Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the government has said multiple times that this would align Canada with other G7 countries, like the U.K. and the United States. The legislation in the U.K., the Outer Space Act 1986, literally says that the licensing authority must be satisfied that an activity will not impede national security. In the United States, Congress decided that the giving of indemnification to participant…
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Mr. Speaker, we do not have translation.
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Madam Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North mentioned his admiration for what the U.K. has done, in terms of its space program. In fact, the outer space program act of 1986 established very clearly under the U.K. model that the licensing authority must be satisfied that an activity will not impact national security. There is no statutory duty to consult DND or CSIS in Bill C-28 and no defined nat…
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Mr. Speaker, the member is an industrious member of the transport committee. I learn more each time I speak with him. Earlier today, the Minister of Transport told me in response to a question that the people at the Canadian Space Agency would help him make sure that payloads have national security screening. There would be no statutory duty to consult DND or CSIS. The Canadian Space Agency is not…
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Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary may or may not be aware, but the Minister of Transport, when I questioned him today about the glaring gaps in national security screening, said not to worry because we have the Canadian Space Agency. Well, the Canadian Space Agency has no national security mandate. In fact, the bill itself, Bill C-28, is completely silent on CSIS or any other national secur…
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Madam Speaker, this is how far down the government has gone, that the members are referring to a launch pad. In a competitive market that is well-regulated, there could be multiple launch pads, but we have only one. We have only one because the government has given a $200-million lease over 10 years, $55,000 a day, to a company that had a lease for the same property from the Province of Nova Scoti…
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Madam Speaker, I am going to paraphrase the New York Times saying that democracy dies under darkness. When we have darkness and opaque processes, and the discretion of one particular minister who has market-distorting—
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Madam Speaker, one might say the question is whether the speaker is working properly. I would simply say that if we have a competitive market with a proper regulatory structure, good things will happen, but right now, insiders and those who would exploit our national security gaps put us at risk.
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Mr. Speaker, in the earlier reply to my question, the member said that Canadians elected a prime minister. I think that is a misnomer that we need to correct. Canadians elect MPs. In fact, last night on a panel, Althia Raj said, “This Prime Minister definitely has an authoritarian streak. We've seen this with all types of legislation. I was struck after the by-election when he referred to his MPs …
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the hon. member's presence. I hope he is doing well. What I would say is simply that the Chief Electoral Officer, years ago, went to the PROC committee and asked the government to do something about the ballot issue of having the longest ballot committee causing such consternation in repeated by-election after by-election, and even in the last election. Does the…
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Mr. Speaker, when someone leases a new vehicle, they get a new vehicle, but when the Liberals leased a spaceport, all they got for $200 million was a gravel parking lot. I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that it is in a Liberal riding or that the justice minister's former staffer was the lobbyist for the project or that former Liberal premiers are on the company's advisory board. Clearl…
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Mr. Speaker, get the minister some rocket fuel. The Liberals are experts at paying a lot for nothing. They have turned a gravel pit into a money pit. A former Liberal MP got $237 million for ventilators that went straight into the scrap heap. A Nova Scotia wind farm, tightly connected to former Liberal MPs, got a $206-million loan. Liberal insiders are making bank, while too many Canadians are at …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, while there is much we may debate in the House, today I want to begin with what unites us, which is standing with Canadians affected by cancer. April is Daffodil Month, a time for us to show support for Canadians living with cancer, their families and caregivers. As the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary cancer caucus, I want to thank the Canadian Cancer Society for its leadershi…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in this place on behalf of the good people of Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna. A part of me wants to say that we really should not be here, again, having this debate today. It is not just because it is a Friday and not because the debate is unimportant. It is. On the contrary, it is absolutely essential. Sometimes, in the House, we are our own worst ene…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member for Hull—Aylmer's comments. As members of the House of Commons, it is important that we communicate issues clearly and accurately, especially online. There is also an opportunity to make amendments to improve the bill, depending on the nature of the bill, which could be a private member's bill or a government bill. In this case, we are talking about a governmen…
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Mr. Speaker, it is essential for the opposition to be able to fulfill the role entrusted to it by Canadians. It is particularly important to demand evidence and ask the government to share its reasoning and thought process, especially that of the minister responsible. It is also important for the opposition to press the government to make improvements and to consider our amendments for the benefit…
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to speak about Internet service providers, ISPs, in general. Obviously, there are going to be some distinctions between other large Internet companies other than ISPs, but I think that for the most part, that is what we are going to be talking about in committee. Simply, right now it is the Wild West. Some ISPs are retaining data for longer than a year and some are doing it…
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Mr. Speaker, while we are just talking about corrections, I just want to thank the Secretary of State for Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions for delineating the difference between Connor McGregor and Connor McDavid. I will say, to his credit, that he is more right than when people, Canadians, phone into the CRA and ask questions.
