Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague's speech was very inspiring. One thing I have noticed consistently during my years in the House is that when it comes to managing the economy, the Liberals always attack the symptoms and not the underlying problems. It is like taking an aspirin when surgery is required. The Bank of Canada has said repeatedly that our lagging productivity metrics, when compared to those of…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is not keeping his promise to young Canadians to help them buy their first home. In fact, according to the Missing Middle report, things are going in the wrong direction. Home ownership among 30-year-olds is at an all-time low. Less than half think they are ever going to own their own home, and housing starts are not even keeping up with population growth. Here is a…
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Madam Speaker, I enjoyed serving with the member for Rivière-du-Nord on the justice committee when I was there in the last Parliament. I am happy the member raised the issue of the Jordan decision. From time to time, there are delays in criminal trials, and the Supreme Court weighed in with a case called Jordan and set minimum timelines. This hits home for me because there was a high-profile murde…
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Madam Speaker, among other things, this bill introduces the concept of femicide, which is in response to a shocking rise in intimate partner violence in Canada. Effectively, that provision of Bill C-16 would elevate what might otherwise be second-degree murder to first-degree murder if done in the context of intimate partner violence. I think we are signalling that we are going to agree with this,…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague talked quite a bit about mandatory minimums and addressing the concern that our courts have had, particularly the Supreme Court of Canada, in declaring mandatory minimum penalties to be unconstitutional, contrary to section 12 of the charter. The problem we are facing is that courts have recently come out with the concept of hypothetical fact scenarios. Rather than d…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very happy that my colleague raised the Senneville case, which is very problematic. To my reading of that case, the problem is that the Supreme Court of Canada thinks that it can make up hypothetical, imaginary fact situations rather than just dealing with the fact situation that is in front of it. Would it be an improvement to this bill if we were to prohibit that sort of ration…
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Mr. Speaker, I am puzzled about this debate around mandatory minimum sentences. When I read the proposed legislation, it definitely sounded like a back door for judges to be able to determine, with respect to a situation in front of them, that it would amount to cruel and unusual punishment to impose the minimum sentence. That is exactly the argument that judges have been using all along to declar…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for asking me a question, and I am going to answer it now. What would I do? We are talking about mandatory minimum sentences and a judge's inclination to conjure up hypothetical fact situations. I was reading section 63 of the proposed act, which would introduce proposed section 718.4 to the Criminal Code. It says that courts may steer around a minimum sentence if t…
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Mr. Speaker, this bill addresses, in part, the shocking rise of intimate partner violence in Canada and it introduces the concept of femicide, which is the murder of a woman in the context of an intimate partner violent crime. Effectively, what that would do is classify any murder, whether it was manslaughter or second-degree murder, as first-degree murder if it were done in the context of intimat…
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Mr. Speaker, about a year ago Alberta Central reported that with the opening of the TMX expansion, bringing more oil to global markets, the selling price of a barrel of Canadian crude went up by $8. This is not just the new barrels but all barrels. This is because, with the pipeline, we had more access to global markets and could bid up our price. Would the member agree that pipelines are good for…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal “keep it in the ground” caucus is saying that the MOU with Alberta is not a pipeline approval. There is no project, no route, certainly no consensus, and no private sector proponent. Now they are conveniently hiding behind the tanker ban, which is preventing us from getting our resources to market. All the while, American tankers are happily sailing right by, from Alaska d…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the member continues to use talking points from the Liberal Party: “We can't control inflation. It's something international. Other countries are doing it. We can't be responsible for what other countries do”. However, the government must be responsible for its own budgetary planning. I have been here for six years now, and I have heard many ministers of finance, one after the other…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, a little while ago I asked a question in question period on the topic of the ever-increasing price of groceries. Food inflation is running at about twice the rate of the average rate of inflation in this country, so many people are hurting in a real, tangible and, I might say, painful way. I made the point, in my 30-second question spot, that food inflation is hitting seniors partic…
