Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said there must be consensus for any new pipelines. Can you define consensus for me, minister?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, speaking of moving away, I will go back to the previous question: pipeline or rail? The minister should pick one.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, does the minister believe the NDP premier of British Columbia has a veto over pipelines to the Pacific coast, yes or no?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is a very clear question, pipeline or rail?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, like most Canadians, I do not stash my assets in offshore tax havens in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands, and like them, I believe in shining a little sunlight on the people who govern us. The Prime Minister claims that his assets are in a blind trust, but Canadians are the ones completely in the dark. He absolutely knows what his assets were before he placed them into a blind trust. I w…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not feel reassured. I certainly did not hear a “no” in there. What we do know is that the Prime Minister was implicated in setting up offshore tax havens to avoid paying Canadian taxes. We know that he is sitting on stocks from Brookfield Asset Management, which is riddled with conflicts of interest and which benefits handsomely from government contracts. We know that he is perfe…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I wish my hon. colleague had listened to my speech, because what I was talking about was how the Liberals need to stop wasting money without achieving any results. In fact, thanks to the work of the environment commissioner highlighting that the Liberal government is not on track in any way to meet its stated emissions reduction goals, we know that the government is failing in its o…
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Madam Speaker, CCUS is one example. What I am focused on, which will be the first principle when the new common-sense Conservative government steps in, is to review programs like it to see where money has been wasted and where it has been successful. Thanks to the work of the environment commissioner, we now know that it is a failed project. Once again, I am more than proud to say that we are goin…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I appreciate that the member understands the need to actually focus on results for taxpayer dollars. In terms of carbon capture and storage, yes, it seems like a promising lead and a way to actually reduce emissions. The good news is that the private sector is leading the way in this; it is the one trying to make investments and reduce its emissions. While the technology is promisin…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I move that the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, presented on Monday, October 30, 2023, be concurred in. It is always an honour to rise in this place, and today's matter is about transparency and common-sense ideas. This report contains a few common-sense recommendations that, unfortunately, the Liberal government and its radical Mini…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that getting to the bottom of $400 million of Liberal corruption is not in the best interests of the Liberal Party. It is in the best interests of Canadians. While the member might find it astounding that Parliament has a role to play in checks and balances on the corrupt Liberal government, I do not. I was not sent here by my constituents to be a guy who says, “It is fi…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
First of all, Mr. Speaker, Parliament functions whether we are debating this or anything else, as it should, and this is an important function of Parliament. That is why members of the House voted with a majority, supported by the Speaker, to continue this investigation, and I happily will do that because this is important. Anybody who thinks $400 million can just be swept under the rug probably s…
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Mr. Speaker, I said earlier that the government's best attribute is to distract and deflect. That question was a great way of showing that. This is about the $400 million of corrupt lining of the pockets of Liberals and their insiders. To try to spin this into anything else is just simply absurd. I am not going to take any lessons from that member who has been part of the corrupt nine-year-long go…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, the government has not taken me up on my offer of Friday, that I would give up the last six minutes of my speech if it just decided to do a Friday document dump with this information being handed over. At the end of my speech on Friday, I was talking about the gravy train that had to come to an end at some point for SDTC when whistle-blowers in 2022, and more so in 2023, ca…
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Mr. Speaker, absolutely, it is a topic of conversation when folks turn on CPAC and wonder why we are still debating this. Logical people like the common-sense folks who I represent ask why the government would not just hand over these documents. They say that there has to be something to hide. Most definitely they ask me what I think is in the documents. I tell them I do not know because the gover…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I will happily talk to my leader, as will all my colleagues, because we actually like our leader, something we on this side of the House are awfully proud of. Only a Liberal would stand here and say they want to get to work but not talk about the $400-million corruption the Liberals are caught up in. I can tell my colleague this is work: holding a government to account for what the Au…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, that is a great point. Like in any other sampling, polling or anything like that, a sample is picked, and that is what the Auditor General obviously did. This is the level of corruption that was found during that investigation. It is only reasonable to assume the percentage would continue and, worse, the dollar value of the nearly $400 million of misspent funds is going to continue on…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege and a pleasure to rise in this place. On this particular issue, I rose last in early October to speak to the House about the Liberals' failure to turn over documents on the green slush fund as requested by the House of Commons' duly elected members and agreed to by the Speaker. Two months later, it is pretty obvious the government is more concerned about wha…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the Sustainable Development Technology Canada organization was a body that started back in 2001 to fund companies creating technologies that promoted sustainable development. It is not a bad idea to invest in technology, not taxes. Where have I heard that before? I think it has been coming from this side of the House because it is a good idea. However, the Liberals applied one of th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
