Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, last year we lost 5,630 Canadians to the opioid crisis. That is 15 lives lost every day. Emmy Liu, 14 years old, was one of the increasingly alarming number of young Canadians whose lives were stolen by the fentanyl traffickers. These criminals who profit from producing and trafficking opioids should face serious consequences. That is why Conservatives introduced Bill C-289 to strengt…
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Madam Speaker, the bill would basically strip away the right of a person to quote from their holy text. It would open the door to criminalizing people for uttering words that they are reading from their holy text. I wonder if the member can share with us why the Liberal government did not consult with faith communities across the country to see what the impact would be of taking away these statuto…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's luxurious travel around the world has racked up a nearly $1-million catering bill. That is enough to feed a family for 55 years. While the Prime Minister eats five-star meals, Canadians are struggling. A record 2.2 million Canadians use a food bank every single day, and today, 24,000 children will walk through the doors of a food bank hoping to find something to e…
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Mr. Speaker, this bill seeks to criminalize anyone who dares to quote from scripture, a religious text, and that is crossing the line, as far as I am concerned and as far as a lot of Canadians are concerned. It is the difference between the state and religion, the state and faith. The more concerning thing is that when we bring these issues to committee, as we have in all other committees, the Lib…
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Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, the member is well into his speech and I have yet to hear one word about Bill C-25.
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Mr. Speaker, my question is simple. Will the Bloc be supporting this bill? If so, how can it justify supporting a bill that would not deliver tangible results for Canadians or real support for the forestry industry? Can the member outline the position his party is taking in terms of whether it will be supporting the bill?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, record-high youth unemployment in Canada is a direct result of the Liberal government's reckless immigration policies. By flooding the labour market with temporary foreign workers and residents, the current government has created a wage-suppressing crisis. Instead of protecting opportunities for young Canadians, these policies have locked our youth out of the workforce, fuelling a dev…
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Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer data indicates that, if enacted, this bill would produce barely 1% of the homes that are needed on an annual basis. How can a member justify spending billions of dollars on a massive Crown corporation when it would have such negligible impact on the housing crisis?
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals want to talk about these fancy big things. It is a complete disconnect from the reality we see. Food banks have 2.2 million people visiting them every month. In Richmond Hill, a municipality that the hon. member and I have the huge honour of sharing the responsibility of representing in this House, the Richmond Hill Community Food Bank has record numbers of visitors. I wo…
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Madam Speaker, notwithstanding the rhetoric in that speech and the pat on the back that the member is expecting, there is a disconnect between what he said and what we are seeing on the ground. As a matter of fact, in communities across the country today, Canadians are struggling to afford food to put on the table. Young people cannot find a job. Housing is completely out of reach for everyone. Do…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has the dubious record now of having the worst food affordability amongst all G7 countries. In our communities, we see young people struggling to find a job, and people who cannot afford to buy a home. We see a tremendous backlog in the health care system. We also see the Liberals stand up and tout their credentials on the economy. Does the member opposite think that it is good…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal asylum system is a dumpster fire. The minister told Canadians the government stopped paying for asylum seekers' accommodations, but it is now simply bankrolling municipalities to do that for it. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has found that nearly 74,000 failed asylum claimants are also still receiving luxury health benefits. After a year, the Prime Minister's immigratio…
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Mr. Speaker, we just came back from two weeks in our constituencies, where we had the opportunity to meet with the people we represent. In my riding of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, I heard story after story of families and small businesses that are struggling. I wonder if the member could share with us what she heard in her riding at the other end of the country. I represent a riding in Ontari…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister highlighted three areas that are very important to Canadian families, which are housing costs, food prices and gas prices. He has been sitting around the cabinet table since 2017. This is his ninth year. Here is where we are nine years later. Nine years later, we have the highest cost of housing in the country. We have high food prices. In all of the G7 countries, Canada …
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Mr. Speaker, it is a little rich for the Liberal government to be talking down a very important motion like the one we are putting through today, which would, of course, eliminate all taxes on fuel and all taxes on gas for the entire year, especially given the fact that the government has created the highest housing costs in the history of the country. The government has the highest fuel and gas p…
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Mr. Speaker, the member has been sitting here since 2015. He stands up in his speech touting the Right Hon. Justin Trudeau's record as if it were an accomplishment. Here is where we are today. We have the highest housing prices in the history of our country, Canada is the worst country in the G7 for food affordability and gas prices are astronomically high, but he has the audacity to stand there a…
