Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, despite signing an international agreement and giving companies five years to comply, the Liberal government has handed out major exemptions to its friends in big business to rules limiting HFC emissions. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency sends such requests packing, as HFCs are a far more damaging greenhouse gas than carbon, while the Liberals said yes to thes…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague gives a much different perspective being from the province of Nova Scotia. He chimed in on something with which I will agree. First, we should be listening to public health authorities. He also said that if we did what was hard first, then we could get better results and it would make it easier. New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea all instituted very similar …
Read full speech →Private Members’ Business
Mr. Speaker, I think anyone watching at home or in the chamber, if their heart was a little too small, it probably grew three sizes bigger today. I just wanted to thank the member. Sometimes we forget about how difficult it is to take a piece of legislation through the whole process. I congratulate him and his team. Now that we are at third reading, the member has been through committee study. He …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Safety Power is a great Canadian company that creates world-class clean tech to remove nitrous oxide from generators. We should be celebrating this homegrown technology, yet the government is about to put in new regulations, gazetted on March 9, 2019, that will literally shutter its operations here in Canada, driving away the very clean tech the Liberals like to say they support. Why …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we have policies right now at our border that have allowed, and I would argue continue to allow, the variants in. When the variants come in and there is community spread, it is an exponential threat. People need to have two vaccine shots to be fully vaccinated, but even the best vaccines only have 95% efficacy. The Liberal government and the Prime Minister need to do better. These v…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the motion is to talk about COVID-19 and the government's response to it. I have raised the question of vaccinations. I have raised the question of borders. I have actually raised the suggestion that the government does not seem to be paying attention to the variants that have come up. These are all things we can bring into the debate. Let us bear in mind that every timeline the gov…
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Madam Speaker, I would simply point out to the member that two provinces have already made deals with states for essential workers such as truckers to become protected. The Prime Minister, right now, allows critical essential workers to go back and forth between Canada and the United States every day. It happens every day, and they are not vaccinated. When someone tries to bring up a suggestion, a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, to be candid, these are very challenging times for all Canadians. Almost every province, including my own, is currently undergoing various types of lockdowns and trying to implement various types of interprovincial travel restrictions. We see more “for lease” signs going up in our downtown cores as many small businesses can no longer hang on. People are frustrated. They are upset. P…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister engaging in debate. In British Columbia, we have the highest recorded number of people with COVID-19 in our hospitals. People in Kelowna in long-term care, seniors who have received their first shot, are getting sick. Outbreaks are continuing. By the way, there is a big difference between a benchmark and a target. This government has set targets that it is at…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, since this bill has been introduced, the government's climate change plan has changed at least three times, while the bill has only been up for a couple of days of debate, no more than 12 hours in total. How can the government say that debate is done when it changes its plans and gives us no ability to debate the bill in this place?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I come from an area of this great country that has two copper mines, which have been funded by foreign direct investment. We have also seen the Liberal government approve a transfer of senior homes in British Columbia to a Chinese state organization called Anbang, and that was a horrible mistake by the government. When members, such as the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo and I,…
Read full speech →Government Orders
First, Madam Speaker, the minister is completely wrong. He says that the Conservative climate plan, which will achieve our targets for 2030, is a pamphlet. The targets that the government put out last week did not even have a napkin with a 40% to 45%. I take no criticism from the minister on this. Generally, what is the urgency in pushing this bill forward? The government has already put forward a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the minister was in this place and promised to work with all parties on Bill C-12. At that time, we gave the suggestion that perhaps there needed to be industry representation to make sure that critical industry voice was heard. What did the minister do? He promoted people who have said things on social media like, “At Davos we will tell world leaders to abandon the fossil fuel econ…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the minister likes to throw around words like “accountability” and “transparency”. The heritage minister said that the government would be putting the brand new 45% target into the bill, yet there has been zero debate on the bill since the targets were set. How can we vote on the intent of the bill with zero debate on a significant change to the bill's goal?