Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, yes, there is a need for more housing units to be built, which is why, in this mandate, we are proposing a $4-billion housing accelerator fund that will help to increase the supply of housing. It is why we are making it easier for new homebuyers to buy their new homes through the flexible first-time homebuyers incentive. We are trying to reduce the closing costs and to create a new re…
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations to you on your new role. Affordable housing and the high cost of safe and suitable housing is one of the biggest issues for the residents of my riding of Scarborough Centre, so I welcome the opportunity to speak to this pressing issue and share some of the solutions our government is already working on, which, unlike the few actual specifics proposed in this motion, ac…
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Mr. Speaker, it is really important that we have a housing plan for indigenous peoples. We have invested in a plan for indigenous people. The national housing strategy targets many groups like seniors, indigenous people, and women and children fleeing home. I look forward to working with my colleague to ensure that we have more housing built for indigenous people.
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Mr. Speaker, yes, we are seeing inflation. It is a global phenomenon. If the hon. member really wants to help Ontario families, it is really very important to talk to his Conservative cousins in the Ontario government on $10 a day child care. That program will put more money in the hands of families in Ontario. They will save approximately $1,000 every month if the Ontario government agrees to sig…
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Madam Speaker, yes, we need to thank the people who helped the Canadian mission in Afghanistan. Canada and Afghanistan have had a long-lasting relationship, with the long deployment, and many Afghan people have been there for our Canadian troops. It is very important that we continue our work and ensure that we bring the vulnerable people here, the people who have helped, as well as those people, …
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Madam Speaker, I have been a member and the chair of the citizenship and immigration committee. We have done important work in that committee to ensure that the settlement agencies that do the important work to settle refugees here, as well as new immigrants, have all the supports they need to help. I have seen first-hand the work of those agencies in my riding. I will continue to work with them t…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the hon. member for all the work we did together on the immigration committee in the last Parliament. I agree with the member that it has been slow. We need to do better, and better is always possible, but I want to remind him that the department and the officials continue to process applications for Afghan refugees day in and day out. …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate you on your role; it is good to see you sitting in the chair. As this is my first speech in the 44th Parliament, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Scarborough Centre for placing their trust in me once again to be their strong voice in Ottawa. I will work hard every day to be worthy of their trust and to bring the issues they ca…
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Mr. Speaker, today, November 29, is recognized by the United Nations as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. I am proud to recognize this day as the chair of the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group, a group of nearly 50 members of Parliament and senators representing all parties, working together in a shared, non-partisan commitment to peace in the Middle Ea…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague on her election and on her speech. Today, in Ontario, 748 new COVID cases have been reported. As of yesterday, 15 of Ontario's public schools were closed due to COVID spread. In the 43rd Parliament, a person like me who has a compromised immune system was able to fulfill their duties as a member of Parliament. I was able to vote in spit…
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, entitled “Immigration Programs to Meet Labour Market Needs”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to the eighth report.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to present e-petition 3312, which has been signed by nearly 5,000 people across Canada. The petitioners note that the protection of the rights of children around the world is a priority of the government and they note that all signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child have the obligation to ensure basic due process rights for children in ac…
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Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to a community leader and mentor we lost too early. Brother Saleh Hafejee, with whom I worked closely in recent years, was a very special person who made a great impact in our community. He did this through helping the generation of youth as a sports coach and mentor; through his 25 years of service to the Scarborough Muslim Association, Jame Abu Bakr Mosque, recen…
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Mr. Speaker, last Sunday, the community of London, Ontario was the site of an atrocious act of terrorism. Four lives were lost, taken, and a child was left in the hospital, all this loss because a visible Muslim family went for a walk and someone filled with hate killed them. Many Canadian Muslims are once again living with fear that they too could be targeted simply for being a Muslim. This is un…
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Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the following two reports of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration: the sixth report, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (A), 2021-22”; and the seventh report, entitled “Safe Haven in Canada: Special Immigration and Refugee Measures are Urgently Needed for the People of Hong Kong”. I want to thank all of the me…
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Mr. Speaker, have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, entitled “Immigration in the Time of COVID-19: Issues and Challenges”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report. I would like to thank all members of the committee for their co…
