Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member for Vancouver Centre talked a lot about all the things the government is looking into, but the one area it is not looking into is first-time home buyers. The federal government, I acknowledge, has put new money into housing, but it does not address the structural economic challenges that young buyers. They are the young professionals graduating from the University of Brit…
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Mr. Speaker, while Canadians are losing sleep wondering if they will ever be able to afford a home, the Liberal government readily acknowledges that our system is a safer market for foreign investment than for Canadians trying to purchase a home. Why have the Liberals turned a blind eye to foreign speculation and the negative role it is playing in our real estate market? Is the government really o…
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With regard to the statement from the senior vice-president of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation at the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities on February 4, 2021, concerning the Rapid Housing Initiative – Projects Stream that “Over 765 applications went through a triage process to assess eligibility. We have revie…
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Mr. Speaker, home prices are skyrocketing. The CMHC and the banks confirm what we already know: the market is overheating. The Liberals' plan for first-time home buyers continues to miss the mark completely. We are over halfway through their program that was to help 100,000 Canadians, but it has reached just a tenth of that, despite the hot real estate market. When will the government implement ho…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Can you please inform the House if the English version is correct or the French version? My main point of contention, whether ballots would be counted within the riding or counted within the national capital region, has not been answered. Can you please confirm if the English or French version is correct?
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Mr. Speaker, what is unfortunate is that parliamentary secretary responsible for Bill C-24 is not standing up in the House and debating me on the very legislation he is meant to be responsible for.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present three unique petitions, all citizen-driven, from constituents of Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. The first petition is regarding truck stops in B.C. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of keeping our domestic supply chains operable. Truck drivers' work has been essential during the crisis, and they deserve our utmost appreciation…
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Madam Speaker, the second petition is regarding human trafficking. The U.S. Department of State's 20th Trafficking in Persons Report indicates that Canada meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The TIP report notes the Canadian government did not provide comprehensive data on investigations, prosecutions, convictions or victim services. The range, quality and timely delive…
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Madam Speaker, I will now present two petitions today from concerned citizens in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon regarding the use of medical marijuana licences for industrial medical marijuana production in our neighbourhoods. People across my riding are very upset that medical marijuana licences are being used in neighbourhoods where kids live, close to schools. The smell is horrible. They are rea…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier for his excellent speech today. I have a very simple question. Is the federal government capable of managing this pandemic and economic crisis without a federal budget?
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Mr. Speaker, for over a year, the Liberal government has claimed that it has housed one million families, but it goes silent when pressed for the data. After repeated requests, the CMHC finally tabled its figures with the HUMA committee. The numbers fall short of one million, confirming that the repeated assertion made by the government is false. Will the minister correct the record and admit he h…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc Québécois for the question. We are looking at such things in committee right now. I hope that the hon. member can join us during this study to talk about extending special benefits.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith that the way funds from employment insurance have been used by previous governments should not happen. Money put into EI by Canadians should be for Canadian workers when they need it, and if there are surplus funds, the money should be reinvested to support the fund when times are bad.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, like a lot of members of the House, I look forward to when the Government of Canada tables a federal budget so that the corresponding accountability that comes with a budget, and the fiscal planning that goes along with that, are presented to Canadians. Then they will have an idea of how their federal taxpayer dollars are being spent and what plans are actually in place to get…
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Mr. Speaker, it is such a great day to be debating in the House of Commons. Before I begin, I want to give a big shout-out. I have been in Ottawa for a while, and I think all House of Commons staff are doing an excellent job of keeping us fed and making sure that our system works for the well-being of Canadians. I really felt that this week. They are doing a great job. Now I will get to Bill C-24.…
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With regard to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Project Stream of the Rapid Housing Initiative: (a) what was the (i) total number of applications received to date, (ii) total number of proposed projects, (iii) total number of proposed housing units; (b) what is the breakdown of each part of (a) by municipality and province or territory; (c) what was the dollar value of funds re…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Kingston and the Islands. It was an informal exchange between us, but he was in the House, so I wanted to make note of that. The spirit of the debate taking place was very reasonable and I really do think there is a questionable difference in the clauses.
