Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit payments being sent to prisoners in federal or provincial or territorial correctional facilities: (a) how many CERB benefit payments were made to incarcerated individuals; (b) what is the value of the payments made to incarcerated individuals; (c) what is the value of the payments in (b) which were later recouped by the government as of April 28…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has built his entire image on being a feminist, yet, after six years, he has allowed this toxic culture to continue under the watch of his defence minister, who sat idly by and allowed the most powerful military men in our country to continue to demean and disrespect our women in uniform. What message does this send to women and to men in our country, to aspiring wo…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, it is very good to be back on the floor of the House of Commons. Like so many parliamentarians, I have been participating virtually for months, so it really feels great to be here today with you and everyone in the House. I am pleased today to put some thoughts on the record concerning Bill C-273, an act to establish a national strategy for a guaranteed basic income. What is a guara…
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Madam Speaker, Canadians were shocked to learn that two scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory may have shared confidential information with the Chinese Communist regime. This is a serious attack on our national security, but the Prime Minister refuses to be transparent with Canadians and is failing to protect them. Will the Prime Minister commit to terminating any co-operation between…
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Madam Speaker, Canadians are disturbed that two scientists at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg may have been passing top-secret information to the communist regime in China. Both scientists were fired in January, but the Prime Minister will not tell us why. The scientists were given top-level security clearance by the Liberal government, and we know they shipped deadly viruses like Ebola …
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Madam Chair, the minister unfortunately did not answer my question of how much the private company that administers the student loan was paid. Again, it manages $24 billion of student loans. We do know that in 2017 and 2018 Finastra was paid over $77 million to run the student loan program. In fact, the taxpayer paid the company over $410 million over a five-year period to administer the program. …
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Madam Chair, the Conservatives and Canadians supported pandemic relief efforts and programs, because they were sold to us as supports for Canadian families and Canadian businesses that were deeply hurt or at the risk of closing due to government shutdowns. They were not designed, at least from our perspective and what we were told, for profitable billionaire companies. At the same time, the federa…
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Madam Chair, the minister keeps quoting that stat, but quite honestly, it sounds like some of these companies could have saved these jobs on their own and had billions of dollars to spare. The finance minister wrote a book about guys like Mr. Smith, where she argued the super-rich became rich because they were at the right place at the right time. Maybe she is right. A billionaire American tax che…
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Madam Chair, I am not sure why the minister would be proud of providing a billionaire company with the wage subsidy when it is making a lot of money. That is my question. Ultimately, I would like to know this as well. Robert Smith, the CEO of Vista Equity Partners, which owns Finastra, the parent company, recently paid $139 million in tax fines to the American government, which is among the larges…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. Nearly 700,000 students will receive the Canada student loan this year, and the program administers about $24 billion of student loans. This year, the program is in fact projected to grow about 32%. To administer this massive program, the Liberal government signed an eight-year contract with a private softw…
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Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if the Deputy Prime Minister is proud that her government-funded PenderFund Capital Management, which has $1.5 billion in assets, and one of its most prominent funds ever recorded was 40% of returns last year, or JM Fund Management, which had a pretty good return in 2020, not yet seen since 2016, and ranked one of the third-best performing hedge funds in 2020. I am just…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are now learning that at least 32 companies that filed for bankruptcy before the pandemic was declared took millions from the wage subsidy, but no jobs were protected despite the taxpayer investment. It is becoming more and more clear that the Liberal government failed to provide the necessary oversight on this program worth over $100 billion. Meanwhile, a woman entrepreneur…
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Mr. Speaker, the question on many Canadians' minds is when they will become fully vaccinated. By what date will enough vaccine doses arrive to Canada so that every Canadian who wants one will become fully vaccinated?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I do not know if the Prime Minister is refuting the announcements by the Provinces of Alberta and Ontario on AstraZeneca, but it is really not clear. I am going to ask him again for clarity concerning a provincial response, what he said and what his advisers have told Canadians. Again, will folks who have received the first dose of AstraZeneca, as he has, be able to receive a second d…
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government has presided over the delivery of unclear and changing advice on the AstraZeneca vaccine. There have been supply problems with the company that the federal government has not addressed, and now some provinces have stopped using this vaccine altogether. What happens now for Canadians who have received one dose of AstraZeneca? Should they be getting a second dose …
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Mr. Speaker, while small businesses in my riding are struggling with yet another lockdown, the Liberals have been showering their rich Bay Street friends with millions of taxpayer dollars. We recently learned that a hedge fund company worth $180 billion in assets received nearly $3 million from the taxpayer through the wage subsidy. Meanwhile a woman entrepreneur in my riding who opened up a gym r…
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Mr. Speaker, the member did not answer my question, particularly not for the female entrepreneur in my riding. She did not address the fact that Liberals provided $2.9 million to Fiera Capital, a hedge fund whose executives and shareholders made over $100 million in bonus and dividends last year. I feel this is a tremendous disrespect to Canadian taxpayers because we are seeing regular hard-workin…
