Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments from the member opposite, but I am concerned. The member's initial statement was that he supports the bill as drafted. Can I assume then that the government is going to vote against all the amendments that have been put forward by the Conservative opposition with the support of the Bloc? Second, the member said that his parents were so proud of their citizens…
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Mr. Speaker, actually, my speech was a calm debate. It was pointing out existing issues that need to be fixed. If border-scanning equipment were deployed in the port of Montreal, the port of Vancouver, Halifax and across the board, it would instantaneously fix the export of stolen vehicles in Canada. That is how effective this equipment is. It is deployed across the entire U.S. southern border alo…
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Mr. Speaker, at the public safety committee this morning, I was asking questions of officials of the border bridges. They were telling me about the shortfall of CBSA officers across the board. The shortage is well more than 1,000 people a year. There is just no capacity to train these people. When the Gordie Howe International Bridge opens up shortly, the draw of existing officers to that new faci…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the interesting components of the member's question is that it has nothing to do with this bill. Let us talk about law enforcement. With respect to the CBSA, we hear about the 1,000 jobs being created. I have talked to people at the CBSA and people who have applied for the jobs. There has just been no response. The people who run the CBSA just point out the actual annual turnov…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to participate in the debate on this split border bill, Bill C-12. My riding of Niagara South is a border riding. The town of Fort Erie borders the city of Buffalo. The connection between Canada and the United States in my riding runs deep in our DNA. Everyone I know in every part of my riding has ties to western New York. Crossing the Peace Bridge was like simply cros…
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Mr. Speaker, I am following up on the quantitative easing issue. The Government of Canada went into a stimulus program. In January, the bank said it had normalized and finished its quantitative tightening process, but during the Speech from the Throne, I warned that this was an indication that the government was going to go on a spending spree again. From what I have seen over the last couple of m…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the residents of Niagara were shocked over the brutal sexual assault of a three-year-old toddler by sexual predator Daniel Senecal. Nearly a year after the Liberal election promise to “act decisively to strengthen the Criminal Code” and protect victims by strengthening bail laws, the government has done nothing. The impact on my community is profound and has mobilized brave people, su…
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Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader turns himself into an apoplectic pretzel from time to time, trying to validate the delay by saying it is on its way. He references the promised Liberal campaign, saying that it is on its way and that they are going to do it, but when will they do it? He should give us a date. What does “the fall” mean? Does that mean next week…
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud to contribute to this debate and follow my leader, who has never wavered on the need for reform of the Criminal Code. As a new MP, I am proud to stand here after several troubling weeks in my riding of Niagara South. I am proud to bring the voices of so many angry and frustrated people who have gathered to protest the vicious assault of a three-year-old toddler known to all…
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Mr. Speaker, rushing into legislation is obviously never a good thing, but the epidemic of violent crime against people is not new. We have known this for many years. The government has had ample opportunity over the last five months to introduce legislation. My colleagues on this side of the House have been talking about it daily. Conservatives are not rushing into this. We know what the problem …
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we believe that the time is right for our bill, Bill C-242, to be passed in the House of Commons. We are doing this because the Liberals have had ample opportunity to put legislation forward, and they have failed to do it. I do not know what they are waiting for. Do more people need to be brutally beaten and raped by repeat offenders? At what point do we say…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Daniel Senecal brutally sexually assaulted, choked and nearly killed a three-year-old little girl in Niagara. This crime has mobilized my community and galvanized an effort to have the Criminal Code changed so monsters like this never see the light of day again. The Conservative jail not bail act will restore safe streets and keep vile perpetrators like Daniel Senecal in jail. The gov…
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Mr. Speaker, I wish I could say I am happy to participate in this debate today, so I will rephrase it. I am grateful to have the opportunity to participate in this debate today because there have been a lot of incredibly horrendous things happening in my community over the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, I asked the Minister of Justice when legislation would be brought in to stop repeat sex offen…
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Mr. Speaker, there is not a word of that I can fundamentally disagree with, although I would like to see the legislation. It is not good enough to just say the Liberals are going to bring in bail reform. Fundamentally, I am not just talking about bail reform. I am talking about people who are being released after violent sexual assaults and beating children within an inch of their lives. That is t…