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Mr. Speaker, this is what we have been hearing from Liberal members of Parliament. They are saying our debt-to-GDP ratio is not as bad as the ratios in other countries. If we add in the subnational debt, it is. It does not look nearly as good as they like to say it is. I am going to go back to my points about productivity. Debt is not necessarily bad. It is not necessarily bad for a business if it…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-15, the budget implementation act. On November 4, a couple of weeks ago, the new Minister of Finance, the fourth one since the Liberal Party formed government 10 years ago, presented his first budget, an $80-billion-deficit budget. I have been a member of Parliament for six years now, and I have seen five budgets. All of them have consistently disappoin…
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Mr. Speaker, I have sat through five or six of these Liberal budget speeches over the years and every one of them promises that finally we are going to tackle Canada's productivity challenges. We are doing it again. Here is a headline in today's The Globe and Mail, “Canada is stuck in a 'vicious circle' of low productivity, Bank of Canada says”. Why should Canadians be at all confident that the Li…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. In my speech, I did not have time to get into the housing crisis. I talked about the health crisis, which is a reality, but the housing crisis is definitely a reality as well. A recent report from the CMHC shows that the Prime Minister's promise of building 500,000 new homes a year is absolutely failing. Not even half of them are being built. Things are headi…
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Mr. Speaker, my riding is a border riding, or at least it used to be, until the most recent border redistribution. It is very close to the port of Vancouver, so we are deeply concerned about border security not only at land crossings, but also at ocean crossings around the port of Vancouver, which is the biggest port in the country, by the way. Absolutely, we need to improve that. I know that almo…
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Mr. Speaker, I think there is probably broad agreement in the House that we need bail reform for serious, repeat violent crime. I am happy that Bill C-14 is taking a step in the right direction, but my question today is about repeat non-violent crime, the property crime that is plaguing our downtown cores. I have some statistics from the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association. For pro…
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Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot about the Liberal government's introducing the bill as a workaround for its old bill, Bill C-75, which introduced the principle of restraint. Therefore, why not just get rid of the principle of restraint as introduced by Bill C-75, rather than doing these awkward workarounds, which are likely not to be as effective as they could be?
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Mr. Speaker, I have noticed that when we are talking about the economy, Liberals are very selective in the facts and the statistics they like to highlight. They say, “Oh, our debt-to-GDP ratio is not as bad as in other countries”, but they they consistently do not mention sub-sovereign debt. To compare apples to apples, they need to include that. Another thing the Liberals do not like to talk abou…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very happy my fellow British Columbia MP talked about softwood lumber, because that is crucial to British Columbia's economy. Everybody knows that. The solution is not more handouts; it is an open and free market with the United States. However, after 10 years, the Liberal government has failed to bring home a softwood lumber treaty. Why should Canadians have confidence that it i…
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise today to speak to an important legislation, which is Bill C-14, bail reform and sentencing reform. However, before I do that, I want to advise that I will be sharing my time with the very effective member of Parliament for Souris—Moose Mountain. Here we go again with bail reform 2.0. In the 44th Parliament, we had Bill C-48, brought to us by the Liber…
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Madam Speaker, I agree that the House should give its best efforts, but that requires the Liberals giving their best efforts, as well, to passing this legislation. We are going to committee. We are going to request reasonable amendments to this legislation to make it better. I am very happy to have this high-level conversation in Parliament. There seems to be substantial agreement that bail reform…
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Madam Speaker, indeed, Bill C-14 retains the principle of restraint, which has been at the centre of the problems in the administration of criminal justice in the last decade. It is at the heart of the public's loss of confidence in the administration of justice. I think that is a very important principle. I am sure our amendments at committee are going to focus on the secondary and tertiary groun…
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Madam Speaker, I share the concern with members of the Bloc Québécois that the Liberals are going to try to prevent any reasonable amendments to this legislation. However, I am an optimistic person. I will go back to the sex offender registry case that was found to be unconstitutional. All the parties worked together to pass that legislation through. We really did. If the Liberals are taking this …
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Madam Speaker, we are hearing a lot today that the Liberal government coming up with workarounds for the old Bill C-75, which introduced section 493 to the Criminal Code, which is the principle of restraint in the administration of bail in bail court. Instead of doing these workarounds, could we get rid of section 493 altogether? The Liberals are blaming it on the Supreme Court of Canada, but we w…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his tireless advocacy for first responders' safety and for introducing a private member's bill in the last Parliament and now again this time. Where would his private member's bill from the last Parliament be today if former prime minister Trudeau had not selfishly prorogued Parliament for purely partisan reasons?
