Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after eight years under the Prime Minister, Canadians cannot afford a home of their own. It costs $2,500 a month for a couple to rent a room in a townhouse. That is not for the townhouse; that is just for a room. Mortgage payments have doubled. Construction of new housing is actually in decline. The Liberals' $90-billion transformational housing scheme is making the situation worse. O…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I have news for the minister. I have read his national housing plan, and it is not working. It is making the situation worse. Every member on this side of the House can be very proud of the fact that we did not write a blank cheque for Liberal failures when we voted against it. The housing minister does not seem to even understand that we are in a housing crisis. The Liberals' expensi…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the housing crisis is holding Canadians hostage. Young people who dream of having their own home have been relegated to spare bedrooms and homes with roommates because of the sky-high cost of housing. In Canada’s biggest cities, like Toronto and Vancouver, an apartment can go for upwards of $1,300 a month. Even in smaller cities, like London, Halifax, Victoria and Winnipeg, a single r…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, well, it is pretty clear it is not working. The average rent in Toronto for a one-bedroom apartment is now over $2,500 per month. Canadians who are going to renew their mortgages this year are faced with record increases in interest costs, and now the CMHC has increased fees by up to 200% on the programs builders use to finance multi-unit residential construction. If the government re…
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Mr. Speaker, “we see the interest rate increases over the course of 2022 leading to lower housing starts this year.” Those are the words of a market analyst at the CMHC. Excessive Liberal borrowing and spending caused a spike in interest rates and will stall new housing construction. CMHC has also said that we need to build 5.8 million homes by 2030 if we have any hope of restoring affordability. …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, in over 70 countries today, the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer individuals are criminalized. In 12 of those countries, consensual same-sex conduct may be punished by death. Their only crime is being themselves. On July 1, 1960, on the eve of the passage of the Canadian Bill of Rights, Prime Minister Diefenbaker declared, in this House, his pledge to uphol…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in the House on behalf of the people of Parry Sound—Muskoka to talk about the issues that matter to them. Obviously, the affordability of life is a key issue in Parry Sound—Muskoka. Trying to find a home is a big issue. Housing is probably the number one issue in Parry Sound—Muskoka. It is not just the big cities of Toronto and Vancouver where the tent…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the government, housing is broken. Health care workers are living in tents, students are living in homeless shelters, vacancy rates are at an all-time low and rental rates are now $2,000 a month. Home prices have doubled under the government's watch, and nine out of 10 young people who do not own homes in this country think they never will. Everyone agrees that Ca…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister's inflationary policies driving up prices and interest rates, the cost of living is crippling for many Canadians, especially those looking for a home. Rent has doubled, if one can find a place to rent. After eight years of the Prime Minister, mortgages have doubled as well. Nine out of 10 young people in this country who do not own a home beli…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to occupancy levels of government-owned building spaces, broken down by metropolitan area: (a) how many building spaces are owned by the government; (b) what are the maximum occupancy levels of the building spaces; (c) what are the current occupancy levels; (d) what are the projected occupancy levels, once the public service finalizes its transition from working remotely during the pan…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, Liberal inflation is making everything Canadians need more expensive. Food, fuel, rent and mortgages are all more expensive thanks to Liberal excessive borrowing and spending. The average rent in Canada is now a whopping $2,000 a month. In Toronto and Vancouver, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment is now double what it was in 2015. A mortgage getting renewed this year will cost $7,00…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, never has a government spent so much to accomplish so little. The current Liberal government promised a life-changing housing plan. Here is the change. Students are living in homeless shelters, health care workers are living in tents and hard-working Canadians are left on the street. They did everything we asked. They worked hard. They got an education. They got a good job. Now they a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is a really great idea. In fact, what we need to have here is a situation in which all levels of government are working together. Let us not kid ourselves. Municipalities and to a smaller degree provinces are the front lines of the housing crisis in this country. The federal government has a role to play in working with municipalities and provinces and, frankly, with the private …
Read full speech →Government Orders
