Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have been called a religious maniac and all the usual terms that come from across the floor many times, despite the fact that I think I have gone to church three or four times in the last 10 years and always on Christmas eve. I am not a religious maniac. I am very concerned about the curbs on free speech that the bill contains. It is crucial to democracy that we hear all opinions. W…
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Mr. Speaker, when somebody uses religion as a pretext to commit a crime, they go to jail. They would go to jail now, before the bill is passed. We do not need the bill to make them go to jail. There is no precedent for doing this at all. I reject the question.
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I think the Conservatives have been very clear about this. We are opposed to the removal of the religious exemption, which was never a campaign promise made by the Liberals at any point. At no point in the campaign were we told they were going to remove religious exemptions from Canadians. The laws already exist. I cannot think of an offence that this particular bill covers that is not already cov…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by saying that I believe in a free, democratic Canada. I believe in a country where people can speak their minds, practise their faith and engage in open debate without fear of punishment from their government. That is why I am deeply concerned about Bill C-9. I recently held a town hall in my city, with the help of my colleague from Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. Usua…
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Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, the member across the aisle said there were anti-LGBQ things in the speech. I did not hear any such thing at all. I would like him to retract that.
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Mr. Speaker, we face a situation similar to the one we faced after the Second World War, with millions of people looking for homes. The solution then was quite different and quite a bit more effective. By 1947, Canada was building 80,000, 90,000 or as many as 100,000 homes per year. Not one Crown corporation was involved, though I should say there was only one, CMHC, and that was explicitly for ve…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are trying to build a narrative of obstructionism by saying we are obstructing their efforts to combat the problems that they themselves have created over the last 11 years. The irony here is that they are actually opposing a bill that would fix some of the problems they have created, which they claim they want to fix. My question for the member is why.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are trying to build a narrative that the Conservatives are obstructing them at every turn, despite the irony of actually doing this on a bill that we are presenting. I watched the Liberals obstruct it. Every single speech has the word “obstructionism” in it. I think even a new word was created today, “obstructionality”, by one of the speakers. I am wondering if the member…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am sure the member is aware that the Department of National Defence is expanding rapidly right now and that the unused properties are generally World War II heritage leftovers. What would the member say about the coming expansion and how that may conflict with her bill?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are telling us that soaring grocery bills are caused by external factors, as if the cost of living is going up everywhere. It is not. We have higher food costs than almost anywhere else in the G7. Meanwhile, the government piles on carbon taxes and red tape that make it more expensive to grow, transport and sell food. Let us be honest. These handouts are an admission of f…
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Mr. Speaker, we have heard from the Liberals numerous times that somehow the problems we find ourselves with today are Stephen Harper's fault. I wonder if my colleague could tell us if we should blame these problems on, let us say, Mackenzie King, or is this a newer problem?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honour a family in my riding, in Lumby, British Columbia, who have endured a devastating loss. Tatjana Stefanski's loved ones carry not only the grief of her murder but also the painful knowledge that she died almost a full year before Bailey McCourt, and that nothing was done. Tatjana's husband, Jason, has worked tirelessly to bring attention to the need for real, mea…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians have been getting less and less buying power over the last 10 years. Food prices have doubled, but wages have not, which indicates an inflationary environment. We all understand this, but my colleagues across the aisle boast about the handouts that their poverty-inspiring policies have created in the first place. Does my colleague believe this is an intentional strategy alon…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, nestled deep in the mountains of my riding lies the historic town of Sandon, British Columbia. It was once a thriving silver mining hub and was the first community in our province where every citizen had access to electricity. At its heart stands the Silversmith Power and Light plant, commissioned in 1897, which is still humming along today using equipment made when horses were stil…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, we hear that the B.C. Liberal caucus is “seething,” “anxious” and “angry” about a possible pipeline, so the Prime Minister is appeasing them by hiding behind the provincial NDP, just like Brookfield hides behind Caribbean tax laws. After nine years of Liberal energy mismanagement, Canadians want a pipeline. Will the Prime Minister do his job, stop the political games and immediately…
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Madam Chair, when the Liberals were elected, they were elected to save us from Donald Trump and his tariffs. Apparently, lately that does not matter; it is who cares whether he wants to talk about it or not. We have now heard that it is a long-term problem. Can my colleague say whether it is a problem of Donald Trump and his tariffs or of long-term Liberal neglect?