It is a tax trick; that is right. Madam Speaker, even my opposition colleagues know that it is simply a temporary tax trick. I suppose maybe the Liberals think that their hand is in people's pockets already, so they might as well just grab a little extra cash. What they have failed to realize, and it has been brought up by members of the opposition, is the havoc that it is going to wreak on small …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I think I struck a nerve. They seem a little upset by my talking about when their leader's pension comes to fruition and the legislation that is literally trying to move back the election date to enable a whole bunch of them who were elected in 2019 and are probably not coming back to this place after the carbon tax election. They are trying to get their pensions. Once again, last n…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, those are incredible skills at distracting and deflecting. The member may take Canadians for fools, but they see the difference between a temporary two-month tax trick and real, permanent tax relief. While our largest trading partner threatens devastating tariffs, the radical environment minister is hell-bent on quadrupling his carbon tax because he simply wants to destroy our energ…
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Madam Speaker, Canada's closest ally and largest trading partner is threatening crippling 25% tariffs, yet the Prime Minister is simply too weak to stand up for Canadians and defend our economy. Worse, his radical environment minister is in denial and declared at committee this week, “Of course, we’re going to continue with the carbon tax”. Not satisfied with just punishing Canadians here at home,…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, last night, the leader of the NDP voted to put his pension over his country, propping up the Liberals once again. Do members remember when he ripped up the NDP's coalition deal with the Liberals, saying that they were, “too weak, too selfish, and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people”? It was nothing but a stunt. The truth is that the NDP leader supports everything…
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Madam Speaker, given that the Auditor General only reviewed a minority of the contracts, in the member's view, as an experienced member of Parliament, how much worse could this actually be? We are talking about $400 million of misappropriated funds. In his estimation, how much worse could the rot actually be?
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Madam Speaker, I want to offer my sincere congratulations to our newest member for Elmwood—Transcona. While I was knocking on doors as the common-sense Conservative candidate, we met on the street, and I really appreciate the campaign she ran. It was not that long ago that I experienced the same range of emotions. I thought she gave a great first speech. The member mentioned a few things, such as …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, November is Diabetes Awareness Month and this week my wife Cailey and I met with Breakthrough T1D, formerly known as JDRF Canada, to discuss the challenges of living with type 1 diabetes. T1D is a chronic autoimmune disease that prevents the body from producing insulin. Cailey was diagnosed just after her first birthday. Over the years we have witnessed remarkable advancements in tr…
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years, it is clear the NDP-Liberal government is simply not worth the cost. Food Banks Canada now states that the need for its services is spiralling out of control. In Manitoba, use of food banks has increased 122% since the pandemic, with over 50,000 people relying on them each month. The CEO of Harvest Manitoba said that this is “absolutely unprecedented”, yet the NDP-Li…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour a great Canadian, Robert Sopuck, who left us far too soon. This Saturday, we will come together to celebrate his extraordinary life, alongside his beloved wife Caroline, his family, his hunting partners and his many friends. Bob was a brilliant communicator. He was authentic, thoughtful and honest. He was a fierce defender of the rural way of life and the greate…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to continue what I think is an important question. As a proud member of the environment committee, we have undertaken, at the request of the government, a study of the factors that led to the Jasper wildfire that devastated that community, leaving 2,000 people homeless and roughly $1 billion in damages. What this investigation has revealed are staggering…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am frustrated by the continued effort to distract and divert from the realities. The monetary spending by the government that the parliamentary secretary mentioned is important because the government should be nimble. It needs to react to, in this case, the pine beetle infestation and when the actual impact of the standing deadwood and the fuel load that was in front of Jasper was r…
