Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Prior to asking my learned colleague a question, I want to reflect on the life of a constituent who passed away over the holiday break. That was Paul Da Silva. I am very sorry for his family's loss, and I wish his wife and children all the best in this difficult time. May eternal light shine upon h…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I will admit that my hon. colleague kind of stole my thunder, because I was going to ask a bit about what his constituents were saying. However, I am wondering if there were any responses that particularly stood out. As I understood his last comment, he said that it was about fifty-fifty on the iss…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise to behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Before I get into my question, I also want to recognize the life of a titan of Kamloops politics, Pat Wallace. She was a pioneer who spent many years, decades, in Kamloops on Kamloops city council, paving the way for so many others. She recently passed away. May an eternal light shine upon her. I wis…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Before I begin my question, I want to recognize the life of Cliff Branchflower, the former mayor of Kamloops, who passed away earlier this week. I wish his family the best at this difficult time. My colleague mentioned that we are going to have decreased oil and gas jobs in the future, not because th…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I just wanted to wish my wife and all spouses and partners out there a happy Valentine's Day.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I wish to recognize the life of Danilo Covaceuszach. I just saw his obituary in the Kamloops This Week. May eternal light shine upon him. In reference to that last answer from the Minister of Justice, it really is incumbent, in my view, that the Minister of Justice listen to the people of Canada, and…
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Madam Speaker, I invite my hon. colleague to go back and listen to the Minister of Justice's remarks to this House when asked similar questions on January 30 and 31 of this year, and into the prior year, where he essentially denied that there was a problem. We now hear that they have been talking for months. After eight years of inaction, the bail system has never been worse. Canadians feel unsafe…
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Madam Speaker, after eight years of Liberals dragging their feet and not acting on bail reform, we find ourselves here, where bail is broken. Premiers want change. Canadians want change. Police want change. The government prefers to talk rather than act. Yesterday, I and my Conservative colleagues took the first step in a very long journey on bail in tabling Bill C-313. Will the government pass th…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-313, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (justification for detention in custody). Mr. Speaker, as every day, it is an honour to rise in the House today on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo and Canadians at large. It is a further honour to be here to table my fourth private member's bill in the House. This bill aims to address a serious problem whe…
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Mr. Speaker, the laws on bail are clear? I think the minister meant to say that the laws on bail clearly are not working. While the minister was in the classroom, I was in the courtroom running bail hearings. I have looked victims in the eye who were victimized by people who were on bail. The reality is that violent crime is up 32%. Thugs and gangsters with guns are running wild on our streets. Wh…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know that I can imagine a comment more out of touch than that which the Liberal minister just said. I will remind the minister that, like him, I also taught at a law school. Unlike him, I do not have to go back to school to see people on the streets who are victimized, to see the statistics of gangland homicides and to see police officers on our streets being killed by people…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Before I begin, I do want to recognize a life well lived, the life of Mr. Rex Renkema, of Kamloops. He passed away over the holidays. Mr. Renkema was a mentor to me. He was a pioneer in the legal field, in my view. He was well respected by his colleagues, both at the bar and in the community. He ha…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Before I begin, I want to recognize a constituent who recently passed away, Mrs. Kathie Lock. She was the secretary at my elementary school, and I graduated elementary school with her daughter. I wish her family all the best and want to express my condolences in this difficult time. May perpetual l…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Before I begin asking my question, I want to recognize Kendra Woodland and the whole women's hockey team that won the winter FISU World University Games. We are obviously very proud of what our women's team accomplished. I congratulate Kendra and the team. The question for my hon. colleague is this. …
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With regard to the government's requirement that assistant deputy ministers confirm and sign off on the integrity of their department's greenhouse gas emissions data, broken down by year and reporting cycle, since the requirement came into effect in 2019: (a) which department's data was signed off on by the assistant deputy minister; and (b) for each instance where the assistant deputy minister si…
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Do you even know what our position is?
