Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, we stand here today watching the Liberals once again play politics with veterans. Rather than treating our veterans as heroes who served the country, this motion is just the latest action in a string of actions taken by the Liberal government, which treats veterans as pawns for their political ambitions. In less than a year since the election, the Liberals have made several inexplicab…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, what I often find happens when I hear a politician talk about wanting to do a study is that it is often a way to avoid taking action. With these underused properties, and there is one in my riding, I listen to my community. I know what it needs. I do not need to have a study of Parliament to decide what needs to be done with those properties. I would suggest that any member who has on…
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Madam Speaker, today I acknowledge all the grieving parents across Canada who have had to endure both financial and emotional hardship at the hands of the federal government due in large part to a systemic flaw in government programming for maternity and parental benefits. Nearly 10 years ago we began a journey together to make change in this country, to make sure that, in the future, parents who …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of people struggling in this country who would beg to differ. I will talk about Justin, a middle-class dad from Airdrie, who says that the cost of living crisis is eroding middle-class stability, with families being squeezed by soaring housing, grocery, utility and fuel prices. That is all because the Liberal industrial carbon tax, the fuel tax and the food packaging t…
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Mr. Speaker, Heather from Airdrie is a senior who has worked in Canada since she was 13 years old. She and her husband paid their dues, but now, after a lifetime of contributing, they are, in their words, next to having to use the food bank just to get by. It is unacceptable that, after 10 long years of the Liberal government, the seniors who built this country cannot even afford groceries. When w…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the amazing contributions of the Canadian Filipino community from coast to coast to coast. Filipino culture is one that values faith, family, community, hard work and loyalty. From Vancouver to White Horse and St. John's, Filipino families have contributed greatly through their hard work and community involvement. Rarely will I find a church or community grou…
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Mr. Speaker, there is still no construction date for the pipeline. The Prime Minister blames everyone else, like the B.C. government and first nations, anyone but himself. Of course, it is really the “leave it in the ground” members of his own caucus who are trying to stop it. The Prime Minister could approve an oil pipeline to the Pacific without a carbon tax, without delays and without any excus…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the member just demonstrated, exactly, the problem with the Liberals. When we think back to about six months ago, during the election, they had a very different story to tell than what we are hearing from the member today. That is the problem with the Liberals. They keep changing their story every single day. No one can rely on anything they say, and no one can count on them, ever, to…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I could talk forever on this, but I know that I will not be able to. The bottom line is that those who have served our country deserve to have a government that is there for them. When they did that service, that is all they expected in return, help with the needs that they might have in the future. The government is failing them. It is that simple. There is a $78-billion deficit, but…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this budget does not tackle the real obstacles to growth. Instead of unlocking resource projects, building pipelines or enabling housing construction, the Liberals are busy picking winners and losers, leaving national projects that could create thousands of jobs stalled under mountains of red tape and regulation. Conservatives have a different vision, and that would be to get rid of s…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, federal budgets are not just about numbers on a page. They at least should not be about just numbers on a page. They must be about addressing the cost of groceries for struggling families and about the price of gas for workers who depend on their vehicles to earn a living. They should be about whether or not young Canadians can afford a home. As I said, at least they should be about t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I think that what the question really illustrates is how badly the government has failed Canadians. I think that what the people who were looking for something in the budget saw was a government that wants to build up more and more bureaucracy. I mentioned veterans in my speech. The member mentioned seniors. Families, young Canadians looking to afford a home, people who cannot afford …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rise to present the supplemental report of the Conservative members of the committee. Our supplemental report is entitled “Conservatives Demand Action Instead of Just Words for Indigenous and All Veterans”. While we agree with much of the main report and the points that were heard from many of the witnesses, who feel left behind by the government, there were a number of concerns tha…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, today is about freedom and remembrance. As we approach Remembrance Day, I will speak about the commitment we all must make as Canadians, the commitment to uphold our freedoms and the commitment to remembrance of all those who served and sacrificed for those freedoms. Those two commitments are closely linked. Without the service of our military personnel, we would have no freedom, so…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present a petition today that recognizes that when a Canadian serves Canada, their families serve with them. Constant moves around the country disrupt a family's ability to establish deep roots and community connections, and it hurts career growth prospects for spouses. The undersigned call on the government to recognize the critical role that families play for our servi…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to recognize the incredible legacy being left behind by the Airdrie Food Bank's executive director, Lori McRitchie, as she takes her well-earned retirement after more than two decades of tireless work in making sure that no one in our community ever goes hungry. From the small beginnings of a school breakfast program, which eventually merged with the food bank and …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, while the Liberal government claims to be fighting a trade war, its policies are directly helping the Americans. Due to their job-killing policies, like the west coast tanker ban, the oil and gas cap and others, the Liberals have caused many Canadian companies to invest billions of dollars in the United States rather than here at home, because, as the CEO of Enbridge said, “No company…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, at the outset of her speech, the member mentioned that she felt the pain of those who are victimized by crime, but she failed to address that with the vast majority of victims of crime, the crime is caused by those who are out on bail. These are repeat offenders who continue to offend over and over again. At the end of her speech, she talked about how crime must be dealt with firmly. …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to wrap up the debate today, and I think what I would like to do with the little time I have is point out that there have been a number of examples given today of victims of crime in this country, and to say that I really hope that members of the Liberal government were listening to all those examples, because the lives of the people in them, whether they were people…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is just another bait-and-switch Liberal. He has broken promise after promise after promise, and it is hurting Canadians. His massive Liberal deficits are leading to an even worse cost of living crisis than we had under Justin Trudeau. Canadians can barely afford even a can of soup, especially because inflation has driven the cost of a can of soup up 26%, or a can of…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Veterans Affairs Canada: (a) how many lawsuits have been brought against the government related to the issue of medical assistance in dying since January 2018; (b) what is the overall cost of these lawsuits that the government of Canada had to pay to settle, in total and broken down by legal fees versus settlement payments; (c) how many veterans have accepted medical assistance in d…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Auditor General released a scathing report about the Liberal government's mismanagement of the F-35 contract. The Liberals flipped, they flopped and then they flipped again. Now they are trying to hide the real costs of their incompetence. How can the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces trust that the Prime Minister will actually deliver on his defence promises wh…
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Mr. Speaker, this is anything but normal. This is the Liberals trying to hide their own incompetence. They misled Canadians by not factoring in currency exchanges, inflation and project delays to pretend that they were saving costs, when in fact the F-35s were 50% over budget, because of the Liberals' incompetence. Worse yet, Trudeau's minister responsible for this creative accounting was promoted…
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Mr. Speaker, well, the minister can use all the nice words he wants, but they mean nothing without action, and nothing gets built without removing the barriers: Trudeau's Bill C-69, his west coast shipping ban, his oil and gas cap and the industrial carbon tax. The Prime Minister claimed that he is the man with the plan, but his plan for the oil and gas sector seems to be the same anti-energy appr…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, words do not build pipelines; actions do, actions like scrapping Trudeau's Bill C-69, his west coast shipping ban, the industrial carbon tax and the Liberal energy cap. However, the radical NDP premier and the radicals in the federal Liberal cabinet are doing all that they can to keep these policies in place and to block pipelines from getting built. Will the Prime Minister reverse al…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I agree with the member that there is a big problem in this country when it comes to all this red tape. It is absolutely necessary to find solutions to this situation. Common-sense Conservatives will offer many solutions to Canadians. While I have the floor, she did mention the story of the soldier who tried to prove over and over about missing legs. For her benefit and for the bene…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, let me first comment on the comment my colleague made about the Veterans Association Food Bank in Edmonton. I have visited that food bank on a couple of occasions to just check in with them to see how things are going for veterans. There are actually two veterans food banks in Edmonton. They both have trouble keeping the shelves stocked. I see that in communities all across this cou…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, as I rise today for this debate, there are a lot of things I could say, but what I would like to focus on, at least in the initial part of my remarks, is what is at heart here. Sometimes what happens in this place when we debate issues is that some members lose sight of what exactly is at the heart of the matter. It is not just, as in this case, a privilege motion. It is not even just…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, first of all, let me say how much I appreciate the service of the member's family members and of herself. I have had conversations with her about the military and our veterans, and I appreciate the sincerity of those conversations, I always have. I will work with anyone who is willing to be there for our veterans. The unfortunate part, of course, is that what we have seen over the l…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberals are not worth the cost of housing, and veterans who fought for our country are feeling the pinch more than anyone. Sadly, veterans are three times more likely to become homeless, and a recent study indicates that there are four times more homeless veterans than the government claims. There are as many as 10,000 homeless veterans, in fact. That is 10,…
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Mr. Speaker, the number of homeless veterans just keeps going up, so obviously the photo ops and press releases are not getting the job done. The Veterans Association Food Bank in Calgary reports that in the last six months alone its numbers have tripled in what it is spending to keep veterans housed, clothed and fed. Veterans served our country and they deserve better than the homelessness and hu…
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Mr. Speaker, what an insult that is to Canadians who are going hungry. Not only that, but it is Veterans' Week, and far too many heroes who bravely served Canada now cannot count on sitting down for their next meal. In fact, food insecurity among veterans has gotten so bad due to the NDP-Liberal carbon tax that some legions are having to divert funds from their poppy campaigns to instead help keep…
