Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Liberal MPs in B.C. are telling the media that they are “seething,” “anxious” and “angry” about a pipeline that would end Canada's economic dependence on the United States. The Liberal caucus is falling apart over this. The Prime Minister must not give his “keep it in the ground” caucus or Premier Eby a veto. Only he has the constitutional and legislative power to approve a pipeline…
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Mr. Chair, I am sharing my time with my colleague for Miramichi—Grand Lake. I rise today to address an issue of profound urgency, an issue that strikes at the heart of countless communities across B.C., our nation and my riding: the crisis facing Canada's forestry sector. For more than a decade, this vital industry has been neglected by the government. Now, we find our ourselves on the brink of di…
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Mr. Chair, it is difficult to talk about any type of concession or deal when the government is not even in negotiations with the Americans. How many times have I heard that the Liberals have gone across the border, which is very few and not enough, to talk with the Americans and Trump but not even mention softwood lumber? These people are in a desperate situation. They do not deserve to be ignored…
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Mr. Chair, I have travelled through B.C. to many pulp mills and sawmills and have spoken to owners and CEOs about the situation they are in. They told me that they do not need a bailout in the form of more loans. They do not need further debt. They have been getting deeper and deeper into debt for the past decade because of the inactions of the government in helping this sector. They would like to…
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Mr. Chair, it is a very difficult question. What I would like to know right now is who in the government is in the United States tonight negotiating for the people who cannot put food on their table, are waiting in lines at the food bank and do not want a handout. They want their jobs. Who is there right now? Who is there tonight? Who will be there tomorrow? I want every single Liberal sitting her…
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Mr. Speaker, I recall that a year ago, there was chaos in this House when it was announced that there would be a $40-billion deficit in an upcoming budget, and now the Liberals plan on doubling that. Does this concern the member of the Liberals?
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to be here tonight to talk about this wonderful bill. I thank my colleague for Edmonton Manning for sharing his story and his passion. Before beginning my remarks on Bill C-234, I want to offer this House a brief update on our former colleague, well known to many here. My predecessor, Richard Cannings, recently underwent major surgery. I am really pleased to share that h…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin with the words of one of my constituents. His name is David, and he is from Oliver, British Columbia. He says that pensioners on a low income are struggling with prices rising, especially food, which increases continually each month. There is only one increase a year for pensioners. David is right. Food costs are unaffordable and getting worse month after month. …
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Mr. Speaker, what I do not understand is this. I appreciate the answer from the member across the way, but what I do not appreciate is the fact that if it costs me more as a farmer to do business, if it costs me more for steel and aluminum, why would I not raise my prices to cover those costs? That is the basis of running a business. One has to cover one's costs. If the cost of groceries is under …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the current Liberal government is the most expensive government in Canadian history. Every dollar the Prime Minister spends comes out of the pockets of Canadians, driving up the cost of everything. Food prices have risen nearly 40% faster in Canada than in the U.S. What is the Liberals' answer? It is to increase the industrial carbon tax. The Okanagan Valley is the fruit basket of Can…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised to spend less but have introduced the largest budget deficit in history outside of COVID. This is at a time when one in five Canadians say they skipped paying a bill to afford groceries this past year. The Liberals had a chance to lower food prices. Instead, they increased the industrial carbon tax on our farms, driving up the cost of fertilizer and farm equipmen…
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Mr. Speaker, every dollar the Liberal government spends comes out of the pockets of Canadians in the form of higher taxes and inflation. The Prime Minister told young Canadians they need to sacrifice. While more families than ever are lining up at food banks, the Liberal government is using Canadian tax dollars to fund a whopping $25 billion a year on outside consultants. Instead of trying to caus…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I think that everyone in the House agrees, or should agree, that there is a deepening youth unemployment crisis. Since September, it climbed from 14.5% to 14.7%, the highest since 2010. Conservatives have been sounding the alarm for years now and the Liberals have ignored the warnings. Can the member explain again what he believes is the root cause of this youth unemployment crisis?
