Government Orders
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.
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, 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…
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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, 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, 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?
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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, 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, 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, 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 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 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 …
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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 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.
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, the answer presents itself in our history. We have let numerous people who should not be here through. Often, the problem is the lack of criminal record check. We must safeguard our borders. We have to do that for our own sake and we have to do it for international reasons. We cannot simply open the gates and let people in without any sort of criminal record check at all.
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, 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.
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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 …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the grants for Capacity Building under the Growing Canada’s Forests 2 Billion Trees initiative, as mentioned in the Main Estimates, 2025-26, since its inception: (a) how many trees have been planted to date, broken down by (i) province or territory, (ii) year; (b) what is the total amount of funding allocated and spent on the initiative to date, broken down by fiscal year; and (c) f…
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With regard to federal procurement: (a) how many cases of suspected invoicing fraud by Information Technology subcontractors have been submitted to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or any other law enforcement agency for investigation, since May 2024; and (b) for the cases in (a), which departments are involved?
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With regard to the Minister of Public Safety: (a) on what date did the minister complete the Canadian Firearms Safety Course; and (b) if the minister has not yet completed the Canadian Firearms Safety Course, has he signed up to take the course, and, if not, why not?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in communities across the North Okanagan, families are being pushed out of the housing market. Young people cannot afford to buy and seniors are being forced out of the communities that they themselves built. Meanwhile, the Liberal government still has no budget, no plan, no urgency. While young families and seniors are begging for the Liberals to get housing built, the Prime Minister…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have spent 10 years building walls around the Canadian economy, and Conservatives have been asking them to tear them down. The Liberals have thrown Bill C-5 as a sort of rope ladder over the walls, and the Conservatives vote for it. The Liberals' take from this, apparently, is that if we voted for the rope ladder, we must love the walls. I am wondering if the member could…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, after ten years of Liberal anti-energy laws, over 176 billion dollars' worth of energy projects have been scrapped. Bills such as Bill C-69, the so-called “no new energy pipelines” law, and Bill C-48, along with the job-killing carbon tax, have created so much red tape and uncertainty that energy companies will not even invest here anymore. In the B.C. interior, countless families dep…
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Mr. Speaker, as a former city councillor on the front lines of this emergency, I have watched from 2015 until today as Liberal policies simply made the opioid crisis worse. Each new policy just makes things worse. Decriminalization is not a case of not doing enough, but of doing too much of the wrong thing. Conservatives are calling for life sentences for fentanyl kingpins committing mass murder. …
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member pointed out the exact problem. The Liberals made lots of promises, which he considers “outperforming”. I do not have to deal with the promises. I can look at the last 10 years, since 2015. If we are talking about performance, performance is action, not promises. The Liberals are famous for making promises and equally famous for breaking them. When the hon. memb…
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Mr. Speaker, we are all concerned about the environment. We all know that we need to make improvements and work toward a clean energy future. I have no doubt that will happen eventually. What I am more concerned about is pretending that it has already happened and that we have the capacity to do that. We cannot simply run our economy on fairy dust, hopes and dreams, and technology that is not yet …
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Mr. Speaker, it is the honour of a lifetime to rise for my first speech in this chamber. As I stand here today within these four walls, surrounded by well over a century of Canadian history, I am all too aware of the awesome responsibility I have been given, and I am humbled to be the first member of Parliament for the newly established riding of Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee. Many years ago, when …
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Mr. Speaker, the last prime minister used to say that the Liberals were working for the middle class. He used to answer almost every question with that promise. Thanks to the work of the past 10 years, the middle class is on life support today. Middle-class people can barely pay their taxes, and they can barely pay their mortgages. The Liberal government says that it is working to make us an energ…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague across the aisle for her speech. The member was talking about tax cuts. The carbon tax has two components, the domestic tax and the industrial tax. The current Prime Minister has taken away, paused, the domestic tax but left the industrial tax there and actually promised to enforce it or make it worse. That is the one that really hurts and drags on the middle clas…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize two outstanding athletes from my riding of Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee: the Hladik brothers. Not only have Ben and Bradley Hladik made remarkable strides in Canadian football; they are brothers united by blood and bound by a shared commitment to excellence both on and off the field. Ben is an outstanding linebacker with the BC Lions, drafted in 2021 followin…
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