Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Parliament recognized, with Liberal MPs supporting, that a genocide, including forced labour, was taking place against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province in the PRC. In response, the Liberal government imposed sanctions. Today, a Liberal member of Parliament in committee intimated in questioning Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a former PCO official, that there was and is no Uyghur forced lab…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Hong Kong has sentenced newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison simply for exercising his rights and freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association, which are guaranteed in an international treaty, the Sino-British Joint Declaration. First, will the government reiterate its call for Jimmy Lai to be immediately released? Second, will…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I am delighted to rise to participate in this very important debate, because I think checks and balances on power and how power is distributed in Parliament are an extremely important topic of debate. We have all seen what has happened in other democracies over the last number of years, the weakening of guardrails and the importance of guardrails in restraining executive power. Part…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I think the way in which many of these reforms can be implemented is quite simple. Most of these reforms would require the procedure and House affairs committee to table a report in this House recommending these reforms, and that the report be concurred in. That would be one way to adopt these reforms. The other is for any member of the House, through a private member's motion, or f…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleague, the member for Calgary Confederation, with a great deal of interest. I would encourage him to look at Motion No. 517, which was introduced in the 40th Parliament and which echoes many of the issues he has raised. I note that in that motion, which the Liberal Party later adopted in the 42nd Parliament, the 43rd Parliament and the 44th Parliament, one of th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I am open to all potential options for the way this place sits, but I would note that we already sit the least of any major national legislature in the west. The U.S. House of Representatives typically sits between 165 and 190 days a year, and the U.K. House of Commons typically sits between 146 and 162 days a year. We sit only 129 days a year, and provincial legislatures sit even l…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I think that any ideas that concern democratic reform here in the House should be considered by members of the House and by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. As I mentioned before, I believe that the three reforms I presented are the easiest and most significant ways to improve the situation. That said, I thank my Bloc Québécois colleague for his comments.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question about importing goods made with forced labour. That is a major problem. I think the crux of the problem is this. Canadian law bans the importation of products produced from forced labour. This was first agreed to in the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement and then, subsequently, implemented in Canadian law. Importing products into Canada via forced…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this is not a new approach. I enumerated five bills that we already supported in the last year of this Parliament, Bill S-2, Bill S-3, Bill C-4, Bill C-5, Bill C-12, and now, in addition to that, Bill C-14 and the bill that is now in front of the House, Bill C-18. We have been supporting some pieces of legislation to move ahead. The government would like to present a narrative that th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's question allows me to point out in greater detail that the Canadian government was not as successful in negotiating this trade agreement with Indonesia as the United Arab Emirates or the European Union were. The United Arab Emirates secured a 10% price preference in Indonesian procurement tenders and enhanced access for U.A.E. businesses to Indonesian government pr…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would simply say in response that I think the more pressing issue to protect our political process and our democracy is for the government to expeditiously and forthwith implement the foreign influence transparency registry, which I think would counteract the single biggest threat to our democracy, which is Beijing's foreign interference.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, Canadians elected a minority government, and Conservatives fully respect the democratic will of the electorate. That is why, as His Majesty's loyal official opposition, we will carry out our constitutional responsibilities within the House. On some matters, we will oppose the government as the official opposition, which is a constitutionally mandated role in a Westminster parliamentar…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Beijing's foreign interference is the biggest threat to the security of Canada; that is what the Prime Minister told Canadians last spring. Less than a year later, the Prime Minister has entered into a so-called strategic partnership with Beijing, yet we still have no foreign influence transparency registry. When the bill was being debated, the government said it hoped to have the reg…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the record of the Liberals over the last 10 years has been the worst economic record in this country since the Second World War period. That is an incontrovertible fact. If members look at the labour productivity tables, for example, what will they see is that labour productivity has flatlined over the last number of years. Even with Statistics Canada's recent upward revision in GDP n…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight some labour productivity statistics that members of the House may not be aware of. This is from Statistics Canada, table 36-10-0480-01: In 2006, labour productivity was $56.8 per hour. In 2015, it was $61 per hour, an increase of $4.2 an hour. In 2024, it was $63.2 an hour, an increase of only $2.2. It is clear that the record of the previous Conservative gov…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government over the last 10 years has arguably the worst economic record since 1945. Here is just one set of data points: Overall labour productivity has declined in each and every one of the last four years. I cannot think of any four-year period since 1945 where this has happened. It is in CANSIM table 383-0033. Productivity was $65 per hour in 2021, $64.60 in 2022, $63.…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to ensuring federal transfers to the provinces for health and social services, I think the most important thing is economic growth and long-term prosperity. Economic growth is the best way to ensure long-term prosperity. We need to increase our productivity. There is nothing about that in the budget, and I think that is a serious problem in Canada.
