Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, my colleague brought forward Bill C-245, and it was a way of fixing the infrastructure bank. What we have seen, time and time again, with the government is that it is very good at coming forward with these big projects, big words, big announcements and proposals, such as the red dress alert, announcements on housing and the core ombudsperson, which I know she knows quite a lot about. …
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Madam Speaker, I agree with him on many of those things. My background is in international development, and I will say that going to communities and going to provinces and telling them what they need is not a good practice. Municipalities should have the ability to have more control over the infrastructure projects. We also, as the NDP, brought forward a supplementary response to the committee rep…
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Madam Speaker, the member, in his intervention today, spoke about the CPP. Polls show that Albertans are overwhelmingly opposed to the plan by Danielle Smith to introduce the APP, the Alberta pension plan. We know that the leader of the official opposition has said he does not support the Alberta pension plan. Albertans deserve to know how their members of Parliament stand on this. I do not suppor…
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Mr. Speaker, the world is a dangerous place for women. In the DRC, women are facing the world's highest rates of sexual and gender-based violence. MSF reports that sexual violence now is a public health emergency in the Central African Republic. In Afghanistan and Iran, women's rights are non-existent. In Canada, women who speak up are attacked, not just in politics but also in journalism, on soci…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have one very short question and then one that is a bit longer. The first question is this: What on earth is the difference between a humanitarian pause and a ceasefire? Stop dropping bombs on kids. That is the same thing. Why can the government not use the word “ceasefire”? Why can the government not say what so many people in our country have been urging it to say: “ceasefire”? We…
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Mr. Speaker, since October 7, Israelis have not been able to mourn their dead in peace. Every day we are learning more about the sickening and horrifying brutality of Hamas and the Hamas terrorist attacks. We mourn the loss of so many bright lights, including so many people who were working for peace. We want to see the hostages come home now. Only a few miles away from where Hamas committed these…
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Mr. Speaker, this is a little more broad than perhaps what he was looking for with his question, but I would say that, in fact, Canada's foreign policy has tilted very heavily toward trade, to the detriment of diplomacy, peacekeeping, security, development, all of these other pieces. I think the problem is that our foreign policy has to be built as a table. We need all of those legs for it to be e…
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Mr. Speaker, 1994 was significantly before my time, so I will focus a little bit more on the more recent 2014 free trade agreement that Harper and the Conservatives signed with China. I do not think many Canadians know that it was signed and that we gave up so much of our rights and that we, in fact, made it so much harder for workers in our country because of that. There are still clauses within …
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Mr. Speaker, in March of this year, I actually travelled to Ukraine. I wanted to meet with government officials. I wanted to see what was happening on the ground in Kyiv and Irpin. When I met with government representatives and when I met with parliamentarians from Ukraine, one of the things they wanted was support from Canada to help rebuild their country. They wanted us to be working with them t…
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Mr. Speaker, I am of course very proud to be the member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona. Today, we are talking about the free trade agreement with Ukraine. As every member of the House knows, we are an immense ally of Ukraine. Canada was the first western country to recognize Ukraine's independence in 1991, and, of course, Canada is home to the third-largest population of Ukrainians in the w…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke about how important this agreement is, and there is a lot in it that I will be speaking about later this evening, but this trade agreement, I understood, was negotiated and completed in April. Therefore, if this is such important legislation, and I believe it is, why did it take the government so long to bring it forward and then to bring it forward to the House, wh…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has supported international justice efforts in response to the wars in Ukraine and Syria, but has refused to support international court investigations in Israel and Palestine. The parties in this conflict and the victims of this conflict need to know that violations of international law will be prosecuted. This includes terror attacks and collective punishment. International l…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her intervention in the House today. I am sorry, but I am not going to speak in French. It is a very late night and the topic is very difficult for me. One of the things that I have been thinking about is that today we have been talking about how Hamas needs to be defeated. I know that the member is on the defence committee. We have babies in inc…
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Mr. Speaker, I work with my colleague on the foreign affairs committee. On October 14, the president of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, said, “The situation for children in Gaza is catastrophic, with hundreds of children reportedly killed. UNICEF calls for an immediate ceasefire, compliance with the rules of war and humanitarian access. All children, everywhere, must be protected at all times.” Would t…
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Mr. Speaker, we have heard that there are about 150 Canadians in Gaza right now. We also know that the hostages who have been seized by the terrorist organization Hamas are in Gaza right now. We also know that 50% of the population in Gaza are children, who have had nothing whatsoever to do with the horrific crimes committed by Hamas. Does this member believe that those people, those Canadian citi…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I think we all agree on in this place is that Hamas has done something unspeakably horrific to Israel and the Palestinian people. I think we can all agree that the Palestinian people are not Hamas. That is not who they are. I would ask whether the member, who has a great deal of experience in public safety, agrees with the statement that all crimes committed aga…
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Mr. Speaker, I know my colleague cares deeply about his constituents and the community. Like him, I have been hearing horrific tales and stories about people. The mother of one of my colleagues was speaking Urdu, and my colleague had to tell her mom to stop speaking that and to go home, because she was so worried there would be violence perpetrated against her. The entire Jewish community is afrai…
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Mr. Speaker, I think everyone in this House recognizes that adherence to international law is key and that international law needs to be applied equally. Would the member agree that collective punishment is an example of being against international law?