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, while I appreciate my colleague across the floor's responding, I think she might have mentioned the word “forestry” two or three times. I am not sure she understood that I was talking about the forestry industry. The Liberals have no idea what a mill closure does to a small community, or they would try harder to get a deal. We are talking about the forestry industry. I do not know whe…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the good people of Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay to speak to the legislation before us, Bill C-14, an act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the National Defence Act. Today, the House debates the very urgent and serious subject of Canada's broken bail laws. The member opposite just spoke about Bill C-14 alleviating problems. L…
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Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, the bill is an attempt by the Liberals to fix the bail laws they took 10 years to break. Of course we are going to work on the bill. Of course we are going to do everything we can to make Canadians safer. I just wish this had been brought forward sooner, and that is what my constituents are saying. It is not fair that for the past 10 years they have been m…
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Mr. Speaker, judges are obviously missing multiple tools. In the city I live in, there are people who commit a crime, go to jail, walk out of jail the next day and then throw a brick into a car window. They are sent back to jail, spend the night, get back out and throw a brick through a window again. It happens continually, and a lot of the time, judges, who are completely exhausted, are blamed, b…
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Mr. Speaker, it has been an exhausting 10 years for communities across Canada. People of all ages cannot even go into a grocery store without wondering whether they are going to be approached by a criminal or be a witness to shoplifting. What are they supposed to do? They do not feel safe in their own neighbourhood. RCMP officers are being overworked and are becoming exhausted. They are doing ever…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of the people of Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay on the issue of health care, specifically Bill C-239, an act to amend the Canada Health Act with respect to accountability. I would like to thank the member for Surrey Newton for bringing forward the legislation. It is a privilege for any member to bring forward their own legislation to be debated in t…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada's forestry and softwood lumber sectors are pillars of our economy. They should sustain thousands of jobs, fuel communities and generate billions in exports, yet under the Liberal government, these industries have been left behind. Canada's softwood lumber production generates 20 billion board feet per year that is ready for sale. Roughly 90% of that goes directly to the United …
Read full speech →Oral questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised he would negotiate a win with the United States by July 21. He has broken that promise, leaving softwood lumber workers out of work and out in the cold. When he took office, softwood tariffs were at 14%, and now they are at 45%. The Prime Minister did not even mention our mill workers in Washington. Workers in Grand Forks are worried about their mortgages, …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about a crisis of trust in British Columbia. In British Columbia, local governments are being pushed by the province to create new conflict of interest rules, and they are adapting to a new reality within our institutions and reviewing processes. If they have to do this at a local level, why do you think the Liberals are against reviewing conflicts of interest at…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, lumber jobs remain under threat by the unjustified U.S. tariffs, but workers are not hearing from the Liberals that they are making this a priority in negotiations. The Canadian Lumber Trade Alliance said, “We're deeply disappointed” by the Prime Minister not even mentioning lumber jobs in D.C. Silence will not help the mill workers I met in Grand Forks last week. They told me they do…
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Mr. Speaker, I represent the Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay riding and we have one of the longest borders along the United States and, also, the most mountainous terrain. We are having difficulty, right now, getting enough RCMP officers and meeting the quota that we have right now. We are not able to meet the quota because not enough people are applying at Depot. We all know that they ar…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise again on behalf of the people of Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay to speak to Bill C-12, , an act respecting certain measures relating to the security of Canada's borders and the integrity of the Canadian immigration system. This bill is of critical importance to my constituents, especially those living in border communities along the B.C.-Washington State line. We have…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised a deal with the Americans by July 21. There is still no deal. In fact, softwood tariffs have doubled. A decade of Liberal failure has lost thousands of lumber jobs. Yesterday, the mayor of Grand Forks announced the indefinite closure of the Interfor mill because of these tariffs. That is 150 jobs lost in a small town. On behalf of these workers, why have th…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Mayor of Grand Forks announced that the Interfor mill is closing indefinitely because of unjustified U.S. tariffs. To the people of Grand Forks and Boundary, this is devastating. The mill is an important employer; there are 150 jobs being lost in one small town. I say to the families affected by the mill closure that I will continue to call on the Liberal government to g…
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Mr. Speaker, between 2013 and 2023, federal employment surged by 36%. By contrast, the private sector grew by 13%. How big is this new bureaucracy, this new office, going to be? How many new public sector employees does the government plan to hire?
