefore there is no point in opposing it” argument, to which I would ask, “Then what is the harm in leaving it in?” I absolutely believe in the rights enumerated in our charter. I only wish the Liberal government had the same view. If it did, it would not be a…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with those fundamental freedoms. I just do not believe the government is being authentic in its desire to protect them. The parliamentary secretary wanted to weave a narrative in talking about the use of the Emergencies Act involving COVID measures and the nature of the convoy, but I would note that even if all of that were accepted in the same way by everyone, …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to share my time with my hon. colleague from Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations.
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Mr. Speaker, I have answered this question from the Bloc members so many times. I wish they would listen to my response. The case of Adil Charkaoui was a failing in political leadership and prosecutorial discretion. The religious defence was never cited by prosecutors as being a rationale for not charging Charkaoui, and more importantly, the religious defence does not apply to any Criminal Code of…
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Mr. Speaker, the short answer to that is no. I would actually point out that the member for Mount Royal was urged by former Liberal member of Parliament Irwin Cotler to consider leaving the Liberal Party because of anti-Semitism in the Liberal Party. If he wants to talk about inaction, he needs to look around at his colleagues. The Liberal government has no moral high ground to be the arbiters of …
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The parliamentary secretary may not recall them, but I actually have the minister's comments. Can I get unanimous consent to table them?
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad the Liberals are getting their money's worth with their media bailout, but that does not eliminate the many concerns that Canadians have raised across this country. The Liberals say, when these civil liberties concerns are put at their feet, to just trust them that they will not violate charter rights, because the charter protects those rights. However, last week, that very …
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Mr. Speaker, I think there should be unanimous consent, but in the absence of that, we would request a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a pastor in my riding named Al Stone, who is actually in Ottawa this week for the National Prayer Breakfast. Pastor Stone wrote a very heartfelt letter about Bill C-9. He said that in his decades in the church, he has never heard a preacher read from the books, even the ones that the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture said were hateful, and do so from a place of hate. …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee for his fantastic speech and for hosting an amazing town hall in Vernon, which I had the great privilege of presiding over with him. Over 600 people from B.C.'s beautiful Okanagan came out, because they reject what the Liberals are trying to do with Bill C-9. The member had, rather infamously now, spoken about how a few Liberals ha…
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Mr. Speaker, I had the chance to be in the member's beautiful province speaking about Bill C-9 with people from across Manitoba. One thing that was so clear there is that these are people who are very motivated by their faith, their religious traditions and their religious beliefs. They understand their faith to be, in totality, about a message of love. Their concern is not that they want a licens…
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Mr. Speaker, this has been a challenging issue, to say the least. We heard from the Liberal government as to what it claims Bill C-9 is and what it would do. Then we read the bill and looked at what the Liberals are doing and how they feel about people of faith in this country. I think about the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and comments he has shared in the House, in which he said ver…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture: “Clearly, there are situations in [religious] texts where statements are hateful.” Prosecutors should be able to “press charges”. I fail to see where the misinformation is, when a Liberal cabinet minister is on record wanting people criminally charged for quoting scriptures he disapproves of.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from just down Highway 401, not just for his question but also for his service, and I thank other law enforcement members in this country who have been very clear that the support they seek from members of Parliament is not the right to go in and arrest people for preaching religious texts. They want us to get serious about fixing Liberal bail. What is interesting…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois and the Liberals continue to misrepresent what happened in the Adil Charkaoui case. This man should be charged, because inciting violence is already illegal. Threatening violence is already illegal. I cannot say this clearly enough: Neither of those offences is subject to the religious defence. That is a bald-faced misrepresentation of the law. By the way, the prose…
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Mr. Speaker, as it has been said in the House by a number of us, the volume of emails and phone calls we have been receiving from people urging us to oppose Bill C-9 is astronomical. I have one in front of me from a man named Brandon. He said removing the religious defence creates serious concerns for Canadians of any and all faiths and religions who believe the freedom to teach and practise their…
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