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I want to highlight the exemplary work of someone from my community who recently passed, and that is Melanie Savage. She was a captain in the Blackpool Fire Department. Only 34 years old, she served the community with diligence. I got to know her father through his work in the RCMP when he was a Qu…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I am going to speak not from notes but from the heart today. Before I begin, however, I want to note two things. First, I will be splitting my time with the member for Kelowna—Lake Country. This will be likely a brief speech that I am giving, from the heart—
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Madam Speaker, may I have unanimous consent to split my time?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Before I begin, I want to give a brief shout-out to a business that is a Kamloops beacon and a beautiful, thriving small business in Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. It is Riversong Guitars, which recently won a prestigious award. I want to read from a story from the CBC. Here is a quote: Riversong's P2P R…
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Okay, let us talk about pensions. Mr. Speaker, I will ask for unanimous consent for my friend across the floor to take 30 seconds to talk about it.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we did not preside over the doubling of house prices in Canada. We did not preside over the doubling of the national debt after saying we would not do that. We are the party that lowered the GST. Millennials, and other people, could actually afford a house under Conservatives. They cannot afford a house now under the Liberal government, which is propped up b…
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Mr. Speaker, that is too bad. I would love to have heard him talk about pensions. It is really too bad. I feel really let down about his not talking about pensions, but members need not worry, because I will take it up. At the end of the day, I am looking directly at the member, and if he wants to tell me how roughly $700, $800, $900 or $1,000 a month goes just to pensions, I am all ears, because …
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Mr. Speaker, this is a situation I am hearing of more and more about as well. When it comes to pediatric services, clearly what we are doing is not working. Health care is a provincial initiative, but there is substantial federal funding that goes through. Had something like this been present, specifically in reference to my hon. colleague's question, I would have been happy to consider it, becaus…
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Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to, if he would like. I would be happy to table the letter. If the hon. parliamentary secretary wants to doubt that seniors are writing to me saying they cannot afford things, shame on him.
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Mr. Speaker, prior to commencing my speech, I would ask for unanimous consent to split my time with the member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame.
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Mr. Speaker, I heard the member speak recently, after the whole Michael Geist thing, so it is really good to have him here, intervening on a really dubious point of order. In any event, we have a government that is prepared to forsake a number of Canadian jobs. Those Canadian jobs, when it comes to LNG, could have gone to Canada. Instead, they went to Qatar. When we talk about trust, we talk about…
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Mr. Speaker, I would love the answer the hon. member's question if he would just stop shouting over me. I really would. I believe in prudent financial spending. If I had my way, we would not be spending such astronomical figures that we actually need the GST. The reality is that the government must have the GST because it is spending so much, and that is being spent on the backs on our children, o…
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Mr. Speaker, well, how much Liberal spending preceded that GST? If we want to go back to 1988 or 1993, that is absolutely fine. With all due respect, obviously, I was not here in that period of time but I am happy to answer the question. The reality is this: I am very proud that we lowered the GST—
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Mr. Speaker, is there “no threat to public safety” from people who do drive-by shootings, who can now serve their sentences on house arrest? I do not think so. The Liberals have taken a sledgehammer to 20 years of reductions in violent crime. Homicides are up and violent crime is up, but one thing, if the Liberal government has a say, will be down, and that is sentencing for gun crimes. When will …
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Mr. Speaker, recent statistics tell us that the Liberal soft-on-crime approach has failed. People in my community are tired of being victimized. They are afraid to walk alone at night. They are afraid for their children. They should be worried. Gang-related homicides are up 92%, and the Liberal government's reaction is house arrest for violent gun criminals. When will the Liberal government realiz…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, in only seven years, the Liberal government has broken our justice system. Nearly 20 years of decreases in violent crime have evaporated under the government. Canada's homicide rate is now worse than at any time since the mid-2000s. There has been a 92% increase in gang-related homicides since 2015, yet the government continues to relax punishments against violent offenders. As we all…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec has some good lawyers as well. There are good lawyers everywhere. We will just leave that aside for now. The importance of fingerprinting is not actually that well known, but it is very important. This is something that must be modernized. Moving to the substance of the act, judicial systems have massive backlogs. I believe a few years ago the maximum time to lay a summary conv…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound raises a point that really should be prominent and is salient in this discussion. The efficiency of the justice system should be sacrosanct, because, in my view, we should have been making the mandatory minimums that have been struck down constitutionally compliant. On the one hand, we may have people who say that we need a lot more mandatory mi…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague in the House, and on the justice committee, from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke for his question. I do not know if it is set provincially or nationally, but I think it is two figures that a juror gets paid for the day. In my experience, the desire to serve on a jury is directly related to an occupation, and that is why we see so many people who are retired on juries. Let…
