Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Dr. Gulzar Cheema and iCON for their work supporting multicultural and multilingual communities, patients and caregivers across British Columbia. Their work includes community education, knowledge sharing and technology of chronic disease prevention and self-management. Dr. Cheema has been the leader of the South Asian portfolio o…
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Mr. Speaker, small businesses in Surrey Centre and across Canada are wondering how the reference period for eligibility for the emergency rent subsidy, wage subsidy and emergency business account will be impacted in 2021. Many SMEs experienced dramatic losses in profit in 2020 and wonder how this will impact their eligibility for support in the upcoming period of March 14 to June 5. Could the mini…
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Mr. Speaker, the investor-state dispute mechanism and principle is, in my own opinion, actually a really great initiative. However, when they handicap governments for the purpose of just simply trade or their own personal interests, or they inhibit them from creating environmental laws or labour standards, that is where the challenge is. Many times, states have used the opposite to inhibit trade s…
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Mr. Speaker, today is a first for me too. I have never shared time with a Conservative member of Parliament. I want to thank, in the spirit of co-operation, the Conservative member of Parliament for Battle River—Crowfoot. I welcome the opportunity to rise in the House today to speak to the investment chapter and the investment dispute resolution mechanism in the Canada-U.K. trade continuity agreem…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the member of Parliament for Langley—Aldergrove. I hope I am serving his previous place of work well. I commend him for his public service as well. I take that point very seriously and not just with respect to other English-speaking places with Commonwealth traits, although that obviously helps because our legal systems are very similar in the Commonwealth, inc…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that. I had the good fortune of being on the trade committee this year when it was hearing from Mr. Verheul and other trade negotiators for Canada. In this case, it is a transitional agreement, so there is really not much new to it. It is really protecting what has already been debated in the House and existed previously with CETA. It is basically cutting and pasting that…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to recognize R. Paul Dhillon for being among BC Entertainment Hall of Fame's latest inductees. As a South Asian award-winning screenwriter, producer, director and journalist, R. Paul has made his community very proud. He has been able to shed light on the experience of B.C.'s South Asian population as well as highlight the significant contributions that Canada's South Asian…
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Mr. Speaker, youth gang and gun violence has impacted my community in Surrey and the entire Lower Mainland for decades. Last week, I was able to meet with Brian Aasebo from the Surrey Anti-gang Family Empowerment program, a federally funded program that received $7.5 million from Public Safety Canada in January 2019. Brian was able to report the promising early benefits that this program is bringi…
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Mr. Speaker, businesses across the country have been hit hard by the pandemic. Many have seen dramatic losses in profit. Small business owners in Surrey Centre are wondering how their eligibility for the Canada emergency rent subsidy, Canada emergency wage subsidy and Canada emergency business account will be impacted in 2021, as some of them experienced decreased profits in 2020. Can the minister…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague has stated, we have been helping small businesses. We have been giving them wage subsidies and support, but these are businesses that were already established and had people working for them. Therefore, the benchmark is from what they were earning before they took a reduction in revenue or sales. It is based on that. I am well aware that some restaurants started operat…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member of Parliament for Vaughan—Woodbridge. It is a pleasure to be virtually in the House, from my home in Surrey, British Columbia, to speak to Bill C-14, an act to implement certain provisions of the fall economic statement. It contains so many incredible and important initiatives, everything from COVID recovery for Canadians and Canadian business…
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Mr. Speaker, the member has not read or seen the facts. Since the Liberal government came into power in 2015, we have lowered the small and medium-sized business tax rate by almost 3%. We probably have the lowest tax rate in North America, but definitely the lowest this country has ever seen. It went from almost 12% down to 9% during this time, all to support and help small businesses. During this…
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Mr. Speaker, our government has been front and centre, and our ministers responsible for these areas have been taking a very active look and taking feedback from all sectors. We completely recognize that the hospitality and tourism sectors have been probably hit the hardest in this country, and a lot needs to be done to help and support them during this time. Many of the businesses are taking adva…
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