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberals are simply not worth the cost. Food Banks Canada reveals a devastating truth: Over two million Canadians are turning to food banks. It also reports that up to 25% of Canadians are living in a state of poverty. In Manitoba, food bank usage has surged by 30% in just the last year alone. Despite this crisis, the Prime Minister still thinks it is some so…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians recognize the impact of the Liberal government's policies, and it is that they are being recklessly driven into poverty. How many more families have to suffer? How long do the lineups at food banks need to be before the Prime Minister realizes that he and his government are the cause? If we tax the farmer who grows the food, the trucker who ships the food and the grocer who …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the well wishes. I agree with him. Bob had a fondness for Quebec. Quebeckers have a very high rate of firearms ownership and have a love of the outdoors: plodding, sledding and doing all the modern and traditional heritage activities. He always felt a strong connection with many people in Quebec. That is why he was focused on Canada broadly and on the man…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the kind words. Bob probably did not get along with every NDP MP and certainly would happily disagree on many policy issues, but to give an example where that was not the case, I note former MP Fin Donnelly. I had the privilege of joining them on occasion for a scotch and an across-the-lines political and candid among-the-rurals conversation, because that was th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Red Deer—Lacombe. They were as close as one can get. The member is a true Albertan, but I think Manitobans appreciate having him in their back pocket. Bob cherished those hunts and those days on the lake with the member and so many other people. That is where he was happy. On the beautiful, sprawling farm he had, he managed the landscape. He was a gardener of…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, before I start, I would like to seek the unanimous consent of members to move up a few rows so we have the proper backdrop of those who knew the individual whom I am going to speak about.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I am privileged, yet saddened, to rise to honour my former boss, my mentor and my friend, Robert Sopuck. I thank all my colleagues for allowing me this opportunity to honour this great Canadian, the former member of Parliament for Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa. Robert, or Bob as he was known by his many friends, passed away suddenly, but peacefully, last week in his home near Lake Audy, …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the kind words. I will pass those wishes along to the family, though I suspect they may be watching right now. It is appreciated. The member touched on something I find quite interesting. Bob always talked about the fact that “conservation” and “conservative” come from the same root word. He was the biggest believer and defender of the fact that Conservat…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, for seven years, the Liberals knew Jasper was a tinderbox. Damning testimony has proved the Minister of Environment's negligence. He failed to do everything he could to protect homes, businesses and this beloved national park. To stop a raging wildfire, we need to do two things: remove the heat and apply water. We know beyond a doubt that the minister did neither. A tiny fraction of t…
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Mr. Speaker, the only thing the Liberals are good at is trying to deflect and distract from their own failures, so let me tell members the facts about the Jasper fire investigation. They knew about the risk for seven years and failed to do everything they could to mitigate it. Twenty fire trucks and 50 firefighters were turned away. Parks Canada bought hydrants that did not even have the proper ho…
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Madam Speaker, after nine years of these NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, corruption is up and time is up. Now it is confirmed that the RCMP is doing an investigation into this Liberal green slush fund. Taxpayer funds, $330 million, were paid out in 186 cases of conflicts of interest. It is despicable that Liberal insiders lined their own pockets. Those who broke the law must be brought t…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. The carbon tax is jacking up the cost of everything and what do the Liberals do? They appoint carbon tax cheerleader Mark Carney as their phantom finance minister to advise on economic policy. At the same time, he presides over a massive corporation that sought $10 billion to take over our …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, it does not take a lot of common sense to come to the conclusion that the Liberals are hiding something. Why would they not turn over the documents if there was nothing to hide? The reality is, when the Auditor General comes out with a report that says over 80% of these contracts have a conflict of interest and $390 million has been misspent and funnelled through the companies of Libe…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in response to the Speaker's ruling regarding the Liberal government's refusal to comply with a binding House order to produce documents related to Sustainable Development Technology Canada, or better known to Canadians as the Liberal green slush fund. It is like Groundhog Day here in Parliament. We are once again debating another Liberal scandal instead of legislation, b…
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Mr. Speaker, “disregarding” is an odd word to use considering why we are here. Disregarding a binding House order, voted for by a majority of parliamentarians, is what the government is doing. I find it appalling that the defence is some made-up scenario. If government members do not believe they did anything wrong, they can voluntarily and directly hand these documents over to the RCMP and say th…
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Mr. Speaker, that was an excellent point by my colleague from South Shore—St. Margarets. I would like to applaud him because he has done yeoman's work to get to the bottom of this. He has done incredible work to find out the truth in this matter. It is not surprising to me that he is bringing up more recent realities from the RCMP, because why would the defence be that the RCMP does not want to se…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I disagree with my colleague across the way on many things, but she is often thoughtful. I look forward to hearing her speech on this topic tomorrow morning because I think it will bring a few issues to light that the Liberal government will not want to hear. Do not quote me on this, but in terms of Senate appointments, I think it is 87 appointees whom the current Prime Minister has p…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I have only been here for a little over a year, so I have only seen a half-dozen or so from the Liberal government. One that I cannot wait to see come forward is the government's refusal to hand over documents about the net-zero accelerator fund, which my colleague and I are working to investigate at the environment committee right now. I think a wild story is going to come out about …
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