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Mr. Speaker, Sarah and her husband had been trying to have a baby for 15 years, and their first little one finally arrived in January. Carrie is expecting her first children, twins, in August. Samantha has two little ones at home and a third on the way. What do these women all have in common? Well, they all lost their jobs due to COVID. Most are on EI now, but all will have their first year with t…
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Mr. Speaker, while I appreciate the minister's remarks, this is not the first time the Liberal government has done this. We know that in March 2020, they barred pregnant women from receiving CERB, forcing them onto EI months earlier than planned and cutting short their maternity leave, yet here we are again. The Liberal government, we know, is really showering money on everyone at unprecedented le…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to data breaches involving Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), including data breaches that may have involved IRCC facilities or subcontractors abroad: (a) how many data breaches have occurred at IRCC or CBSA since January 1, 2020; (b) what are the details of each breach, including the (i) description or summary of the incid…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, we know that in 2018, a woman in the Canadian Armed Forces came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against the highest-ranking officer in the military. The Prime Minister says that his office took those allegations seriously, and yet we know that the Minister of National Defence, the Clerk of the Privy Council and the Prime Minister's chief of staff were aware but did nothi…
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Mr. Speaker, for three years the Minister of National Defence knew about sexual harassment allegations involving women serving in the military against Canada's highest-ranked general, and he did nothing. He even refused to look at the evidence and he never followed up on it. This is a woman's worst nightmare, to have the courage to bring forward something like this but then to be ignored and dismi…
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Mr. Speaker, we already have a report on this. Now is the time to actually act on that. The minister's announcement today, as he knows, has no timeline, no start date, no urgency. Leah West was sexually assaulted by a senior officer while serving in our military and has said that not a single member of the Canadian Armed Forces, DND leadership or the government has reached out to her since then. S…
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Mr. Speaker, this is a very frustrating situation for all women to hear who have witnessed anything like this. The bottom line is that a woman came forward and the minister dismissed it. He did not take it seriously. He did not follow up in three years and now he is announcing a report. We have already had a report, yet nothing happened since then. We want to see actions. Will the minister acknowl…
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Mr. Speaker, in 2018, a woman in the Canadian Armed Forces came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against the highest-ranking officer in the military. The Prime Minister says that his office took those allegations seriously. However, many people in his entourage were aware but did nothing. The Minister of National Defence, the Clerk of the Privy Council and the Prime Minister's chief o…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his government keep saying, with a straight face, that sexual harassment is not tolerated, and yet they gave General Vance a pay raise after the allegations were made. That seems to be how things are done in the old boys club, and, as a woman, I find that very disappointing. The Prime Minister is not keeping the promises he made to women who want to believe in h…
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Mr. Speaker, when a woman makes a sexual harassment claim, there should not be a “wrong door” for her to knock on. She should be listened to, and she should feel safe. The Prime Minister has failed in that regard. Can he imagine what a woman feels when she is harassed by her superior and then completely ignored when she dares to speak out? It is a nightmare. Is the Prime Minister aware of the mess…
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Mr. Speaker, 4,000 Manitoba essential workers will be fully vaccinated months earlier than the Prime Minister planned, thanks to the kindness and generosity of the North Dakota people. While transporting goods within the United States, Manitoba truckers will receive both recommended doses, two doses, within a short six-week period. Full credit goes to Manitoba's premier for his visionary leadershi…
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Mr. Speaker, this is serious. People are getting sicker, and they are dying. Provinces are heading back into the third wave of the pandemic with lockdowns. ICUs are overwhelmed, and field hospitals are being built in Ontario. A Vancouver nurse is asking for prayers because the situation is worse than she has ever seen. She is seeing people as young as 20 years old in her ICU. Canadians are frustra…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister would do well to remember that the third wave is raging in Canada, and Canadians are tired of waiting for vaccines. We are seeing dual citizens in Ontario crossing the U.S. border to get vaccinated. Many Canadians know snowbirds who have done the same. Everyone but the Prime Minister can see that success in the U.S. and the U.K. has allowed them to begin reopening, …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Mégantic—L'Érable. Yesterday, the federal Liberal government tabled its first budget in over two years, which happens to be the longest period of time our country has been without a budget in Canadian history. It was the first budget in a crisis so vast in scale that the last time we faced a crisis of this magnitude was the Second World …
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Mr. Speaker, there are a number of things not in this budget, like a plan for how we are going to get out of this and a real, strategic, innovative, thoughtful plan of how we are going to get our economy back to normal to make sure the days of tomorrow are better than the days of today. On the health care transfers, the Conservatives have been very clear. We know that the health care burden on the…
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Mr. Speaker, the people who we should ask whether it is fair for them to pay for this are the members of my generation. The millennial generation and their children are going to be the ones burdening the tax increases that will surely come to pay for this. We know that inflation is coming. We know that higher interest rates are coming and, yet, the Liberal government before the pandemic was settin…
