Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Parliament Hill is now cleared. Most of the charges in Ottawa involve trespassing and mischief. Tow truck operators were already compelled to help authorities before the Emergencies Act. Our borders were cleared prior to the law, which has never been used before, was activated. Organizations such as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association tell us that the government is not limiting t…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege to rise in this place and speak. Today, I am going to lay out my case as to why I am voting against continuing the Emergencies Act. In the past 34 years, since the inception of the Emergencies Act, there have been four times when a national crisis was faced by a prime minister, and they each refused to implement the act. Brian Mulroney did not do it during t…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I am actually saddened by the tone of that question. I get along with that member. We serve on the same committee and have done so for the second Parliament in a row. I thought I laid out a pretty logical argument as to why I am voting against it. I am sorry that he felt that way. I would also send it back to the member and ask, what powers do the police have, at this exact moment, …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, again, I am very disappointed at the tone of these questions. I thought I had laid out a pretty solid argument here. As I said in my speech and repeated in my answer just now, the police already had tools at their disposal that they could have used to end this situation a lot sooner. Again, it could have been diluted a lot had the Prime Minister not decided to go with creating stron…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in the justification, there were a number of tools already at the disposal of local and provincial police. Those tools should have been used first. The fact that we have gotten to this point is disappointing and a failure in leadership. A lot of this could have been avoided, but instead the Prime Minister chose to divide rather than unite.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, the deliberate politicization of the pandemic has undermined trust in our public health institutions and has damaged national unity, with western alienation, rich versus poor, urban versus rural and vaccinated versus unvaccinated. The divisions in this country are real. During the election, the Prime Minister chose to capitalize on Canadians' fear and sowed division for his own poli…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, two Liberal MPs have said that the Prime Minister purposely politicized the pandemic for crass, political gain in order to save his own job. The Prime Minister deliberately divided Canadians. We have federal mandates still in effect that are stifling industries like travel and tourism, while countries around the world, with the same information, are finding ways to live with this viru…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Saskatchewan and Alberta have announced an end to restrictions. Canada's chief public health officer is calling for normalcy. Two Liberal MPs have called out their own for divisiveness. Canadians have done everything asked of them for the last two years, and while many other countries are offering a plan of hope, the Liberals continue to stifle industries like travel and tourism for l…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the contribution from the member for Kingston and the Islands. The member opposite mentioned in his speech that he is open to potential solutions or ideas to improve the bill before us, and one that I would throw to him is in regard to travel and tourism. Would the member support relaxing some of the travel regulations that are in place so that international visitors co…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak about Bill C-8, a piece of legislation that will add an additional approximately $70 billion of new spending to this federal budget. Before I get into the meat of what I want to say, I will let the House know that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Kenora, who is right beside me and anxious to get going. Let us talk about the national de…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I have said many times that there were acts, some of which the member just outlined, that have to be dealt with. Those individuals have to be held responsible for those actions. If criminal charges are necessary, they should be charged criminally and the law should be enforced. We support that. However, the member opposite completely ignores how we actually got to this point. There …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member opposite's work on the committees we have sat on. The contributions she makes are greatly appreciated. I have learned a lot from her. The government does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem. The government is spending more than it ever has. However, what is actually going right at this exact moment? There is a massive housing bubble. Inflati…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to this. I think the member is doing her best to learn Canada's other official language, and I encourage her to continue to do that. Let us talk about the economy, because that is exactly what we are talking about in Bill C-8, and how we are going to fix some of these problems. I will be really quick. Let us start encouraging people to go back…
Read full speech →Government Orders
That does not make any sense.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB): (a) how many individuals who received CERB had a mailing address outside of Canada; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by the number of individuals in each country; and (c) what is the total value of CERB payments made to individuals with a mailing address outside of Canada?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government's renovation project of the former United States Embassy building at 100 Wellington Street in Ottawa: (a) what are the total costs incurred by the government since January 1, 2016, related to renovating the building; (b) what is the itemized breakdown of the costs in (a); (c) what is the projected total budget for the renovation project; (d) what is the timeline of th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to each of the 42 long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves which were still in place as of December 9, 2021: (a) which of the advisories will be lifted by the end of 2022; and (b) for each advisory which will not be lifted by the end of 2022 (i) what is the expected date when the advisory will be lifted, (ii) what is preventing the government from fixing the pr…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this bill and to go through our concerns about being asked to approve another $7 billion-plus. I will be splitting my time with my friend, the member for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola. I appreciate his contributions and look forward to his speech. We often hear the Liberals say that they have a plan for the economy, but I think we all k…