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask a question concerning whether the Liberals have the courage to reverse the course of the financial crisis. The member opposite talks a lot about food banks and income supports, but people, in general, do not want to have to use those things. They want to keep their paycheque, but they cannot keep their paycheque, as he mentioned, if they lose their job. Over 80,000 peopl…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith. I am honoured to rise today to speak on behalf of the wonderful people of Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay. Today, I rise to speak to Bill C-11, legislation that proposes long overdue changes to the National Defence Act and related laws. Let us be clear, the bill did not emerge out of nowhere. The Liberals have…
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Mr. Speaker, it is really interesting to me that the Liberals and the member seem intent on pushing this through so fast when these issues have been around for years. In fact, last year, it was filibustered and debated in committee, yet it was killed when Parliament was prorogued. The bill did not appear out of nowhere. It was in response to deeply troubling failures within our military justice sy…
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with the member. It has been a long 10 years, with many people being hurt by the lack of legislation, which needed to come forward a long time ago. Survivors of sexual misconduct have been waiting for years for the Liberal government to do something about this, and they need to be heard.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's question is pertinent to this debate because it exemplifies the fact that so many important and troubling issues have occurred in the last few years concerning this deeply troubling issue in the military system, which should have been acknowledged, moved on and changed a long time ago. Unfortunately, the Liberal government chose to avoid the issues that needed to be add…
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Mr. Speaker, it sounds as if the member does not really trust the current PBO. It is interesting that he does not believe what our current PBO has stated. It is too bad, I guess, that former PBOs are much better experts than the person who is in that role right now. I want to talk about a certain industry, the forestry industry. The member talked about how money was tagged for different industries…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised he would negotiate a win by July. It is October and Canadians are losing their jobs. Canada has the second-highest unemployment in the fastest-shrinking economy in the G7. Mills are closing in communities throughout B.C., putting hundreds of people out of work. Why are Canadians losing their jobs? Is it because of the Prime Minister's failed diplomacy abroa…
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Mr. Speaker, I was here for the question.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I could clearly hear you say the question.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister promised to be elbows up. Instead, he is elbows down. The Liberal statistics show that EI use among women aged 25 to 54 is up 12% in one month. Women are calling me and asking where to find a job that will cover rent or groceries. Liberal economic mismanagement is putting women out of work. When will people in the B.C. interior see more job openings, not few…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' latest idea for housing is a fourth bureaucracy. The Liberal Prime Minister promised Canadians that he would double homebuilding and build 500,000 homes a year, yet his new housing bureaucracy is only committing to 4,000 new homes. Too many people in my riding are teetering on the verge of homelessness. Our housing crisis is most evident in my hometown of Penticton, wher…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Brandon—Souris for his eloquent words. There is something missing, a lot missing, in Bill C-2, and I would like to know what he thinks of this. I want to ask about the member for Surrey Newton, who spoke previously. A very important thing that is missing in this bill is what the Liberals are going to do about the decriminalization of drugs in B.C. The…
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With regard to the lease agreement between the government and the Penticton Shooting Sports Association: (a) what is the legal property designation subject to the lease agreement; (b) on what date did the government decide to end the lease agreement; (c) on what grounds was the decision to end the lease agreement taken; (d) what consultation was done on the decision to end the lease agreement betw…
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With regard to equipment to fight forest fires and wildfires purchased by the government since January 1, 2024: (a) what are the details of all purchases, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) vendor, (iii) amount or value, (iv) quantity, (v) description of the equipment; and (b) for each item of the equipment purchased in (a), against which fires have they been used to date?
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Mr. Speaker, the value of Canadian citizenship is beyond what we are speaking about here. If we look at how many people have given their blood and toil to gain this citizenship, we know that it cannot be passed to somebody who has not had any tie to this country at all, or whose family for generations has not had ties. Again, I look forward to our parties working together in committee to make sure…
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Mr. Speaker, we need to help the lost Canadians, and we need to make sure that the wrongs done in the past are corrected, but does somebody's grandchild's grandchild's grandchild deserve to be a citizen if they have never lived in Canada and have never had anything to do with Canada? We are going to have to make sure that for those immigrants who became citizens in the past, who worked so hard to …
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Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I want to extend my deepest thanks to the people of Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay. Over the summer, I had the honour of connecting with so many of my constituents. I want to thank them in person, over the phone, through social media and by email. I represent one of the most beautiful places in Canada. From Castlegar to Princeton, Grand Forks to Oliver, Midwa…
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With regard to lease agreements between the government and third parties: what are the details of all lease agreements cancelled between January 1, 2023 and June 13, 2025, including, for each, the (i) date of the original agreement, (ii) date of the cancellation, (iii) location, (iv) party whom the lease was with, (v) reason for the cancellation?
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Mr. Speaker, I think that actually solidifies what I am talking about, in that what the member just said is so complicated. Does she deserve citizenship? She could, but I am going to have to write that down on paper and make sure. Does her grandchild's grandchild deserve citizenship? I would like to ask the member that, because this is so complicated and has not been debated properly in committee.…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the police on their good job. I believe there are many problems with the bill, and one of them is that nothing is explained. The Liberals talk about hiring more border guards, but where are they going to get these people? They also talk about hiring 1,000 more RCMP members. If we talk to municipalities across the country, they are waiting for RCMP officers, but there is…
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Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that the bill is being pushed through at such a rapid rate that Canadians do not trust what is happening. They do not trust the Liberals. So many times in the last 10 years, the Liberals have promised something and nothing has happened or something else has come through. The bill has not been explained properly to the Canadian people. I am not making up that what I …
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Mr. Speaker, I once again rise on behalf of the good people of Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, a riding that has six border crossings, to speak to the legislation before us, Bill C-2. We know that the bill is much more than a border bill. My riding and province have very much been on the front lines of an addiction crisis that has persisted for far too long. In fact, drug overdose is now…
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