Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I was highlighting some of the great investments we have already made, which are innovative and very much set Canada and Canadians up for success. At the end of January, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry announced an investment of $100 million through the strategic innovation fund to support Saskatchewan's BHP's $7.5-billion project to develop its world-leading, low-e…
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Madam Speaker, a few weeks ago, I was honoured to join the Prime Minister, along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development and the Minister of Public Safety, at the North American Leaders' Summit in my role as chair of the Canada-Mexico Parliamentary Friendship Group. During the summit, the leaders signed th…
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Mr. Speaker, every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. By continuing to make substantial investments in affordable housing, we are creating new jobs, building an inclusive economy and strengthening our economies. We also know many employers need access to a pool of workers as labour shortages are felt across Canada. Could the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenshi…
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to be sharing my time with the very hon. member for Vaughan—Woodbridge. I am very pleased to join in today's debate on the issue of the higher cost of living. It is one that is top of mind for our federal government and also for the residents of my riding of Davenport. It is also the top economic challenge facing our country right now. We have been speaking with Canadians…
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Madam Speaker, on the first part of the member's question, I said that we had to be very responsible in our spending, and that is exactly what we have been. We have been very responsible in our spending in our fall economic statement, in which we were very targeted in how we would actually spend money. We wanted to ensure we were providing targeted funding to those who needed it the most. I provid…
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Madam Speaker, I do think oil and gas companies are raking in the profits. They need to be using their profits and putting them toward reducing their emissions, to decarbonizing, to a just transition plan to help their workers continue to have well-paying jobs as we move forward to decarbonize and achieve our net-zero-by-2050 targets. I do not agree with the hon. member that we have not done enoug…
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Madam Speaker, fist, the supply and confidence agreement between the Liberals and the NDP was about us coming together and working on the things that we both believed in, such as the environment, housing, indigenous reconciliation, dental care and pharmacare. These are important priorities for Canadians and I am really glad we are working very hard together on achieving these objectives. With resp…
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Madam Speaker, I want to point out that we have been providing significant investment in critical cyber systems and cybersecurity. We did this in budget 2019 by providing $144.9 million for the protection of our critical cyber systems in the areas of finance, telecommunications, energy and transport. We also invested almost $400 million in the Canadian centre for cybersecurity, in the creation of …
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Madam Speaker, this question has come up all morning. I think it is a very big concern, not only for the opposition but for this side of the House. We want to make sure we get this right. We must ensure that we have very strong protections against cyber-attacks and have cyber-attack resiliency in this country. We also have to be very transparent about the additional powers and how they will be use…
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Vaughan—Woodbridge. It is a true privilege for me to add my voice to the debate on Bill C-26, an act respecting cybersecurity, on behalf of the residents of my riding of Davenport, many of whom have written to me through the years about their concern around cybersecurity and the need for additional protections at all levels of gover…
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Madam Speaker, I think our Minister of Public Safety was very clear this morning. Without question, every time the government takes additional, decisive action and puts additional measures in place, there has to be corresponding transparency and accountability. We absolutely need to make sure there is enough of that in Bill C-26 so we have the confidence not only of the House but of Canadians with…
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Mr. Speaker, there are times when nations need to join together for the purposes of collective security, to defend our democracy and the international rule of law, as well as to ensure peace and stability in the world. Last week, NATO parliamentarians did just that with delegations from all 30 NATO countries meeting in Madrid for the 68th annual NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Over a five-day period …
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Mr. Speaker, it is a true honour for me to rise in the House today to speak to the fall economic statement, Bill C-32, on behalf of the citizens of my riding of Davenport. I would remind those who may be watching the speech that the fall economic statement provides insight into Canada's economic outlook and outlines the government's intentions moving forward. The fall economic statement also build…
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Mr. Speaker, I have lots more to say, but I know I only have less than three minutes left. The next thing I want to point out in the fall economic statement is because the residents of Davenport are very passionate climate activists. They really feel very strongly that we need to move as aggressively and urgently as possible toward meeting our net zero by 2050 targets, so the fact that there are s…
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Mr. Speaker, there are a number of measures that we have introduced. As I mentioned as a part of my speech, we have already introduced a doubling of the GST credit for the next six months. That is going to give individuals an additional $234 and seniors an additional $225. That is one of many measures. We also have a national housing strategy that has put billions of dollars more of investment int…
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Mr. Speaker, we are all concerned about our health care system. Not a day goes by that one of us does not hear stories about the backlog in our emergency systems. I want to remind the member that we have put a massive increase of funds into the health care system over the last few years and that we have made the commitment to put more money into it. I understand that while we want to put far more …
