Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition. It is the first petition of what I believe will be many on the subject of the Alto high-speed rail project. There is currently an online petition with, at this point, over 10,000 signatures, and I know other print petitions are circulating. The petitioners draw the House's attention to the fact that the cost of this project will be as much as $90 billion, w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I genuinely do not know the answer to this. What is the practice with regard to an hon. member who is virtual, not visible to us but merely heard? Is it in order for that person to participate in the debate or not?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, In this week before Christmas, one might wonder why Write a poem at all, and not just use AI. AI knows meter and rhyme and all their uses Can make Clement Moore's verse sound like Dr. Seuss's. AI seems to do everything better than you can, Flies drones and drives safer than a real human. Its advantage in word search is very well sealed. It found me 29 words that rhyme with “Brookfield…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question, but I do not have any expertise on that subject. The issue of seasonal work affects some of my constituents, but it is a real problem for a large part of the population of the Magdalen Islands, which may be one of the most beautiful regions in our country. It is a region where the fishing industry plays a vital role. I do not believe I am the best person …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the second petition relates to a report from the finance committee some time ago that asked for religious charities to be stripped of their CRA tax-exempt status. The petitioners point out that nearly half of all work done in the charitable sector is done by religious-based charities, and they note that it is inappropriate for the government to be assigning a values test and saying th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has adopted a perversely restrictive interpretation of the bulk labelling regulations under the Fertilizers Act. If enforced, the interpretation would impose $120 million in compliance costs on retailers, which will be passed on to farmers to achieve, quite literally, nothing. If the Liberals are truly committed to reducing red tape, they could inst…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am tabling two petitions today. Both relate to freedom of religion. The first petition relates to Falun Gong practitioners. It is an issue I have been pursuing for a quarter of a century. The very first thing I said in the House of Commons 25 years ago was on the subject of the Communist persecution of Falun Gong, which still goes on after a campaign of more than a quarter of a cent…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it could stop spending more than it is bringing in. At some point, we have to return to a budget balance. There is no way one can continue spending with deficits of this size forever. It is fiscally unsustainable. As we do, it is going to lead to more and more debt on which we have to pay interest. It is going to crowd out lending in the private sector, which will drive up interest ra…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am going to try to address two general subject areas, if time permits. For the first of these, I will make some observations about how this budget and the general direction the government has taken over the 10 years it has been in power have caused us to drift away from the goal of Canada being a financially egalitarian society, in which all people have a fair shot at doing well and…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, that is of course a question about provincial policy, but I did invite it by saying that federal and provincial policies have been in combination. I suppose the answer there is that the goal the provincial government had in mind was to encourage more construction for rental purposes. The Ford government's belief was that there is no investment case to be made for building a new rental…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the House unanimously adopted two motions, one affirming that a genocide is under way in China and the other calling on the government to “expedite the entry [into Canada] of 10,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in need of protection, over two years starting in 2024”. That two-year period ends in a month, and as of yesterday, only 143 Uyghurs have been admitted to Canada by a gover…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am, like all members of the House who are not of indigenous background, the child of immigrants. We are all either immigrants ourselves, the children of immigrants or the grandchildren of immigrants. This is where I fit in. My grandparents came to Canada, and my grandmother came from a place called Bialystok in Poland. She was a Jew. Bialystok had, at the time she left with her pa…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
The member for Edmonton Griesbach has only a few seconds, please.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
All those opposed to the hon. member's moving the motion will please say nay. It is agreed. The House has heard the terms of the motion. All those opposed to the motion will please say nay. (Motion agreed to)
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague asked why the government was not transparent. I do not know the answer to that. It has a remarkable reluctance regarding transparency on many issues. The most obvious one has nothing to do with immigration. It has to do with a certain emigrant who left this country, went abroad for a number of years, became governor of the Bank of England, wound up running Brookfield in…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, that is a very good question. When it comes to the rules for people immigrating to Canada, there is a requirement that they be able to speak one of our two official languages, for example. This is mandatory for people seeking citizenship who were born in a foreign country and who do not have a parent or grandparent who was born in Canada. I think this is a reasonable requirement for…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, there is no requirement for consecutive residency in Canada. I can see why the government might say one consecutive period of three years is too long, but to say there has to be no consecutiveness or a minimum period for any part of that is unreasonable.