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague works with me on the Canada-China committee, and I actually was in his riding recently. He spoke a bit about international law and the right of Israel to defend itself. We know that former International Criminal Court prosecutor Ocampo has said that there is potential for what is happening in Gaza to be a humanitarian genocide. Would the member be open to having all crime…
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Mr. Chair, I want to send my heartfelt sympathy to my colleague. As a Jewish Canadian, I know he is experiencing such incredible heartbreak right now. While I am not Jewish, I empathize with every Jewish Canadian and with Jewish people around the world for the horrific things that have happened in Israel over the last several days. Because I am not Jewish, I am going to quote from somebody who is …
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Mr. Chair, I know my colleague to be a very kind man, and I feel for him and his community. I know how difficult this week must have been for the member, as a Jewish Canadian, and I am deeply sorry. However, my concern is that the member speaks about the right that Israel has to eradicate Hamas, and I utterly agree with him on that. Israel has every right to eradicate Hamas. The problem is that it…
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the leader of the New Democratic Party for the love he has shown for both Israelis and Palestinians. Right now, we know that the hostages who have been taken by the terrorist organization Hamas are likely in Gaza. We know there are 150 Canadians, at least, who are in Gaza. We know that more than 50% of the population in Gaza is in fact children. The New Democrats h…
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Mr. Chair, I have a great deal of respect for that member, and I am deeply disappointed by that intervention. He spoke about the need to eliminate Hamas. The children who are being bombed in Gaza today are not Hamas. The children who are dying every 16 minutes, right now, in Palestine are not Hamas. Would the member agree that collective punishment is against international law, and that that is wh…
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague for her intervention. We have spoken before in this place about the impact that anti-Semitism has had on the member, her family and her community, and I know that we are seeing a rise in that across the country. I also know that we are seeing anti-Palestinian hate happening across this country. I spoke to a colleague today who said that she is worried …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, New Democrats are devastated by the brutal massacre and terrorist attack by Hamas, that, on October 7, killed over 1,300 Israeli civilians, including women, children and the elderly. Among those victims were Canadians, members of our communities. The accounts of what was done to Israelis in this attack, including what was done to children, horrifies every one of us. We condemn Hamas a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are profoundly alarmed by what we are witnessing in Gaza. The UN has said that nearly half of Gaza's people have been forced to flee from their homes and that morgues are overflowing. This is a humanitarian crisis of extreme proportions. It took almost a week for the minister to start paying attention to the impact of this war on Palestinians, even though thousands of people…
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Mr. Speaker, we are all shocked by the brutality, the kidnappings and the targeting of civilians, including the elderly and children, by Hamas militants. Now the region is spiralling. Thousands of innocent Palestinians and Israelis have been killed in a conflict that they are not responsible for. Today, we learned that a fifth Canadian was murdered, and we know more Canadians are among the captive…
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Mr. Speaker, last Thursday we were in the House, and the member brought up the fact that wildfires in Canada were man-made and that storms have been hitting his region for hundreds of years, and I was shocked. The next day I was in Montreal at a climate march with young people who were asking for real action on climate change in this country. The member just double downed on that in his response t…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister started off talking about something we should all know in this House, and that is that climate change is real. Last week in this House, somebody from the Maritimes, from South Shore—St. Margarets, said that wildfires across this country were manmade and that the hurricanes affecting his own region have happened for hundreds of years. I am not from Newfoundland; I am from …
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Madam Speaker, in the member's intervention today, he spoke a lot about how seniors are impacted. I 100% agree with him. I spoke to one of my constituents, Laura, who is really struggling to make ends meet. Would the member not agree that increasing OAS for seniors across the country, making sure that seniors 65 to 75 get the same amount as seniors over 75 and making sure that, particularly in Alb…
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Mr. Speaker, this summer, 11 emergency rooms in Alberta closed due to the shortage of health care workers, and today we learned that some Canadians are being forced to leave overcrowded emergency rooms without treatment due to no staff. The Liberals and the Conservatives have failed to protect Canadians from Conservative leaders like Danielle Smith and Scott Moe, who want U.S.-style health care th…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to follow up on the question that was just asked by my colleague from the Bloc. We had the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery in Canada, and he spoke specifically about the commodification of housing, where investments concentrate on private housing for wealthy individuals, but similar investments for social housing are non-existent. The member talke…
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Mr. Speaker, Monday was the fifth anniversary of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials, yet Liberals stayed silent, and it is no wonder. Under the current government, arms have continued to flow to Saudi Arabia despite the war in Yemen, despite serious human rights violations, and despite the murders of hundreds of Ethiopian migrants. Canadians need to know that their government …
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Madam Speaker, ultimately, the carbon tax is about a climate change measure. It is part of a climate change plan. What I dislike is that this is not enough of a conversation about how we deal with the climate crisis. We need to be dealing with it in multiple ways. I am sure the member will agree with me when I say that the Liberals have met none of their targets with the plan, so there needs to be…