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member 100%. New immigrants cannot be brought in without having a housing plan and without ensuring there is sufficient support for settlement services across the country. Both of those things are absolutely necessary. In the north, in my opinion, there is a need for additional IRCC resources in general just to support the population with respect to additional newcome…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who served her nation and the Commonwealth for 70 extraordinary years, I hosted the Davenport Platinum Jubilee Leadership Awards last week in my riding. In the spirit of Her late Majesty's commitment to service, I wanted to honour the incredible leaders and organizations that are having a profound impact in Davenport communities. At a ceremony…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, on Friday the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Safety announced that a national freeze on handguns has come into effect as one of the many steps the federal government is taking to get guns off our streets, tackle gun violence and keep Canadians safe. Eileen Mohan, whose son was tragically gunned down, said she was rejoicing at seeing this announcement in her lifetime. She sa…
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Mr. Speaker, as the world grows darker, we are stronger together. Last week, the Minister of National Defence participated in a meeting of NATO defence ministers and visited Poland to address key challenges to our collective security, including increasing our support for our Ukrainian partners. Could the minister tell the House how Canada continues to step up and support NATO, as well as the brave…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, cha-cha-cha, olé, olé, olé. October is Latin American Heritage Month, and it is so exciting to know that we have a whole month to celebrate the unbelievable music, literature, food, language and culture of over 20 diverse and beautiful Latin American cultures in Canada. It is also a month to acknowledge the many contributions of Latin Americans to our country. This large and growing c…
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Hamilton Centre. It is a true pleasure for me to speak to Bill C-30 on behalf of the residents of my riding of Davenport. For those who need a reminder, Bill C-30 is the legislation that, if passed, would double the goods and services tax credit amounts by 50% for the 2022-23 benefit year and would deliver targeted relief directly t…
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Madam Speaker, I want to repeat something that a colleague of mine, the hon. member for Burnaby North—Seymour, said in the House of Commons with respect to taxes. When our government lowered the taxes for the middle class twice, the Conservatives voted against it. When we tried to lower the taxes for small businesses, they also voted against it. He also indicated, and I believe this to be true, th…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question and I truly believe that her concern is genuine. We very much care about seniors. I believe the doubling of the GST credit will continue to support many seniors. I think if we manage to pass Bill C-31 it will also support seniors through the Canada housing benefit one-time top-up. I think that will be very beneficial for them. The seniors in …
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the hon. member. I think we work best in this House when we take the best ideas and work together to implement them. We are absolutely raising corporate income tax by 1.5% on Canada's largest, most profitable banks and insurance companies. We have also introduced a recovery dividend of 15% on the excess profits of those institutions during the COVID pandemic. There are …
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Madam Speaker, we know it is a tough time for many Canadians. I had the absolute pleasure of attending five events on Saturday, and the vast majority of people who came and spoke to me said they were very thankful for the many measures that our federal government is putting into place. I mentioned two of them already in my speech. That national child care program is going to reduce their cost by 5…
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Madam Speaker, as always it is a true pleasure for me to rise in this venerable House to speak to the opposition motion on behalf of the residents of my riding of Davenport. I would like to state that I agree with neither the premise of the Conservative motion before us today nor the ask of the motion. Our federal government is doing all it can to support our most vulnerable in Canada and those mo…
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Madam Speaker, I truly thank the hon. member for his concern. Before entering politics, I was a climate activist. I can assure members that I very deliberately joined the Liberal team because they were serious about climate action. We have spent over $100 billion on over 100 actions, trying to reduce our emissions nationally and stepping up to make sure we meet our Paris accord targets and meet ou…
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Madam Speaker, we absolutely are increasing and permanently raising the corporate income tax by 1.5% on Canada's largest and most profitable banks and insurance companies. We have also introduced a recovery dividend of 15% on excess profits at these institutions during the COVID pandemic. We are always looking for the best ideas and I think we always should have additional considerations as we loo…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure of attending the 70th anniversary of Costi, a Davenport-based organization founded by the Italian Canadian community to assist Italian immigrants. Since then, Costi has grown into a much beloved multicultural agency, welcoming newcomers and refugees of all nationalities to Canada. In recent years, it has been instrumental in settling thousands of Syrian and Afghan r…
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Mr. Speaker, we are ensuring that we invest and make targeted investments in Canadians, and we are providing support to our most vulnerable Canadians and to those who need it the most. This is not a big spending plan. It is very targeted. Economists have already opined that it is not anticipated, in any way, to add to inflation.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the most hon. member for Halifax West. As always, it is a true honour for me to rise in this venerable House to speak on behalf of the residents of my riding of Davenport. I will be speaking to Bill C-31, an act respecting cost of living relief measures related to dental care and rental housing. More specific, I will be speaking about how the federal gov…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree. We should ensure that every Canadian pays their fair share of taxes. We have already announced that we are permanently raising the corporate income tax rate by 1.5% on Canada's largest, most profitable banks and insurance companies, and we have introduced a recovery dividend of 15% on the excess profits of these institutions during the COVID pandemic. We have also implemented…