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Mr. Speaker, public transit is at the heart of a clean, inclusive recovery that starts our economy and creates good jobs. From construction workers to transit drivers, workers on assembly lines and the small business owners supporting these projects, tens of thousands of jobs are created when we invest in public transit. Investing in public transit supports Canadians through the pandemic, position…
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud of our government, which is working with provincial governments to make sure we end this fight against the pandemic. Over the last year, we have continued to work with provinces and territories. We have made sure we provide the support they need to fight this pandemic. That support has ranged from PPE and vaccinations to investing in the safe restart agreement, where billio…
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Mr. Speaker, budget 2021 aims to finish the fight against COVID-19 and provide much-needed support to businesses and families finding it difficult to make ends meet. We are investing in them, but at the same time we are also laying the foundation for the post-pandemic recovery. We are investing in our seniors, child care and our youth, so we can lay the foundation for the economic recovery post-pa…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to virtually participate in today’s debate on the budget implementation act, as this is an important piece of legislation, which I believe we need to pass swiftly in order to deliver much-needed support to my constituents in Scarborough Centre. Budget 2021 is an important and transformative plan, and Bill C-30 begins the process of putting this vision into…
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Mr. Speaker, we have seen that this pandemic has not affected all Canadians in the same way. Minority communities, racialized communities and indigenous communities have been hit hard. I have seen, in my own riding of Scarborough Centre, that communities with workers in low-paying jobs have been affected, and we have continued to invest in those Canadians. Since we came into power in 2015, we rais…
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Mr. Speaker, I suggest that our focus should be on how we can create a safer future for women and indeed for everyone who serves in our armed forces. There is much to be learned from the Deschamps report, and I look forward to Justice Arbour building on her work with her independent review of the Canadian Armed Forces, which will include the creation of an external reporting system that is indepen…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the hon. colleague that our government has absolutely no tolerance for misconduct. We need to get the politics out of this and focus on how we can change the culture in the armed forces to ensure that [Technical difficulty—editor] place so that when someone wishes to move forward with a complaint, they have confidence that their complaint will be taken seriously. At t…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha. I rise today to discuss an important issue for the women and men who serve our country, and indeed for all Canadians: how we can best ensure that members of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces are guaranteed a safe, respectful and harassment-free work environment. All member…
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Mr. Speaker, we recognize that the measures we have taken since we came into government have not gone far enough. That is why we announced last week that Madam Arbour will conduct an independent review of the Canadian Armed Forces, which will include the creation of an external reporting system that is independent from the chain of command and meets the needs of those impacted by sexual misconduct…
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Mr. Speaker, we know that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened already existing challenges that seniors face around social isolation, which can be harmful both to physical and mental health. Last year, with help from the new horizons for seniors program, organizations in my riding, such as Tesoc Multicultural Settlement and Community Services, were able to run programs to help with this. Tesoc's pro…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, in 2017, I had the pleasure of hosting a job fair in my riding focused specifically on people with autism. It was organized by Substance Cares. This event was not only the first of its kind in Canada but in the world. As we enter World Autism Awareness Month in April, I would like to highlight the reason for this initiative and its success. Autism spectrum disorder currently affects o…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the following two reports of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration: the third report, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (C), 2020-21”, and the fourth report, entitled “Main Estimates, 2021-22”.
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Madam Speaker, this week we are celebrating women and the role they play in our society. While we have made a lot of progress towards equality, we know we have a lot of work left to do. The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately impacting women, as well as racialized and indigenous communities. Some are calling it the “she-cession”. In December, the government launched the 50-30 Challenge to enco…
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Mr. Speaker, today I present e-petition 3039, which has been signed by over 1,300 people, including constituents from Scarborough Centre and Scarborough—Guildwood as well as people across the country, including many Canadians of Sri Lankan origin. The petitioners call our attention to the Government of Sri Lanka's mandated cremation order for all people in the country whose cause of death is relat…
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Mr. Speaker, a survey by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation found that racialized Canadians are three times more likely to be exposed or targeted by violence on social media. This can lead to hate crimes, which are up by 7% this year. Four years ago, six people were murdered at a mosque in Quebec City. It was a crime motivated by Islamophobia and xenophobia, with a perpetrator radicalized thro…
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