Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Remembrance Day ceremony in Halifax has had to move out this year because a tent city has overtaken its usual grounds. After eight years of the Liberal government, things are so broken in Canada that the housing crisis uprooting Canadians has now also uprooted at least one city's Remembrance Day ceremony from its own home. People cannot afford homes, and now they cannot even prope…
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Mr. Speaker, each year on November 11, we gather to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of our nation. Now, under the Liberal government, our military chaplains are being told they cannot even pray for the fallen. During World War II, chaplains led prayer on the boats on the eve of the D-Day landings. Chaplains have provided last rites to dying soldiers in the field. The Prim…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadian veterans have spent their lives serving and sacrificing for our freedoms, and they were left to watch in horror as a Nazi soldier was recognized in the House. When veterans ask for basic care, the Prime Minister tells them they are asking for more than he can give. Now, he would have veterans believe that basic vetting for Nazis is also asking more than he can give. When will…
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak to this motion on the Liberal-NDP carbon tax. I want to answer five questions in my remarks today. The first is to talk a bit about the effects of the tax. There is certainly no doubt that the Liberal-NDP carbon tax is having a significant impact on affordability for all Canadians. We only have to look at how it layers on top of layers. When farmers are hit wit…
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Madam Speaker, the carbon tax clearly has had the effect of making life more difficult and less affordable for all Canadians. It certainly has had no impact on the environment. We have seen, under the government, that it has never met any of its emissions targets. What can we do instead? Rather than taxes, let us look at technology as a way of reducing our emissions. We already have an industry in…
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Madam Speaker, I would challenge the member to come to Alberta and tell Albertans, to their faces, that somehow they are better off because of the carbon tax. I can tell members that is not how anyone in Alberta or anywhere in this country feels. They feel the effects on their bottom line. They feel the effects on their ability to feed their families, to heat their homes and drive their vehicles t…
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Madam Speaker, the member raised the concept that jobs are being lost in the oil and gas industry. Why are those jobs being lost? Those jobs are being lost because members of the Liberal-NDP government, including the member who claims to represent Albertans, are vilifying that industry. They are putting up policies that make it impossible for the industry to survive. What does that mean? That mean…
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Mr. Speaker, eight years of the NDP-Liberal government have depleted Canadians' savings, raised their taxes and increased the prices at their local grocery stores. Cutting his carbon tax could bring immediate relief for Canadians, but the Prime Minister refuses. Even the Bank of Canada governor is now warning that the Liberals' carbon tax increases are causing inflation. The policies of the Prime …
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With regard to land owned by the Department of National Defence or the Canadian Armed Forces which is currently not being used: what are the details of each location, including the (i) size of the land, (ii) geographic location, including the municipality or the proximity to the nearest municipality, (iii) future usage, if known?
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Madam Speaker, my final petition is on behalf of petitioners warning that the Liberal government's promised rebates fail to cover the cost of the carbon tax on heating and transportation fuel. Not only that, but the average Canadian family is also out-of-pocket nearly $850 after rebates every year. With the government set to triple these taxes on hard-working Canadians, these petitioners alert Par…
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Madam Speaker, my second petition is on behalf of Albertans. The petitioners call on the government to finally recognize the clear difference between vetted, registered, law-abiding owners of legal rifles and firearms and criminals who smuggle guns into Canada, sell and obtain them illegally on the black market, typically for use by street gangs to commit violent crimes. The petitioners note that …
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Madam Speaker, I have three petitions to present today. In the first, the petitioners are calling the attention of Parliament to the fact that it has been over four years since Parliament published “Supporting Families After the Loss of a Child”, yet the government has still not implemented all the recommendations. As a result, families experiencing the loss of a child continue to feel a lack of c…
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With regard to housing units owned by the Department of National Defence (DND): (a) how many housing units does DND own, broken down by location; and (b) how many and what percentage of the units in (a) are (i) occupied, (ii) vacant?