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Mr. Speaker, housing is a huge worry not only for the residents of my riding of Davenport but for all Canadians. That is why our government, since we were elected, has announced a national housing strategy, to which we have allocated $72 billion. As part of that housing strategy, we have also introduced the Canada housing benefit to help the most vulnerable Canadians at the lowest end of the incom…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, climate change is top of mind for the residents of my riding of Davenport. In fact, I recently received a handwritten letter from Selena, an 11-year-old constituent. She is concerned about the environment and wanted to know what our federal government was doing to protect it. At the end of her letter she said, “We can all make a difference. Together, we can make the world a safer plac…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, as president of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association, and pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the following four reports of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association: the report respecting its participation at the joint meeting of the defence and security, economics and security, and political committees in …
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Mr. Speaker, I think there are always competing demands for the time in this House. All of the legislation that is introduced at whatever point in time, whether it is two days before the summer break or two months before the summer break, is extraordinarily important. I do not think that any Canadian or anybody listening should consider this bill as less important because it was introduced just be…
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Mr. Speaker, I think there have been a lot of consultations. I listed a number of associations from the legal perspective, from the broader perspective and also from the general public that were invited to comment on the proposed legislation. I mentioned that this legislation, or the deliberations about updating or modernizing this approach, has been talked about for about seven years now. There h…
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Mr. Speaker, the member is right. I do care about the discourse in this chamber. I think we are at our best when we share our best ideas in addressing the biggest challenges before Canadians. I think that is how we can best serve Canadians on all of the issues, challenges and opportunities that face Canadians today. I agree with him. I encourage all sides to constantly find ways to share our best …
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Mr. Speaker, I am not part of the team that is negotiating on this particular bill and what is actually happening in this House. It is with great hope that they are talking about it and that they are putting unanimous consent as an option on the table. I do agree with many who have spoken in this House to say that there is widespread agreement and that we should pass this swiftly.
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Mr. Speaker, I think that if the House were to ask for unanimous consent to pass this bill, we would be able to pass it very quickly.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, a place I am hoping to visit sometime soon. It is always an absolute privilege for me to stand in this place and work for the people of Canada. That is certainly true today. I will also say that it is absolutely an honour for me to rise on behalf of the residents of my riding of Davenport to speak to Bill C-9, an act …
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, as chair of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association, I led a multi-party delegation to Lithuania for the spring session of the NATO parliamentary assembly. It was a super productive meeting focused on the current geopolitical crisis. We met with and heard from defence and security experts on the situation in Ukraine. We met on Russia and the eastern front, and …
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Madam Speaker, every time we take some additional steps, we better protect those who experience both gender-based violence and intimate partner violence. We need to never stop until we are absolutely sure that those who experience this type of violence and this type of threat are secure. I will say that this is a key part of the reason why we are establishing the red flag and yellow flag laws. We …
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Madam Speaker, I would say that, while the hon. member used to live in Leaside, I lived on the other side of the railway track, so we lived in a more working class neighbourhood where a lot more violence and, I think, a lot more crime took place. A key intent of Bill C-21 is to absolutely cap the market for hot handguns. Individuals will no longer be able to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns.…
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Madam Speaker, it is a true honour for me to speak this evening on behalf of the residents of my riding of Davenport. It is a riding I am very honoured to represent. The objective of Bill C-21, which is what we are debating this evening, is to amend the Criminal Code and Firearms Act in order to do four key things: establish a national freeze on handguns; establish red-flag and yellow-flag laws an…
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Mr. Speaker, we know that around the world, including here in Canada, supply chains are facing disruptions due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and Russia's brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Can the Minister of Transport tell this House what the government is doing to strengthen Canadian supply chains and make sure Canadians have access to these central goods they require?
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Madam Speaker, we are at second reading right now. If colleagues agree and pass this bill, it will go to committee. I think that is the right place for us to be hearing from some of those experts. If there are parts of this bill that can actually be strengthened, we would welcome that opportunity.
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Madam Speaker, I do indeed support a guaranteed basic income or a guaranteed livable income. The world of work has changed. We have a social welfare system that was set up in the 1940s that does not easily meet the current needs of Canadians in the 21st century. I think a guaranteed basic income is something we need to look at very seriously as a new foundation to our social welfare system. I than…
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Madam Speaker, I would say a couple of things. First, I am hoping the oil and gas companies are going to use some of those profits to start decarbonizing and help Canada move to a low-carbon economy. We need the private sector to be stepping up. The private sector has not been stepping up in recent years, and we really need it to do so. Second, with respect to the federal investment in carbon capt…
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