Read full speech →Government Orders
That was another Bill C-2. I thank my friend from Barrie—Innisfil for reminding me of that. It was an opportunity for the government to try to seize absolute power, to take the opposition right out of the equation and put all the power into the executive branch. Thankfully, opposition members stood up to that as did Canadians in general. We saw a portion of the initial $400 billion go to the CERB,…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, clearly the member across the way did not listen to a word I said. As was pointed out, the only speed the government has is big government and bigger government. The cost of the child care program, which the Liberal government is going across the country trying to get signed, is going to be deficit financed, putting the cost on the backs of the kids who are entering child care. Not …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I also wish my friend a merry Christmas, and a safe and happy new year. Small businesses are definitely struggling. We talked about businesses being told to shut down and stop their operations in many cases, especially small businesses. Government did have to step aside. On the bigger picture that my friend from British Columbia is talking about, we do a pretty good job in the start…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Clearly, Mr. Speaker, more work needs to be done. It is a shame we did not hear the speech from my colleague from British Columbia who had a lot to say on this. Hopefully we will hear from him soon.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I listened to the Liberal question, and over and over again, all throughout this debate, all that was said on that side was how much money the government is spending on this project, yet the problem is getting worse. That is what we have been trying to explain all day long, that the problem is growing. However, the government is saying it is going to spend more. Then it said it was …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated that, if the Liberal government had acted on its promises, all boil water advisories would have ended in 2020. Indeed, the Prime Minister failed on his promise to end all advisories nine months ago. Worse, the Minister of Indigenous Services said yesterday that she refuses to set a deadline for ending the remaining 44 on-reserve boil advis…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, these promises of funding mean nothing when a child cannot drink clean water. We all know that one cannot run a business, a farm, a school, a hospital, a community or even a household without clean water. Sadly, as of October 15, 44 long-term boil water advisories on reserve still exist. In fact, the PBO report highlights that proposed spending on water and waste-water maintenance and…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to ask the member opposite a question. I appreciate her words and congratulate her on her electoral victory. The member mentioned child care quite often in her speech, and in her questions and comments. Given that the federal government was running a significant deficit prior to the pandemic and Liberals are running a massive deficit now, how is child ca…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the words of the member opposite, as well as his work in the previous Parliament on the indigenous and northern affairs committee. My friend across the way talked about child care in his speech, and I am going to ask him the same question I asked his colleague a few moments ago. The government was running substantial deficits prior to the pandemic, and it ramped up the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my friend across the way, but that is exactly what I said in my speech. If the hybrid Parliament was being used as an alternative for those who are ill or unable to get here due to potential symptoms, I think that would be an acceptable option. However, that is not what was coming out in the speeches today. What we heard today was the fact that members w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, as I said during the campaign, I am double vaccinated. I trust vaccines, and I encourage Canadians who are not currently vaccinated to get vaccinated. I would also say that if the true goal is to get the majority of Canadians vaccinated, we should not be politicizing this issue anymore. Two seconds into the campaign this was not an issue, but when the Prime Minister's poll numbers sta…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, first of all I would say that the government set the rules, and one is allowed in the parliamentary precinct if one is double vaccinated or if one has a medical exemption. Those medical exemptions, to my understanding, are analyzed by the House of Commons administration, and they confirm that they are valid exemptions. I trust those institutions, and I would hope that members in the H…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise in the House to speak about this very important issue. Congratulations to you on your placement in the Chair. I know you will do a wonderful job. As this is the first opportunity that I have had to speak in this Parliament, I want to thank the voters and the residents of Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock for putting their faith in me once again, for …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I agree with my friend that we all have unique circumstances that we deal with when trying to do this job. I would also argue that, in fact, an election is a chance to apply for a job. Someone is asking constituents to vote for them to do a job, and the job is in Ottawa. My friend mentioned in her speech that she did the job for a number of years without kids. I recognize as a paren…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, I rise today as chair of the Canada-Nordic-Baltic Parliamentary Friendship Group. Eighty years ago, between June 14 and June 18, 1941, citizens of the Baltic republics of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were forced at gunpoint and taken to Communist prison camps. Many were elderly and nearly a quarter were children. Thousands died on the way to Siberia and many more faced executions w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the passion of my friend from the NDP. We served on many committees together over the years and she is truly a strong voice for her community. I appreciate every time I have the opportunity to work with her because I have learned a lot from her. I hope to continue doing that. In terms of her question, I do support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-30, the