Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for Nunavut for that question. I think she speaks to some of the serious problems that we have, in Nunavut specifically but also across the country, in terms of the lack of availability of rapid tests, which are a critical tool in managing COVID. In short, yes. I absolutely agree with her.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague, the member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake. I rise this evening to speak to Bill C-10, an act respecting certain measures related to COVID-19. Specifically, what Bill C-10 does is allocate $2.5 billion toward rapid testing. Since the outset of the COVID‑19 pandemic, Conservatives have consistently and repeatedly called on the government to ma…
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Mr. Speaker, what I am saying is that the government has messed up. The government has failed to provide leadership when it comes to getting rapid tests out the door. The government has dropped the ball repeatedly. Is the hon. member proud of the fact that his government delivered a third of the rapid tests that it committed to delivering to the province of Ontario? Is he proud of the fact that th…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, for that question. No, the pandemic is not over. We will be living with COVID for a long time, but we are entering a new stage. COVID is endemic, and we need to come up with ways to live with COVID. That is why governments are lifting restrictions around the world. That is why provinces are lifting restrictions, and that is why p…
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Mr. Speaker, to give the short answer, it is because the Prime Minister sees short-term political gain in dividing Canadian society. The member noted that 90% of Canadians have been vaccinated. That is a good thing. However, if 90% of Canadians have been vaccinated, what is the government seeking to achieve with the continuation of these vaccine mandates, other than to punish Canadians and divide …
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Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Conservative motion before the House this afternoon calling on the government to finally come up with a plan to end the federally related COVID restrictions and mandates, including the government's punitive and discriminatory vaccine mandates. When it comes to the mandates, the Prime Minister says he is merely following science. If he were really follow…
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Mr. Speaker, I respect the parliamentary secretary, and I say respectfully that I find it a little rich for the hon. member to be talking about rapid testing. For the past two years, the government has repeatedly dragged its feet when it comes to rapid testing. We on this side of the House, from day one, were encouraging the government to act with respect to rapid testing. Now, in year three, the …
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's final sentence encapsulates the issue: a lack of leadership on the part of the federal government. We have seen this throughout COVID with the lack of PPE, lack of capacity in our hospitals and lack of rapid testing. The list goes on. What we need to do now, in year three of this pandemic, is realize that we will have to live with COVID. We will have to develop str…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition. The petitioners are calling on the government to take a stronger stand against the egregious human rights violations being perpetrated by the Chinese Communist regime, including recognizing the ongoing Uighur genocide. They call for the imposition of Magnitsky sanctions against perpetrators of these human rights violations.
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Madam Speaker, I would respectfully say that the hon. member is misinformed. In fact, the mandate that he spoke of is one mandate, but it is not the only mandate. In my speech, I noted that if a person is not fully vaccinated they cannot get on a plane or train. Federally regulated employees have lost their jobs and they have lost benefits if they are not vaccinated. Those are punitive mandates th…
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Madam Speaker, these mandates have not worked, but I do appreciate the hon. member's question about health care. I will note for her that, under the Harper government, health care transfers increased 6% annually through to 2014, every single year. With respect to the $71 billion of new spending, there is no money for health care. This is at a time when we have a serious issue in terms of capacity …
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member is quite right. We have a significant backlog now of immigrants who are skilled workers and who are unable to get here to join the workforce. He is absolutely right that this is a serious issue that the government, despite spending a lot of money, has failed to address.
