Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the bill is coming at an interesting time, after 10 years of the Liberal government that has brought forth soft-on-crime policies that have weakened our border and have put Canada in the situation we are currently in. At the indigenous affairs committee, we are having a lot of discussion right now about first nations policing as well, and we are hearing about the increased gang activi…
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Mr. Speaker, the member just spoke about the Liberals' failures. Of course, the Liberals have been in government now for 10 years, and what we have seen is that they have broken the bail system and that they failed to get frontline officers on the border and law enforcement the resources they need. I am wondering whether the member wants to speak more on the pattern of failure of the Liberal gover…
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Madam Speaker, it is important in this discussion that law-abiding Canadians should not lose their liberty to pay for the failures of the Liberals, but, unfortunately, Canadians are often finding themselves paying for the failures of the Liberal government. That is the case when it comes to trade. The Ear Falls sawmill has announced an indefinite shutdown, affecting nearly 150 workers, citing U.S.…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canada has the slowest-growing economy in the G7 and the second-highest unemployment, and young Canadians are paying the price. The youth unemployment rate is nearly 15%, which is, with the exception of the COVID years, the highest it has been since 2010. There are 17,000 young people in Ontario who have lost their jobs in the last month, and the Prime Minister wants to send $1 trilli…
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that it carry on division. (Motion agreed to, bill read the second time and referred to a committee)
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the great work of the member. In sharing his comments, the member spoke a bit about the intent and principle behind this bill versus what the bill actually achieves. I am just wondering if he wants to add any more comments to that.
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Mr. Speaker, this is more typical Liberal legislation. I have had the honour of serving on the indigenous and northern affairs committee for many years now. Over and over, we have seen the government make big promises and then take very little action. The member spoke about the 94 calls to action, but only 14 or 15 have been completed by the government. It made big promises on drinking water and d…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member on her election to this place. What is striking about this bill is that it is really not necessary. The government has the power right now to bring forward and deal with modern treaties. The past Conservative government got six modern treaties signed. After 10 years of the tired Liberal government, I wonder if the member can share what exactly has prevented t…
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Mr. Speaker, it has been a pleasure to participate in the debate through questions and comments today, and it is an honour to finally be able to rise and deliver my remarks on this important topic. Before I get into the substance of that, I would like to mention that I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Chatham-Kent—Leamington. He is a great colleague, and he has a wealth of knowle…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate working with the member opposite as well at committee. We have done some great work together. Of course, we do not agree on everything, as everyone will know, but I appreciate the opportunity to work with him. Yes, it was great to have the blanket exercise yesterday, at which there were youth from the Mishkeegogamang First Nation in my riding, a community I have had the o…
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Mr. Speaker, very clearly, as I said in my remarks, what Parliament and, I suggest, the government need to do is move forward on modern treaties, first nations policing, clean drinking water and infrastructure. All of these issues help support self-determination and self-government. We do not need more bureaucrats, departments and offices to tell the government to do that. We have an Auditor Gener…
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Mr. Speaker, I have to begin with a correction. Earlier today in debate, I mentioned that Conservatives got six modern treaties signed in six years, but it should have been five. I apologize for that. I will note that five modern treaties in six years are still five more than the Liberals have achieved in 10 years. We have seen time and time again that the Liberals have ignored the reports of the …
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the great work of my colleague in this chamber. He has been a valuable addition to our team, and I look forward to serving with him over the course of this term and, hopefully, beyond. I agree completely with the member's assessment of things. The commissioner would duplicate work that is already being done by the Auditor General and other officers of Parliament, as I hav…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague across the way's thoughts on this topic. I think one of the greatest frustrations I have had throughout the debate today is the fact that nothing is stopping the current government, the Liberal government, from moving forward on modern treaties today. It is creating another officer of Parliament in this legislation, to presumably hold it accountable, but we h…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to pick up on that last topic. The member and I had an opportunity to do some travelling together. We met with some first nations. Particularly, at Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation outside Thunder Bay, we had a great discussion about the procurement process. We heard first-hand how they did not feel involved and did not feel they had the opportunity to be involved in that proces…