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, if we were to learn China uses convict labour, drawn disproportionately from indigenous minorities, to produce products to be sold commercially by the prison system, we would condemn this, and we would ban that product. What are we supposed to think of a report from the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network that milk produced at the Joyceville prison farm by inmates paid less than a…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the petition I am presenting today concerns recommendations 429 and 430 of the Standing Committee on Finance. These meetings happened a long time ago as pre-budget hearings, but because of the delay in the budget until the week after next, they are highly relevant. These recommendations were supported by the Liberal members of the finance committee but not, I note, by Conservative mem…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I did not know that the hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes would be rising on this question of privilege, but it is a very important point he raises. I would suggest to you, Mr. Speaker, that the problem the member is pointing out to the House is a long-standing one. It did not begin with the present commissioner; it goes back certainly to his predecessor, M…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, on Friday last week I asked a question regarding automated external defibrillators, AEDs as they are called. I asked about placing them in RCMP cruisers. I just want to talk for a while about some of the things that are hard to discuss in the 35 seconds allocated for a question in question period, in order to explain some of the benefits that would accrue from RCMP cruisers' having de…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, certainly, we should take our time and think this over carefully. Ralph Goodale, when he was in opposition, before he became minister of public safety, when the government changed hands in 2015, put forward a private member's motion in 2013, saying: That in the opinion of the House, the government should address the wide variation in the availability of defibrillators throughout the b…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, if we install automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, in police cars to be used when the police are the first on the scene in a 911 call for a heart attack, we can save a lot of lives. Municipal police across Canada have been saving lives with AEDs for years. RCMP officers are already trained on how to use AEDs. Equipping all RCMP vehicles nationwide with AEDs would save upwards o…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, of course my hon. colleague has no specialized expertise in agriculture and is reading prepared remarks, which ignore everything I just said about how Russian supply still comes via the U.S. and an upcharge occurs. North American demand remains the same and prices remain high. This is a completely futile policy. I want to take a moment, though, to make another point. I am so sick of h…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, in the past two weeks, I have twice asked the government why there is still a 35% tariff on Russian fertilizer when it is clear that this is not causing a net decline in Russian exports, nor a fall in the price paid worldwide for Russian product. The purpose of the tariff, when it was imposed in the spring of 2022, was to punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. That year, a total o…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, last week, I asked why there is still a 35% tariff on Russian fertilizer when it is clear that it is causing neither a net decline in Russian exports nor a fall in the price paid worldwide for Russian product. In Canada, no meaningful displacement of Russian imports with domestic production has taken place, so the result is that eastern Canadian farmers pay more for imports from third…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, in 2022, the Liberals imposed a 35% tariff on Russian fertilizer. By December of that year, Canadian farmers had paid $115 million in tariffs, which the government donated to Ukraine. In the three subsequent years, the tariff has remained in place, and a further $300 million has been paid to the government by farmers, but the funds are no longer being donated to Ukraine. Because rep…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to CORCAN agriculture and agribusiness spending since fiscal year 2015-16: (a) what is the total amount of operational spending related to CORCAN agriculture and agribusiness, broken down by fiscal year; (b) what is the total amount of capital spending related to CORCAN agriculture and agribusiness, broken down by fiscal year; (c) what is the total amount of revenue related to CORCAN a…
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With regard to Parks Canada land currently under lease to the municipality of Smiths Falls, Ontario: (a) does an archaeological assessment already exist for the leased Parks Canada lands adjacent to the Rideau Canal within the Smiths Falls municipal boundary, and, if so, can the assessment be shared with the municipality, in its capacity as a leaseholder; (b) what triggers the requirement for an a…
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With regard to expenditures for reestablishing the Correctional Service of Canada’s prison farms at Collins Bay and Joyceville Institutions: (a) since 2015, broken down by fiscal year, what is the total amount, including taxes, paid to (i) Taylor Hazell Architects, (ii) WSP Canada Engineering, (iii) Tacoma Engineers, (iv) Lashley & Associates, (v) Norwell Dairy Systems, (vi) Eastern Crop Doctor, (…
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With regard to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada: for each of the president and vice-presidents, what are the details of all travel claim expenses in each instance of travel for which airfare expenses were greater than $0, incurred in each of 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, including, for each instance of applicable travel, (i) the travel start date, (ii) the travel end date, (iii) the total trave…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's first four weeks have been filled with broken promises on spending, consultants, defence spending and relations with the U.S. Now the Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed another broken promise, this time on tax cuts. He advises us that the average Canadian will save only $7.50 a month and low-income seniors will save even less, under five dollars a month, u…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is a broken record of broken promises, and the list keeps on growing. There are broken promises on spending, and we still do not have a budget plan. There are broken promises on consultants and on consulting with Canadians. There are broken promises to have his elbows up with the Americans. Instead, what the Prime Minister has lifted is his middle finger to Canadian…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to subsection 49.8(5) of the Parliament of