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, this member just voted to have this steamrolled through. I really hope he is interested in debating today. The Minister of Environment has put forward an advisory council, and members of that advisory council have actually made comments against oil and gas, saying they want to phase it out, specifically the Davos approach. Does the member agree with that kind of rhetoric? Does he ag…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, in December of last year, the government, without any consultation with provinces, said that it would raise the carbon tax to $170 a tonne, after it promised it would not do that in the 2019 election. Then, on Monday of last week, we had a budget that said it would increase the targets to 36%. Late last week, we heard about a range of 40% to 45%, and the minister specifically cited …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government’s commitment to plant two billion trees and an initial focus on urban trees: (a) how many plots of land have been identified for planting the trees; (b) what are the details of each plot, including the (i) location of the land, (ii) type of landowner (municipality, private owner, federal government land, etc.), (iii) cost of acquisition or projected cost of acquisitio…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, on this Earth Day, I want to share the story of a prime minister who visited each province to work with them on setting bold climate targets that worked for everyone. Sadly, it was not our current Prime Minister but our former one. On this Earth Day, the current Prime Minister has announced targets without working with provinces and instead dictating to them by fiat. That is not leade…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, the country may be governed by the government itself, but the government is for the people. Certainly this member raises a lot of criticisms. We have raised concerns about the impacts on labour throughout this process, and we actually pushed the government to make changes to what eventually became the Canada recovery benefit, which offered more flexibility, so s…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his work on the environment committee as chair. Like the carbon tax cover-up, the government has no penchant to share information that may end up exposing the fact that there are risks to its plans. We have not seen a budget in two years. Every other province and territory and every municipality I know of has been able to bring forward a budget thr…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Kingston and the Islands for his ongoing questioning of opposition members who have questions about whether or not his government is actually getting the big picture. Just by his very statement, we are in a situation we did not anticipate. However, recessions happen and pandemics happen. In fact, there was a 2006 report, authored in part by Dr. Tam…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to virtually rise on behalf of the great people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, who I am very proud to represent in this chamber. I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Edmonton Centre, who will, without a doubt, have an even better intervention than my own. When I first heard the finance minister's speech yesterday and had a chance to go through…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, yesterday history was made. The Leader of the Opposition shared his vision for a climate plan, aptly named “Secure the Environment”. It is bold and addresses challenging topics such as carbon leakage. Our plan has been independently assessed by Navius Research. Our plan would effectively achieve the same emissions reductions as the Liberal plan. I was encouraged to see well-respecte…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, recently, I met with the witness of a tragic hit-and-run accident. For a passing-by motorist to find a young woman severely injured lying in the gutter next to a wintry highway, it was a deeply traumatic experience. However, as this witness reminded me, this is the reality of our first responders every single day. This pandemic has been hard on everyone, but even more so for those on …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member does tremendous work on human rights, whether it be for Canadians here or people across the world. I am going to quote from the Privacy Commissioner in response to Bill C-11's tabling. He said: Bill C-11 opens the door to new commercial uses of personal information without consent, but does not specify that such uses are conditional on privacy rights being respected.... […
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's intervention today. She has been very clear in her answers and straightforward, which I appreciate. We have had some government members saying today, “There's nothing to see here. You guys aren't interested in anything important.” First, I can see that the rights of individual Canadian Armed Forces members, as a result of these allegations of sexual…
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Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary mentioned the importance of ministerial accountability. I do hope he recognizes that when members of Parliament have concerns about the ethical conduct of people who are under the Prime Minister's employ, it says right there, the Prime Minister can come and speak on behalf of those people at committee. That speaks to a greater concept, the concept of respon…
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Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, many hoteliers and many tourism operations right now are being asked if Americans can book, if they come here. The answer is that they do not know. They have no surety of how many staff they need to get and whether they can take deposits. If we look at it, the Prime Minister has been in office longer than President Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson,…
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Madam Speaker, my leader announced a recovery plan that would cover employment, getting that over one million jobs, seeing supports for mental health, like a national hotline that people could call, and seeing more accountability from the government. As we have seen time and time again, there is no transparency from the Liberal government. These are the kinds of things Canadians want to hear from …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, before I address directly the motion before us today, I will first relay a story. Back in 2017, the Prime Minister had an idea. His idea was to use an omnibus budget bill to create a new excise tax escalator on alcohol sold in Canada. This meant that the tax on most wine, beer and spirits sold in Canada would, by default, be increased every year without having to come to the House f…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I will simply remind the member that I was the former critic for the employment minister and we agreed to much of the COVID-19 spending, because people needed it then. However, what people need now is certainty so they can plan