Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. Canadians have the right to protest. Protest has long been part of our democracy. It is so important that we enshrined it in the Constitution, in the four fundamental freedoms enumerated in section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. All Canadians have the fundamental freedoms of conscience …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question and comment. I believe that it is very important for everyone to obey the law. This responsibility is incumbent upon all citizens of Canada, because all Canadians are subject to the law. The police are responsible for enforcing the law. If someone does not obey the law, the provincial and federal governments also have the authority to make people ob…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I believe that the best way to achieve climate emission reductions is to ensure that there is a price on carbon that is equitable across all regions of the country, and equitable across all economic sectors of our economy. Reductions should be achieved through that mechanism. I also believe that an essential part of getting the job done is being honest with ourselves about our recor…
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the member for Yellowhead. The government's foreign policy is not serving the country's interests nor its values, and the Speech from the Throne we are debating today does little to address this shortcoming. It does little to address Canada's decline on the world stage. The Speech from the Throne makes no mention of a foreign policy review. We …
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, in the last election campaign, we presented a climate change plan that was supported by experts. Our plan adopted the government's plan for putting a price on carbon for industry, and we presented a plan for the consumer sector. We truly believe in the challenge of climate change. We understand that it is a global challenge and that Canada has to do its part.
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Madam Speaker, that plan was not for all consumers in all 10 provinces. It was restricted to provinces that had refused to allow the federal government to put in place its own plan. Obviously with the Supreme Court's ruling, it is clear that the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, where this was the case, will certainly be putting in their own plans at some future date to comply with t…
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Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Lakeland. Canada's security is inextricably linked to that of Europe and it has been for centuries. Once, the conflicts between the French and British empires had a direct impact on us here on this continent, and conflicts between the Spanish empire and other empires have had a direct impact on the security on this continent. Today, our se…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Ukraine has requested lethal defensive weapons from the government. Many of our allies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland and the Czech Republic, have granted this request and have supplied lethal defensive weapons. The Prime Minister has refused this request. Why?
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Mr. Speaker, diplomacy not backed by credible threats of the use of military force is nothing more than empty talk and rhetoric. Canada should be joining our other democratic allies and working in a multilateral fashion with our NATO partners to grant Ukraine's request and provide lethal defensive weapons. When will the government quit being so naive about its foreign policy and ensure that it cou…
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Mr. Chair, I just have a comment for the member, whom I have known for a number of years now. Russia's military is not the only hard power tool that it has to intimidate Europe and Ukraine. It can also use energy as a weapon. It supplies 40% of Europe's natural gas, and if it cuts off natural gas supplies to Europe, people will freeze, industries will shut down and European GDP will plummet. The B…
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Mr. Chair, I could not agree with my colleague more. In fact, what is going on right now often reminds me of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s where the duly elected and recognized government of Spain, the republican government of Spain, was under threat from the nationalists, from a civil war and a coup d'état that had erupted, led by Spanish generals. Spanish republicans pleaded to western demo…
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Mr. Chair, the answer to the question is simple. For centuries Canada's security, the safety and security of our citizens and the safety and security of our borders have been inextricably tied to that of Europe. If democracies in Europe are being threatened with an attack, with invasion, then Canada must stand up not only for the security of those nations in Europe but for the security of Canadian…
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Mr. Speaker, last week, the government sent a strongly worded letter to U.S. senators about the electric vehicle tax credit and its devastating impact on the Ontario auto industry, but the same government has not contacted Democratic Senator Joe Manchin who, three weeks ago, called on President Biden to approve Keystone XL even though the Canadian oil and gas industry contributes six times more to…
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Mr. Speaker, this government says that it stands up for all sectors, it says that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian, but it acts like a government of the Laurentians not a government of Canada. When Ontario's auto industry is threatened, it stands to attention, but the softwood lumber and Keystone XL issues languish for years. When is this government going to stand up for all Canadians and al…
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Madam Speaker, quite simply, here is the problem: The government's affordable housing measures are a drop in the bucket given the challenge that Canadian households are facing. Household debt in this country, largely made up of mortgage credit debt, has skyrocketed from about $1.9 trillion the first year the government was in office to $2.6 trillion in the most current year. That is a $700-billion…
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Madam Speaker, the motion calls on the government to look at freeing up 15% of federal real estate. The member opposite keeps talking about parks. We are not referring to parks in our country, which all Canadians treasure and want to protect. We are talking about real estate like the federal government building at Front and Bay Street in downtown Toronto. It is a five-story building right next to …
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Madam Speaker, we are proposing constructive solutions to the housing crisis we are facing. The government is not coming forward with anything constructive to deal with what is a real crisis. The government has overseen a regulatory system in our financial sector that is putting households at risk, which is leading to skyrocketing housing prices, and it is also overseeing fiscal policies that have…
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Madam Speaker, the government's failure to properly oversee and regulate Canada's banking system and its failure to properly manage fiscal policy are the two reasons Canadian families are struggling with skyrocketing housing prices and why Canadian families are burdened with record high levels of household indebtedness. The government is also putting the stability of our financial system at risk. …
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Madam Speaker, I agree. We need more affordable housing in this country. However, no matter how much money the government puts into affordable housing programs in this country, it is not going to address the underlying problem, which is our skyrocketing levels of household indebtedness and skyrocketing housing prices. Governors of the Bank of Canada only have one or two tools at their disposal to …
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Madam Chair, the government joined the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2018 and it is now a member. Last June, the bank left the door open to funding the military junta in Myanmar. As a member of the bank, has the government voiced its opposition to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to funding the military junta in Myanmar?