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Madam Speaker, I said this earlier today, as I have been in this chamber all day today, and I think that the motion that has been put forward is frankly a fundraising opportunity for the Conservatives. They are not treating this seriously. They are not interested in engaging seriously in debate on how to make this program work for Canadians and how to actually meaningfully address climate change. …
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Madam Speaker, I find it interesting that a member for Calgary is complaining and whining about the fact that $1.5 billion was spent on the Calgary Green Line. These are interesting times. Would the government look at Rachel Notley's carbon tax and perhaps manage the federal carbon tax in a way that would—
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Madam Speaker, this debate today has been a bit absurd. The Conservatives have once again brought up this debate because, frankly, they are fundraising off it. They need to make some mailers, and they all want their clips on this particular issue. It is not in any way meaningfully looking at ways that we can deal with the climate crisis or the cost of living crisis. I am not even going to deal wit…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke a lot about costs. In Alberta, workers are losing their jobs because the oil and gas sector is no longer able to keep them employed. We just lost 1,500 from Suncor just recently. The fact of the matter is in 2016, the wildfires in northern Alberta cost almost $10 billion. With the wildfires in British Columbia, we have spent $357 million fighting those wildfires t…
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Madam Speaker, as the critic for labour for the NDP, my hon. colleague has done so much to put in place things like anti-scab legislation. I know that he cares about workers. One thing I know about the Conservatives is that they do not. When Suncor, a week after the provincial election, laid off 1,500 workers, the Conservatives said nothing about it. When Rich Kruger says that he will burn this pl…
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Madam Speaker, I apologize in advance, but I am going to try to speak French today. I would like to thank my colleague for his important speech. I feel compelled to tell him that, while the Conservatives deny climate change and do everything they can to divide the House and prevent Parliament from fighting climate change, most Albertans want the federal government to act. Albertans want a clean, h…
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Madam Speaker, on that speech, this entire day of debate and this motion: honestly, if that member was a kid in a playground, he would be the kid kicking sand in everyone's eyes. It is not exactly a good look. It does not look like someone who is working with others. I will say one thing. This is the same party that voted against an excise profit tax for the oil and gas industries that were making…
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Mr. Speaker, in Edmonton, I and the member for Edmonton Griesbach have been meeting with Mayor Sohi regularly to talk about housing, because we are so deeply worried about the housing crisis in Edmonton. One of the things Mayor Sohi has asked is that this rebate on the GST also include those properties that are currently being built. However, there are restrictions being added to this by the Liber…
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Mr. Speaker, Danielle Smith and her Conservative government are threatening to take Albertans out of the Canada pension plan. This is a page that comes directly from the Leader of the Conservative Party when he said he would cut the CPP. People need to know that their futures are secure. Of course, we have heard nothing from the Conservative Leader of the Opposition. Canadians do not want Conserva…
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Mr. Speaker, I and the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie wrote to the minister last week when the escalation by the Azerbaijani government began. We asked her to sanction Azerbaijani officials who were responsible for tens of thousands of Armenians' fleeing their homes, fleeing for their safety, and who were responsible for the deaths of over 200 Armenian civilians and the escalation in violenc…
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Madam Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with the member that foreign affairs is one of the committees we should try to work well with together. One thing that I think is important to mention is that the committee has brought up the conflict we are seeing between Azerbaijan and Armenia several times. We will continue to look at this issue at the foreign affairs committee. We put a proposal forward to…
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Madam Speaker, that question is absurd. I would follow it up with this. How many people in the member's riding are getting dental care?
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Madam Speaker, all the decisions we make regarding foreign policy need to be seen through that feminist lens. It is very important because we know the best thing we can do to alleviate the climate crisis is to educate women and girls. The best thing we can do to ensure a healthy environment and healthy community is to make sure that women and girls have what they need. All of our foreign affairs d…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague as well. We do work very well together on the foreign affairs committee, and I know he recognizes the vital importance of international development and Canada's role in that. As I mentioned earlier in my speech, the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie and I wrote to the Minister of Foreign Affairs last week when this humanitarian crisis began to u…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague. I know him as someone who deeply cares about the Armenian people and the conflict in the region. He has brought this forward at the foreign affairs committee many times. Like him, I am disappointed in how this concurrence debate has come forward. I find it very interesting, because we had a debate just last week on interference and the Indian gove…
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, we have not yet heard back from the government. I would be very interested in hearing from the minister or the government as to whether they will be supporting the NDP's calls for sanctions on the Azerbaijani officials who are responsible for this recent aggression.
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