Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I would just like to follow up quickly with the hon. member. It seems we are in this sort of economic purgatory right now with the government. I wonder what his thoughts are on the lack of a national industrial strategy. We have seen so much stuff in this budget, so much money being wasted, so much money being spent. I wonder what the member sees as the core issues facing Canada today i…
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Mr. Chair, a few minutes ago, one of the members opposite asked my colleague here if he had mentioned to the auto workers who have lost their jobs that the government has set aside some money for them and if he had mentioned to them that the government has extended EI in response to the 3,000 lost jobs. It seems to me that the Liberal government's response to everything is to spend more money, thr…
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Mr. Chair, after billions of taxpayer dollars and countless promises, 3,000 jobs at Stellantis were lost, leaving workers out of work. The Prime Minister said he was the man with the plan. I wonder if my hon. colleague would comment on what he thinks that plan actually might be.
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Mr. Chair, once again, I am listening to a member opposite rifle through all the Liberal talking points. We are here to talk about the auto sector, not about other issues to deflect from the main topic. My region of Niagara, in the 20th century, was the hub for manufacturing. In 1969, 47% of all jobs in the Niagara area were in the auto sector. In 2008, there were 4,000 direct jobs. In 2014, that …
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Mr. Chair, I have many friends who, growing up in Niagara, worked at GM at the engine plant or worked at Ford at the glass plant. My colleague from Niagara Falls will remember that, as he worked in one of the plants when he was a teenager. All of that has disappeared. I am just wondering, as all of these companies and all of these jobs have—
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Madam Speaker, if the question is how many Conservative members voted for the budget, the answer is zero. We all voted against the budget. I voted against the budget. This is a generational disaster of debt for Canadians. When I said the amount of deficit we are going to accrue this year would make Justin Trudeau blush, I meant that this is a generational catastrophe that my grandchildren are goin…
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Madam Speaker, I want to take that a step further. Not only are we over-regulated, overtaxed and disincentivized regarding investment coming into Canada, but the upfront costs of getting access to capital in this country are enormous. Companies are fleeing to the U.S. because there are incentive programs there, especially in California in the technology sector. They can get funding in innovation c…
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Madam Speaker, that was the most delusional question I have heard since I was elected. The Prime Minister has been on 28 trips around the world for photo ops, handshakes and MOUs that are non-binding. Not a dollar has set foot in Canada yet. I would like the hon. member to give me the name of a specific company that has moved capital into Canada. Right now, capital is leaving Canada at record rate…
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to participate in the debate today, and it will come as no surprise that I will say up front that I will vote against the bill. The Minister of Finance loves to yell in the House that this is a generational budget. What is clearly and unequivocally true is that this is a budget imposing massive, crushing and unforgivable generational debt. I cannot help but point out that…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has circled the globe four times, meeting with world leaders for photo ops, meaningless letters of intent and zero investments. He has returned with nothing, and after 28 trips, Canadians are fed up. After meeting with China, China imposed more tariffs. After meeting with India, India imposed more tariffs. When he went to the U.K., there were crickets. He went to Wa…
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Mr. Speaker, absolutely, I am fully committed to ensuring that bail reform is strengthened in this country, but this bill does not do it. We will take it to committee. We will refine it. We will introduce amendments. I would caution the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader that the reason all of the amendments were reversed on the immigration bill was that the Liberals relied on …
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to an issue that is fundamental to what Canadians want from their government: security, safety and the conviction that the law will protect innocent people rather than reward violent criminals. Canadians nationwide are dealing with the fallout from a justice system that puts violent repeat offenders ahead of the security of families and small business owners afte…
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Mr. Speaker, this legislation is urgently needed to fix the problems of the individual I spoke about being released early. The urgency is to ensure that repeat offenders do not get the opportunity to reoffend and that violent offenders, particularly with offences against children, do not see the light of day. Under the current legislation, my guess is that Daniel Senecal will be released in about …
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's comment. I agree that without permanent membership on committees, there is limited access, at least for me as a member of the committee, to hear the perspectives of people who are in a non-party situation. However, we worked through so many amendments, which took a long time and a lot of work, only to come back here and have them all wiped out with one vote. …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I have the sad and unfortunate duty today to present a petition on behalf of constituents of Niagara South and throughout the region of Niagara with respect to the brutal rape and beating of a three-year-old toddler in my riding. On August 31, 2025, this little girl was violently assaulted by a 25-year-old man who had been let out early from a sentence of a previous sexual assault a…