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Mr. Speaker, the member should know that supply chains take a while to react to certain things. The Trump administration stripped out a number of bipartisan policies that were put in place under a large budget measure a few years ago. It essentially took the carrots away for biofuel manufacturing that scaled up so massively. This is one of the reasons Canada continues to import a lot of its biofue…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on behalf of the good people of Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna. I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Lethbridge. Today's debate is an important one because it goes directly to the affordability crisis Canadians are living through. Often in this place, along with much of the media, we tend to focus on things we most d…
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Mr. Speaker, let us start off with the so-called clean fuel standard. The previous minister of the environment, Catherine McKenna, under the Trudeau majority, originally started this. They actually said we should have one set of regulations to monitor solid, liquid and gaseous forms of energy. They wanted one ring to rule them all, one regulation to rule them all, and it became so burdensome and c…
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to offer my friend a very good piece of advice. He should not soak in anything that I say. There are many other speakers in this place he should marinate in. I will say this. At the end of the day, the government has an opportunity put before it. Time and time again, when Conservatives put forward great policies that are not only good for Canada but electorally popular, the…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour to share with the House that on December 23, 1926, the Peachland Royal Canadian Legion Branch 69 was presented with its charter. I am proud to note that this original charter, issued by the British Empire Service League, still hangs on the wall of that legion to this very day. The Peachland Legion was established in the aftermath of the First World War by returnin…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, it is always a great honour to rise in the chamber and to speak on behalf of my constituents, the good people of Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna. Crime is one of the most serious concerns facing my riding today, with Kelowna also represented by a Liberal member, sadly becoming ground zero for the consequences of failed Liberal bail policies. Before I speak directly to the jail not ba…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate what the member has to say, and I am sure my mom probably sent him friendship cookies to get him to say things like that publicly. I cannot see many other Liberal members saying that about me. The respect is mutual. What I would simply say is that I have fundamental differences on Bill C-9. For example, the current law has it so that the Attorney General of Canada must gi…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a serious issue and a serious question, one that I will answer. First of all, I believe that ultimately the changes promoted by the Bloc and the government that remove the good-faith clause when it comes to religious worship will inevitably be challenged in a court under the charter. I believe it will go from lower to higher courts, all the way to the Supreme Court. The challeng…
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He got the friendship cookies.
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Mr. Speaker, that member spent almost his full career in law enforcement. He knows how critically important it is for law and order to be expressed with clear rules and clear enforcement. As I have said, we have existing rules around violence and incitement. What we need is less talk from politicians and more backing of our police forces so they can make those charges, present the evidence and hav…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says Canada should strive to be our own best customer. Well, Conservatives could not agree more, and that is why we want a one Canadian economy where a craft brewer in the Maritimes, a distiller in Ontario or a vintner in the Okanagan can sell to any adult Canadian anywhere in this country. However, the Prime Minister's Canada Day deadline of last year to fix this h…
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Mr. Speaker, it is certainly an honour to rise and speak on behalf of the good people of Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna. I am also pleased to inform the House that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Calgary Midnapore. I have been fortunate to have spent enough time in this place to have sat on both sides of the House, which I consider a great honour. Over my time in this place, I…
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Mr. Speaker, producers in my riding find it easier to ship a bottle of wine to London, England, than to London, Ontario. Trade walls are blocking the growth of producers across this great country. The Prime Minister tells Canadians that we need to focus on the things we can control. Parliament has control over Canada Post and interprovincial shipping. I invite the Liberals to steal this idea. They…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-262, An Act to amend the Canada Post Corporation Act. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce a bill, seconded by the member of Parliament for Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, that brings long overdue modernization and national consistency to how Canadians can buy and ship Canadian wine, beer and spirits across provincial borders. As the Prime Minister o…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise on behalf of the good people of Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna, in the beautiful interior of British Columbia. Bill C-15 is an omnibus piece of legislation, and the Liberals, in their various forms of government, like in the Trudeau era and now followed by the new Prime Minister, have staked out that the omnibus is a perfectly legitimate piece of legislation…
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Mr. Speaker, what was said about Alto's authority is absolutely false. It is anything but absolute. The government holds all the cards. It decides if there should be consultation. There is nothing in here that actually requires the government to do what we originally asked of the minister, to have an accelerated CTA process whereby communities could be heard and an independent tribunal could come …
