Parliamentary Speeches

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, my Conservative colleague opposite continues to spread false information. We know the Speaker has admitted it. He has apologized and he has resigned because it was he and he alone who invited this individual and recognized him. The guest list was vetted by the Parliamentary Protective Service, which followed all security protocols. The member opposite knows that the Speaker has a Spea…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, today, every member of the House has called for the Speaker of the House to resign because everyone recognizes that it was his actions that led to what happened on Friday and he was responsible. This was deeply shameful for us as MPs and as Canadians. I would once again ask my Conservative colleagues not to politicize this issue and to stick to the facts.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered this question. Conservative members are aware of the facts. I would like to ask them once again to stick to the facts and not to say things that are untrue.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague heard your statement this morning. He knows very well that this was your decision, and your decision alone, to invite this individual and to recognize him in the gallery, without informing the government, without informing the Ukrainian delegation. We are profoundly hurt by this. We are profoundly embarrassed by this. I would ask that the Conservative colleagues pay …

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for that apology. I am parliamentarian, a Canadian of Jewish origin and a descendant of Holocaust survivors. A majority of my family walked into Auschwitz-Birkenau and only my grandfather and his brother walked out. I think this hurt all of us in Parliament. Personally, I feel particularly hurt by this. As parliamentarians, we place our trust in you, Mr. Speaker. There are …

Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond to my hon. colleague, because I think we both share the frustration about what happened on Friday. However, I do want reiterate, and as you made very clear in your statement, that this was your initiative. The Government of Canada had no knowledge of this individual. The Speaker is responsible for this chamber. He invited him of his own accord, and he made the …

Mr. Speaker, I have immense respect for my colleague opposite. In fact, he occupied that chair, so he would know that, as the Speaker, you do have prerogative to invite guests into the chamber. I will reiterate that neither the government nor the Ukrainian delegation had any prior knowledge. In fact, if colleagues will recall, when the recognition was done, it was done by the Speaker, and we did i…

Mr. Speaker, I would just reiterate for colleagues that, if they recall when this happened, which was during the Speaker's remarks, we were all caught off guard by this. I am not trying to collectivize responsibility; I am trying to lay on the table the facts, which my Conservative colleagues are choosing to ignore. I have asked them respectfully not to politicize this issue. In fact, it hurts com…

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I think my hon. colleague has misinterpreted what I was saying. What I was saying and what you, indeed, have said is that you invited this particular individual. You decided to recognize this individual without informing either the government or the Ukrainian delegation that you would be doing this. When it comes to everyone who was invited to Parliament, of course that…

Mr. Speaker, of course security measures are taken for invitations to Parliament. However, this individual was invited by the Speaker. The government had no knowledge that this individual was invited or that he would be recognized in Parliament.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, like every other member of the House, I was extremely disappointed by this situation. Personally, as a descendant of Jewish Holocaust survivors, I was very hurt, and I know everyone in the House was hurt too. As the Leader of the Opposition knows, and as you mentioned, Mr. Speaker, it was your decision and yours alone. Neither the government nor the Ukrainian delegation was aware of t…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, like all members of this chamber, I am incredibly disappointed in the fact that this individual was invited. As you yourself, Mr. Speaker, confirmed, this individual was recognized in the gallery. I found out just like every other member in the House at that time that this individual was present. This is deeply embarrassing for us as parliamentarians, as Canadians. It is something tha…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as a descendant of Jewish Holocaust survivors, I am personally very hurt by the fact that this chamber recognized this individual. I am sure that everyone feels the same way in this chamber.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Protective Service had the appropriate screening in place to ensure the security of last Friday's event, and that is what I was referring to. However, what I can continue to say is that we all must take this seriously because it is hurting many communities—