their businesses. They need hope so they know that Canada, when we work together, can get further together. The member talked about the motion. We are callin…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the spending the federal government has done since 2016, related to mitigating or addressing climate change, including, but not limited to, infrastructure, tax rebates, subsidies both for businesses and individuals, research and development, loans, grants and contributions, and transfers of any kind: (a) what is the total amount spent; (b) what is the total amount spent per province…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, last week I asked about a small business being hurt, not helped, by the government. The response was that the government ignored the question, as it is ignoring many businesses with such leases right across the country. That business is being told by Parks Canada that it will not get the rent support it needs because the Department of Finance believes seasonal leases are annual leas…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, a small business right here in Ottawa is being told by Parks Canada that it is not eligible for the 75% rent support because its six-month lease is considered an annual lease. As the minister is no doubt aware, six months and a year are two very different things. The government loves to pat itself on the back, but then it actually ignores helping the people who need it. Why is Parks…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I certainly miss the conversations I had with the member at the Canada-China relations committee. These issues are complex, but ultimately this motion has to come to a deliberative end. We are a country that believes in the rule of law. If we see human rights abuses happening to Uighurs in China, as the member has said he clearly does, does that not compel us as a people to put the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we must do our own work here and support this motion. We need to take a stand so we can communicate that the highest political institution in the land, this place, this Parliament, has come out clearly and succinctly to call out the Communist Chinese government for committing genocide. We must do that first. If we take that moral leadership, I believe others will as well. My own lea…
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise virtually in the chamber on behalf of the good people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola. I will be sharing my time with the member for Port Moody—Coquitlam. Earlier today, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills shared with us chilling and horrific accounts of the atrocities Uighurs are facing in China. The details and evidence are well documented and are…
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Madam Speaker, I came to the chamber today prepared to try to persuade all members to vote in favour of this motion calling out the Communist Chinese government on genocide. Whatever reasons an individual member may have, such as the member for Vancouver East, I hope that they will vote in favour of this. I believe that is the big thing. We all will have a reason, but the best reason is to protect…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would simply say that if the member wants to support this motion for whatever reason, because I believe it is the right thing morally for us to do as a country, that is good. I would not tie this to anything other than its being the right thing to do. This member can raise economic concerns and other matters—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I find it somewhat ironic that on this day, Groundhog Day, not unlike the plot of the movie of the same name, we find ourselves back in this place making further adjustments to the government's response to the pandemic. I do not offer that comment as a criticism of the government. I raise that point to serve as a reminder that we have been here before. I also raise the point because w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the words of the member and miss the opportunity to sit with her on the HUMA committee. The fall economic update by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance presented a lot of eye-popping numbers with very little detail. It is my hope that we start discussing. This is why I suggested carving out this section, because I think many members on the Liberal side would…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I support health measures based on science. The point of my speech was that some of the assumptions the government made decisions on a year ago based on expert advice did not turn out to be true. If people came to me and said that they were going to do a two-day trek across the desert but were told by someone they only needed a certain amount of water and they would be just fine, I wo…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, during the last election, the Liberal government promised to plant two billion trees. Here we are over a year later and not only has it failed to plant even a single tree, but the non-partisan parliamentary budget office says that announced funding is only half of what is required. I know the government is fond of poorly thought-out plans, but this is ridiculous. Will the government b…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to present a petition on behalf of concerned Canadians who have taken issue with the treatment of the Uighur and other Muslim minorities in China by the Communist Chinese government. Specifically, they are concerned around arbitrary detention, separation of children from families, invasive surveillance, destruction of cultural sites, forced labour and even forced organ…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it is not me saying the government's plan is barely half of what is required, but the non-partisan parliamentary budget office. Not only that, but the report's numbers are based on 1,500 trees a hectare. The government said it would start planting urban trees first, which are far more expensive per tree than even the budget office's figures. It is simply not credible for the governmen…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government's response to Order Paper question Q-35, which stated that the government provided "up to $30 million to small and medium-sized forest sector firms" during the pandemic: (a) which firms received the funding; (b) how much did each firm receive; and (c) on what date did each firm receive its payment from the government?
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