For one true measure of a nation is its success in fulfilling the promise of a better life for each of its members. Let this be the measure of our nation. Madam Speaker, as I was listening to the fall economic statement, I thought of the words of President John F. Kennedy in his message to Congress in February 1962. I thought it was important to measure this fall economic statement against whether…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I can assure the member that when I was running for leader of this party and criss-crossing the country, Canadians were not talking to me about that. They were talking to me about what it costs to live in this country and the abysmal record of the government. That is what we are here to talk about, frankly, not what somebody else may or may not have said about anything. This is abou…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am not going to get trapped in the ideological entrenchment of the NDP, but the fact of the matter is that the Liberal government collects billions and billions of tax dollars and promptly wastes it. Instead of collecting more taxes from companies and hard-working Canadians, I suggest we get rid of the government, put a Conservative government in place, and actually spend their mo…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister broke his promise to Canadians. In 2017, he launched his national housing strategy, calling it, among other things, a “life-changing plan” to get Canadians into homes and to keep them there. The minister even recently gave housing bureaucrats $48 million in bonuses for a job well done, but we all know the housing crisis has gotten worse under the government. Will th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Auditor General laid the facts bare for all Canadians. Never, ever has a government spent so much to deliver so little. Canadians see the results. They see the tent cities growing all across this country. Can the minister please explain to the House and to every single Canadian who cannot find a home right now why the government would give $48 million in bonuses to feder…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe how tone deaf that answer is. He is talking about cellphone bills when people cannot afford to eat and heat their homes. This coalition would have people believe that more inflation-causing borrowing to give Canadians $500 to help them pay for thousands more dollars in groceries, thousands more dollars for heating their homes and thousands more to pay their mortgages …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal coalition has racked up over $500 billion in inflation-causing deficits, turning essentials like heating our homes and eating healthy food into luxuries. Just as Canadians are starting to pay high, skyrocketing prices to fuel their homes, skyrocketing visits to food banks are happening in Canada as well. When will this costly coalition stop hurting Canadians and cancel…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, there is a housing crisis in Canada. Too many first-time homebuyers are giving up on the dream of ever owning a home. Market rentals are hard to find. Affordable rentals are impossible to find. I have heard from housing providers and community groups all across the country that are so eager to help be part of the solution, but are continually stymied by NIMBY municipal politicians and…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I really enjoyed my colleague's speech. It was well thought out and well prepared. It was interesting to listen to the Liberal member talk about the poor kids. We worry about children dearly in this Parliament. However, the reality is that this legislation has come about because of a backroom deal between the NDP and the Liberals so the Liberals can stay in power. Does the member not …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, in 1994, the people of Gravenhurst wisely selected John Klinck to be their representative, first as the councillor for Ward 3, then as a Muskoka district councillor and then, in 2000, as their mayor. After his 10 great years as mayor, the members of Muskoka district council wisely selected John Klinck to be their chairman, a role he has performed with grace and dignity for the last …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, on top of record Liberal deficits, record inflation and a tripling of the carbon tax, now this tax-and-spend Liberal government is coming after workers' paycheques and taking more. This week, we learned that the average Canadian family now spends more on taxes than they spend on the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing combined. Canadians are desperate. Will the governmen…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the ever-increasing Liberal carbon tax I am receiving messages from Canadians across this country who are wondering how they are going to heat their homes and eat this winter. Now the Liberals are coming after workers' paycheques, with CPP and EI increases. Canadians cannot afford to have the government take any more of their money. They are desperate for relief from the hig…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there it is once again: more rhetoric, more talk, but no real action. If announcing billions of dollars could solve this problem, we would have a housing surplus in this country right now. In fact, the number of houses per 1,000 Canadians has gone down dramatically since 2016 under this government's watch. Again I ask the minister: When is the government finally going to have the cour…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canada is in a housing crisis. Too many families are unable to find a safe roof over their heads and many young Canadians are just being forced to give up on the dream of ever even owning a home. There is a simple solution, though. It is to build more houses and increase the housing supply. All we see the government do is pose for photo ops at spending announcements, but there is a cu…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I am thrilled to rise today to inform the House that this past Friday, June 3, under an expansive Manitoba sky and with the sun beaming down on family and friends, our colleague and my dear friend, the member for Kenora declared “I do” to Ms. Danaka Howden, a stunning bride and an even more beautiful person. I am also relieved to inform the House that, despite his many obvious flaws, …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the $2,959,500,151 in expenditures on transportation machinery and equipment, as listed in Volume Ill of the 2021 Public Accounts of Canada: what are the details of each expenditure, broken down by department and agency, including, for each, the (i) vendor, (ii) amount, (iii) date, (iv) description of goods, including the volume purchased, as well as the make and model, if applicabl…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the 2021 Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program: (a) how many employers were randomly selected for inspections or audits; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by federal riding; (c) how many employees hired through CSJ were interviewed by government officials as part of the inspections or audits; and (d) what is the breakdown of (c) by federal riding?