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Mr. Chair, we keep hearing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been in power for five years; the Liberal government has been in power for 10 years. Somehow, five years just slipped through the cracks, but I think my colleague already addressed that. When we heard earlier from the Liberals, I could barely believe it when it came out that the food price problem was a matter of climate change. I am …
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Mr. Speaker, do members remember when the Liberal government told us the budget would balance itself? For 10 years, the government has promised to spend less, while throwing money in every direction. Having finally blown up the economy, the Liberals' brilliant solution is to spend twice as much but change the name of spending to “investment”. Even the PBO, the budget watchdog and Fitch Ratings are…
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is looking at a mountain and talking about a rock at the foot of it. It has a cumulative effect when this Liberal government continually piles on Canadians, and then it adds insult to injury by over-regulating them on top of it.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct one thing the member said. It is not that Conservatives do not believe in the school lunch program; it is that we do not believe in driving parents into penury so that they have no choice but to use it. The Liberals keep talking about a tax break for 22 million Canadians, but at the same time, they kept the industrial carbon tax, which effectively penalizes 40 …
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-4 and to the growing affordability crisis gripping Canadians from coast to coast. Nowhere is it felt more sharply than in my own riding of Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee. The bill fails to meet the moment, as so many introduced by the Liberal government do. It offers slogans instead of solutions and bureaucracy instead of hope. While Ottawa debates, Canad…
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite seems to be missing the point, like so many Liberals. It would be lovely for every citizen of Canada to go to Disneyland once a year, but the trouble is that it costs money, so we have to be a little careful about what we do. Sure, we can do that. If I give someone $90 and then send them an invoice for over $5,000, does that make any sense? Is that economically via…
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Mr. Speaker, they would be able to feed their own kids, for one thing. They would be able to afford the basic necessities of life that they can no longer afford. We would reduce inflation, and we would make their dollars have more spending power. We have had decades of prosperity in Canada and we had it right up until 2015 when the government took charge.
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Mr. Speaker, I would think the member would prefer to stay on the topic of Bill C-4 and not address side claims that have nothing to do with it.
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Mr. Speaker, I would certainly agree, if we were delivering quality health care. We did a study not long ago, about 10 years ago, in which we found that Interior Health, which is my region's health authority, had a manager for every six workers on the front lines. The management burden at the top has to come down. I think we can do more with less. I believe that we owe a responsibility to the prov…
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Mr. Speaker, I obviously reject the characterization by the member opposite. I would ask the member whether he believes it is logical for parents to have to rely on the state after they have been driven into bankruptcy by the policies of the government and whether it is logical for them to want to be wards of state.
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Mr. Speaker, I once ran myself into credit card debt very badly. I found myself paying hundreds of dollars in interest every single month, with no benefit. If I had not used my credit card, I would have been able to put that money away in savings. It is not a good feeling to be simply throwing money out the door or giving it to bankers, especially if they are involved with our money in other count…
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Mr. Speaker, I cannot speak to that report. I have not read it. What I can tell the hon. member is that we do not need an economics degree to understand that being taxed at every step along the line of food production is going to add costs. We can parse those numbers, look at them and mitigate them with other numbers. The fact still remains that when we tax the economy, food prices are going to go…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court ruling yesterday removed the last chance these decades-old ostriches had, and I sympathize with the tens of thousands of Canadians who have been caught up in the drama unfolding on a farm in Edgewood, B.C. For the past 10 months, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency operation has disrupted life in the peaceful town of Edgewood, B.C., driven the farm deep into debt and…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley. According to the CIBC's most recent economic flash, Canadian GDP is abysmal. The bank expected a modest acceleration in GDP growth to 1% in the final quarter of the year, but the lack of momentum toward the end of the quarter suggests that not even this anemic goal will be met. This kind of thing has become a stand…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals keep referring to the spending in the Liberal budget as investment. When I was a financial adviser, I was taught that investment is something we give away in the hopes that we get back not only the principal but a substantial amount of money with it. I am wondering, for the gun grab, whether my colleague thinks “investment” is an appropriate word. We are putting out milli…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like to present a petition calling on the Minister of Health and Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to stop the ostrich cull in Edgewood, B.C. This petition also calls for greater transparency from the CFIA. There are over 40,000 signatures on this petition, almost double the number of signatures on most e-petitions. These petitions are set up so that signers have to take…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister promised he would negotiate a win with the United States. He has broken that promise on softwood lumber. When the Prime Minister took office, softwood lumber tariffs were at 14%. Now they are at 45%. This year in north Okanagan, hard-working people are being sent home from mills because of the government's failure to secure a softwood lumber agreement. When will t…
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Mr. Speaker, the folks on the other side seem to want to split their time between insulting us, asking us to please vote for their bill and trying to avoid responsibility for the whole mess in the first place. If Bill C-14 is the great bill the Liberals claim it is, can my colleague explain why it is necessary in the first place? Who caused the problem in the first place?
