Government Orders
Madam Chair, I am pleased to be able to speak to the committee of the whole about the actions of the government. I will be speaking for approximately eight minutes and will be following with a couple of questions, hopefully, for the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance. Budget 2021 is a historic document. It is the first budget tabled by a female Minister of Financ…
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Madam Chair, the elderly are some of the most vulnerable members of our population in Canada, and the pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated some of the issues that currently exist with respect to long-term care facilities. To complement the work by the Health Standards Organization and the Canadian Standards Association to establish national standards for long-term care, budget 2021 proposes a …
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Mr. Speaker, last week, on May 18, I joined the Tamil community in my riding of Vimy and across Canada in commemorating Mullivaikkal remembrance day. Every year, we remember the thousands of people who were killed in the Mullivaikkal massacre during the Sri Lankan civil war, an event that is still deeply troubling to this day. When we look around our towns and cities, we see members of the Tamil c…
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Madam Speaker, this pandemic has been extremely difficult for many low-income families with young children. I am proud that Bill C-14 has received Royal Assent. This will make it possible to provide a $1,200 supplement to the Canada child benefit for low-income families with children under the age of six. Canadians are feeling the financial burden of the pandemic, and this targeted support will pr…
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Mr. Speaker, the vaccine rollout is in full swing, with millions of vaccines arriving in Canada every week. Starting Friday, residents of Quebec aged 18 and up can receive their first dose. As more and more Canadians become eligible to receive a vaccine, it is important that we continue to encourage them to get vaccinated when it is their turn. Would the hon. Minister of Health tell the House what…
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Mr. Speaker, the vaccine rollout is in full swing, with millions of vaccines arriving in Canada every week. Starting Friday, residents of Quebec aged 18 and up can receive their first dose. As more and more Canadians become eligible to receive a vaccine, it is important that we continue to encourage them to get vaccinated when it is their turn. Would the hon. Minister of Health tell the House what…
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Mr. Speaker, an MP is nothing without a passionate team. Today I would like to pay tribute to my own team, the “A-Team”, which has helped me shine as a new MP. I want to thank Maryse, George and Marlyna for giving the people of Vimy the support they deserve during these difficult times. I appreciate the hard work of our fully committed interns, Christopher and Angelica. I want to thank Thomas for …
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Mr. Speaker, the Canada summer jobs program provides an opportunity for our youth to get real work experience and develop job skills by working for local businesses and organizations. Our government's expansion of the program will create up to 120,000 jobs across the country this summer. The program has always been popular in my riding, and this year is no exception. In fact, I am proud to say tha…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech and his very passionate comments. I am interested to know what the member thinks about the recent report on the 2021 best countries, where Canada has taken first place. Canada jumped two spots over the last year and it beat out 78 other countries for first place, including Japan, Germany, Switzerland and Australia. I would like to think that ou…
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Mr. Speaker, on April 24, Armenians in Canada and around the world participated in a solemn commemoration of the 106th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. In a matter of two years, the Turkish Ottoman Empire's systemic ethnic cleansing campaign took the lives of around 1.5 million people and forced around one million others to flee their homes. Like many Canadians, I have close, personal ties to…
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Mr. Speaker, budget 2021 offers a historic plan to fight the pandemic while creating jobs and building a stronger, greener, healthier and more inclusive Canada. We worked hard to ensure that local voices were reflected in this budget, including those in my riding, Vimy, and all across Canada. We are extending the critical support programs we introduced during the pandemic. We are making sure that …
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Mr. Speaker, [Member spoke in Greek and provided the following translation:] One hour of freedom is worth 40 years of slavery and prison. [English] This is a famous Greek phrase as we mark the bicentennial of Greek independence today. March 25 marks the 200th anniversary of the beginning of Greece's struggle to regain independence after four centuries of oppression under the Ottoman Empire. This f…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-276, An Act to designate the month of March as Hellenic Heritage Month. Mr. Speaker, as a proud Canadian of Greek origin, I am honoured to rise in the House today to introduce my bill to designate the month of March as Hellenic Heritage Month. This bill celebrates the dynamic culture of Canada's Greek community and recognizes the invaluable contributions of Cana…
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Mr. Speaker, for months, the Conservatives have been trying to score political points by claiming that Canada has no vaccination plan and that we are at the back of an imaginary line. Our priority on this side of the House is to serve and protect Canadians, not to scare them. That is what real leadership is all about. My constituents in Vimy want the facts, not Conservative talking points. Could t…
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Madam Speaker, in Vimy, many of my constituents rely on safe, reliable and affordable public transit every day. Can the Minister of Infrastructure explain how the new permanent public transit fund will help communities develop their public transit networks, while growing the economy and fighting climate change?
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise to recognize this government's incredible efforts, which have resulted in the purchase and delivery of more than one million vaccine doses to the provinces. Millions more are on their way. We are still on track to meet our targets. I would also like to mention the businesses in my riding of Vimy that contributed to the development of a vaccine: Biodextris, Nexeli…
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Mr. Speaker, many businesses in the tourism, hospitality, arts and culture sectors have been particularly hard hit since the beginning of the pandemic. Many of them have benefited from government programs like the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency business account, but they still need assistance. The government has launched a new program for the sectors that have been hit the …
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