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Mr. Speaker, any time we make a very thorough and good explanation and ask questions of the government, we hear the Liberals get up and go back to 15 years ago, 10 years ago, and refer to other places, other governments and other prime ministers. Does the member think that is an effective or responsible way for our government to respond to members of the opposition, when we have a right in the Hou…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration bungled a simple decision to stop a known IRGC terrorist from entering our country, and Canadians still do not have clear evidence that the terrorist was stopped and turned back. There are reports, in fact, that say he just turned himself around and left the country. The Liberals are keeping the minister from answering questions, because they are concerned …
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand today to speak about the spring economic update. Before I begin that, I want to reiterate what a privilege and an honour it is to represent the wonderful people of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, a very vibrant, diverse and dynamic community in the heart of the GTA. Today, we are debating the spring economic update. I want to give a little context as to where we…
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Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary would have some credibility if he had not been saying the exact words from his seat in the House of Commons for the last 11 years. Liberals have had 11 years to get this right. For 11 years, he defended Justin Trudeau and now he is defending the current Prime Minister. For 11 years, we saw deficit after deficit. For 11 years, they have not delivered for Can…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a very important question, because we are talking about the future generation, our youth in this country. When we look at the budget, we are planning for the future and the youth are the future leaders of this country. Unfortunately, hope has been taken away from them. They cannot find jobs or buy a house. When they get married and start their families, they cannot live in the…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for acknowledging that I am brilliant in this debate. I appreciate him making that comment. The member refers to three by-elections in the country and is trying to correlate it somehow to what is happening in this debate here. We are debating the budget of the government and the indebtedness it is putting on Canadians. He wants to talk about politics an…
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Mr. Speaker, what we see here is yet another attempt by a Liberal minister, and the Liberal government, to consolidate power around the office of the minister in giving full discretion to the minister and overlooking the importance of parliamentary oversight, debate and listening to other opinions, which, of course, leads to questions of transparency. I wonder if the member could comment on whethe…
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Madam Speaker, what we see, yet again, from the Liberal government and the Liberal minister is another power grab giving more autonomy to the minister to make decisions, which, of course, leads to less transparency, less accountability and less parliamentary oversight. Does the member opposite think it is a good thing to give more power to the ministers and to have less transparency, less parliame…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is just another tax-and-spend Liberal specializing in costly credit card budgeting. Canada now faces the worst grocery inflation, the worst household debt, the highest housing costs and the second-highest unemployment in the G7. Canadians know they cannot borrow their way to prosperity. There is more debt, more costs, more spending, more taxes and more of the same. …
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Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General found massive security screening failures with people allowed into Canada by the Liberal government. Ahmed Eldidi entered Canada on a visitor visa. The Liberals let him in despite a 2015 ISIS propaganda video showing him participating in a brutal beheading-style attack. This guy is just one of many, as the same porous Liberal vetting process has allowed hundreds of…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(b), I rise as a member of the official opposition supporting the dissenting opinion appended to the report. We found that the government failed to consult communities on whether they could sustainably handle the massive influx of international students. While institutions collected record profits, international students were left at food banks and suf…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague hit the nail on the head with respect to how the government looks at Parliament and how it acts when it comes to having to do something as important as the system we are talking about today. My question for my hon. colleague is simply this: Why does she think the government would not say that it has made a mistake and that it did not do a good job? Being humble is …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the member speaks as if this is something that should take five, six or 10 years to complete. He is talking about 2030-31, as if we are supposed to be looking forward to really accomplishing something five or six years from now. I do not know that he can look seniors in the face in his own riding and say that we are going to get it straight and that they should come back around in a…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's excellent speech highlights many issues and many problems we have seen and continue to see in our immigration system in Canada. In fact, as the House very well knows and Canadians know, for the past 11 years there has been a systematic decline in how we manage the immigration file. More importantly, perhaps, I want to thank the member for the tremendous work she ha…
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Mr. Speaker, I note that the minister has chosen not to speak about her bill today. My question is simple. Does the member know why the minister chose not to rise today to speak about her bill, which is important?
