Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the measure we are discussing in the House today does not affect everyone. The bill before us today is for people only making under $60,000. The bill will apply only to Canadians who already qualified, as I outlined in my speech, for the GST credit. This bill applies only to Canadians who received a GST credit notice in July, when the government sent those letters out to Canadians.
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Madam Speaker, indeed, just the other night I stopped by for gas at the Centex station in Abbotsford. I had to fill up at $2.23 a litre to drive to the airport. I drive a RAV4, but even filling up a RAV4, at $150 for a tank of gas, is expensive. Grocery costs at the Superstore in Abbotsford go up and up. I made a dinner for my family on Sunday night, and I noticed the price of the filet of fish, t…
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise on Bill C-30 today. Yesterday, I was intrigued by a poll commissioned by the national accounting firm MNP. It found that half of B.C. residents are having a hard time saving money, and that 46% in the Ipsos poll feel that transportation is getting increasingly unaffordable. According to the poll, 40% of British Columbians also said that housing was a real an…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Penticton in the South Okanagan for his excellent question. In fact, beer producers, liquor producers and wine producers in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, like those in his riding, are wondering why, at this time of inflation, the government is putting yet an additional tax on them. There are thousands upon thousands of people who work in these s…
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Madam Speaker, on the weekend I had an opportunity to hang out with a number of young men at a sporting event in Abbotsford. I asked one of them whether the property he lived in was owned or rented. He said, “Thank you for even thinking that I would have the opportunity to buy a home. I don't think I ever will.” This was a young, educated man who was recently married, and he does not see an abilit…
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Madam Speaker, at the beginning of May I had the opportunity to ask the Minister of Housing what the government was planning to do about the housing crisis, which has only worsened since the spring. It is now October, and we still have yet to hear of any concrete plans about what the government is doing or when it will present real results to British Columbians and all Canadians who are struggling…
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Madam Speaker, I have not had a chance to table this petition since last spring when constituents in my riding of Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon were pushing the government in good faith to amend its air transport agreement with the Government of India to allow for direct flights from British Columbia to Amritsar in the Punjab. The petitioners are requesting this direct flight because it makes econ…
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Madam Speaker, the Government of Canada needs to separate its rhetoric from reality when it comes to housing. We do not want to hear about announcements or committed funds. I am going to give the parliamentary secretary an opportunity to answer a straightforward question tonight. She talked about the housing accelerator fund that plans on creating 100,000 net new homes by fiscal year 2024-25 by ch…
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Mr. Speaker, this government may dismiss it as just inflation, but these are very difficult times for Canadians, which the Liberals keep dismissing. People in B.C. are struggling to feed their families and have to make tough choices between paying for food, gas, Telus, Hydro and Fortis. Countless people can barely pay their rent, never mind thinking of saving for a down payment for a home. Now thi…
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Mr. Speaker, I am tabling two petitions today on behalf of British Colombians. The first petition is regarding human trafficking. The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to strengthen the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act to address Canada's significant shortcomings on human trafficking, which were embarrassingly highlighted by the U.S. State Department's 2022 Traffick…
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am presenting today is regarding pregnancy centres. Many Canadian women depend on pregnancy centres for access to counselling, practical prenatal classes and necessities such as food, cribs, strollers, diapers and birth control. Residents are calling on the Government of Canada to protect the charitable tax status of pregnancy centres and to simply leave them alo…
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member talked about natural resource development and about all the discrepancies of the Conservative Party. What he failed to outline is that, in 2018, the Prime Minister came to British Columbia and spoke, with great fanfare, about the $40-billion investment by Shell into LNG export capacity in British Columbia. Part of that project and the reason it went forward and was a…
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Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative leader will put people first: their retirements, their paycheques, their homes and their country. On home ownership specifically, we need to restore hope. Right now, youth and newcomers cannot get a home, partially because local government gatekeepers block housing with heavy fees and long delays for building permits, leaving us with the fewest houses per capita o…
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Mr. Speaker, inflation might be over 7% nationally, but it is over 8% in British Columbia. These levels have not been seen since the last Trudeau was in office. Families in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon are struggling to put food on the table. They are struggling to pay $2.30 for a litre of gas and they cannot even afford to get to work, yet this government refuses to act. Last week, Scotiabank's …
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Mr. Speaker, I will stand by my words. Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon is the number one riding in Canada, and I am pleased to represent it every day. My constituents are calling upon the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to do a much better job with giving Canadians realistic processing times for applications and permits, such as temporary resident visas and permanent residence. Newcomers w…