Canada Act, I rise to discharge my obligations as the chair of the Conservative caucus and to inform you of the recorded votes of the first Conservative caucus meeting, which took place on May 6, 2025. Division C.1 of the act requires that four votes be taken at the first meeting of every recognized caucus following a general electio…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, T'is the week before Christmas, and all through this House MPs dream of returning to home, hearth and spouse Our stockings are hung by our chimneys with care But what of the homeless? Who put them out there? There's fingers to point and random people to blame But, mostly, I think of one person I'd name And that's Rideau Cottage's middle-aged Swifty Who, through taxes, inflation and bu…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, the member's intervention gives me the opportunity to make another point. I did talk about the election in 2000 when only two members of my party were elected in Ontario. That was an election where 98 out of 102 ridings in Ontario had members who were elected for the Liberal Party. The other riding was the one that the member currently holds, and it was Joe Comartin, who was a great m…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, was that actually a point of order? That was not a point of order. I think that just made my point, did it not? I am thankful the member for Winnipeg North just made my point for me. No, I did not hear about this until now. I have a policy when I am dealing with the media that I never comment on an issue to the first person who tells me about it. I want to go back to find out more. On…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, do civil liberties count as a metric? Does freedom count as a metric? Does someone's ability to be with their loved ones when they are dying count as a metric? If they do, then we were terrible. Not all of that was the fault of the federal government. It was the fault of—
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Winnipeg North is, of course, interrupting, as he always does. I do not know if a speech ever gets made in the House that does not involve an interruption from him, whose word count is already far greater than that of the rest of us. He really ought to wait his turn. Let us see if he can do that for the rest of this day as a special test, as a Christmas gift to all…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to see you today taking the chair as we begin our proceedings. I think back to the fond memories I have over the past few years. I think, like all of us, I kind of divide my life into the pre-COVID and post-COVID world. The very first time I was able to be away from home as restrictions were gradually being lifted during the immediate aftermath of the COVID lockdowns …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the hon. member for his kind words. Likewise, one of the highlights of my career was working on the parliamentary Special Committee on Electoral Reform, which this member chaired. He did an extraordinary job with what, I have to say, was a very difficult file. We do not often get the chance to say nice things about each other. I actually do think highly o…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the hon. parliamentary secretary offered his opinion as to what the only problem in the House is. I want to ask my hon. colleague whether he would agree with me that the problem in the House is that the Prime Minister has emasculated the entire caucus and does not allow anybody to speak except for the one member and the member for Kingston and the Islands, who take up all the time des…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, of course, Doug Ford enthusiastically supported the Prime Minister's restrictions on civil rights, and that was one of the many points on which I have departed from Doug Ford. However, I will point out that I do not love Doug Ford. Nobody who knows me thinks I love Doug Ford. If members were to go online to google “Doug Ford, Scott Reid, Stalin”, they would find a reference to me comp…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. He has demonstrated that it is possible to be brief in one's comments, a lesson that the member for Winnipeg North would do well to remember for the future. Since this is the first I have heard of this, I think it will be necessary—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. If you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to let this member go on and on forever. With such wisdom dispensed from his lips with every word he says, surely we can cancel our Christmas holidays to enjoy the pearls of wisdom that he continues to drop upon us—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the National Housing Strategy: (a) what funding programs or streams are dedicated to, or include streams or criteria for, rural or remote communities, and how much funding has been allocated for and disbursed by each one, broken down by year; (b) what is the population cap, or analogous constraint, on applications to funding programs or streams dedicated to, or which consider the re…
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With regard to the CRA: (a) how many toll-free telephone lines are available for taxpayers to contact the agency, broken down by purpose or business line; (b) what are the toll-free telephone numbers in (a); (c) for callers who call each of the numbers in (b), what has been the average wait time to speak with an agent, for each of the last five years; (d) what percentage of callers to the numbers …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I have been a member of Parliament for 24 years. This is the first time I have flipped the bird to anybody. To correct the member, it was not to the government; it was to the member for Kingston and the Islands, but of course, nobody deserves that, and I withdraw it and apologize to the House.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the cow barn under construction by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) at Joyceville Institution and the dairy research program: (a) what was the original anticipated cost of building a cow barn at the time of the June 2018 announcement, and what was the anticipated cost of building the barn at the time the construction contract was awarded in March 2022; (b) what was the origi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Expression of Interest published by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) for the commercial leasing of a building at Joyceville Institution: (a) what is the specific nature of the unidentified “steel clad structure” to be leased under this Expression of Interest; (b) what type of commercial activities does the steel clad structure have the potential to accommodate; (c) how m…
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