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals keep trying to give themselves the power to watch, interfere with and generally babysit Canadians. What are your thoughts on the reasons for that?
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Mr. Speaker, on Bill Blair, we all know what Prime Minister Trudeau has—
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Mr. Speaker, we are all aware of a former prime minister saying that the RCMP is systematically racist. He also tried to take away tools from the RCMP and said that it required cultural change. Bill Blair also said—
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Mr. Speaker, I apologize. According to an article, a former minister said that “Discrimination within Canada's criminal justice system is abhorrent, unacceptable and [distasteful] and related police misconduct is indefensible”. Why does my colleague think the Liberals are so focused on a statement by our leader , which was taken out of context, while they are ignoring everybody else?
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Mr. Speaker, I note that the Conservatives are the only ones delivering speeches on Bill C-12 and that the only rebuttal Liberals have is an irrelevancy that has nothing to do with Bill C-12. What does my colleague think? Is it that, now that the only provisions that allow the government to control Canadians have been removed, the Liberals simply do not care about Bill C-12?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, has the Prime Minister ever had to choose between buying groceries and paying the rent? Has he ever felt the panic of not knowing how to make it until the end of the month? That is the reality for thousands of B.C. forestry workers this winter while he jets around the world handing out jobs to his wealthy friends and making concessions to the Americans. He bragged that his elbows woul…
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Mr. Speaker, I personally believe that a flawed bill should be fixed before it goes to committee if possible. This is a flaw in the bill, and it should be addressed. I am not entirely sure how. There is some low-hanging fruit here, like the interpolice communications, that I think can be done very easily. It simply needs a provision in the bill.
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Mr. Speaker, I would certainly like to have seen the last 10 years be more productive, but, unfortunately, they were not. I do not think we should be passing flawed bills at all, especially when there are gaping holes that can easily be fixed. I served for 10 years; I do not need lessons on how to respect the Canadian Forces.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan. I rise today to speak to Bill C-11, the military justice system modernization act. Let me say right from the start that I support the intentions behind this bill. It aims to make our military justice system fairer, protect victims better and increase accountability. These are important goals. I think all of u…
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Mr. Speaker, I can comment only on what exists in the bill. The bill does not have any provision whatsoever to revert to civilian justice overseas. Obviously, it is outside the jurisdiction. The flip side of that question is this: If the military is dealing with only those problems outside Canada, how is it going to maintain its expertise in doing so on the civilian side? That is the flip side of …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has failed to do its job, letting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency order the slaughter of a herd of ostriches with no transparency or communication with farmers or Canadians. Since the beginning, apparently unlike the CFIA, I met with the farmers and raised their concerns publicly. These farmers love their animals. Senior academics are begging for access to p…
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Mr. Speaker, there has been no analysis. We have no idea whether it is 30%. We have no idea what the actual number of new Canadian citizens will be, and this is at a time when our immigration system is buckling, frankly, from too many people coming in. To add to that is reckless, as I said in the speech. It is irresponsible and it is reckless. There has been no analysis done whatsoever. This is ki…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not going to make a judgment on a hypothetical. Again, a hypothetical question has been put to me that I have no answer for. The courts certainly do have an answer for it. I would simply ask the member to reflect on some of the people we have let in who should not be here.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, in Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee and across Canada, families are being crushed by the cost of living crisis. After 10 long years of the same old Liberal government, everything costs more: groceries, rent, mortgages, gas and everyday essentials that Canadians rely on. The Prime Minister asked to be judged on the cost of food at the grocery store, and the verdict is not good. I hear from…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not going to deal with hypotheticals. There are all sorts of hypotheticals we could weave together to make some sort of narrative. I am not going to do that. These things will be dealt with as they come up through the courts, as you know. I am not going to deal with hypotheticals. I can come up with 10 dozen hypotheticals for you too.
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Mr. Speaker, it is good to rise in the House again after some time in my riding speaking with constituents and hearing directly from Canadians. It is always a privilege to stand here and debate legislation that touches not only on national policy but also on the very fabric of what it means to be Canadian. We are debating Bill C-3, an act to amend the Citizenship Act. This bill speaks to Canadian …
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