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Mr. Speaker, June 21 was National Indigenous Peoples Day, and June is National Indigenous History Month. Throughout my riding, there have been events showcasing and celebrating indigenous and Métis culture. I am proud to represent the number-one riding in Canada: Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. What makes my riding so great is that it is home to the Sts’ailes and the Stó:lo people, the Stellat’en p…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of constituents in Canada's number one riding, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. This petition was born out of my community email blasts. I say in every single one, “Bring a petition forward.” Like most MPs, I have to devote a lot of staff to immigration-related issues. My riding encompasses the third most multicultural census area in Canada. …
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Mr. Speaker, today I am presenting a petition on behalf of constituents in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon who are calling on the Government of Canada in good faith to negotiate a new air transport agreement with the Government of India to allow for direct flights from Abbotsford, Toronto or Vancouver directly to the Amritsar region of the Punjab. My constituents believe we need to get direct flight…
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Mr. Speaker, there are two comments that stood out in that speech. At one point, the member referenced that the bill would not control what people would say, but would only open the door for more Canadian content. In other words, that is the government, through this bill, controlling what people would see on the Internet, even if it is more Canadian content. The member might agree that seeing more…
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Mr. Speaker, when the government put forward the first iteration of the bill in the last Parliament, I received a number of communications from constituents who were concerned about amending the Broadcasting Act. The major issue they had with it were the channels they were forced to pay for when they bought a TV cable package. Does my colleague believe that the Government of Canada is applying a s…
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Madam Speaker, earlier in our debate today, the government of Canada outlined that its intent was not to regulate the programs and content that Canadians were viewing online, but simply to open the door to more Canadian content. In other words, it was skirting the question. Mr. Scott, the chair of the CRTC, said during the proceedings that this bill, Bill C-11, would allow the CRTC to prescribe re…
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Madam Speaker, I have risen on this point of order on more than one occasion already in response to the member for Winnipeg North. Categorizing the Conservative Party as a hard-right political party is not parliamentary language and insinuates that my party is hateful. I kindly ask that the member take back that comment and continue his debate in good faith.
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Madam Speaker, I am just rising on the earlier point of order related to the agreement to extend the hours. Both the Conservative Party and the Bloc have confirmed that they did not agree—
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Madam Speaker, I believe that during his speech, the member for La Prairie said that a member from British Columbia claimed that the province wanted to be a nation. That is not correct, because I think that the member for La Prairie was talking about me. In fact, it is the member for La Prairie who, in trying to summarize my position, said that I wanted British Columbia to be a nation. Can the mem…
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Mr. Speaker, does the member believe British Columbia should have equal representation in the House of Commons? The band-aid solution we are applying here to Bill C-14 is really just avoiding the big questions our country is facing. Also, I would love to hear some more comments from the member on her interaction with the electoral commission about effective representation in rural Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, today I am rising to speak to Bill C-5, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. I am going to outline three basic criticisms of the bill, partly in the context of British Columbia, so that my constituents are aware of what the government is proposing to do. My first and largest criticism, which we have been hearing about in the House of Commons t…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a very good question. My office is adjacent to a shelter in Mission, British Columbia, and I speak to a lot of people who are both suffering from opioids and who live on the streets. A lot of them do not have access to care. A lot of them do not have access to wraparound services. A lot of them do not have access to housing. In British Columbia, before the agreement between B…
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Mr. Speaker, Public Safety Canada funded a program in Abbotsford, given some of the problems we face with gangs, gang violence and drug trafficking. It brought in counsellors who worked very closely with the Abbotsford police department and also worked directly with the students identified by the school district as being most at risk of entering a life of crime. Those counsellors were able to get …
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Mr. Speaker, the only way I can answer that is to say that I have a friend in my community, and I will not mention his name, whose son was gunned down in his house. I knew his son. He was 19 when he died. I met him when he was 13 or 14 when I first started knocking on doors in politics. He was on the precipice of entering a life of crime and was gunned down in his house. To this day, his parents h…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this House with sadness, frustration and worry. These emotions are directly related to the Liberal government's agreement with British Columbia that will decriminalize fentanyl. Never before has the government made such a bad decision that will directly impact the safety and well-being of British Columbians. This exemption will now allow British Columbians to carry up …
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Mr. Speaker, today I will be tabling two petitions. The first petition is from a group of British Columbians calling upon the Government of Canada to strengthen the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act to address Canada's significant shortcomings on human trafficking, which were embarrassingly highlighted by the U.S. Department of State's 20th Trafficking in Persons Report.
