Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the next petition I am presenting is on a private member's bill, Bill C-281, the international human rights act, from a colleague of mine. The petitioners highlight that Canada should be committed to upholding the protection of international human rights. Therefore, they call upon the House to pass Bill C-281 to add protections against human rights violations and to promote a strong…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am presenting is with respect to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. It notes various violations of the fundamental human rights of Falun Gong practitioners; these violations include, but are not limited to, forced organ harvesting. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada and the House to take stronger action to respond to the persecution…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am presenting deals with the Canada summer jobs program. Sadly, Ukrainian youth who have come to Canada as part of the authorization for emergency travel are not able to participate in the Government of Canada-funded summer jobs program. The petitioners believe, and rightly so, that this is an unfair exclusion and that youth coming here as refugees should not be …
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am presenting opposes the changes the government has made to the Canadian passport. The petitioners note that the passport Canadians have used for a long time contains images significant to Canadian heritage, including the fathers of Confederation, the Vimy Ridge memorial and Terry Fox; the government plans to erase these images from it. Petitioners call upon the…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition that I am presenting contains a number of different asks related to the ongoing violence that we are seeing in Burma. The petitioners note the horrific campaign of violence against civilians that is happening in Burma and the need for communications infrastructure that would allow early warning and would allow civilians to protect themselves. They also note the rol…
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Madam Speaker, next, I am presenting a petition regarding our international development policy. The petitioners note the success of the Muskoka Initiative, which was launched by the previous Conservative government. It involved historic investments in the well-being of women and girls around the world, emphasized value for money and ensured investments in priorities identified by local women. The …
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Madam Speaker, the final petition that I am presenting today refers to comments made by Louis Roy from the Quebec College of Physicians recommending the expansion of euthanasia to “babies from birth to one year of age who come into the world with severe deformities and very serious syndromes”. The petitioners believe that this proposal for the legalized killing of infants in Canada is deeply distu…
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Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my colleague's speech and I think it is important to underline where the fault line actually is in this debate. I think there would be agreement throughout the House that a young person who makes a mistake should have a second chance. Of course, there are many cases where it is legitimate for a person to have bail. We have highlighted these cases of repeat …
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With regard to the Special Economic Measures Regulations and pursuing the forfeiture of assets of sanctioned Russians: (a) what is the total number of individuals sanctioned to date; (b) among the sanctioned individuals, how many (i) have known assets in Canada, (ii) do not have any known assets in Canada; (c) of those with known assets in Canada, how many have had their assets seized; (d) what is…
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With regard to the special measures program for Afghanistan announced by the government: (a) what is the number of visible minorities that have been evacuated thus far, in total; (b) how many of the evacuees in (a) were (i) Afghan Hindus, (ii) Sikhs, (iii) Christians; (c) are there currently Afghan allied interpreters still in Afghanistan awaiting evacuation, and, if so, how many; and (d) what is …
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With regard to the government’s response to the Hong Kong Pathway lifeboat scheme and intimidation of the Hong Kong Canadian community: (a) will the government consider improving the policies of the Hong Kong Pathway Stream B to (i) expand and extend its scope, (ii) waive the requirement for a police certificate; (b) what is the timeline for the government to make changes related to (a); (c) what …
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With regard to the government’s flagging of social media accounts or pages: (a) since 2016, have any specific social media accounts or pages been flagged by either Canadian Heritage or the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as examples of potential “harmful content” or “misinformation”; (b) how many accounts or pages in (a) were hosted on (i) YouTube, (ii) Facebook, (iii) …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, Just as I conclude this late show, I will remind the member that the meeting was in PMO. The PS thinks that his response is a zing, That those at the meeting don't remember a thing. On a serious subject we can be a bit funny, It's clear the government's ways are anything but sunny.
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Mr. Speaker, my question, originally, was on the foundation Trudeau And a meeting that took place in the PMO. Apparently there was a wall with the Trudeau Foundation, And PMO was just a convenient downtown location. That is obvious nonsense and we will drill for the truth, Even with committee tactics that have been called uncouth. But it is late in the night and the session is near done, So I will…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join colleagues from other parties in presenting a petition regarding the horrific situation in Burma. The petition is an effort by various Burmese communities and contains a number of asks, including strengthening sanctions, calling on insurance companies to stop providing insurance covering deliveries of aviation fuel to Burma, oil and gas sanctions, support for th…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I suspect, given that it is the last day of this session, you will find unanimous consent to extend Petitions by two minutes to allow additional members to present. There has been an all-party agreement on a petition on Burma. I suspect that for two additional minutes, there would be agreement.
