Parliamentary Speeches

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I have a question for my colleague from Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon. I am a member of the House, but I am not a member of a committee. I want to add a few words to support the position of my colleague and friend from the Bloc Québécois, because it is not just the majority of the committee members who accepted the amendments. There are also two other parties in the Hou…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is an honour for me to speak to Bill C-8 this afternoon. I have a few comments regarding the substance of the bill, but in light of the previous speeches, I think I can clarify the situation regarding unrecognized parties, although it is a bit complicated. The reality of it is that we do not have to change our rules, but I share with my other colleagues that we have the right, as…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, members of my constituency of Saanich—Gulf Islands, as well as many adjacent areas, are very concerned about the fate of the southern resident killer whale, an extremely endangered species. These petitioners point out that once the whales swim to their other areas of occupation here and there, they are in Washington state. Washington state has far better protections for southern resid…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and present a petition on behalf of concerned constituents. They are concerned because, as we all know here, the poverty rates among people in the disabled community in Canada are shamefully high. The petitioners point out that after COVID, a lot of services that are essential for people in the disabled community are provided virtually, but the tax system has n…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I will not be voting for the motion before us today, but I do agree with the hon. member that we need to find ways to ensure that Canadian industries are put first and that we focus on Canada. I would like to ask the hon. member if he has looked at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Of the $80 billion in our pension plan investments, there is no consideration at all for investi…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, I will not in the next 60 seconds be able to do justice to the accomplishments of Dr. David Suzuki. Scientist, geneticist, broadcaster, author, educator and activist, David Suzuki has been a recipient of the highest citizen award in this country, the Companion of the Order of Canada. He has received awards from universities around the world too numerous to mention; awards from Japan, …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, in the course of the debate today, there have been a number of good points made by members on all sides, honestly, but one of the things that continue to trouble me is that we are not actually putting Canada first in our investments. I wonder if the hon. parliamentary secretary would consider raising within his caucus that it is time to reform the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I am not in receipt of Conservative fundraising emails, but I will say this: At this point in the history of our Parliament, we need to come together more and not seek reasons to divide. While I decry the use of partisan clickbait, I also decry notions about anyone in this country, regardless of their political party, faith or lack of faith. I am a practising Christian, but I praise a…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the many residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands who raise the issue again of the climate crisis. In this context, the petitioners ask the House of Commons to recognize that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognized how much the climate crisis accentuates and increases the societal divides globally, with the global south bearing much o…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-9, the anti-hate bill. I will start by saying that I hate the bill. I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Actually, I try not to hold hatred in my heart for any person, but I think when one sees really bad legislation, it is okay to hate it. This is really bad legislation because it has provoked a debate that pits people who should total…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate where my hon. colleague is coming from, but no. As a fierce opposition party leader and someone who has deep concerns about the direction of the current government, I would say that it does not have an anti-faith group approach, absolutely not. The Prime Minister is a practising Catholic. I compared notes with him about what we have both given up for Lent. Let us stop thi…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I have made it clear to the parliamentary secretary before that it would already be a hate crime to direct hatred and acts of hatred toward individuals or an identifiable group, whether they are practising a faith or are identifiable through other means. The legislation is poorly drafted, and I think the government members will rue the day they force it through.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, very briefly, I do not think I have seen this before, so perhaps the hon. parliamentary secretary, at some point later in debate, or the Speaker can answer the question I have. Is it at all normal that we would have a point of order to review amendments after committee work has closed on Bill C-8 to ask if it is within scope? Those questions are usually taken up at the moment when the…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I will actually say this as a practising Christian. When they quote one part of the Bible, particularly Leviticus, where they go back and say, “It is not good to commit adultery, but it is okay if it is your slave girl,” there are some sections pulled out by themselves that one would not regard as inspirational or as the word of God. Let me just get that out of the way. The point of B…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong and I did have a personal conversation recently, in which she told me that people thought she should be in jail for that. For any speech, obviously, that would be appalling, and I hope the comments she related to me were meant not in earnest, but offhand, and that the members who might have said that deeply regret it, because it is offensi…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to present a petition virtually today. The petitioners expressed deep concern for the historic wrongs and injustices done to indigenous peoples by settler culture Canadians over the experience of colonization. To summarize, they specifically call on the government to follow through on the many long-overdue promises to implement the calls to action from the Truth and Re…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I am so disappointed that the government is not willing to consider sober second thought, having put forward such a scandalous abuse of omnibus budget bills as is found in Bill C-4. What we have in Bill C-4, which is titled the affordability act, are many measures that are mostly about affordability, but magically, there is this bizarre inclusion of amendments to the Canada Elections …

