Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to former senator Donald Oliver, whom we sadly lost a couple of days ago. Known to many as Donnie, he was a trailblazer for Black Canadians and a lifelong champion for equality and justice. Senator Oliver was instrumental in the creation of the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia and made history as the first Black man appointed to the Senate of Canada. H…
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Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride and humility that I rise in the House as the member of Parliament for South Shore—St. Margarets. To stand here representing the voices, the stories and the concerns of my community is both an honour and a responsibility that I do not take lightly. My riding is a place where the ocean is not simply scenery. It is livelihood, heritage and the foundation of our com…
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Mr. Speaker, as this government focuses on nation-building projects that will connect our country, trade workers will be in high demand. They need to be able to move freely and have their skills recognized across provinces and territories if we are going to deliver on building a stronger, more inclusive economy. Can the Minister of Jobs and Families update the House on how our government is workin…
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Mr. Speaker, I think one of the most important pieces here is to realize that the Coast Guard is now going to be part of the Department of National Defence. Being part of the Department of National Defence comes with those extra measures, that extra authority and those extra bodies. It is why we are putting so much money into our Department of National Defence. Those different services and resourc…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a wonderful question from my colleague across the aisle. In terms of firearms, we have to remember that I grew up in a very rural area. I grew up on a farm, so when we are looking at local firearms, in my case, I have been saying this all throughout, since I was named as a member of Parliament: We have to look at the purpose of having the gun. In my case, I say the wooden hand…
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Mr. Speaker, in terms of some of those resources, for example, I live in a coastal community where the fisheries are one of our primary industries, and sometimes we have enforcement issues. I know this summer, for the first time in decades, we had to deploy the Coast Guard to take care of some of those local fisheries issues. Having the Coast Guard there and putting some members of authority, in t…
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Mr. Speaker, when you are talking about the Canada Border Services Agency, a lot of this piece we have discussed already in the House. We are going to be adding 1,000 more border patrol officers and 1,000 more RCMP officers, so there is infrastructure that we are putting in place to help support the needs in even your local communities. In terms of my local community being coastal, having the Coas…
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Mr. Speaker, last year, our government took action. Yes, we took action to strengthen workers' rights by introducing legislation to ban replacement workers during strikes and lockouts. Can the Minister of Jobs and Families update the House on this important step for workers and collective bargaining?
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague across the way talked a lot about affordability and planning, so thank you for that. Tonight, you talked a lot about having choice and lots of indicators for choices we should be making. What do you feel are some of the largest indicators of affordability?
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Mr. Speaker, as a lifelong rural advocate for South Shore—St. Margarets, and as a former educator and award-winning researcher on rural youth and development, I rise today to speak about the vital importance of rural economic development in Canada. Rural communities are not just picturesque backdrops. They are the lifeblood of this country. They are where our milk is produced, where the seafood on…
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Mr. Speaker, tonight is my maiden speech, and it is on a topic that is the heart of many Canadian lives: housing. Some of us have mentioned this quite a bit tonight. As we consider the main estimates for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, I want to reflect not only on the numbers before us, but also on the human realities that they represent, such as families striving for stability, youn…
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Mr. Speaker, I do feel that my colleague's question is quite skewed. I would like to say that the housing accelerator fund is what is putting those pipes and those lines into the ground. Talking about housing starts and housing finishes, sometimes we need the infrastructure first, which is something that we know we need in order to build all of the homes we are in need of right now. I would say th…
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Mr. Speaker, I also come from a rural riding, and I have been the board chair for the Rural Communities Foundation of Nova Scotia. To answer my colleague's question, I would say that the housing accelerator fund has been a staple in our community. In addition, the affordable and non-profit housing sector in our area, and I can speak from experience, is a work in progress and is getting results. It…
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Mr. Speaker, sometimes it is the investment piece. Once we put the investment in, there is going to be buy-off at the end of the day. For us—
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, as I rise today with my first member's statement, I do so with deep gratitude for the fine people of South Shore—St. Margarets. I thank them for placing their trust in me in this historic election. I want to thank my partner Ken, my daughter, the thousands of students I taught for over 17 years in my career as an educator, and my family and friends for being my rock. I also want to th…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I know a lot of my colleague's speech today was talking about planning, readiness and preparedness. It makes me think about the fires that are going on right now in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. My constituency and my riding of South Shore—St. Margarets last year had some devastating impacts from fires, both in our Tantallon area and our Shelburne regions. Therefore, my question for my c…
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Mr. Speaker, last month, voters in my riding of beautiful South Shore—St. Margarets voted for change, a change to address the cost of living, which has eroded Canada's quality of life. They voted for a change that puts more money in their pockets, and they voted for change that builds a more affordable Canada. As we build the strongest economy in the G7, we need to ensure that we leave no Canadian…
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