Read full speech →Government Orders
I am honoured to participate in the budget debate. I think that the context of this budget is important. First of all, it was delayed for an unprecedented number of months and introduced in the fall, which will now be the new government's budget cycle. It was also preceded by a lot of rhetoric from the government about what kind of budget it would be, with commitments about making this a budget fu…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, that question highlights the financial illiteracy that pervades the House. The fact of the matter is that, if we go to Statistics Canada's labour productivity data, we will see that, over the course of the 1990s and the early aughts, right to 2015, a good part of 25 of the last 35 years in this country, labour productivity consistently marched upward. What we have seen, though, in the…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to represent Wellington—Halton Hills North. The Canadians who live in the riding, in Wellington County, the town of Halton Hills and the city of Guelph, are truly exceptional. In the last seven years, three people from Guelph and Wellington County have received a Nobel Prize. Donna Strickland received a joint Nobel Prize in physics, and David Card and Peter Howitt se…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said that the biggest threat to the security of Canada is Beijing's foreign interference. Parliament passed a law to create a registry to combat this interference a year and a half ago. The government said it would be up and running by year-end. The government must consult with opposition leaders and introduce a motion to appoint a commissioner. There are only t…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, during the last election, some candidates were vetoed for foreign interference, and others were targeted. CSIS Director Dan Rogers said just last week that China and Russia continue to target Canada. We have had one federal election without a registry, and we could have a second one, at the speed that the government operates. Where is the sense of urgency in getting the registry up an…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, Bill C‑233, an act to amend the Export and Import Permits Act, was introduced by the member for Vancouver East. I would like to thank the hon. member for introducing this bill, as it allows us to highlight the role of the Export and Import Permits Act. The bill would amend the Export and Import Permits Act, which governs Canada's defence and military exports, by removing exemptions fo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the government often touts its record on net debt, but it fails to take into account that Canada is the smallest of the G7 economies. It has the smallest currency of the G7 economies, and it is not a reserve currency like the U.S. dollar or the euro. It also fails to take into account subnational debt in this country. It is among the highest levels in the OECD, which the federal gover…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is safe to say that the budget is getting panned. Here are just some headlines today on the budget: “Canadian aid cuts will bite deeply in global crisis zones, relief agencies say”; “Federal budget signals [the Prime Minister]’s new tone on climate policy, but not much substance”; “A ‘generational budget’ that does little but set federal spending adrift”, and that article, by the w…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, last July, bond-rating agency Fitch warned that a material rise in the debt-to-GDP ratio and a material rise in our deficit could lead to a credit downgrade. This budget would double deficits and lead to an ever-increasing debt-to-GDP ratio. Will the government acknowledge that it is putting this country's credit rating at risk, not to mention that it is saddling younger Canadians wit…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the last Liberal budget had a fiscal anchor of deficits of less than 1% of GDP. This budget would double those deficits, averaging 2% of GDP. The last Liberal budget had a fiscal anchor of a declining debt-to-GDP ratio. This budget would increase the debt-to-GDP ratio. Will the government admit that its fiscal anchor is weaker than the previous Trudeau government's?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the last budget, of two years ago, had a fiscal anchor of a deficit of less than 1% of GDP in future years and constantly declining debt-to-GDP ratios in subsequent years. This budget has a fiscal anchor of deficits averaging 2% of GDP over the next number of years and a rising debt-to GDP ratio. Will the finance minister confirm that his fiscal anchor is weaker than the last finance …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is inexplicable that the government did not use the leverage it had in this situation to advocate for and get a deal for the some 120,000 Canadians who are receiving an unindexed U.K. pension. I want to thank my colleague for raising that question in the House. It is inexplicable. For much of the past 20 years, there was no opportunity to use leverage with the United Kingdom govern…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree that not all the problems are related to the tax system. Part of the problem has to do with our rules around ports and commercial infrastructure. We are facing a major challenge when it comes to increasing our exports to Europe and Asia because of the lack of port capacity in places like Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver. Forestry products, for example, compete with other export…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my hon. colleague from York—Durham. For most of Canada's history, the United Kingdom was Canada's largest trading partner. As late as 1941, the United Kingdom, not the United States, was Canada's largest export market. For those watching who wish to find this data, I found it in a Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce publication entitled “Canada'…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will reply to the hon. member's question by simply repeating the facts, which were obtained from Statistics Canada. Canada's exports, expressed as a percentage of our GDP, were 44% of our GDP in the year 2000. They were 32% of our GDP in the year 2024. By any analysis, that is a precipitous drop.