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, that is the kind of message that Canadians need to hear more of, those of us on all sides of the House seeking to work together. I admit I had an exchange just last night in the lobbies with the member for Edmonton Strathcona and it got heated. I realized that I was guilty of arguing with her in the same way I was to speak about today. I regretted it. I exchanged an email with her t…
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, “Grant thy servant an understanding heart that I may discern between good and evil.” As I took my seat for the very first time in the House, these words of Solomon came to mind, seeking wisdom to lead. Here I was in this place, a place I had dreamt many times that maybe one day I would have opportunity to sit in and represent my fellow citizens. Especially today, as I speak in the H…
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his gracious comments and kind words. The feeling is certainly quite mutual. I think that, very specifically in this moment, it is an overreach. However, I think the hon. member heard from me that what concerns me more than anything else are the decades of a political discourse in this country that is designed to divide us. All parties are guilty of …
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, I will admit to being surprised. I was not expecting that. I think that it absolutely should be. I think that there should be more free votes in this place, frankly. I would simply say, yes, I agree.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, recently a constituent of mine in Parry Sound—Muskoka told me the nightmare she experienced trying to access parental benefits after she spent weeks in SickKids hospital with her newborn. She sent her paperwork for parental benefits to Service Canada in late August 2021. She delivered her baby in September, and only yesterday finally received her benefits. Service Canada officials, at…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I think the first step in all of this is to get the outrageous spending under control. I completely agree with my colleague that it will take time. There is no real quick answer to this. However, it starts with stopping the borrowing, getting the spending under control, spending smarter and investing in the areas where it makes most sense. We need more housing supply, for example. W…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is an always an honour to stand in this place and speak on behalf of the people of Parry Sound—Muskoka from their seat here. I am speaking on Bill C-8 today, and I am excited to do so, because it is an important issue. I think that the Liberals like their talking points, and when they are asked legitimate questions about the reasonableness of their spending plan, they just spout …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I suggest that the government start with the almost $6 million to renovate the main cottage at the Prime Minister's residence. I am sure in a multi-billion dollar budget there are lots of places that you can trim the fat, because you guys are quite good at adding it on.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the simple answer to my colleague's question is yes. As the former mayor of a small town, I can tell members right now that despite taxes on property, there is not enough room to fund all the responsibilities that municipalities already have. They take care of two-thirds of the transportation infrastructure in this country, and they do not have the tax revenue to actually fund the m…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I noted in the member's speech that he spoke about an action plan for housing. I am wondering if he can tell me what makes him think that what is in this throne speech is going to be an actual action plan. There have been a lot of promises, but the housing crisis in Parry Sound—Muskoka is worse than it was when Liberals took office, so what is different this time around? Could he elab…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to delayed federally funded infrastructure projects in Northern Ontario: what are the details of all projects which have yet to be completed, and have had their original expected completion date delayed by more than six months, including, for each, (i) the project location, (ii) the project description, (iii) the original expected completion date, (iv) the revised expected completion d…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I was not intending to ask a question. I was happy to stand and applaud the minister's lovely speech. Obviously, I am very pleased at the result here and that we worked so well together, so I will give him the opportunity to say a few more words about the importance of getting this done, particularly as my colleague's private member's bill with respect to bereavement leave was inclu…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I want to talk about inspiring rhetoric for a second. The minister himself, in his announcement, actually pointed out that the vast majority of federally regulated private sector workers already have more generous paid sick leave programs, and this may not have that massive an impact on those positions in the private sector. I wonder if, in fact, we are rushing this because the Libe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, what concerns me about trying to close down debate on this issue is that it is an issue where we have had fairly general and broad support across the House. It is a shame that we are being pushed to end this debate, because it is not just about a debate. Often, this chamber is a place for members to sing the praises of people on the front lines, for example, of health care in their …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I feel like we are not basking in the glow of warmth and love. The Conservatives have always believed in supporting workers and making sure they do not have to make the choice between putting food on the table and going to work sick. I am pleased we are here today. It sounds like we are all singing from the hymn book and working together. Maybe we should just continue to do that and…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the opportunity to list off many more, but I have run out of time. I am happy to sit down with the hon. member and go through it in great detail. Maybe I can convince him to support all of our wonderful proposals to support workers and families.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am not exactly certain if I can give much more detail than I have right now. I appreciate the member's kind comments, but they may come to an end since I cannot give him much more of an answer than that. I will just say it is very important for us to be in committee working on these issues and having these pragmatic discussions about what would be supportive of workers and familie…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague's question is one that is very much worthy of discussion and consideration, which is all the more reason why we need to get committees up and running, so we can discuss these important issues.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I appreciate that and the generosity of all my colleagues here. I will be splitting my time with the member for Northumberland—Peterborough South. I always appreciate the opportunity to stand in the House and speak to the important issues of the day. This is quite clearly an important issue. I congratulate the minister on presenting this and fulfilling a campaign promise. Of course,…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, may I request unanimous consent to split my time this morning?
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