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Mr. Speaker, one thing that I really noticed when we spoke about access to justice is video conferencing. The fact is that there are provisions for a child who has been victimized to appear by video. There is this idea, and it is propagated and in my view has no merit, that a trial judge cannot evaluate credibility when a person is appearing by video. It is often said that a person cannot appear b…
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Mr. Speaker, this is an important question. With all candour, disclosure needs to be started from the bottom up. This bill is very discrete in what it would deal with, whether it be video appearances or things like that, but let us just take the impaired driving end of things. There is so much paperwork that could be generated on just an impaired driving charge. It would almost be inappropriate fo…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people in Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I am mindful of the fact that I cannot point out people in the gallery, even if three of them 11 and under bear a striking resemblance to me. Today we are discussing Bill S-4. Bill S-4 is an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Identification of Criminals Act and to make related amendments to other…
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. parliamentary secretary spoke about efficiency. Where we probably see the greatest inefficiency is when it comes to bail. In my province of British Columbia, people have termed it “catch and release”. These are people who are not necessarily going to be law, order and justice types of people, but business owners and constituents are repeatedly telling me that this has become …
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. From what I can see, the bill addresses a number of outdated inquiries. It obviously would have been best if some of these matters could have been addressed, as my colleague from the NDP mentioned, somewhat earlier. One question I have, which I may touch on a little later, relates to preliminary inqu…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if “more” is being picked up in Hansard, but I do appreciate that exhortation to speak more about this. We, as Conservatives, will always fight for a just and appropriate system, not a legal system but a justice system. I hope every single person in the House wants a system that is just and appropriate. I am mindful of the fact that we may disagree on some points, but th…
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Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the member for Winnipeg North and the member for Kingston and the Islands would love to hear me speak more about this.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. One of the things my hon. colleague laid out quite well is the difficulty peace officers go through and the current climate that RCMP, CBSA and all peace officers are operating within. This is a time when there have likely never been as many illegal guns on the streets of Canada as there are today,…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Today, we are here debating Bill C-20, an act that would establish the public complaints and review commission and amend certain acts and statutory instruments. First, I want to recognize a first-year law student at Thompson Rivers University where I used to teach. I want to thank Najib Rahall, who i…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a very thoughtful question. When I was a very young man with a beautiful full head of hair, and it is true that it was there, I was actually a peace officer myself. I remember the pressure as a frontline peace officer at that time. My hon. colleague's question was about the message we are sending. I certainly cannot speak to what message will be received. I can only speak to …
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Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of something we have in my riding. It is called Car 40. I am not sure if it is unique to the Kamloops RCMP or not. Car 40 pairs a police officer with a mental health nurse, and they respond to mental health-related calls. I said earlier that police are expected to do more with fewer resources. I do not think I am speaking out of turn here by saying that we have seen a …
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my hon. colleague on her new role within her party. I am indebted to all forms of law enforcement. Some are obviously closer to us physically than others. The Parliamentary Protective Service officers are close to us. We walk by them literally every day, sometimes without giving a second thought to the protection, security and oversight they provide us not only so we ca…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously I cannot get into the heads of the government members. If I could, this place would maybe run a bit more efficiently, from our perspective. The reality is that I am not sure why the government took as long as it did. To me, when we are looking at legislation and how much time it takes, and also when it is tabled, it speaks to governmental priorities. In this case, with this …
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We all heard it. I would just ask that this member apologize.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I am just going to relate my question to the previous comment from the NDP, where he talked about people who are gang members poisoning our people with drugs. I wonder if my hon. colleague would comment on the fact that the NDP is similarly, at the same time, lowering sentences for people who are d…
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