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Mr. Speaker, I think we can all ask the question of what we would do with $1 million, but I need to take a moment to think about $90 billion in one project, in one particular area. We could fix up the Trans-Canada Highway. We could establish northern Arctic ports. We could establish much more productive ports that would actually carry out some of the things the government says it is all about, inc…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, it is absolutely important and imperative for Parliament to decide whether the best way to proceed is with Alto and whether Alto is the best regulatory body. It is a company, not a tribunal. Using an independent body such as the Canadian Transportation Agency would give a great deal of certainty to the communities affected and to property owners who are very concerned at th…
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Mr. Speaker, Cassidy deVeer and Krista Paine from the Central Okanagan Canadian Home Builder's Association expressed many of the same concerns to me when they visited about the national building code and increased costs. I give the member that point. In the bill, it talks about developing land and constructing housing in Canada. That is better than what the Canada Infrastructure Bank has done with…
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Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of Liberal government, food inflation is double what it was when the Prime Minister took office and double that of the United States. Food bank use has more than doubled, and now bankruptcies are up, the highest they have been since the financial crisis, clocking in at a shocking 10.6% in British Columbia. Will the government admit that its taxes and deficits are drivin…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Secretary of State for Sport referenced the “temporary” member for Battle River—Crowfoot. It is in the Standing Orders that we are supposed to use either the title of the leader of the official opposition or the name of the riding. To add any adverbs or adjectives undermines the decorum in this place, and as someone who is part of the government, he sho…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister often says that we should focus on what we can control. Well, I agree. His government controls the industrial carbon tax and the fuel standard regulations that have driven our food inflation to double that of the U.S. A family of four now pays $17,600 a year, while two million Canadians line up at food banks, so which is it? Is the government driving up fuel costs t…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister often speaks about the levers they can pull. He keeps slamming one called permanent grocery price hikes. His fuel tax fixation adds seven cents today and will rocket to 17¢ a litre, an outright hunger hike hitting every part of our food supply chain. When will the Liberal government finally show some common sense and pull the lever that pauses this food cost explosi…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate being in the chamber to hear the speech from the hon. member from Manitoba. She has done an excellent job at the industry committee. In her speech, the member touched upon the need to have more Canadian innovation, particularly Canadian patents that are held in Canada. I know of several entrepreneurs who have told me that it can be years for the patents office, which ha…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it certainly is a pleasure to rise to speak on behalf of the good citizens of Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna. Unfortunately, it is to do something that is not in my nature, which is to be negative, but it has to be done. The government and its members have treated Parliament badly. One only has to take a look at the debate tonight. There are Liberal members here, but they are not in…
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Mr. Speaker, I would simply be mindful that no member was mentioned; I was talking about the House in general. I think all of us would consider that a strong presence by all parties would always be a welcome thing in a democracy. At committee, I have found the government and its members to be unaccountable, undemocratic and obstructionist. I will be talking about each one today. Unaccountable is w…
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Mr. Speaker, the member's intervention really does cause me to think of the reason I am here. As I said in my speech, we are here to be powerful voices for our constituents. I was here during the majority years when I first was elected in 2011. Sometimes I probably gave the government of the day a little too much latitude and not enough to the priorities of members in this space. This member right…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister told Canadians he would be judged by the prices at the grocery store. In British Columbia, food bank use is entrenched, with about one-quarter of families food-insecure. A family of four will pay about $1,000 more for food next year. We know this out-of-touch Prime Minister does not do his own shopping, but Canadians still have to pay at the till. Will he admit to B…
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Mr. Speaker, the only thing I know about the justice committee right now is that when we are in transport committee and, for example, we are suddenly told that the justice committee has ended abruptly, we get those resources and we specifically say we would like to continue the filibuster to let that member of Parliament have his say and maybe perhaps finally finish. Unfortunately, even with all t…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal chair's behaviour shows contempt for this institution. He refused to call three meetings. On Tuesday, he even suspended the meeting for technical reasons and then never came back. That is obstruction and abuse of power. We were talking about the safety of our roads and the safety of Canadians. This is an urgent and serious issue. The Liberal chair needs to decide whether h…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal chair's conduct shows contempt for this institution. He has refused to convene meetings three times, and even suspended one for technical reasons before leaving, never to return. Worse, a Liberal MP has been filibustering for the past month, not only resisting hearing from victims, but deliberately delaying recommendations that could save lives. Every day those recommendat…
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Mr. Speaker, it has to do with the previous point the member for Winnipeg North raised. I would like you to look back at the tapes. When the leader of the official opposition started reading from a budget book, you said it was being used as a prop. I think you, Mr. Speaker, need to analyze the use of official resources. Whether it be this fine fourth edition of the House of Commons Procedure and P…
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