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With regard to disability benefit applications received by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) since January 1, 2016: (a) how many applications were received, broken down by medical condition; (b) for each medical condition for which applications were received, how many were (i) received, (ii) accepted, (iii) denied; and (c) how many instances have occurred where veterans who were medically released fro…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government penalizes working people in so many ways at every turn and none so blatantly as with its carbon tax on the necessities needed to live in Canada's northern climate, like transportation fuel and home heating. The petitioners say that in addition to raising fuel costs, the carbon tax applied throughout the supply chain is raising the price of everything, and the go…
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Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to table today. In the first, the petitioners call on Parliament to reject what they rightly refer to as the Liberal government's federal gun grab. The signatories reject the premise of the Liberals' justification for confiscating law-abiding gun owners' personal property. They say that going after the lawful registered rifles of hunters, farmers and ranchers un…
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Mr. Speaker, when families are grieving the loss of a child, they need all the support they can get. That is why I am rising to table a petition on behalf of petitioners demanding that common-sense and compassionate measures be implemented to help these families. They are calling on the government to implement all seven recommendations contained within the report “Supporting Families After the Los…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the world watched with dread in 1990 as Saddam Hussein launched an unprovoked invasion of Kuwait. Thousands of Canadians were part of the international coalition that resisted that lawless invasion, fighting to drive out enemy forces and to restore Kuwaiti sovereignty. The evil of a tyrant was opposed by the valour of those who fought in the Persian Gulf, and because of it, Kuwait rem…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the people hardest hit by the Liberals' inflationary spending, just for a minute. The Liberals claim to be the champions of equality and they weave that word into every announcement they make. However, for them, it is nothing more than a buzzword. In the words of one of the Prime Minister's own former advisers, government spending “will impact disproportionately lowe…
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Mr. Speaker, not long ago the Liberal Minister of Finance said: By exercising fiscal restraint, and by not pouring fuel on the fire of inflation today, we will ensure we can responsibly invest in Canadians and in a Canadian economy for years to come. Yet, here we are, $60 billion in new spending and interest rates at their highest level in 22 years. The Liberals call that restraint? They are pract…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk a little about the people who are hardest hit by—
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Mr. Speaker, let us listen to what some Liberals have to say. A former Liberal finance minister described the government's economic strategy as “a bit like driving your car with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake”. Some Canadians might want to go out and try that for themselves to really understand the metaphor. However, with the carbon tax driving up the price of gas, no one can affor…
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Mr. Speaker, with billions in new spending in the budget, the Liberals are driving up inflation and the cost of living. This has caused another increase in interest rates, which is going to cost thousands more for Canadians on their mortgages. However, the Prime Minister has the audacity to try to claim that his budget is “uninflationary”. One does not have to be a meteorologist to look outside an…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, first, I would comment that only a Liberal would stand to say that increasing a tax, the carbon tax, is somehow going to be better for the economy. Only a Liberal would say that this is the way to a better economy, to tax people a bit more. That will solve all the problems that people face. That is the first thing that just astounds me, no matter how many times I hear it from that Lib…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, 79 years ago today, on June 6, 1944, the world witnessed an event that would shape the course of history. This day marked the beginning of the end of the Second World War and was a very proud moment in Canada's military history. Early that morning, Canadians stormed the beaches of Normandy. By sunset, more than 1,000 Canadians had made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of our freedoms…
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Mr. Speaker, what my colleague is talking about is not a priority for Quebeckers or Canadians. I think that their priority is the economy and the need for life to become more affordable. I just really believe that Quebeckers and Canadians want to see politicians here in Parliament focused on how to make their lives more affordable and how to ensure that we grow better economies, so people have gre…
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Madam Speaker, nostalgia is a strange thing. Sometimes it is quite surprising and remarkable what kinds of longings it can spark. When we start to skim through the contents of the 2023 budget, it is almost enough to make one nostalgic for the days, not so long ago, when the Liberal government failed to table a budget for over two years. I say that mostly in jest, of course, but the point I am maki…
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Madam Speaker, here we go again. This reminds me of an old song I used to like to listen to in high school. Whitesnake was the band, and the lyrics are “Here I go again...down the only road I've ever known”. This speaks to this bill. This is the Liberals. Here they go again, going down the only road they have ever known. Violent crime in this country is up by a third since the Liberal Party took o…
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Madam Speaker, I suppose if the member wants to believe the talking points she has been handed to read in the House she would make that argument. What she is failing to understand is that we are not talking about a mandatory penalty or even a minimum penalty; we are talking about a maximum penalty. Anyone who understands the criminal justice system knows that a maximum penalty means it cannot be m…
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Madam Speaker, I completely agree with the member. That measure will not have an impact on crime in this country. This bill only affects gun owners who are not responsible for crimes.