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. The cost of the carbon tax is sending record numbers of Canadians to food banks, but food banks are struggling with the carbon tax too. For one Alberta food bank, paying the carbon tax means there is $280,000 less food for those who are going hungry. The Prime Minister's policies are hurting …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I, along with a full delegation of Canadians, recently visited Normandy, France, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I had the honour of standing on Juno Beach with some of the heroes who stormed that beach on June 6, 1944. They were the heroes who saved the world. Those brave young Canadians who stormed the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago were the greatest generation. One …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, today, we are talking about a situation in which there was a green slush fund. It looks as though it was probably created for that purpose. We had an issue with almost $400 million in taxpayers' money. As I indicated during my speech, 10 of the projects were completely ineligible. In another 186 cases, there were conflicts of interest with members on the board, and that is what we are…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, exactly, the time is up for those guys, and Canadians know it. The only thing that is standing in the way of that is an election. As soon as that happens, the Liberal government will be gone, because the Liberals have failed to show any basic accountability. This is almost $400 million of hard-earned Canadian taxpayer dollars. The Auditor General had a look at all of this and found th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member that the Liberal government has far too often shirked its obligation to be accountable to Canadian taxpayers for money that so many Canadians have worked so hard for. The government is not accountable.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, this is much like the heckles that the member imagined. She imagines a lot of things. At the end of the day, we are talking about $400 million of Canadian taxpayers' hard-earned money that was essentially stolen. Canadian taxpayers worked hard to earn this money, and it was taken and given to Liberal insiders. We are trying to hold the government to account. I actually do not know wha…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. There is no doubt about that. The answer is a bit more difficult. The reason it is so difficult is that, as with many of the examples I gave during my speech, we have a government that refuses to be held to account. It refuses to provide basic information that would allow it to be accountable for its actions, in this case, for giving out $400 million in Canad…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to add my voice to the conversation we are having around the government's breach of privilege and scandal, which is just the latest in a long line of scandals under the Liberal government. I have a number of points to make in this debate, but I will first say it is unfortunate that we are having to have this debate. It is an important one because the government needs to b…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, as is most of what the member says in the House, that is complete hogwash. The Leader of the Opposition has security clearance. He is a member of the Privy Council of Canada. He has had security clearance since he was sworn in as a minister of the Crown. Having said that, as the Leader of the Opposition, his job is to hold the government to account. In this situation, the government i…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, time and time again, we hear the NDP get up in the House of Commons and talk about how terrible the Liberal government is. They talk about how all these terrible things are happening in this country because of the Liberal government and how horrible it has been as a government. However, their party has helped keep the Liberals in power for the last three years. If the member really ha…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I was a little unclear because you did say that it was adopted on division and you are now saying—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the 2024 budget documents: what are the expenditures incurred to date related to the documents, in total and broken down by (i) consulting costs, (ii) publishing costs, (iii) printing costs, (iv) design costs, including graphic design, (v) writing costs, (vi) marketing costs, (vii) any other costs not reflected in the previous categories?
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With regard to the Department of Finance and changes in federal taxes or levies, since November 4, 2015: (a) how many federal tax or levy increases have occurred since November 2015; (b) what are the details of each increase, including the (i) date, (ii) name of the tax or levy, (iii) previous tax or levy rate, (iv) tax or levy rate following change, (v) percentage of increase; and (c) for each in…
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Madam Speaker, we would like a recorded vote.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Canada's 2021 census and information about veterans held by the RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces: (a) how many veterans live in each province and territory; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by federal electoral district; (c) how many veterans currently reside outside of Canada, in total, and broken down by country; and (d) how many veterans have been released from the RCMP or Canadian…
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With regard to records from Veterans Affairs Canada home care programs: (a) how many veterans accessed home care programs each year since 2016, in total, and broken down by province or territory; and (b) how many veterans living abroad accessed home care programs each year since 2016, in total, and broken down by country?
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With regard to properties owned and operated by government departments or agencies: what is the inventory of government buildings and properties (i) within the municipality of Crossfield, Alberta, (ii) within the municipality of Airdrie, Alberta, (iii) within the municipality of Cochrane, Alberta, (iv) within the municipality of Canmore, Alberta, (v) within the municipality of Banff, Alberta, (vi)…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, 80 years ago today, the village of Kalavryta in Greece fell victim to the cruelty of occupying German Nazi forces in World War II. On December 13, 1943, the Nazis rounded up all males over the age of 12 for execution. They locked women and children in the village's school and lit it on fire, aiming to burn them alive. The women broke down the doors to find, sadly, their husbands and s…
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