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, again, I would ask the Leader of the Opposition to not politicize this issue. He knows, just as well as everyone else in this chamber does, that the decision to invite this individual was yours, Mr. Speaker, and yours alone, and that you did not inform the government or the Ukrainian delegation that you were inviting him or that you would recognize him. You made that public yesterday.…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I know the Leader of the Opposition does not want to rely on the facts, but the facts in this situation are that the government had no prior knowledge that this individual was being invited, nor that he would be recognized. If members go back and recall what happened on Friday, they will see that it was indeed the Speaker of the House who recognized this individual. We were all caught…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. As I mentioned, it was a very painful incident for everyone in the House and, of course, for all Canadians, especially those who have family members who were affected by the Holocaust, namely, the Jewish and Eastern European communities. This really hurts. Personally, I was disappointed by what happened. I would like to ask everyone…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, everyone in the House is deeply hurt by what happened on Friday. We were all taken by surprise. This is something that is completely unacceptable. There are communities across Canada, including Jewish and Eastern European communities, for whom the Holocaust and the Second World War are particularly painful. As a descendant of Jewish Holocaust survivors, I take this ver…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as a Canadian of Jewish origin, I have shared very clearly with the House on several occasions how disturbing this event is for me personally. I also know how disturbing it is for Canadians who are Jewish right across this country. Today, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the day of atonement as we prepare for the new year, this is particularly disturbing. However…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I would again ask my hon. colleague to stick to the facts. We know and he knows, because you stated publicly and in this chamber, that it was your decision to invite this individual, your decision alone to recognize him in the chamber. We were all caught off guard on Friday. Everyone in this chamber stood, because we trusted the Speaker to know who this was. At the same time, we must …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I have tremendous respect for my colleague opposite. He was the Speaker, and he is the House leader now. He knows how this chamber operates. He knows that the Speaker has prerogative for whom they invite to the Speaker's gallery. The Parliamentary Protective Service followed all screening protocols to ensure the security of the event on Friday. Nevertheless, neither the government nor…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, let me continue to lay out the facts for this chamber. It is a fact that the individual was not granted access to either the President of Ukraine or the Prime Minister of this country. He was specifically invited by the Speaker of the House, who did not make either the Government of Canada or the Ukrainian delegation aware. We all found out at the same time, when he was recognized in …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat for my hon. colleague what I have already said because it is a matter of fact and the truth. Neither the government nor the Ukrainian delegation knew in advance that this individual was invited or that the Speaker of the House would draw attention to his presence during his speech. We have all been hurt by this incident and we are deeply disappointed by what happened. Th…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as a Canadian of Jewish origin, I am extremely hurt by what happened last Friday. My grandfather is a survivor of Auschwitz. This is so very painful for me, and I know that it is also very painful for all members of the House. However, the facts are the facts. It was the Speaker of the House of Commons who invited this individual and decided to recognize his presence in the House. No …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as I have already stated, the Parliamentary Protective Service followed all screening protocols to ensure the security of last Friday's event. I agree with the member opposite in that it was profoundly embarrassing for Parliament and for Canada that this individual was both invited and recognized. However, as the member knows, and as all members know, it was the Speaker of the chamber…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as I have stated, I think the episode on Friday was one of profound embarrassment for parliamentarians and for all Canadians. As has been stated clearly, the Parliamentary Protective Service did all of the required security protocols to ensure the security of the event. However, neither the government nor the Ukrainian delegation was aware that this individual would be present in the …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as a descendant of a Jewish Holocaust survivor, this is something that is profoundly disturbing and upsetting to me, as it is to everyone in Canada whose family has been impacted by the Holocaust and, indeed, to everyone around the world. It is not lost on me that the President of Ukraine is Jewish and has also suffered the same way my family did, but I will reiterate to the member op…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows, because she heard it from you this morning and from me several times today, that it was not the Prime Minister who either invited this individual or recognized him. She acknowledged that he was recognized during the Speaker's remarks, because the facts of the matter are that this individual was invited by the Speaker of the House and was recognized by the Sp…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I have clearly laid the facts on the table several times today. In fact, the only person who invited this individual and decided to recognize him was the Speaker of the House. The Parliamentary Protective Service followed all security protocols to ensure the security of the event. However, I agree with the member opposite that this should never have happened. It is profoundly embarras…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, in fact, the Speaker has already clarified and expressed that this was his decision alone, that he did not inform the government or the Ukrainian delegation, that this was entirely his decision. I cannot force Conservative members to believe what the facts are. I can only put them on the table as they are. They have been clearly outlined, and we will continue to stand by them, because…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that neither the Prime Minister nor anyone in his cabinet or in the Ukrainian delegation knew in advance that this individual was invited or that he would be recognized by the Speaker of the House of Commons. As I said many times, the Speaker of the House of Commons invited this individual of his own accord and he made the decision himself to recognize him. It was very pa…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows, because he listened to you this morning and he saw your message yesterday, that you clarified that it was your personal initiative and that you had not notified the government that you were inviting this individual and drawing attention to his presence. We are all deeply hurt. We are hurt as parliamentarians and as Canadians. More importantly, communities acro…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I can only share the facts and the truth. The truth and the facts are that, no, the government did not know that this individual was invited, nor that he was going to be recognized by the Speaker of the House. As the member opposite heard the Speaker say earlier today, this individual was from his riding. He decided to recognize him. He did not inform either the government or the Ukra…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, again, that hon. colleague would have seen the your statement yesterday and heard your apology in the House today. The Speaker confirmed that this was his decision, and his decision alone, to invite this individual from his riding and to acknowledge him in the gallery. We were all caught off guard by this. We all stood and applauded, but this was not the individual we were led to beli…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, again, I would invite my colleagues on the Conservative benches to rely on the facts. You have laid out both in a statement as well as in an apology to the House that it was you who decided to invite this individual. You decided to recognize him in this place without informing the government, the Ukrainian delegation or, indeed, any parliamentarian. I think we are all profoundly hurt …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to ask for unanimous consent to adopt the following motion. I move that, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the House, the recognition made by the Speaker of the House of an individual present in the galleries during the joint address to Parliament by His Excellency Volodymyr Zelenskyy be struck from the appe…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his warm congratulations, and as this is my first time at providing the Thursday statement, I would also like to say that I look forward to working with him and the other House leaders to advance legislation. This afternoon we will continue with second reading debate of Bill C-33, which deals with strengthening the port system and railway sa…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives stay focused on us, we are going to stay focused on Canadians. While the Leader of the Opposition is making personal attacks, we are going to continue to support the personal lives of Canadians. Whether that is by helping them through tough times like COVID or helping them through difficult times right now with inflation, we are going to continue to be there fo…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, what the government has been focused on for the last eight years is making sure that we are advancing measures that help Canadians. We increased the Canada child benefit, and instead of sending cheques to millionaires, we made sure that the poorest and most vulnerable were getting the maximum they could have. When it comes to child care, we have cut fees in half by over 50%. When it c…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it is incredibly disappointing to hear from the members opposite when it comes to being there for Canadians because, over the past summer, there have been hundreds of thousands of Canadians who have been displaced from their homes due to wildfires and climate change-related disasters. In fact, an entire community in Yellowknife was evacuated because of unprecedented wildfires. The Con…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives were in government, they had higher unemployment, lower wages and stagnation when it came to poverty rates. When they are talking about cutting, they are talking about cutting things like child care. They are talking about cutting things like dental care. They are talking about rolling back pensions, just as they did when they were in government. What Canadians …