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-350, An Act to amend the State Immunity Act, the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Madam Speaker, since the House voted five years ago to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity and shut down its operations in Canada, Conservatives have been pushing the Liberal government to actually list the IRGC, but it has not acted. It is time to brin…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a point of order. A member of the NDP just made some verifiably false claims about me. In the interest of preserving reality in this House, it is important to note that I think he refers to a case in which a female opposition legislator was invited by the foreign affairs committee, not by me, to appear and provide testimony on a different study, and during the course of the dis…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The hon. member was using a prop. He was holding an image up to the screen. The minister is maybe a relatively new member in this place, but I think he knows the rules relating to the use of props.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order arising out of question period. There were a number of important questions about McKinsey's offering a proposal to Purdue Pharma to help boost opioid sales here in Canada. I do wonder if there would be unanimous consent to table the important story from The Globe and Mail, which highlights these issues from the 2014-15 period.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada's horrific and devastating opioid crisis is not an accident. The opioid crisis is happening because Purdue Pharma, Liberal-friendly McKinsey and other bad corporate actors aggressively marketed prescription opioids to those suffering from pain or addiction. These companies did everything possible to increase sales and left a trail of human misery in their wake. Today we learned…
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Mr. Speaker, my concern around this legislation is not so much with the text of the bill as with the way that the government uses the sanctions tools that are available to it. Parliament gives the government sanctions tools, and then it is up to the government to determine how to use them. The government has been relatively limited and ineffective in its use of sanctions tools. There are also, I t…
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Madam Speaker, I may be having a technical problem with my microphone, just to—
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am concerned about this conspiracy theory among Green and New Democrat politicians that carbon capture and storage does not exist. Therefore, I would like to seek the unanimous consent of the House to table the addresses of a number of hotels in my riding to help these members come and see for themselves how carbon capture and storage works.
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight about a grave problem involving our immigration system and an injustice done to a number of well-meaning students who came to this country with the best of intentions. They were victims of fraud, and they are now being revictimized by the Liberal government. I want to start tonight by recognizing the leadership of the Ontario Gurdwaras C…
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Madam Speaker, in reference to the child care workforce, the member said we have to have the best people in place to raise our children. Does she want to elaborate on what she meant by that?
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Madam Speaker, I would just put two follow-up points to the parliamentary secretary. The first is that it took far too long for the government to respond at all. Those who were involved and were victims of this had been meeting and were trying to engage with local Liberal MPs in the greater Toronto area for a long time to get a resolution. It should not have taken questions in question period to g…
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Madam Speaker, I want to pick up on the point about certainty for the long term. The Liberal government has run up more debt in its period of office than the country has in its entire history up to that point, and is continuing to fund these and other promised expansions of social spending through deficit spending. The fiscal context actually leaves a lot of Canadians uncertain that any of these k…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak again to Bill C-35. As I said in my previous speech about this bill, no parent is perfect. I can attest to that first-hand; I make lots and lots of parenting mistakes. However, parents are the best proxy decision-makers for their children because parents have a deep and natural love for their children. This love that parents have for their kids …
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Madam Speaker, this program is not about choice. It gives money to certain people in certain situations who are not necessarily those who need the support the most. The minister cherry-picked quotes that she had received. I would like to share and put on the record a quote from a child care operator in my riding, and I would like the minister's response to it. This person wrote to the HUMA committ…
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Madam Speaker, I think I have been very clear about that already, but I do want to pick up on the first comment he made about the Harper government and sanctions. What he said is obviously nonsense. In fact, under the Conservative government, Canada led the world following the invasion of Ukraine and we were able to drive a consensus in the G7 that led to a tough response. It was likely not tough …
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to table a number of petitions in the House today. The first petition is from Canadians who are concerned about the increasing phenomenon of people being bullied in corporate environments over their political views and having pressure put on them to express or not express political opinions that may go against their conscience. The petitioners are in sup…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling highlights concerns about the dramatic expansion of euthanasia under the government, and in particular a recommendation to allow euthanasia for infants. The proposal to legalize the euthanasia of infants is a matter of grave concern for these petitioners, and they call on the Government of Canada to block any attempt to legalize the killing of children…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition deals with a proposal in the Liberal Party's platform in the last election to effectively politicize charitable status determinations, which is again dealing with an issue of political discrimination and discrimination on the basis of political views. The petitioners are opposed to the government applying values tests or political position-based determinations for …
