Routine Proceedings
With regard to the completion date on the Gordie Howe International Bridge project being delayed until September 2025: (a) was the delay related to disputes with Valard Construction; (b) to which of the four major associated construction projects are the additional $700 million assigned, and which of these projects is expected to result in more claims; (c) will the $700 million cover the overrun c…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, could the hon. member explain to me how lower grocery prices would be seen by Canadians if the government should choose to tax 100% of the profits of the big grocery stores? How would it affect someone going to the store if the money flowed from the grocery stores to the federal government?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there are four possible reasons for this government's response: ambivalence, unseriousness, just incompetence or willful inaction. I am wondering if my hon. colleague can opine as to what the driving force is for this government's response, or lack of response, to this example of foreign interference.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there are three reasons that come to my mind for the government's response to the serious situation: ambivalence, and my hon. colleague referenced that; incompetence; and the worst, intentional inaction. Would he opine on what he thinks is the driving force for the government's response here?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the letter sent to the Minister of Health by the office of the Member from Chatham-Kent—Leamington in December 2023, and the minister's mandate letter of July 2023: (a) why were representatives from Health Canada (HC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) not made available to attend the CFIA Food Security Roundtable in Chatham-Kent, Ontario on March 24, 2024; and (b) what …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I do appreciate the opportunity to expand a bit more on a question I asked on February 8. I ended that opportunity with a request of the government to axe the carbon tax. Let me first set the context of the situation. Food inflation at the time had been running higher than general inflation for quite some time. It has moderated a bit, but people sometimes confuse a lower inflation r…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
That is misinformation, indeed, Madam Speaker. I would invite my hon. colleague to fill the galleries of this hallowed chamber with the farmers who support the carbon tax. I have yet to meet one. The member referenced the farmers in his rebuttal to me. Let me bring up Highline Mushrooms, which is headquartered in my riding. I raised it in my question on February 8. It competes directly with mushro…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am a Conservative. I believe the market mechanism is the most efficient way of transferring the values of goods and services, but markets only work when there is a balance of power. I come from the agriculture sector, but that accounts for a whole host of sectors. The best way to have proper levels of profit, which drive further innovation, is having a functioning market system that…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the government has a long track record of announcements of budgets, etc. Often that leads to more spending, but it does not lead to the good outcomes. Every family and every business knows that they have to make priorities and have to sacrifice some things, even though they might be good measures, for long-term health and to bring about balance. This is what the government has not don…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, how does my colleague across the way feel about the GST being now dubbed the DST and that, every time a Canadian goes to the till to buy anything, every cent of the GST that goes to the government would pay for debt servicing?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour and pleasure to bring the voices of Chatham-Kent—Leamington to this chamber. Today I am rising to address budget 2024. A common definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. This budget is, again, a “tax more and spend even more” budget. It is this government's ninth budget, or more correctly, eighth budge…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I was at breakfast this morning with members of the insurance industry, who outlined exactly their view of this pharmacare program. They said that the monies committed just in this budget alone would provide the full formulary for all the drugs missing by those not covered under other drug plans. They then outlined all of the risks of people dropping their other plans and switching to…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this past week I attended the Canadian Produce Marketing Association's annual meeting and trade show in Vancouver. The fruit and vegetable industry gathered to engage in effective ways they can continue to feed the nation and supply Canadians with healthy, nutritious food for their families. I was proud to see the number, quality and quantity of exhibitors from Chatham-Kent—Leamington…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, after the release of the tax-and-spend budget this week, everyone knows that the NDP-Liberal government, after nine long years, and the Prime Minister are just not worth the cost. Bill C-234 was to provide some desperately needed relief for our farmers who produce food for Canadians. That bill passed this chamber. Then the Prime Minister bullied the senators into gutting that bill a…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I bring forward a petition to the attention of the chamber. It has been spearheaded by the St. Michael's Catholic Women's League, based out of Ridgetown, though many other Canadians have signed it. The petitioners want to draw attention to the fact that the depiction of sexual violence and access to it, particular for young people, is far too easy in this country. It is not protected …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, the Prime Minister continues to demonstrate that he is not worth the cost. The government has added more to the national debt than all previous prime ministers combined. Now a leading economist has stated that interest rate cuts are being delayed because of massive government overspending. Will the Prime Minister cap government spendi…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the hon. member said that the cost was going to go up by less than a penny a gallon. He did not reference whether that was an American gallon, which is 3.785 litres, or whether it was a Canadian gallon, which is 4.54 litres. I will note that the increase translates to 3.3¢, which is less than either of those two numbers. In a few moments, he is going to step into his lobby, interrup…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for Peterborough—Kawartha used a term that I do not think is quite appropriate. She said, “my member for Northumberland—Peterborough South”. I just want to put on the record that he is everyone's member, not just hers.