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Mr. Speaker, at the outset of the member's speech, right at the beginning, he said this is an important piece of legislation. I could not agree more. All legislation that comes before the House is important. This particular piece touches on immigration, the IRCC, the IRB and the CBSA. There are all of those issues. The member referred to 2014. He has conveniently and completely avoided saying the …
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Mr. Speaker, the member is quite correct. It does not seem like the minister is willing to resolve any of the problems in immigration. In fact, we have terrorists being allowed into the country. Over 700 IRGC agents have been allowed into the country, and one has been deported. The government thinks it is a record to gloat about, but only one has been deported. The international student program wa…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to stand today in celebration of Greek Independence Day, a powerful symbol of bravery, courage, unity and the enduring human desire for freedom. On March 25, 1821, the people of Greece rose against centuries of Ottoman occupation, inspired by the Hellenic spirit, a deep love for their homeland and a belief in self-determination. Their struggle was not easy, but through r…
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Mr. Speaker, successive Liberal immigration ministers have destroyed our once-respected immigration system. Yesterday, the Auditor General revealed that the Liberals only reviewed 2.6% of 153,000 suspected cases of foreign student work permit fraud. The Liberals have allowed hundreds of IRGC agents into the country. Yesterday, the immigration minister practised the art of deflection. It seems that…
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Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of disastrous Liberal policies, the immigration crisis is worse now than ever before. The Auditor General's latest findings revealed widespread fraud and dangerous gaps in the Liberals' oversight of foreign student work permits. In spite of this, the Liberals are pushing ahead with hundreds of thousands of new foreign work permits with no plan to remove the millions of …
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has lost over 100,000 jobs in the first two months of this year. Canada is the only shrinking economy, and it has the second highest unemployment, the highest household debt and the highest food inflation in the G7. The Liberal Prime Minister cannot just blame global factors when the other members of the G7 are dealing with the same issues. These are problems the Liberals have …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to refer to what my colleague from Huron—Bruce said. He referred to the time when we had a Conservative government here, the Harper government. During that period of time, we signed 38 free trade agreements, alongside numerous foreign investment promotion and protection agreements. We know what that was worth and what the value was. My question for the member is simply this: Ha…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to stand today to speak to Bill C-220, a bill that has been very thoughtfully presented to Parliament by my outstanding colleague from Calgary Nose Hill. She has done an exceptional job, not only with this bill but also in pointing out the numerous ways that the Liberal government has taken an immigration system that was once the envy of the world and made it the lau…
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Madam Chair, I would like to begin by reminding members from the governing party what it is we are actually speaking about today. We are talking about the oppressive and brutal Iranian regime, the very regime that for 47 years has perpetrated atrocities on its own people and supported and wreaked havoc throughout the whole Middle East region and other places around the world. Let me bring up a cou…
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Madam Chair, in fact, not only the community itself but friends of the community gathered together with hundreds of thousands of people gathering over roughly the past 10 days. There were 350,000 people who gathered in Richmond Hill with one voice, asking for the overthrow of the regime, asking for support of the American and Israeli effort to overthrow the Iranian government. People are fed up. T…
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Madam Chair, the brutality of the Iranian regime knows no bounds. The country will never return to the people of Iran until the regime is overthrown. A democratic government must be chosen by the Iranian people, and today that is not possible without intervention—
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have successively failed to address the fact that we have terrorists on our streets, and there has been zero enforcement of the laws that are already in place. This is happening because the seven Liberal immigration ministers in the last 10 years have failed to protect our borders, and now hundreds of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps agents safely reside in Canada, many …
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Madam Chair, it is hard to put a dollar sign on this, monetize this, or speak in financial or economic terms when talking about people's lives. I will share with my hon. colleague the following story of a constituent of mine in Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill who came to me and told me their first cousin was taken from his bed, in his bedroom where he was with his parents. The young man was taken …
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Madam Speaker, we are all parliamentarians. We are all elected to represent our communities and to represent Canadians. We are here to make Parliament work. We want to work with all parties, including the Liberal government, the Liberal Party, to make things better, to make legislation better. It is sad that when we try to do that, they put their hands up. They have used the word “obstruction” in …
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Madam Speaker, the member makes a valid point. There are definitely long lineups of people waiting. The lists just keep growing and growing. It is fact. A CBSA official who was a witness at the citizenship and immigration committee told us in his testimony that there are over 30,000 asylum seekers in Canada right now who should not be here and who they cannot find to deport from the country.
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Madam Speaker, the safety of our communities is of utmost importance. For 10 years, we have seen the soft-on-crime Liberal government prioritize the interests of criminals over the safety of law-abiding Canadians. Just a few months ago in my riding, Amir Shafei, an innocent man, a quiet man, walked outside in front of his house and was accosted by a repeat violent offender who was out on bail. Ami…
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Madam Speaker, it is a little rich for the member opposite to be speaking about who should be shameful. After 10 years of allowing criminals, with the Liberals' catch-and-release policies, to be on our streets and attacking our communities, they have the audacity to stand up and talk about who should be shameful. I will add this for the hon. member's education. He would know and, if not, he ought …
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Mr. Speaker, that was a very impassioned speech. Obviously, our colleague cares very much about the subject and the constituents in his riding. I am keenly aware of the Mirabel situation, being a Quebecker myself and having been born in Montreal, but I want to highlight once again that it was Brian Mulroney, a Canadian prime minister who, in his very first term, returned 80% of those lands. It was…
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Mr. Speaker, this is a very important issue for the people of Mirabel. We are talking about families that farmed their land for generations and generations and passed it on down. It is important for Mirabel, important for Quebec and important for Canada. I cannot think of a reason why the government would not want to simply give the good people of Mirabel an apology so they could have final closur…
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