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Mr. Speaker, I must admit that I am not well informed enough to actually talk intelligently about that. Hopefully, the hon. member will be able to spend some time with me to give me his views on that. However, my comments today are on the intention of the motion that is before the House, which is to talk about serious crimes and the need for serious reforms in the Criminal Code. I look forward to …
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Mr. Speaker, as I said in my remarks, I have spoken to many first responders, from the fire services and the police in the community to people in the medical community. People who are involved in health care have to deal with a lot of the issues of people who are being brought to hospital who have been victims of violence. It is widespread and pervasive, and it has to stop. In my community we used…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, the Welland Canal is the lifeblood of the community in Niagara South. Connecting Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, the Welland Canal is a major economic driver for southern Ontario, creating thousands of jobs by enabling grain, steel, critical minerals and other aggregates to be transported across our Great Lakes. Every year, my hometown of Port Colborne celebrates its marine heritage, rich …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Daniel Senecal raped and choked a 12-year-old boy in my riding. He was sentenced to 18 months but was released six months early. While on parole, this monster attacked and sexually abused his next victim, little E, a three-year-old little girl, almost killing her and leaving her fighting for her life before the firefighters arrived on the scene. Failed Liberal justice policies have al…
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Madam Speaker, it is good to be back in this place after a very eventful summer. It is nice to see my colleagues. Welcome back to you, Madam Speaker. It is always a pleasure to rise in this House and speak on behalf of the constituents of Niagara South. Today we are debating an important piece of legislation that seeks to make amendments to the Citizenship Act and that for a third time is up for d…
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Mr. Speaker, I participated in the debate today, and I am reminded, after listening to a number of my colleagues speak, that in my circumstance, three of my four grandparents were born in the U.K. As a first-generation Canadian, I am not entitled to British citizenship. My grandfather was born in Italy and came to Canada, but he did not become a Canadian until after my mother was born, which would…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to funding applications received by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario since 2019, and broken down by year: (a) how many applications were (i) received, (ii) granted funding; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by federal riding in which the recipient organization is located; (c) what is the breakdown of (a) by federal riding in which the associated project or pr…
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With regard to government departments' and agencies' use of in service flame-resistant garments produced using meta and para-aramid fibres that include fibres such as Nomex, Conex, Kermel, Kevlar and modacrylic fibres: (a) what type of flame-resistant garments are being used by the respective departments, and what is their fibre content; (b) what is the quantity or volume of flame-resistant garmen…
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With regard to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: how many provincial attestation letters or territorial attestation letters has Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada permitted designated educational institutions to allocate for international students, for each province and territory since 2024, broken down by Classification of Instructional Programs tied to the allocation, inclu…
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With regard to homes constructed under the Housing Accelerator Fund, since the program's introduction in March 2023: what are the details of each finished home completed by the fund, including, for each, the (i) address, (ii) date on which construction began, (iii) date on which construction was completed, (iv) description of the home (three-bedroom house, studio apartment, etc.)?
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Madam Speaker, the provision of 1,095 days is very strange to me. Canadian citizenship is a valuable asset for anybody who wants to be part of this country. I just cannot connect the dots between that number of days and being able to qualify—
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Madam Speaker, my colleague's reference to Niagara Falls is quite timely. I was in Niagara Falls the other day with the mayor of the community. We were walking down Fallsview Boulevard, and he was pointing out all the hotels that are full of people waiting to have their refugee applications dealt with, at hundreds of millions of dollars in cost to the taxpayer. This goes to the heart of part of th…
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Madam Speaker, there is a lot to unpack there. Let me say this: We have concerns about the legislation. There are two or three components that we agree with, and we are quite happy to dive into this at committee. What I am not in favour of, and what our party is not in favour of, is citizenship in perpetuity being given to people who may not have ever set foot in Canada to become Canadian citizens…
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to rise today to second the motion by the hon. member for Thornhill. I will be splitting my time with the member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound. I come from the private sector, and we tend to look at the markets to determine what our customers want. We do not tell them what they need; that is the best way to go out of business. Here, the Liberal government tends to take a diff…
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Madam Speaker, that is some interesting gaslighting going on there. Nobody then was forcing anyone to completely redesign how they travel in this country. The hon. member is comparing a light bulb to an EV, while fundamentally changing the entire business model of a multi-billion-dollar industry. It is not a light bulb. Let us not confuse apples and oranges here.