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Madam Speaker, I rise this morning to speak to Bill C-8, which would enact tax and spending measures outlined in the government's fiscal and economic update introduced in December. The Liberal government has now been in office for more than six years. Six years in, we have an inflation crisis, an affordability crisis and a supply chain crisis. The government has presided over massive deficits and …
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With regard to the Prime Minister's itinerary, since January 1, 2016: (a) how many times and on what dates did the Prime Minister's published itinerary contain inaccurate information regarding meetings, travel, or locations, respecting information that was known at the time the itinerary was published; (b) in each case where the itinerary contained inaccurate information, (i) why did inaccurate in…
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Madam Speaker, I rise to table a petition on behalf of Canadians who are concerned about the 21-year campaign of gross human rights violations perpetrated by the Chinese Communist regime against Falun Gong practitioners, including the killing of practitioners on a mass scale for their vital organs to fuel the Communist regime's organ transplant trade. The petitioners call on the government to impo…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a petition signed by Canadians who are concerned about forced human organ harvesting. In particular, the petitioners call upon Parliament to see the speedy passage of Bill S-223, which seeks to amend the Criminal Code as well as the Immigration, Refugee Protection Act to prevent Canadians from travelling abroad to acquire human organs that were removed with…
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moved that Bill S-206, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (disclosure of information by jurors), be read the first time. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be the sponsor of Bill S-206, which passed in the Senate unanimously last week. This bill would implement a key recommendation of the unanimous 2018 justice committee report on juror supports initiated by the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford,…
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Madam Speaker, I rise to speak to Bill C-5, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. In the six years that I have been a member of Parliament, I have never seen a greater disconnect between how a bill has been advertised and what is in the substance of the bill. The Liberals today have been doing a good job of patting themselves on the back, touting Bill C-5 a…
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my friend, the parliamentary secretary, for his recent appointment. The problem with the bill is that it is not as advertised. The parliamentary secretary spoke about the fact that the bill supposedly helps those who are struggling with addictions, except there is nothing in the bill that provides that. He speaks of minor possession. The Public Prosecution Ser…
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Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary spoke about court decisions. Well, perhaps he should read the Hills decision from the Alberta Court of Appeal. That decision upheld as constitutional subsection 244.2(3) on the reckless discharge of a firearm. Notwithstanding that it has been upheld by the Alberta Court of Appeal, the federal government saw fit to include it among the mandatory sentences th…
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Mr. Speaker, I did put forward a recommendation. It was that we would support legislation like the bill introduced by my former colleague Bob Saroya, Bill C-238, to increase penalties for gun smugglers and those who are in knowing possession of smuggled firearms. Also, we have advocated for increasing funding for the CBSA. It is vital, and it was in our platform.
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Mr. Speaker, the short answer is that it would help dangerous criminals. It would help drug pushers and drug dealers who are killing Canadians every single day. By contrast, the hon. member for Tobique—Mactaquac introduced legislation that would help marginalized persons, with work on a framework to reduce recidivism and pilot projects to look at best practices to establish a Canadian strategy to …
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is absolutely right. There are significant problems along the Canada-U.S. border, problems that have been well identified and that the government has failed to solve.
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Mr. Speaker, is the hon. member serious? Has he read the bill? It is quite obvious that this legislation does roll back sentencing. It eliminates a whole series of firearm and drug offences, which I detailed. Perhaps he should read the bill.
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Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that when we let dangerous offenders out to do house arrest rather than putting them behind bars where they belong, there is a greater risk they are going to commit other offences. This will contribute to perpetuating the backlog in the courts. I think the member is absolutely right and raises a valid point.
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Mr. Speaker, in the last election, the Conservatives put forward a comprehensive plan to deal with mental health and addictions, including investing in drug treatment centres so that persons who are suffering from drug addictions can get the help they need and can be rehabilitated and re-enter society.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Communist China has upped the ante against democratic Taiwan with provocative military pressure. The U.S. Secretary of State has warned China that any move to invade Taiwan will have serious consequences. The government has been absolutely silent. Will the government join our allies and call on China to stop its campaign of aggression, and stand with Taiwan?
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, China, by far and away, is the largest emitter of GHGs and has made no hard commitment to reduce them over the next decade. One would think that this would be of concern to the Prime Minister, yet when he jet-set off to the farcical COP26, the Prime Minister, instead, launched his latest attack on Canadian energy, committing to a hard emissions cap. With Canada contributing a mere 1.5…
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Mr. Speaker, it is great to see you in that chair. It is really an honour to rise in the House for the first time in the 44th Parliament. Before I speak to Bill C-2 and this government's out-of-control spending, let me take this opportunity to thank the residents of St. Albert—Edmonton for placing their trust and confidence in me for the third time. It is a great honour, indeed it is the highest h…
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Mr. Speaker, I think my friend, the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, raises a valid point. We need to do our part to ensure that those who are vulnerable, unable to work or marginalized have the supports and are not hung out to dry. More broadly speaking, what we have to return to is a paycheque economy by reopening the economy and getting it moving again. Unfortunately, under the government'…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we are going to study the bill carefully and identify where there are gaps. The member is quite right when she speaks of the cultural sector, which has been uniquely hurt as a result of COVID. I think it speaks to a broader problem. We have seen a government that has spent a firehose of money, in many cases giving it to people and sectors that did not need it…
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Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect to my friend, the member for Kingston and the Islands, under the Prime Minister's watch, our inflation is the second highest in the G7. I would submit that is hardly a record to be proud of. I would further note that the member's finance minister has now belatedly admitted that we have an inflation crisis.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to present a petition on behalf of Canadians. The petitioners wish to draw the House's attention to the fact that Alberta has one of the highest unemployment rates in Canada and, in particular, many young men are out of work. They further wish to draw the House's attention to the connection between a paycheque and one's self-worth. They highlight the impact that this…
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Madam Speaker, no, I do not believe it is fair. We saw one example of that with Air Canada. We need to help Canadians get through this very difficult time, and the best way to do that right now is to move forward with a plan to reopen the economy so that Canadians can get working again and Canada can recover. That was entirely lacking in this budget.