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, no, I cannot answer that question, because where I am right now is in listening mode. I have two ears and one mouth. I exercised the mouth for a full 10 minutes and am now using my two ears to try to listen and understand the various positions. The question is speculative as to what might happen in the future, but I am still listening to the debate and will determine exactly what my r…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the answer, short and simple, is yes. I have had locals and different unions in my office and asked them that very question. I explained the arbitration process to them; some were familiar with it and some were not. I have asked them the question of whether that would work in their situation. In full transparency, the arbitration process was actually removed from the industry I spent …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to bring the voices of Chatham-Kent—Leamington to this chamber as I rise today to speak to Bill C-58, an act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2012. This bill would, of course, amend Part I of the Canada Labour Code and the industrial board regulations to prohibit the use of replacement workers, and improve…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I could go into my stump speech about how resolution mechanisms are different in different situations. I am very familiar with that in the ag situation, where different marketing mechanisms are used in different sectors based upon four factors. I will not get into all of them, but one set of circumstances does not lead itself to the same outcome when it comes to dispute resolution.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, what I enjoy about this place is that we have the opportunity to debate. I have listened to speeches today and actually gone back to previous days and read through other speeches, and I am still learning about the nuances of the particular sector. As I explained, I have had experience in an agriculture setting, where deadlines were imposed by a force that growers and processors both a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the carbon tax on food is working against Canadians by decreasing both the amount and the type of food they buy. Visits to food banks are at record highs, with over two million visits, and just think of the new records we are going to set once the carbon tax is quadrupled. Highline Mushrooms is in Leamington. It supplies American and Canadian retailers with mushrooms. Its American com…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, Canadians pay some of the highest cellphone rates in the world, but service is increasingly deteriorating. Complaints to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services are up 12%, and 36 breaches of the code of conduct have occurred. The petitioners are petitioning this House to call for the Government of Canada to direct the CRTC to immediately review the integrity of …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Interim Order Respecting the Importation, Sale and Advertising of Drugs for Use in Relation to COVID-19 (the Interim Order) on September 16, 2020: (a) does the Minister of Health require an application by the manufacturer to approve a drug that is already approved for another indication; (b) what is the total number of inquiries received by Health Canada and the Public Health Ag…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to government vehicles stolen or vandalized, broken down by year since 2016 and by department, agency, crown corporation, or other government entities: (a) how many government vehicles have been (i) stolen, (ii) vandalized; and (b) what are the details of all such incidents, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) make, model, and year of the vehicle, (iii) location, (iv) type of incid…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, released today, the food price report shows that a family of four is going to pay $700 more for food next year. Meanwhile, overall dollars for food spent are going down because of the cost of everything else. That means Canadians are reducing the quality or quantity, or both, of the food they buy. This morning, Walmart and the CEO of Loblaws, Galen Weston, said the carbon tax charged …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this morning, two of Canada's largest grocery retailer CEOs testified that the carbon tax applied to the farmer, the trucker, the food producer and themselves will get passed on to the consumer, contrary to one of the questions from a member across the way to my hon. colleague from Elgin—Middlesex—London, that the grocery retailers are putting the carbon tax in their pockets. It is be…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I know it is not proper parliamentary procedure to bring attention to the presence or absence of a member of the chamber. However, I do not know whether I can do that to myself. I will admit that I was not in the chamber when the amendment was brought forward, so my question to the member across the way is this. The amendment deals with deferring to the PROC committee and returning …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to ask a question about the substance of the matter. I asked it during question period and did not get a satisfactory answer. Greenfield Global operates in Chatham. It converts corn into alcohols, everything from the special ingredient in White Claw to biofuels and hospital-grade pharmaceutical alcohols. It buys Canadian corn and American corn. The American farmers do n…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the NDP-Liberal government is just not worth the cost. Greenfield Global operates in Chatham, buying corn and converting it to a variety of alcohols, from pharmaceuticals to biofuels. It buys corn from Canadian farmers and from nearby American farmers, who do not pay the carbon tax on fertilizer, the delivery of seed, and the delivery and drying of their corn. Could…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I was not heckling the member across the way, so I do not know what he is talking about. Can he please explain?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I said it in my second sentence. I said that I would be splitting my time with the member for Dufferin—Caledon.