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Yes, they will. Madam Speaker, we need a substantial connection test, one that does not mean some distant relative three or four generations down the road will automatically be entitled to Canadian citizenship. This is someone who does not speak the language, perhaps has a criminal record and has not gone through a security check. None of that makes sense to me. For that reason, we will vote again…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from the member for Lac-Saint-Jean. We worked well together on the committee, and I always appreciated that we had an opportunity to talk substantially about the amendments we wanted to bring forward to make this piece of legislation better. I said earlier in my speech that my education as a new MP was unfortunate. The parliamentary secretary to the governm…
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Madam Speaker, the answer is, yes, it makes sense. My son is a firefighter, and I am grateful for his contribution to our community every day. Let us get that piece of legislation through the House.
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder if my colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean would comment on what the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader told us at second reading. He said to bring the legislation to committee and bring forward legislative changes and amendments that will make the bill better. How many weeks did we spend on it? We spent two months debating the bill, refining it and bringing forw…
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Madam Speaker, it is fortuitous, or even perhaps unfortunate, that I may be the last speaker on the Conservative side to speak to the legislation before the House. I am sure the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader will have another question for me, because he always does, and I appreciate his interjections. I am a new member of Parliament. I came from the business community. I a…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the comment from the parliamentary secretary because that is exactly the problem with this legislation. We are not talking about the grandchild. We are talking about the grandchild's children and their children, who may have never had a substantial connection to Canada and who will have access to Canadian citizenship.
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Madam Speaker, as members know, I have stood in this place many times over the last couple of months to talk about the brutal sexual assault and rape of a little girl in my riding of Niagara South, “Little E”. Everyone is keenly aware of this case. She was assaulted by a repeat offender, somebody who had just been released and who served one year of a year-and-a-half sentence. He attacked this lit…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Stellantis announced that Jeep production is moving from Brampton to Illinois, taking 3,000 Canadian jobs with it. The Liberals gave Stellantis up to $10 billion in taxpayer money for an EV plant in Ontario but failed to secure job protection for its workers. They also did this with two EV plants in my riding: one that never opened and one that is still under construction. Will this b…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to rise in the House today to speak to this stage of Bill C-3. Canadian citizenship is one of the most valuable possessions on the face of earth. I know, without a doubt, that no one in this chamber would trade, diminish or relinquish their Canadian citizenship for any price, any prize or any thing. We believe, with good reason, that Canadian citizenship is perhaps the most…
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member paints the narrative as though Canada is somehow discriminating against Canadians. Every nation puts limits on the number of generations that can apply for citizenship. It is not unreasonable to put in a generational limit. Chain migration immigration is not an option that any country supports. This legislation would provide a pathway in perpetuity for many generations…
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Mr. Speaker, the member raises a valuable point. There is nothing more valuable, in my view, than Canadian citizenship. All four of my grandparents immigrated here with nothing to show when they got here, but they worked hard. They built a family and a life, and they owned a home, which is very difficult for immigrants today. We have to understand that being a Canadian is a special privilege. The …
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Mr. Speaker, the discussions at committee were comprehensive. We spent a lot of time debating various issues with this legislation, and I am very happy that our colleagues in the Bloc and the Conservatives collaborated to understand some of the issues that were affecting this bill, which had gone through several iterations in the previous Parliament. This legislation effectively died in the last P…
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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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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 …
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, 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…
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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 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…
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 …
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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…
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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, 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, 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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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, 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, 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—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
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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