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Madam Speaker, I am not really even sure what the member's question was, but I did hear her talk about there somehow being disinformation in what I had to say. I would challenge her to stand up to give an example of one piece of disinformation she heard. However, I can say what is disinformation. Every time the NDP members in the House stand up and call themselves an opposition party, that is disi…
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Madam Speaker, the government has become well known for making a promise and then delivering something completely different from what it had promised. I think we could see the Prime Minister as the Harry Houdini prime minister, holding up something here, and then, poof, with some sleight of hand, delivering something completely different. I think there are many Canadians who are starting to see be…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer reports that the Prime Minister's carbon tax will cost families in Alberta an extra $2,800 per year. For a hard-working dad in Airdrie, that could be a month's pay. For a single mom from Cochrane, that might mean two months' rent. For a senior in Crossfield, that is four months of old age security payments. Because of the Liberal government, life costs…
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Mr. Speaker, that sort of political answer is absolutely what makes Canadians lose faith in a government like that. The government is laughing at the discomfort Canadians are facing because they are struggling to pay their bills. If the member and his Prime Minister really believe in their carbon tax, why do they not at least show some solidarity with the one in five Canadians having to skip meals…
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Madam Speaker, I guess I would say that perhaps the member should ask that question of her coalition partner, the Liberal Party. It is their bill. What I was really struck with listening to the member is this: It is really sad to see what has become of the once principled NDP. At one time, New Democrats were defenders of principles. They were not necessarily principles that I shared, but I had res…
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Simcoe North. With a Liberal government that, by all accounts, thrives on weaving red tape and thick layers of regulations into almost every government process, there is a certain irony in that it is now putting forward a bill that outlines measures, and I will quote from Bill S-6's preamble, that “repeal or amend provisions that have,…
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Madam Speaker, I guess I could say that there are two Liberal parties in the House as well. There is the Liberal Party and then there is the NDP-Liberal party that is propping it up. If we want to talk about two parties, let us talk about that. However, in response to the member's question, I would say this. The bill claims that there are three issues being addressed. It talks about ease of doing …
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government's carbon tax continues to drive up the price of food, forcing even more Albertans in my community to go to food banks. In fact, usage of the Airdrie food bank is up 40% this year, and almost half of those food bank users are children. What does the Prime Minister have to say to those children standing in food bank lines with their parents? Is having enough to ea…
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With regard to vacancy rates in government owned office buildings in the National Capital Region with over 100,000 square feet of office space, broken down by building: what is the (i) name, (ii) location, (iii) total square footage, (iv) total square footage of usable office space, (v) current number of employees, (vi) square footage of occupied office space, (vii) square footage of vacant or uno…
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Madam Speaker, maybe I have set a trend here with the Yogi-isms. He said, “The future ain't what it used to be”. It seems, though, that with this government, the future is what the past was. That was the point of the remarks I made. It is, unfortunately, a pretty apt remark. What it really boils down to is that we have a government that I think Canadians do not feel they can trust to get the balan…
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Madam Speaker, I think that the member raises some important points. These are questions that need to be resolved. There is no question about the fact that this is a bigger and bigger issue, as more and more data on Canadians is out there. I think that this has to be dealt with and there needs to be a balance found. However, I just do not think that Canadians trust the current Liberal government t…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the invitation to be heard from a committee. I am not sure that I would consider myself an expert in any way. I know that there will be many whom people need to hear from. However, one of the groups of experts that we need to hear from is Canadians themselves. Canadians are concerned about their privacy. Beyond that, the member mentioned the fact that we need to look at…
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Madam Speaker, as I look around the chamber today, there are a few people who I think would remember my predecessor in my role as the member of Parliament, when I first was elected, for Wild Rose. His name was Myron Thompson. Myron was pretty well known. He was the guy with the cowboy hat and he was pretty outspoken. One thing many people do not know about Myron Thompson is that back when he was a…
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Madam Speaker, he is certainly better known for the way his trademark mangling and misuse of words and phrases has resulted in strangely keen insights that are still widely quoted today by many. I have a few favourites. One of them is “I didn't really say everything that I said.” Another one is “We made too many wrong mistakes.” Another is “Swing at the strikes.” When I thought about Bill C-27 and…
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With regard to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC): (a) what are the details of all funding agreements VAC has, or has had, in place with the Canadian Virtual Hospice since January 1, 2020; (b) what are the details of any projects funded, in whole, or in part, with the Canadian Virtual Hospice, including, for each, the (i) project description, (ii) purpose of the project, (iii) amount of federal contrib…
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Madam Speaker, we have seen how slippery this slope has become with what I would call a botched expansion of MAID by the Liberal government. A few short years ago, MAID was seen as a procedure that would be used in exceptional circumstances and that would require very strict criteria to be placed around it. Now MAID is being administered under increasingly questionable and concerning circumstances…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During the debate on Bill C-39, I had finished giving a speech and was in the middle of the question and answer period. The normal practice is that someone asks a question, and usually, before moving on to the next item of business, there would be an opportunity for the person being asked a question to at least reply to the question. I was not afforded th…
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Madam Speaker, I am glad the member raised this because it is really important to understand we are talking about this kind of slippery slope we are leading down when we talk about expanding this into mental health. I mean, there are many veterans in this country who struggle because of the service they have given this country. They struggle with psychological injuries, mental injuries, and PTSD. …
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister, many Canadians are left shivering in the cold because they cannot afford to heat their homes, and the Prime Minister has shown zero compassion, refusing to take responsibility for the pain he is causing with his punishing carbon tax. However, Conservatives will fix what he has broken. We will axe the tax and keep the heat on. Does the P…
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Why is he supporting the government?
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