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I absolutely agree with the premise of the question put before me. Canada has so much more it could give toward energy security for Ukraine and our European allies, not only energy security, but also food security. I have raised this several times, both at committee and in this House. Eight billion people are in this world and four billion of them owe their lives to the conversion o…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the member's party ran in every single election against free trade. Our record is perfectly clear. We negotiated with my colleague, the hon. member for Abbotsford, and signed the agreement in 2017. As we have heard from other Conservative members in this House, we are solidly in favour of free trade. Where in this free trade agreement is energy security? Where is the partnership and…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to bring the voices of Chatham—Kent—Leamington to the chamber this evening and to rise to continue debating concurrence on the 10th report of the foreign affairs committee, “The Russian State's Illegal War of Aggression Against Ukraine”. Before I go on, I will tell members that I will be splitting my time with the member for Dufferin—Caledon. As this report deals wit…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I can answer very simply. Is this what Ukraine needs? Is this what it came to Canada asking for? I have not heard any speech or anything from the Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada, any Ukrainian representative or any member of Parliament asking us to negotiate a carbon tax into our trade agreements. If there is evidence, I would be open to looking at it. That is not what it needs righ…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am going to pick up on a comment from another colleague across the way, the member for Scarborough—Guildwood. Let me state for the record that I do not enjoy the member for Winnipeg North speaking quite as much as he does, but I want to pick up on the question he asked the member, which my colleague from Cariboo—Prince George also referenced, and that is the lack of service standa…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, absolutely. If the member wants to know more, I can add to that. There are so many places where Canada could be leading, and we are not because we have not made the investments in our infrastructure. That needs some discerning. This legislation is a step in the right direction, but it does not do nearly enough to allow us to screen potentially helpful foreign investment to get the inf…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague and I both have a passion for addressing hunger. There are eight billion people in the world. Four million of them are dependent on synthetic nitrogen fertilizers made through the Haber-Bosch process from natural gas. If we had the pipeline that I referenced in my speech to eastern Canada, in the short term, we could have addressed the needs of our allies Germany and…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree with my hon. colleague. We do want the investment here. Actually, some of the amendments proposed were going in the direction of allowing a less rigorous process for our Five Eyes allies, who have better processes in place than we have right now, to have reciprocity in the approval process. In addition, one of the amendments targeted only authoritarian states, which tend not t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am going to be splitting my time with the member for North Okanagan—Shuswap. It is always an honour to bring the voices of Chatham-Kent—Leamington into this chamber. Today, I look forward to addressing the third reading of Bill C-34, an act to amend the Investment Canada Act, with the aim of protecting Canada’s national security. That is the important part. After eight years of the …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, after eight years, Canadians are seeing the Liberal-NDP government for what it is. The Prime Minister is just not worth the cost. He continues to divide Canadians over the carbon tax. He still plans to quadruple the tax on home heating, gas and groceries for 97% of Canadians, but he decided to pause the tax for 3% of families in areas where he was plummeting in the polls and where Lib…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the hon. member that no one should go hungry. There are eight billion people in this world, four billion of whom are fed by synthetic fertilizers enhancing food production. That has been acknowledged in three committees I have attended this past week. Would the member acknowledge that natural gas from our fossil fuel companies is integral to feeding half of the world's pr…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a literal life-and-death matter for millions of Canadians: reliable and affordable cellular service. Recently, a rural Leamington resident had to race several kilometres to get enough cellular signal strength to call the fire department. A Chatham resident's medical alert monitoring calls for his diabetic father keep failing because of no service. The survival of remot…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, one year ago, the Liberal MPs voted to keep the carbon tax on home heating. Yesterday, the Prime Minister flip-flopped. Why was that? It was because of polling numbers. Yesterday's announcement of the pause on the carbon tax on home heating will not help 97% of Canadians. Canadians can see this for what it is. After eight years, the current NDP-Liberal government is just not worth the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am going to turn to a response on this very issue by Mario Lévesque, who is the chief executive of the Quebec-based Utica Resources. He said that the rationale for exporting natural gas from Quebec is “crystal clear” and would generate “tens of billions in royalties and taxes” for Ottawa. He went on to say, “Quebec has enormous quantities of natural gas (about 20% of Canada's total …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, yes, I am aware of many refugees from Ukraine who have settled in our region. In fact, I am working with several sponsors who are looking to facilitate the next steps in the process for these hard-working folks who have come here. Some want to return, but the majority of those I have run into want to make Canada their home. As I understand it, there are some pathways that are now begi…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we also have the natural resources. We are not necessarily competitors of Ukraine, but we have the expertise. That is particularly where I hope this deal will go. When we look at the 600 pages, the opportunities are there for tech transfer, both in our energy fields, with our expertise there, and, in particular, in our agricultural fields. Seed banks will be traded back and forth. The…
Read full speech →