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Mr. Speaker, during the second reading of Bill C-19, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act (COVID-19 response) and its debate, I found an error in the text of the bill. At the top of page 12 concerning section 4 of the Elections Act, entitled, “Receipt of special ballot — application made in electoral district” in English, clause 239(2) states that it contains provisions for the receipt of ball…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the dream of home ownership, once achievable for most Canadians, is drifting out of reach for our middle class, especially young parents. House prices are simply quite divorced from reality. This should not be a surprise. Millennials have known this for years, but it was a shock to CMHC, which last June was warning of a 9% to 18% decline in house prices. Instead, prices jumped more th…
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Mr. Speaker, today I am tabling two petitions highlighting the rampant abuse of Canada's medical cannabis production provisions, including sale to the black and grey markets, destruction of property and negative impacts on residential areas, which municipalities do not have the authority to address. My constituents call for reforms to the regime overseeing the production of cannabis for personal m…
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Madam Speaker, third, I table over eight individual petitions on the ongoing protests in the Punjab and Haryana regions of India. My constituents are concerned for the safety of Indian farmers protesting changes that affect their livelihoods. They call on the federal government to condemn the use of violence and reaffirm Canada's international support for the fundamental freedoms of expression and…
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Madam Speaker, I am not going to lie: I am fan of first past the post. It has its problems, but I love my country and I love our democratic system. I love the way we conduct elections. I love the fact that Canadians have confidence in our electoral process, and I do not want to see that change. I want to see ballots counted locally, by members of my community to ensure that Canadians continue to h…
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Madam Speaker, I am not sowing any doubt or deceit about our electoral process. My whole speech focused on the fact that I trust the institution and I trust Sue and Gurpreet and all of the other Canadians who work in our local elections to make sure that our democracy is upheld. I think our Elections Act is one of the best acts we have. It provides confidence for Canadians. For new Canadians, it i…
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Madam Speaker, my biggest fear about holding an election during the pandemic is what would happen in long-term care facilities, or to someone like my 93-year-old Oma, who lives on her own but receives lots of support from nurses and care practitioners. We need to make sure that any changes to the Elections Act, whether temporary or not, account for the outbreaks we have seen in long-term care faci…
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Madam Speaker, that is an excellent question by the member for Elmwood—Transcona. I do not think our positions differ too much on this. If people apply for a special ballot online and receive that ballot, Bill C-19 would allow them to drop it off in a special ballot box at a polling station. That is a good provision. From my first reading of Bill C-19 when I was working on my speech, it seemed tha…
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Madam Speaker, one question I was trying to have addressed earlier in this debate was how often voters lists would be updated at various polling stations across any riding. There are a lot of provisions in the bill that need a ton of clarification to ensure there is no fraud and that people are not trying to vote twice. Elections Canada has the responsibility to always prepare for the worst-case s…
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Madam Speaker, first off, I do not get to determine when a bill is brought forward to a committee. I think the member has more power over that decision than I would any day. Second, it is incumbent for me to mention again, after reading Bill C-19 and giving my first speech, that it would give extensive temporary powers to the Chief Electoral Officer. We need to have very clear and transparent sche…
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Madam Speaker, let me just conclude by saying that if all politics are local, then so too should be the counting of ballots, including those received in the mail. I look forward to a constructive debate on Bill C-19 and to getting this bill right for Canadians, because it is Canadians who ultimately make the decisions we are discussing today, and Canadians should feel they have the utmost confiden…
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Madam Speaker, I will begin my comments on this important piece of legislation by sharing some anecdotes from recent federal elections. The names of the two people I am about to talk about are not their real names, but the people they represent are familiar to anyone involved in past elections. My mind goes first to Sue. She is a loving grandmother who has spent her years tending to her family and…
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Madam Speaker, today I am tabling three petitions. The first petition calls on the federal government to apply Magnitsky act sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials who for over two decades have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners.
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Madam Speaker, the second petition I am tabling today highlights the lack of legal restrictions on sex-selective abortions. It is a situation domestic health care professionals and international bodies such as the UN recognize as discriminatory toward women and girls. The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to pass a Criminal Code amendment prohibiting sex-selective abortion.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the Liberals' newest housing program gave half a billion dollars to big cities but left the little guys to compete for the rest. They say this initial allocation went to cities with severe housing needs, which I do not doubt, and that it was data driven, which I do doubt. Why? We learned in the HUMA committee that CMHC literally has no way of measuring homelessness in rural and remo…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry. I rise today to express my serious and heartfelt concerns with and vehement opposition to the abhorrent abuse and genocide actively being perpetrated against the Uighur people and other Turkic Muslims by the Government of the People's Republic of China. The Conservative Party stands in solidarity with the…
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Mr. Speaker, it was a little hard to hear the member. I am having some technical difficulties. Generally speaking, I believe that Canada's values transcend everything else we do. Our first and foremost priorities as Canadians must be to stand on our charter values, and those transcendent ideals transcend sport.
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Mr. Speaker, from the reading I have done and some of the evidence that is available, I believe the same tactics taking place against the Uighur Muslims have likely been applied against the Tibetan people as well.
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Mr. Speaker, again, there was a bit of a technical difficulty with the connection. China depends a lot on Canada for its economic prosperity and on Canadians buying Chinese goods. We need to use our purchasing power and our trade as a means to perhaps work with our international colleagues to ensure that China does not get away with these human rights abuses.
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Mr. Speaker, my big concern in general is that if the Olympics are held in China and China is not held accountable for its human rights atrocities, it is going to have the opportunity to showcase a China that does not actually reflect the realities of the citizens of China and their abuse at the hands of their government. Canada stands up for human rights. Those values are universal, and we need t…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this government’s newest housing program gave half a billion dollars to big cities but left Canada’s small and medium-sized municipalities, non-profits and indigenous governing bodies to compete for the rest. Many of these communities simply lack the capacity to submit an application during normal operations, never mind the current circumstances. A disproportionate number of these com…
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Mr. Speaker, today I table my third petition from constituents in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon who are concerned for the safety of Indian farmers who are protesting changes affecting their agriculturally dependent livelihoods. The petitioners call on the federal government to condemn the use of violence and reaffirm Canada's international support for the fundamental freedoms of expression and ass…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, on January 17, my community of Mission rallied behind Max. Max was bullied and abused at school. It was filmed by fellow students and posted online. It was a sad day for our community. To help them recover, residents of Mission and friends from across B.C. rallied behind Max and their family. Hundreds of vehicles, horses and even a flyby by local pilots kicked off a parade to stand ag…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to table my second petition as a Conservative member of Parliament. It is for concerned Canadians regarding the safety of farmers from the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana who are protesting domestic legislative changes affecting their livelihoods. Legislative independence of sovereign nations must be respected, but Canada will always stand for the protection of fundam…
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With regard to the government’s Rapid Housing Initiative: what are the details of all funding commitments provided to date under the initiative, including (i) date of commitment, (ii) amount of federal commitment, (iii) detailed location, including address, municipality and province, (iv) project description, (v) number of housing units, broken down by type of housing?
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With regard to funding provided under the Social Development Partnerships Program since January 1, 2016: (a) what is the total amount of funding provided under the program, broken down by year and by province or territory; and (b) what are the details of all projects or programs funded through the program, including (i) date of funding, (ii) amount of federal contribution, (iii) recipient, (iv) pu…
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