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Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate my colleague's sharing his experience as an elected member of this place, of the provincial legislature and, of course, in his nation as well. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge. I wonder if he has more commentary on the pattern of the Liberal government in making big promises and bringing in very little follow-through afterwards. It is looking, once ag…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to present a petition in which the undersigned point out that religious charities in Canada provide vital services to society, including food banks, care for seniors, newcomer support, youth programs and mental health support, all rooted in their faith traditions. Freedom of religion and freedom of belief are fundamental rights in Canada that are protected by the C…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, northern Ontario was hit with devastating job news this week when Kap Paper in Kapuskasing announced plans to close its mill, affecting 200 jobs directly and many more indirectly. The company is blaming a lack of federal supports for this decision, saying that although a program was announced months ago to help, nothing is going to be available in time to save this mill. This is compl…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are only building more bureaucracy to try to address the housing crisis that they created. At $13 billion to build 4,000 homes, that is $3.2 million per home. It is clear that the more things change, the more they stay the same with the Liberals. It is more bureaucracy, higher deficits and slower homebuilding. We also know that 100,000 construction workers could be out of…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is great to be back for this fall session of Parliament. I continue to be grateful to the people of northwestern Ontario for their continued support. I am here with our Conservative team to work with all members of the House. We are committed to holding the government to account by opposing what is wrong and proposing alternatives in the national interest. Some of our priorities th…
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Mr. Speaker, housing starts have actually declined 16%. Let us take a look at the Prime Minister's top officials. We have the housing minister, who brought a 150% increase to the price of homes when he was a mayor. We have a new head of a $13-billion housing bureaucracy, a Toronto city councillor who saw a 700% increase to building taxes. Is it any wonder that housing starts are down and bureaucra…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke a lot about how the government is moving forward very heavy-handedly. This is something I think we have seen as a pattern with the Liberal government, trampling on liberties and freedoms of Canadians in a number of instances. I would like to know whether the member would like to speak about that more, as well as further about how we see a pattern of the government b…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario’s target in the 2023-24 Departmental Results Report, to render a decision on applications within 80 working days of the receipt of a complete application and to issue payment on eligible claim submissions within 35 working days: (a) what is the rationale for why these targets are not being met 15% of the time; and (b) how …
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With regard to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario: what is the total value of the agency's grants and contributions for the fiscal years 2023-24 and 2024-25, broken down by federal electoral district?
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With regard to Community Futures Program funding awarded to Community Futures Ontario: (a) what percentages and amounts of funds in the contribution agreements were allocated to Community Futures Development Corporations in Northern Ontario, for each of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years; (b) what are the projections for the percentages and amounts of funds in the 2025-26 contribution agreement …
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With regard to the departmental result indicator for the amount leveraged per dollar invested, by Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario projects, for which the target is 1.80: (a) what is the explanation for the result decreasing from 2.02 in 2021-22 to 1.61 in 2023-24; and (b) what is the rationale for not meeting the 1.80 target in 2023-24?
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised to sell surplus government properties in order to build 4,000 housing units by 2028, but a scathing report from the Auditor General showed that, after five years, they had built only 309 of those units and are on pace to build only about 12% of the 4,000 they promised. This is of particular concern now because Canadians are facing a housing crisis, and the Libera…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have finally admitted there is a housing crisis, and that is a good thing, but in the very same comments, they articulate that they believe their plan is working. They have been in government for the last 10 years, and it is because of their plan that we face this housing crisis across the country today. I will remind members that when Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre…
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Mr. Speaker, it is definitely a concern I have. Obviously, as Conservatives, we want to see one Canadian economy; we want to see the barriers broken down, but allowing any province to have a veto really flies in the face of that. The government has talked a lot about the need for consensus to get major projects built, but it does not even know how it will actually define consensus. It is very conc…
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Mr. Speaker, allow me to congratulate you on your appointment to your position as well. It is great to see you in the chair. Allow me, as well, to thank the great people of northwestern Ontario for sending me back to serve a third term in Parliament. This is my first opportunity to rise and give a full speech in the new Parliament. It remains a distinct honour and privilege to represent the people…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate working with the member also, and I look forward to getting back to committee shortly and working with him. The question was pretty hypothetical. I am not going to try to guess what a hypothetical individual may or may not say, but I will just comment with respect to some of the discussions I have heard and some of the things I have spoken about in my speech as well. I ta…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier in my comments, Conservatives are happy to see even one project accelerated. We think it is high time. It is long past time, after the government has dragged its feet, or I would say has put up barriers and distinct roadblocks purposely to stop development over the last 10 years. In some respects, it is heartening to see that the Liberals are coming around. We are re…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not want to take away specifically from the importance of this issue with GC Strategies. Obviously, it is a huge scandal. However, I am wondering if the member has any comments about how this is really part of a long list of scandals with the Liberal government and its misuse of taxpayer dollars, whether it is SNC-Lavalin or the WE Charity, and the list goes on. We have really se…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised to sell surplus government properties to build 4,000 housing units by 2028, but a scathing report from the Auditor General has shown that after five years, they have only built 309 of those units. Canadians are facing a housing crisis and the government is sitting on 5.9 million square feet of space. When will the Liberals finally fulfill their promise to Canadia…
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Mr. Chair, the Crawford nickel project is located north of Timmins. It has been under assessment for three years. On what date will that project be approved?