budget implementation act, 2021, no. 1. Before I do so, I want to take the opportunity afforded to members in this place to speak to another issue of national importance. Canada has stood in mourning with the survivors of residential schools and their families after the recent tragic discovery of 215 children in an unmarked grave at the former K…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member for Winnipeg North. I think each and every one of us has a role to play in this place and in our communities; how we listen, how we react to these stories. They are quite painful in many cases, but it is how we move forward. Reconciliation comes in many forms. As a Parliament, as a government, as members who live in each of our communities, we do have that role…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, today marks the 13th anniversary of then prime minister Stephen Harper's historic apology for Canada's role in the residential school system. The legacy of residential schools is a national shame that has had a profoundly lasting and destructive impact on indigenous peoples and their culture, heritage and language. With the tragic discovery of 215 children in an unmarked grave at the …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to present e-petition 2690. Almost 7,000 signatures have been collected by a constituent of mine, Brian Kerr from Bobcaygeon, who created this petition to acknowledge that currently there is no federal law that allows elected politicians to be removed from Parliament by eligible voters before their four-year term. The petitioners are calling on the House of Common…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my friend could not be more right. The need for proper housing in indigenous communities should be top of mind for everyone in this place. During the pandemic we have all seen the crowded situations and the fact that the virus does spread quicker inside tight spaces with lots of people. This is where governments need to re-evaluate how they are doing business because in many cases, th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, last week the Conservatives sent the Prime Minister a letter seeking action for the 215 children found at the Kamloops residential school and for the many more who still need to be found. Families and residential school survivors want answers, and so far all they are getting from the Prime Minister is platitudes, rhetoric and abstentions. Will the Prime Minister commit to developing a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations said that 80% of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations were met or were in the process of being met. According to the Yellowhead Institute's latest report, only a dozen of the calls to action have been completed. It has been over five years since the report was finalized and only 13% have been addressed. When will …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, within hours of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report being released in December of 2015, the Prime Minister pledged to implement the calls to action. Six years later, the government’s own website, not updated since September of 2019, acknowledges a failure to get this done. Only a dozen of the 90-plus calls to action have been completed. When asked when they would be fulfi…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, when the Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations was asked why it took two years to release $27 million in previously announced funding to uncover what were believed to be thousands of indigenous children buried in unmarked graves at residential schools across the country, the minister said that the communities were not ready. Truth and reconciliation chair Murray Sinclair pointed out…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in committee, we heard from Ms. Wesley-Esquimaux of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, who called out the minister’s comments that indigenous peoples were not ready for that money. She stated that the minister's comments were simply untrue, that they had been working for many years and that the government had been told time and time again that the need for action was ur…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, let me quote the Native Women's Association of Canada, which could no longer partner to the toxic, dysfunctional MMIWG action plan process. It said that it experienced “lateral violence” and more “red tape”, that the government did not “seem to have a plan that was concrete initiatives that were measurable and costed out” and that the process was a purely bureaucratic approach to this…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in six years, only 12 of the 94 calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation report have been completed. At that rate, it will be 2057 before we address them all. There are 231 calls for justice in the murdered and missing indigenous women and girls report. With the government's track record, we are looking at 115 years to respond to these recommendations. The Prime Minister promis…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, my warmest congratulations to all Filipino Canadians as they celebrate the first official Filipino Heritage Month here in Ontario. I want to commend the wonderful contributions that Filipinos have made to communities in Ontario and throughout Canada. Filipinos are known for being incredibly warm, hard-working and compassionate, which has naturally drawn Filipinos to successfully work …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I appreciate the question from my friend from Oakville North—Burlington. Conservatives have said many times that they support reconciliation, including financial reconciliation. They also support the spirit of UNDRIP. What happened at the committee process with Bill C-15 was that the opposition parties were amplifying the voices of first nations leaders themselves. They were the ones …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I thank my friend for that very meaningful question. As my friend from Kamloops mentioned in her speech, listening to those people on the ground, listening to the communities and following their direction on how to proceed, that is what the communities need. The government owes that to them. That is how we are going to at least start to move forward with this. The federal government n…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I do agree that we all have to work together on reconciliation. I do not think anyone believes this was anything but a very dark time in Canadian history and not something any of us could be proud of. I did stand in support of that motion in the previous Parliament to ask that the Catholic Church apologize for its role in the residential schools in Canada, and that was something I was…
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