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Mr. Speaker, it is disappointing that the member, again, like many of his colleagues, has yet to show humility for the shortcomings of his Liberal government. In the speech I gave I was trying to be very honest and earnest about what I have heard. I do stand firm on the position that if the Prime Minister had provided real leadership we would not be in a third wave of the pandemic, experiencing hu…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Conservatives stand firmly with Canadian women who have been let down by the Prime Minister and the Liberal government. There are 1.5 million women who lost their jobs in the first two months of the COVID crisis, and all economic gains made by women over my lifetime have been completely lost during the tenure of the Prime Minister. We know that 500,000 women are still out of work and …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his work at the community level to support youth and recidivism rates. I do have some concerns about this bill, however. My understanding is that it eliminates prison time if somebody robs someone with a gun or fires a gun at someone with the intent to harm them. Further, it eliminates mandatory minimums if a criminal sexually assaults someo…
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Mr. Speaker, the universal basic income, UBI, is an expensive, risky and untested experiment that will leave millions of Canadians behind as we continue to battle the pandemic. An extensive study was done by economists from three of Canada's leading universities. UBI is “not the best policy option to effectively tackle poverty”. It will instead leave seniors, people with disabilities, youth aging …
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Mr. Speaker, I am personally very alarmed at the spending. We recognize that in these difficult economic times with these shutdowns, because the government shut down small businesses and the private sector, that the government has the responsibility to support Canadians. My concern is that it is looking for unfettered access to increase the debt burden by $700 billion in the next three years with …
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Mr. Speaker, I would have to further look into the provision she is talking about. It sounds very interesting. What I can say about refugees is that the Conservative Party strongly supports humanitarian efforts to support the world's most vulnerable. When I was shadow minister for immigration for the Conservative Party, I was most shocked to see that although the Liberals' narrative is that they a…
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives by and large agree that health transfers must be stable and that they must meet the needs of Canadians, but the difference between Liberals and Conservatives is that we believe health care transfers should be provided to the provinces with no strings attached. We repeatedly see Liberal governments attaching various provisions to this spending. That is not something we ag…
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Mr. Speaker, before I get started, I wish to offer my deepest sympathies to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the passing of her strength and stay, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, her husband of 73 years. Canada mourns for this tremendous loss in the royal family, and on behalf of my constituents, I wish them strength during this incredibly difficult time. I am thankful for the opportunity to pu…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to jobs funded through the Youth Employment Skills Strategy in the 2020 calendar year: (a) what was the total number of jobs funded through the program in 2020; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by riding; (c) what was the total amount of funding provided through the program, broken down by (i) province or territory, (ii) riding; (d) how many of the jobs funded were disrupted or elimina…
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With regard to Visa Facilitation Services Global (VFS Global) processing visa applications for the government: (a) what is the list of countries in which VFS Global currently processes visas for the Canadian government; (b) what guarantees, if any, does the government have with VFS Global to ensure that any information collected from visa applicants is not shared with the company’s Chinese state-o…
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Madam Speaker, in 2018 the Liberals attempted to cut $2.5 million from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s accessible book program, but the disability community fought back. Non-profits NNELS and CELA now administer the program and provide three million Canadians who have reading disabilities with access to books and resources at no extra cost to them. This year, in the middle of the p…
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Madam Speaker, it has been great to get to know the hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot over the last year and a half. We were elected at the same time. Yes, he hits on a very good point. They have stopped now, but over the last week, the Liberals were calling us obstructionists. Of course, we know that is completely untrue. We were very prepared to work with them. I did not get into this in my …
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Madam Speaker, the Conservatives absolutely support getting help to Canadians that need it, particularly in this incredibly difficult time when there are very little alternatives. We have been disappointed repeatedly that the Liberal government comes forward, announces all these programs, yet leaves thousands and thousands of Canadians behind, much like the CRB-EI issue. Yesterday, in the HUMA com…
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Madam Speaker, it has been such a pleasure to work with the member for Thornhill over the last year and a half. I consider him very much a mentor. It has been such an honour to learn from him and his esteemed reputation, his knowledge. I thank the member. To his question, I have raised this concern several times with the minister and the response I keep getting for CRB-EI issue and thousands of Ca…
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure today to put further words and remarks on the record regarding Bill C-24. I would like to conclude my remarks with what I touched on before question period. It is imperative, and it is the responsibility of the Liberal government, to bring forward a coherent strategy to bring back jobs in Canada. It has been 12 months, an entire year, since the World Health Organiza…
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Madam Speaker, I am honoured to put further remarks on the record concerning Bill C-24, an act to amend the Employment Insurance Act, the Canada Recovery Benefits Act and another act in response to COVID-19. The four main changes in this legislation are as follows. It amends the EI Act, to temporarily increase the maximum EI benefit period from 26 weeks to 50 weeks for the period beginning Septemb…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his excellent speech. I appreciate his extensive knowledge on boil water advisories and learned a lot from his remarks. I also appreciated his story about his grandmother. It was very inspiring, and I can relate to that. My question about Bill C-24 is as follows. I agree with the member that it is important that we pass this bill. I am glad to see the p…
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