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, I am glad to see the Conservatives have a renewed interest in housing, because for the 10 years while they were in government, they actually underspent and cut programming when it came to affordable housing. I will just quote something: “Housing insecurity is widespread and homelessness is on the rise”. Oh, that is a quote from 2012. Let us change the topic and see what we are doing…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, what Canadians are sick and tired of is the Conservatives' hypocrisy that they care about affordability for Canadians. Right now in the House they are holding up BillC-35, an act respecting early learning and child care. There are only 19 minutes left in debate to get this bill passed through the House to go to the Senate. Conservatives keep saying they care about affordable child car…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is disappointing that the Conservatives focus on the negative instead of focusing on how we are trying to work to improve this bill. At the end of the day, they did vote in favour of the bill, so I hope they will continue to do that. What is also important is that while the Conservatives keep saying that private operators are shut out, that is just not true, particularly in Alber…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for bringing forward what I think is an important private member's bill that is going to address an important need. I think she is raising a really important issue that is affecting thousands of people across this country, so I look forward to having more conversations with her and with others on this bill.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, there was a lot in my colleague's speech that was simply untrue. Conservatives talk about fighting for choice, and there is nothing in this legislation that prevents parental choice about what kind of child care they choose to pursue. That is very much a Conservative ideological point. There is nothing in this bill that divides Canadians. I really do not understand where the Conserv…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the leader of the New Democratic Party and the entire NDP caucus for their collaboration and for their support of Bill C-35. This is something that all parliamentarians can be extraordinarily proud of. It is historic and it will transform this country. We have heard the Conservative leader of the official opposition call the support that the federal government …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my colleague and I had our babies around the same time, so I experienced a lot of the same challenges she did, although I had just one, whereas she had two at the same time. I commend her for that. I really want to thank her for her support of this bill, and I really want to thank her for talking about all the advocates who have come before us, because, really, we stand on their sho…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, yes, it was a very interesting process, and at times a challenging one, to negotiate with the 13 different provinces and territories, but as my colleague alluded to, regardless of political stripe, in the end, every single province and territory signed on to the initiative and are now moving forward enthusiastically. In fact, the current Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, campaigne…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, in contrast to the Conservatives, I am an optimist, and I believe that when one works hard, develops good policy and does things that actually help people, it is going to make a difference. We have already seen the creation of over 50,000 new spaces in our country, in provinces and territories and in communities big and small. We are committed to creating another 200,000 spaces. Tho…