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Madam Speaker, with respect to the hon. member for North Island—Powell River, we on this side of the House have been fighting for everyday Canadians, unlike the Liberal government whose policies have benefited some of the very wealthiest Canadians. What I entirely reject are the efforts on the part of the NDP to redistribute wealth, increase taxes massively and undermine Canada's competitiveness a…
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Madam Speaker, we have a government that has spent a lot of money, but has not targeted the dollars to help Canadians. The member for Barrie—Innisfil posed a question earlier today about new businesses that have been completely shut out of the government's COVID supports. While small businesses and new businesses were struggling, however, the government had no trouble rewarding Liberal insiders li…
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise to speak to Bill C-30, the budget implementation act. The Liberals, after failing to deliver a budget for two years, finally got around to delivering one a few months ago. I have to say that the budget delivers. The only problem is that it delivers in all the wrong ways. The Liberals have delivered a historic deficit of $354 billion, the largest deficit in Ca…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-315, An Act respecting a framework to strengthen Canada-Taiwan relations. Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to introduce the Canada-Taiwan relations framework act. Canada does not have a formal relationship with Taiwan and that complicates our interactions. As such, the legislation seeks to establish an orderly mechanism by which to conduct relations by estab…
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Mr. Speaker, as life returns to normal in countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., here in Canada the government has offered no plan to reopen the economy, no plan to end the disastrous hotel quarantines and no plan to see a return to normalcy. Enough is enough. After 15 months of failed COVID policy after failed COVID policy, why is it that the government’s only plan is to keep Canadians locked d…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, taking a page from the Chinese Communist regime and its lack of transparency, the government, in defiance of Parliament, is refusing to turn over all documents relating to the shocking transfer of deadly pathogens from the Winnipeg lab to the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology and the termination of two scientists linked to the Wuhan institute. This is a major national security brea…
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Madam Speaker, I have to say I was a little astounded at a question put to the member by the member for Kingston and the Islands when he said he was perturbed by the fact that she would be caught up in the nuances of the definition. Is that not precisely what we are dealing with, not conversion therapy in the abstract but a particular piece of legislation? Would my hon. colleague not agree that if…
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Madam Speaker, last year the government entered into an agreement to compensate federal public servants with Phoenix pay damages, and yet one year later retired and former public servants cannot even apply, let alone be compensated, because the government has failed to set up a claims process. After one year, when will the government stop dragging its feet and see that retired and former public se…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to speak to Bill C-204. It was introduced by my very good friend, the member for York—Simcoe. This legislation is straightforward, in that it would prohibit the export of plastic waste to foreign countries for final disposal purposes. Before I discuss the merits of this bill, let me take this opportunity to commend my friend for York—Simcoe for his leadership in bringi…
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Madam Speaker, the government's decision to designate all plastic manufactured items as toxic is absurd. It is inconsistent with the government's own science assessment, and it threatens thousands of jobs. Can the minister, with a straight face, tell the more than 100 employees at Pro-Western Plastics in St. Albert that the health and food plastic products that they manufacture are akin to lead, m…
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise in strong support for Bill C-268. This is a straightforward piece of legislation, the objective of which is extremely important, namely to ensure that the charter rights of health professionals who conscientiously object to participating in medical assistance in dying, or MAID, are protected, charter rights that include freedom of religion and freedom of cons…
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Mr. Speaker, since the outset of COVID, we have seen 60,000 small businesses shut their doors. More than 200,000 are at risk, according to the CFIB, and yet we continue to see significant gaps with regard to some of the government's COVID relief supports for small businesses, including with respect to the commercial rent assistance program for companies that have both a holding company and an oper…
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Madam Speaker, I will be very brief. The very simple answer is the member is absolutely right. Yes.
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Madam Speaker, in response I will quote a letter sent from the National Coalition of Chiefs to the Prime Minister in December on that very question. They said: There are implications to this legislation, as currently drafted, that is likely to have negative impacts on the many Indigenous communities that rely on resource development... It is unfortunate the government did not heed the concerns of …
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Madam Speaker, I reject in part the premise of the member's question, which is to suggest that this has widespread support among indigenous communities. It is opposed by the National Coalition of Chiefs, the Indigenous Resource Network, the Indian Resource Council, Chief Dale Swampy, president of the National Coalition of Chiefs, and the Mohawks of Montreal. I could go on.
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Madam Speaker, my constituent Abhi opened a restaurant, the Flame Kitchen, just before COVID. Since then he has been unable to draw a wage and the restaurant is at risk of permanently closing, yet his business has been completely shut out of the government's COVID supports because of a failure to include new businesses. For a government that claims to have Canadians' backs, why after 14 months doe…
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