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of constituents of Saanich—Gulf Islands on an issue that remains one that I know many members of this place would agree is a national crisis, and that is that we continue to see far too many deaths from opioids, by what are essentially fentanyl poisonings. I want to particularly pay tribute to one of my constituents, Leslie McBain, who lost her son in…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, surely my hon. colleague is aware that recent studies, including by the government-appointed experts in the Canadian Climate Institute, have shown that Canada is not on track to meet any of our targets. That includes that Canada is not on track to meet the climate targets put in place by former prime minister Stephen Harper and that Canada is nowhere near the targets under former prim…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, in an open letter to the world from an island, an ordinary woman denounces a crime that the world refuses to see. She writes, “My name is like millions of others”, Ikay Romay. “I am an ordinary Cuban woman—a daughter, a sister [and] I write this with a broken heart and trembling hands. What my people [are experiencing] today is not a crisis.” It is a crime. “It is slow, calculated mur…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, today, it is almost impossible to imagine and believe that, for the past four years, there has been a war in Ukraine that is the result of the brutality of one country, one man: Mr. Putin and his pointless and cruel war. We are united in this country. We are united in this Parliament. I want to thank every one of my colleagues who spoke, including the hon. Minister of Defence, my frie…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to put a question directly to the hon. leader of the official opposition. As an Albertan who, I know, is also a proud Canadian, would he let Canadians know where he will stand if there is a referendum on Alberta separation?

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House tonight, in Adjournment Proceedings, to pursue a question I asked on a memorable date, November 17, 2025. It was a day on which we were going to vote later in the day on the budget itself. My question pertained to the budget. It was for the Prime Minister. In that instance, I asked him if he would agree that there was a deficiency in the budget, in t…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, the Greens agree with the application of the results of the last vote to this vote, with Greens voting no.

Government Orders

,seconded by the member for Nunavut, moved: Motion No. 2 That Bill C-14 be amended by deleting Clause 43. Motion No. 3 That Bill C-14, in Clause 58, be amended by replacing lines 32 and 33 on page 28 with the following: “Criminal Code, as enacted by sections 8, 9, 11, 37 and 40, apply only with respect to an offence” Motion No. 4 That Bill C-14 be amended by deleting Clause 70. Motion No. 5 That B…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I appreciated my hon. friend from Kingston and the Islands' call for Canada to be in the forefront. We are too late to be in the forefront, but like the hon. member for Kingston and the Islands, I drive a plug-in, a hybrid. For those who talk about range anxiety and not having enough charging stations, this is a good step. A hybrid is not as expensive as a full electric, and I can use…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise to present a petition on behalf of the constituents of Saanich—Gulf Islands. They have raised this concern with me in person as well as in this petition. They call the attention of the House to the ongoing joint ecological, social and economic crises, sometimes referred to as a “polycrisis”, and they ask that the Government of Canada extend leadership in that are…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, we know foreign interference is a threat to Canadian democracy. It was confirmed by the Hogue commission, and we have taken steps, at the federal level for federal elections, to deal with the threat of foreign interference. Is there anything being done and what is being done now to consider the threat of foreign interference to provincial referenda that could break up this country, wh…

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Prime Minister from the bottom of my heart for his thoughtful words. They were truly touching. I also thank the Leader of the Opposition for sharing thoughts that are very difficult to say out loud. It is hard for any one of us as parents to imagine what the community of Tumbler Ridge is going through. I would also like to thank the leader of the Bloc Québécois for…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I would like to ask a question of the hon. parliamentary secretary, and she is an honourable member. I am opposed to Bill C-2, and I understand that she put it forward again in the House today as though there has been some delay on the part of opposition members. I want to ask her if she can explain the quite unusual procedure where Bill C-2, the so-called strong borders act, was pu…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During the course of debate today, numerous times, numerous Liberal members made reference to Bill C-2, which was named the strong borders act when it was introduced in June. The trouble, and I will try to be succinct, is that Bill C-2 cannot be put forward for a vote. It is in violation at this moment. It would only be acceptable for it to sit on a shelf c…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend from Winnipeg North will know that I am pretty fair-minded. If the Conservatives are filibustering, I would love to join him in denouncing that, but I do not see any sign of the Conservatives' filibustering, particularly on Bill C-2, which came forward for first reading on June 5. The Liberals then put it up for debate on June 18, September 16 and September 17, and we h…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I will try to watch the clock carefully, because I cannot possibly take apart even the so-called conditions that are found in proposed paragraphs 12(3)(a) through 12(3)(e) at page 301 of the bill. They are highly discretionary. The bill would do no such thing as create guardrails; it may create small children waving by the side of the road. It is not a piece of legislation that is wel…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, the late show has never come so early. I am rising tonight to raise an issue that I initially put before the House on December 9, 2025. I am rather proud of the fact that I seem to have been the first member of Parliament to have put this on the public record. Hopefully people noticed, and yes, there is a growing coalition who wants to raise awareness of the issue I first raised here …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, members of this place who are in unrecognized parties get a 35-second opportunity once a week. I take members at their word. I wonder if it would not be appropriate, as we do for each other all the time, to ask for unanimous consent for the member for Nunavut to ask her question again.