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Madam Speaker, the next petition draws attention to the ongoing detention of Huseyin Celil. The petitioners note that although Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were released after 1,000 days of unjust detention, there are other Canadians detained in China, including Mr. Celil, who has been detained for well over 5,000 days. Mr. Celil is a Canadian citizen and a Uyghur human rights activist who ha…
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Madam Speaker, next I am tabling a petition that deals with the situation of Hong Kongers who are seeking immigration to Canada. The petitioners note that the judicial system in Hong Kong has been compromised through various measures, including through the passage of the national security law. They note that peaceful protesters charged in Hong Kong have not received fair or impartial treatment and…
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Madam Speaker, the final petition that I am presenting today deals with recommendations of the Minister of National Defence's advisory panel on systemic racism. In its final report in 2022, this panel paradoxically recommended discrimination on the basis of religious affiliation in determinations about chaplaincy and discrimination against religious communities holding views that are not consisten…
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moved: That Bill S‑8 be amended by deleting the long title. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address Bill S-8 today. This is important legislation that Conservatives have been supportive of. It is also an opportunity to discuss the significant problems with the sanctions regime that we have seen under the government, including the failure to move quickly enough to sanction perpetrato…
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Madam Speaker, everything that I said in my previous response is on the public record and is easily verifiable as accurate. The member asked if there are instances of other countries that have imposed sanctions that Canada should have imposed. Yes, absolutely, and I will pick one present topical example. Five years ago, the House listed the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, as a…
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Madam Speaker, I think my colleague is referring to AUKUS and the fact that Five Eyes is supposed to be, and is, this critical vehicle for collaboration among five Anglo-sphere nations for sharing of intelligence, yet the U.S., Australia and the U.K., three of the Five Eyes, are creating a separate alliance that covers many of the areas that are supposed to be covered by the Five Eyes. Recently th…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his reflections on this issue. I think an important distinction should be made between whether the rules are being used and whether the rules are good for the institution. I can say that for me personally, these hybrid rules have made my life a lot more comfortable. They have been convenient for me personally, and I have used them from time to t…
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Mr. Speaker, I would encourage members who are so eager to debate the new rules to learn the old rules first, about how questions and comments work. I have a serious question to the parliamentary secretary. How does he get around this significant problem, in terms of resources, and the fact that it makes committees, which are supposed to be masters of their own domains, now subject to resource dec…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his speech. I will say that, as a father of a young family and as someone representing a riding in western Canada, I see personally, from a lifestyle perspective, the advantages of the current provisions, although I have concerns about their impact on this institution. I do support the voting app, because I do not think voting is the same as giving a speech. I w…
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Madam Speaker, respectfully, I am quite struck by some of the language the member used, like that we have to modernize like other industries. We are not actually just an industry. We play a critical role as the deliberative heart of a nation, which is not an economic activity. It is a fundamental cultural and political activity. It is also not correct to say this is happening in every industry. Th…
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Madam Speaker, I sympathize with some of the very human circumstances the member talks about. There are obviously things that, in different forms, all members of Parliament deal with. I take issue with the general assertion from a number of members that things are working well now. The government's premise seems to be that it has been doing this for years and everything is fine, so why not continu…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful for the opportunity to address the assembled House tonight on this government's proposal to make permanent changes that it has been tinkering with, experimenting with, over the last number of years on hybrid Parliament, which would allow members of Parliament to address the House both from the floor of the chamber and via Zoom. I think we have a role, as Conservativ…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not think the member knows what the word “hypocrisy” means. I have been clear that I think the rules, as they presently exist, weaken this institution. As such, I do not think those rules should be in place. I also believe, though, that it is legitimate for the members to use the tools as they exist. I do not think it is hypocritical at all to observe that these rules should not …
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Mr. Speaker, I share the concern the member raised about interpreters, and I think this is linked to the resource challenges we face. From what I understand, the pressure this has created on interpreters is what has reduced the availability of time and resources for committees to be able to sit. The most important point I raised in my speech was around the issue of how this new system is limiting …
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Mr. Speaker, the problem is when we use the exceptional case to justify what is not actually going to be the median case. We can try to find ways of dealing with the exceptional case. For example, in exceptional circumstances, we could consider a member present who is not physically present. However, the vast majority of uses of these provisions are not going to be members in that situation. I bel…
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Madam Speaker, I share the member's concerns about the situation of women in Afghanistan. I have appreciated having the opportunity to meet with Afghan women's organizations here in Canada and hear them share first-hand some of the things they are hearing. I salute the organizations in Canada that are working hard on behalf of women who are victims of gender apartheid. We should be doing all we ca…
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