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Madam Chair, on the Olympics, last week, the U.K. government indicated no ministers would be attending the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. Yesterday, President Biden indicated that the administration would be implementing a diplomatic boycott of the games. Is the government going to do the same? When will it make a decision?
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Madam Chair, I believe two weeks ago today, the most powerful senator, in my view, in Washington, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, called on the President to reverse his decision on Keystone XL in light of the President's desire to see more oil enter the United States. Has any member of the government contacted Senator Manchin to discuss his statement on this issue two weeks ago an…
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Madam Chair, President Biden has said in recent weeks that the U.S. needs more oil. In fact, he has called on OPEC on several occasions to pump more oil, even threatening consequences if it does not. He has recently authorized the release of 50 million barrels from the strategic reserves in the United States, and has coordinated with Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, India and even China to …
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Madam Chair, I have a couple of questions on our bilateral relationship with the United States. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission issue has been unresolved for six years. Thirteen U.S. senators and members of the House of Representatives have written twice to the Canadian government on this issue. The finance committee, under former MP Wayne Easter, issued two reports two years in a row recommend…
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Madam Chair, I have a question on Ukraine. Russia has amassed some 90,000 troops at the Ukraine border. Bloomberg News reported today that President Biden will call the leaders of France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany to talk about the situation in Ukraine. Bloomberg News also reports that the president is going to call Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Canada has troops in Ukraine under Oper…
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Madam Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Calgary Forest Lawn. My first question is on Afghanistan. Many Afghans are trying to flee the country. The state of Qatar has a unique and special relationship with the Taliban. Has the government had a démarche with the state of Qatar to request that it intervene with the Taliban to allow persecuted minorities and Afghans who assisted C…
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Madam Chair, I will move to questions on China. The government has started to use the term “Indo-Pacific” recently. It is reported that the government is coming forward with a new policy on China. Could the minister tell the House when that new policy will be forthcoming?
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Madam Speaker, to help Afghan refugees, the government could approach the Government of Qatar, which has diplomatic relations with the Taliban. The Government of Canada could ask the Qatar government to insist that the Taliban protect refugees and allow them to leave Afghanistan to come to Canada. This is just one diplomatic tool the government could use to improve the situation.
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Madam Speaker, I will respond to the second part of the hon. member's question first. The motion is reasonable in calling for the government to hand over to the law clerk unredacted documents, because the motion, in one of the earlier clauses, specifies the government is also to hand over the proposed redactions it believes to be injurious to national security so the law clerk knows what the gover…
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Madam Speaker, I believe the government should focus on practical measures it can take to evacuate Afghans from Afghanistan. One I mentioned to my colleague from the Bloc is for the Government of Canada to démarche with the Government of Qatar in order to impress on the Government of Qatar the need for the Taliban to release some of these persecuted minorities and to release Afghan allies who assi…
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Madam Speaker, the way the western alliance left Afghanistan this past summer is a betrayal of the legacy of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the NATO alliance who fought in the war in Afghanistan for freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Some 3,500 men and women from NATO coalition forces paid the ultimate sacrifice and died, including 158 Canadian men and women in uniform and one diplo…
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Mr. Speaker, under the government, our relationship with Washington has declined. Our closest trading partner and ally needs more oil. How did we get into the ridiculous situation where the President is pleading with OPEC to pump more oil, where the President has ordered 50 million barrels to be released from the strategic petroleum reserve, and where the President is coordinating with countries s…
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Mr. Speaker, the United States is short on oil. President Biden has said he wants oil production increased. He has called on OPEC to pump more. He has released the petroleum reserve, and he has coordinated with other countries, but not Canada, to release their reserves. Last week, the most powerful senator in Washington, Democrat Joe Manchin, called on President Biden to approve Keystone XL. Did t…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister could not get a phone call with the President to informally resolve Line 5. Instead, he had to formally invoke a treaty to get a meeting with the White House. The Prime Minister visited Washington last week, and instead of coming home with some issues resolved, he came home with a doubling of the softwood lumber tariffs. It is clear the Prime Minister does not have …
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that Canada’s standing in Washington has declined. The Prime Minister committed to a renewed relationship with the Biden administration. Instead, we got electric vehicle tax credits that threaten our auto jobs, stringent buy American policies, measures targeting our dairy farmers, actions against pipelines that have contributed to skyrocketing energy prices and now a doubl…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, Canadian doctor David Card was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics last month for his pioneering empirical approach. He shares the prize with two other economists. David, the son of Yvonne and the late Ted Card, grew up on a dairy farm in Wellington County, just down the road from where I grew up. In fact, we both worked at different times for the same farmers long ago. He is now a p…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a very short intervention on this point. I believe that the issue in front of us regarding privilege and regarding your ruling earlier this week in finding a prima facie case of privilege with respect to the government's failure to obey the June 2 order of the House as well as the new information that has come to light today that the federal government has gone to court to seal…
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