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, and it calls upon the government to expand rapid detox programs and provide housing and skills training to those who are struggling with addiction to get their lives back on track. The petitioners state that harm reduction monies are being used to keep addicts on drugs, thus shortening their lives and providing no real help to…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the public servants who wrote that very comprehensive speech recited by the member for Vancouver Granville. He spoke about a lot of justice measures taking place, but I would be remiss if I did not point out that the Government of Canada took an unprecedented and historic step in the last few weeks, which was the decriminalization of fentanyl. In the release, the…
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Madam Speaker, if this motion from the Bloc Québécois passes, I am wondering if my hon. colleague from Halifax would also support some of the provinces, such as Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, that are structurally under-represented in Canada's Parliament. Would he be open to supporting changes to Bill C-14 that would give us representation by population? I ask the member to imagine a scena…
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Mr. Speaker, we are quickly approaching the one-year anniversary of the wildfire that decimated the village of Lytton on June 30. While we have been so encouraged by recent progress, residents still remain displaced. Lytton residents deserve so much more. I want to give a shout-out to the Fort Berens Estate Winery in Lillooet, B.C. and encourage everyone to participate in its fundraiser campaign c…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a point well taken by my Quebec colleague. I was just a little thrown off. I thought we were going to be having a debate here on Standing Order 51. As a member of PROC, it took me by surprise that there is this new motion before us to talk about something that I thought would be dealt with at committee.
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Mr. Speaker, I am beginning to understand the motion's significance. First of all, I see that the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs could be given the ability to make more significant amendments to Bill C‑14. In that case, would the Bloc Québécois potentially accept a motion to guarantee sufficient powers for the province of British Columbia? As members know, British Columbia does …
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Madam Speaker, for months now, my Conservative colleagues and I have risen in the House to ask the government to lift the federal mandates. Since February, the government has voted down three different opposition motions, and maybe four today, calling for a plan to end federal mandates, including just this afternoon. When I asked a question on May 5 about federal mandates and federal public servan…
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the government refuses to tell Canadians what scientific advice it has received in regard to travel mandates, if any. Worse yet, while denying and delaying, the government is ignoring programs like NEXUS, which significantly reduce wait times during travel. Just this morning, The Canadian Press reported that the backlog of applications has ballooned to nearly 300,000. W…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Kingston and the Islands fully knows well that the leader of the Conservative Party—
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Madam Speaker, I have a couple of points for my rebuttal. First, the member for Hull—Aylmer mentioned that there was an obligation for federal public servants to be vaccinated if they wanted to continue working, because the government said it is the most effective way to keep people safe. However, it did not have an obligatory vaccine mandate for federal inmates, so the people it was purporting to…
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Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, the—
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition on behalf of Cathy Peters, an advocate in British Columbia combatting human trafficking. Unfortunately, human trafficking is an issue that is increasing across our country, and we as legislators have a role to play in combatting human trafficking to keep our communities safe.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise this afternoon and thank the East Lillooet seniors garden committee volunteers for all their hard work and selfless dedication in building the memorial garden honouring the history of Japanese Canadians. On Saturday, May 7, I attended the 80th anniversary of the Japanese Canadian internment event. The day was marked with the grand opening of a beautiful memorial g…
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Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition on behalf of my constituent, the chief of the Sts'ailes first nation. In 2006, Ralph Leon Jr. and 12 other individuals were charged after a 15-month investigation into alleged eagle poaching. This legal action languished in the courts for nine years and included a mistrial, a fraud conviction against a senior conservation officer in charge of the investigati…
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Mr. Speaker, despite all of the government's rhetoric, the reality is that the price of a home continues to be unattainable for many young families. You just have to admit you failed. Now the Liberals say they are going to address housing supply, yet they excluded any measure in the budget implementation act to address housing supply. When will the government realize that promises and empty rhetor…
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Madam Speaker, what I actually said at the very beginning of my speech was that Bill C-19 “is when rhetoric meets reality.” I pointed out very clearly that all of the promises made by the Liberals, even some where we might find consensus in the House, were excluded from Bill C-19, including all of their commitments to address the supply-side crisis we are facing in this country. In addition, Bill …
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Madam Speaker, today we are debating Bill C-19, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022, and other measures. For my constituents, budget implementation acts are the mechanisms for Parliament to approve the spending outlined in the government's annual budget. In other words, it is when rhetoric meets reality. My constituents were hopeful that budge…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Edmonton Strathcona raises an important point. In Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon and throughout British Columbia, when we are talking about climate change right now, we are talking about climate resilient infrastructure. I do acknowledge the $5 billion allocated in the fall economic statement from the government, but as I have said in the House and before, in my home t…
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May 5th is Dutch Heritage Day in Canada and May is Dutch Heritage Month in Ontario. For all Canadians, it is a time to commemorate Canada's special relationship with the Netherlands. Dutch Heritage Day recognizes the sacrifices made by Canadians in the liberation of the Netherlands, as well as the contributions made by Canadians of Dutch heritage. This day is celebrated, as well, in the Netherland…
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