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Mr. Speaker, TD Bank has cast doubt on those Liberal goals, saying that housing starts are actually going to decline next year rather than increase, as the minister would have us believe. The Auditor General's report also found that the Liberals are failing to meet targets, failing to collect relevant data and failing to provide detailed, transparent reports. This is, on all accounts, a complete f…
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Mr. Chair, the gold project northeast of Red Lake has been under assessment for seven years. On what date will that project be approved?
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Mr. Chair, how long does it take to approve a mine in Canada today?
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Mr. Chair, the Mining Association of Canada states that it takes up to 15 years for a mine to be approved in Canada today. The minister says that this is too long. I agree. There are 42 projects awaiting approval through the current impact assessment process. Why not start with approving those projects?
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Mr. Chair, mining is critical to our economic independence, yet the Liberals have continually put up roadblocks to development every step of the way. How long does it take to approve a mine in Canada today?
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Mr. Chair, the northern road link that has been proposed by Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation has been under assessment for two years. As I mentioned, during the lost Liberal decade projects have been stalled through the impact assessment process. On what date will the northern road link project be approved?
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Mr. Chair, does the minister realize that the Liberal government has been in power for the last 10 years?
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Mr. Chair, the minister has previously said that there is no investment certainty in Canada. Does he realize that it was the policies of 10 years of Liberal incompetence that led to this fact here in Canada?
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Mr. Chair, the minister and the government are making a lot of big promises about getting major projects built, but they are laughable after their record of10 years. I went through some very specific projects across northern Ontario that would support jobs, our growth and our economic independence. The government has neglected those for years. I would like to ask a question about forestry as well.…
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Mr. Chair, the minister is embarrassed about the history of the Liberal government, which has been in power for the last 10 years. It has created economic uncertainty and investment uncertainty for major projects across the country. Does the minister agree that the current impact assessment process is unnecessarily delaying the approval process for major resource projects?
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Mr. Speaker, the motion we are dealing with today is very straightforward, recognizing that families in Canada are going to have to pay an extra $800 for groceries this year. This is a direct result of 10 years of the tired Liberal government's policies. The motion is simply calling for a fiscally responsible budget. The government has refused to bring forward a fiscally responsible budget. Is tha…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent Kenora—Kiiwetinoong here in the 45th Parliament. I would like to table a petition related to medical assistance in dying. Petitioners are calling on the government to protect all Canadians whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable, by prohibiting medical assistance in dying for those whose prognosis for natural death is more than six months.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, according to the Liberals' own report, nearly half of first-time homebuyers feel they are paying “too much for their home” and “63% are concerned about the possibility of defaulting on their mortgage payments”, citing interest rates, the cost of living and reduced income as the reasons. This is the direct result of 10 years of this Liberal plan in action. It is why Canadians deserve t…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister wants to pretend all is going well, but the facts from his own department show that first-time homebuyers are struggling, as 60% “have had difficulties maintaining debt payments.” That is not all. Recently, TD Bank has cast doubt on the Liberal promise to build more homes, stating that new home starts are actually going to decline next year. When housing starts go down, t…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your election. If you would permit me, I would like to use this opportunity to briefly thank the people of northwestern Ontario for placing their trust in me once again. It is an incredible privilege and honour to serve in this place. I would like to note that the Prime Minister was elected on a promise that he was the man with the plan to take on Donald Trump and g…
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