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today on behalf of constituents in Saanich—Gulf Islands who are concerned with irresponsible practices from industry and large multinational corporations that have led to the destruction and denigration of much of Canada's waterways and wetlands. They are also concerned for the sustainability of our groundwater. They are calling on the House of Commons to updat…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, the petitioners wish to draw the attention of the House to findings from international conservation organizations that point out that when we have marine protected areas, and Canada has committed to having 30% protected, there is a positive effect. The petition describes this as a positive spillover effect, where neighbouring fishing areas have larger populations of fish, larger sizes…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is an honour to raise this point of order when the Right Hon. Stephen Harper is in the House. I remember the level of decorum we had in those days, and I rise only because Standing Orders 14 to 16 were repeatedly violated on all sides of the House today. When Mr. Harper was prime minister, he was never once interrupted by heckling, as I recall. I hope we…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight at Adjournment Proceedings to pursue a question I asked the Minister of Finance back on December 4, 2025, about what was committed in the budget. At page 348 in the budget, it very clearly states that a component of carbon capture, utilization and storage, known as “enhanced oil recovery”, would not qualify for investment tax credits. For those who are watching and do n…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, there is one part of this motion that I could agree with, which is point (b): that we need to boost competition. When we look at why food prices in Canada are higher, it has to do with the big, giant grocery stores having a much larger concentration of ownership in our market. I grew up in Atlantic Canada, where I belonged to a co-op. The co-op grocery stores across Canada continue to…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, that was four minutes without an answer. I asked what the deficit is now because the government has increased throwing money at big oil. I did not get an answer. I was told a number of things that are not true, including that, somehow, the memorandum of understanding with Alberta has something to do with diversifying trade in Canada. With a barrel of West Texas Intermediate selling at…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, petitioners from Saanich—Gulf Islands and elsewhere are calling on the government and Parliament to take note of the scientific warnings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. There are particular warnings related to what happens if we overshoot the 1.5°C global average temperature increase as against what the temperature was before the beginning of the Industrial Re…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I do not think I will get a chance to speak to Bill C-16. I was initially concerned that the government had created a weakening and was going back to mandatory minimums. If one does research on mandatory minimums, one finds that far from being effective at reducing crime rates, they are completely ineffective. We find that mandatory minimums increase disproportionate treatment within …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the government has recalculated the deficit numbers. We are now in favour of Bill C-19 and a GST rebate for consumers, but I am also aware that page 348 of the budget has been reversed and now enhanced oil recovery is eligible for investment tax credits. Given the additional ways that we are spending the public purse, or not collecting, what is the new deficit number compa…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of many residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands and beyond Saanich—Gulf Islands. They are concerned that while the Government of Canada has recognized that we are in a climate crisis, and though Canadians continue to support and call for climate action, Canada is continuing to spend, the petitioners note, at least $4.8 billion a year in subsidi…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my colleague raised the case, and I raised it earlier in the debate on Bill C-16 because it is so fresh in our minds: Laura Gover was murdered on January 5. It is a very recent case. We operate under the principle of innocent until proven guilty, but her former partner is under arrest and charged with the murder. It certainly appears to be a case of intimate partner violence, in fac…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, with massive cuts being made to our civil service, how can the government justify threats to public health and safety as outlined today by the Public Service Alliance of Canada? Specifically in my community, we are very concerned because across a number of departments, believe it or not, workers involved in marine emergency responses to oil spills have all been laid off. How does the …

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I rise today to present a petition of deep concern to many constituents. As Canadians from coast to coast know, we have a housing crisis. The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to expedite and focus on immediate help for people who cannot afford to get a roof over their head, particularly by getting rid of real estate investment trusts and corporate ownership of housing un…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I want to begin, of course, by acknowledging we are on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. I did have a question for the minister that I was unable to ask, but perhaps I can work it into my speech. I am sure many of the people watching today's debate in the Canadian House of Commons will be from Indonesia, interested in what Canadian parliamentarians think …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, yes, I am deeply concerned if we jettison human rights in an effort to get trade deals. There is a price we pay. I do think we need strengthened diplomatic relationships with the People's Republic of China, but I do not forget what happened to the two Michaels, and I do not forget where we stand for the Uyghurs, other human rights, the people of Tibet and more.