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in the last election, during the debate, the Prime Minister was asked to name the biggest threat to the security of Canada. He answered in one word: “China”. Now the foreign affairs minister is talking about a strategic partnership with Beijing, including security. These two things seem contradictory. Can the minister reconcile these two things, or is this another example of the Prime…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, another question about what the Prime Minister called the biggest threat to the security of Canada relates to foreign interference. In the last election, some candidates were vetoed for interference and others were targeted, and millions of Canadians continue to live in fear because of threats from foreign interference. The foreign influence transparency registry was passed into law l…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from the Bloc Québécois for bringing this bill forward. I think it will give us an opportunity to talk about the treaty process here in Canada and in the House of Commons. The first multilateral treaty negotiated and signed by Canada was the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The first bilateral treaty negotiated and signed by Canada was the Halibut Treaty be…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this year, in Wellington County, the Township of Puslinch celebrates its 175th anniversary. Older than Confederation, Puslinch was established in the Province of Canada in 1850 under the municipal corporations act of 1849, which had been introduced by the great ministry of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine. Named after a place in England, the township is filled with histor…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the bill, in part 1, sweepingly replaces multiple ministers in multiple departments and multiple quasi-judicial entities with a single minister. In clause 6, it says, “The Governor in Council may, by order, designate a member of the King’s Privy Council for Canada as the Minister for the purposes of this Act.” Can the minister tell the House who the minister responsible for this act w…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Finland is also undertaking this big project. They announced their purchase of F-35 jets around the same time Canada did, in early 2022. Finland purchased 64 jets, Canada 88. The Auditor General has reported that facilities and training for the F-35s are years behind schedule. The Finns' F-35s will achieve full operational capability in 2030. The government will not achieve that until…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General has reported that the cost of the F-35 jets has increased by billions, by almost 50%. I have a simple question. Are these increased costs included in the Prime Minister's recently announced plan to meet NATO's 2% target by April 1 of next year?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, who is in charge of the clattering train? The Prime Minister has lost the confidence of Canadians, and now he has lost the confidence of his MPs and his cabinet. He is focused not on Canadians, but on himself as he clings to power. Yesterday, the government posted a $62 billion deficit, blowing through the guardrails. The government is careening out of control. Things are in complete …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, not only did the statement post a $62 billion deficit, but also, it revised 2025 growth down, and it revised 2025 unemployment up. The Prime Minister has failed to recognize the gravity of the moment. He is focused not on Canadians, but on himself. His government is in utter and complete chaos. When will the Prime Minister realize that the end is here, that his government and this Par…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has lost control. He has lost control of the economy. He has lost control of immigration. He has lost control of so many files. He has now lost control of the government. It is long past time for an election. The Prime Minister has sat too long here for any good that he has been doing. In the name of God, will he go to Rideau Hall, call an election and end the chaos…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Finance Minister said that the government would not crash through the deficit guardrail. The Globe and Mail reports today that all the Prime Minister's new spending is upending the deficit target and that finance officials view it as “unwise” and “making little sense.” Tonight, we vote on $24.8 billion in new spending. Will the Finance Minister tell us why we should vote for somet…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Globe also reports that the finance minister and the Prime Minister are “at odds” over all this new spending. It reports that the Prime Minister's Office has viewed the finance minister as “ineffective” at communicating. It also stated that a senior Liberal said that the current dynamic appears to be similar to what happened to Bill Morneau before he resigned in 2020. John Turner …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, Reverend Peter Barrow passed away at age 92. He was the beloved husband of Carol and the devoted father of Trish, Jane and Maggie, as well as the cherished brother of Margaret. Reverend Barrow served as minister of Knox Presbyterian Church in Georgetown and Limehouse Presbyterian Church in Limehouse for 32 years. A lifetime member of the Masonic Lodge, Reverend Barrow was Georgetown…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, here is what Stephen Poloz, the past governor of the Bank of Canada, said just two days ago, “I would say we're in a recession, I wouldn’t even call it a technical one.” The past governor says that we are in a recession and the current deputy governor of the bank says that it is an emergency. When will the government start listening to the experts and understand that its policies on i…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it has been eight months since fiscal year end. How are we supposed to vote on billions in spending and taxation without the deficit number? Speculation is that the government has blown through its fiscal anchor despite the finance minister promising that “This is our fiscal anchor—a line we shall not cross, and that will ensure that our finances remain sustainable so long as it remai…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I go back to the 1991 case during the government of then prime minister Brian Mulroney, where the government of the day said that it was not going to hand over the documents related to the Solicitor General because of privacy concerns. The House ordered the documents be handed over, and the government complied at the following meeting of the Standing Committee on Justice and the Sol…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, in answer to the first question, the word “appears” is used, because the only restrictions on Parliament's absolute right to order the production of documents are that those documents be present in Canada, not extraterritorially, and that they exist. That is why they use the word “appears” in the previous sentence. With respect to the question about the U.K. case, it was a legal opi…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, quite simply, it is because the Treasury Board Secretariat's policy on government security would require the leader to sign a certificate or an undertaking to not reveal any information to anyone else under threat of criminal prosecution. This is a security clearance process that the Prime Minister himself has not gone through. That is why the leader of the official opposition has s…
Read full speech →