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Madam Speaker, I am not here to say that there is no market at all for EVs. What I am saying is that the government cannot impose its will on a private sector business without continuing to invest massive amounts of dollars to incentivize production and capital investment. That is the only reason why we are here today with the motion. We have been responding to a business case with a false narrati…
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Madam Speaker, I absolutely do. I have to repeat that there is a beautiful, brand new plant in my riding in the city of Welland, where I live. It is a 300,000-square-foot facility. The only reason it was built was because of the subsidies given to it. The plant is never opening. It is on the market for rent or for sale. This is an incredible example of what happens when the government interferes w…
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Mr. Speaker, I am trying to formulate a coherent response to what I just heard across the way, but I appreciated the member's speech. Triggered by this comment about EVs, I wonder if the member might give us some perspective on his view of what Chinese EVs mean in our marketplace and why the government raised the tariff on Chinese EVs. What does that mean to us in our marketplace, particularly in …
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Mr. Speaker, I am a new kid in the chamber. I have only spent the last four decades or so in business in my riding. One of the reasons I decided to run in the last election was the carbon tax. What I find really interesting is that the parliamentary secretary said that business needs to have a carbon tax in order to be competitive. I can tell members that when we are paying 30% of our gas bill in …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised that it would be nothing but elbows up during the election campaign. Then he paused our countertariffs and said he did not think the U.S. would impose any more. Now the tariffs have only gotten worse. Canadian steel now faces a 50% tariff threat from President Trump. Algoma Steel is warning that its U.S. business may become unviable. Thousands of jobs, incl…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we believe in technology, not taxes, as a way to fight climate change. I have worked with many companies in Niagara in the green tech sector that are creating new technologies rather than collecting taxes that change nothing and do not reduce CO2 emissions. Yes, we have opportunities in this country to help grow our tech sector with these brand new companies…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, if foreign investment is coming to this country and the companies that you are speaking about are rather large companies, I am interested in the innovation sector, the small companies that are the backbone of our Canadian economy. The government has failed miserably to provide the supports, the platform and the economic opportunities for companies and Canadians to inv…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, before I begin to speak about the Speech from the Throne, I hope members will indulge me in a bit of reflection and a few personal comments. First, I am honoured and humbled to be here. It is a very special privilege to be a member of the House of Commons. Indeed, I recall that even this space, when I was a young staffer here in 1979, was a courtyard. I remember having my lunch on the…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I was interested in the comments of the member as I too sat on a regional council. The question of cutting development charges in half has been talked about by a lot of parties, but I would like to know this specifically. In older municipalities, development pays for development and taxes pay for services. How exactly does the government expect to force municipalities to cut their d…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. I have spent a lot of time talking to companies in my riding. I made mention of Chris van Kralingen at Barber Hymac in Port Colborne. He told me during the campaign that one of the most oppressive issues that faced his company was the industrial carbon tax. He did not need that to be a barrier when he is trying to compete internationally against countries in …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, after the lost Liberal decade, Canadians can no longer afford the housing hell created by the Liberals. According to one homelessness report, in the Niagara region, chronic homelessness is up 41%. The problem is only getting worse, and I can see the evidence in every community in my riding. According to one homebuilding association, housing starts are decelerating rapidly, and a massi…
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