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Madam Speaker, I enjoyed working with the member for Rivière-du-Nord on the justice committee in the last Parliament. He is talking about who is going to be tougher on crime, the Liberals or the Conservatives. He was on the committee when we received a letter from 13 premiers asking for bail reform. Bill C-48 was the response, and he was involved in that debate. It did not go far enough, and now w…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, we have a new normal in Canada. Food banks are the lifeline for many Canadian families. The Liberals like to boast that they are helping families, but here is the reality: Food Banks Canada reports 2.2 million monthly visits this year, twice what it was six years ago. This is what their report says: “Behind every food bank visit is a story. A parent skipping meals so their kids can ea…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague made mention of a poorly thought-out social media post by the former prime minister, who said Canada is open, come on over, and a flood of refugees followed. I cannot help but make the comparison to another world leader who also makes poorly thought-out social media posts, shaping government policy on the fly. I would like my colleague to comment on the negative impact …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech, which highlighted some macroeconomic issues in Canada's economy. All day today we have been hearing from the Liberals saying our debt-to-GDP ratio is pretty good, but there are two factors they ignore. The first is subnational debt, so that we are really comparing apples to apples with other nations. The second is the economy's ability to service d…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's speech was very inspiring. He talked about the importance of private investment dollars. I agree with him. I wonder if he could comment on how free enterprise private investment dollars have a unique ability to find the most productive place in the economy compared to politicians' poor track record of distinguishing between winners and losers.
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Mr. Speaker, my question relates to the culture of the Canadian Armed Forces tolerating sexual misconduct. The reports that are before us, by Arbour, Fish and Deschamps, all say that without changing the culture, the problem will not be solved. Is the hon. colleague optimistic that Bill C-11 would push the Canadian Armed Forces to reform its conduct, which is the root of the problem?
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Mr. Speaker, the reports that are before us, those by Arbour, Fish and also Deschamps, all say that the problem with the Canadian Armed Forces around sexual misconduct will not be solved until the culture there is solved, a culture that has found sexual misconduct acceptable or at least tolerated in the context of the military setting. Why is the member optimistic that Bill C-11 is finally the sol…
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Mr. Speaker, today we are talking about Bill C-11, the military justice system modernization act. The effect of the bill would be to remove the military court's jurisdiction to try offences of a sexual nature and move them to civilian courts, which would have exclusive jurisdiction. Our proud Canadian Armed Forces has a deep-seated problem that the bill aims to tackle. This is not new information;…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a very thoughtful question. Our focus always has to be on victims of crime, to make sure they get proper support and that they have a sense that justice is being done. The court system should not just be a legal system; it should be a justice system. It should do justice. It is an interesting hypothetical the member put to us. One of the reasons that crimes abroad need to be i…
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party members are signalling that we are in support of the bill. It has many problems. I do not think it goes far enough to solve the institutional problems in the Canadian Armed Forces, but it is a step in the right direction. I think it is going to be a very intensive study at committee. There are a lot of questions to ask. We will need to have a lot of witnesses ap…
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Mr. Speaker, it is indeed odd, and that is exactly what this bill is trying to do: take the decision-making, investigation and prosecution out of the military justice system and put it into the civilian justice system, where it belongs. I recognize that there are problems with the civilian justice system, as a lot of my colleagues have pointed out, so this is not a silver bullet, but I think it wo…
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North often asks questions of that nature, saying, “Why not just hurry things through?” I think there is a big advantage, to members of Parliament and the people we represent, to debating important legislation like this in the chamber. If it had been hurried off to committee, I would not have had the opportunity to research it, learn more about it and speak to …
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is signalling that the Bloc Québécois is going to support the bill. An important part of the bill is that trials for sexual assault and sexual harassment would be taken out of the military courts and brought into the civilian courts, but given the delays in our civilian courts, is the member confident that victims of sexual assault and of sexual harassment will see jus…
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Mr. Speaker, over the summer months, I had the opportunity to visit the downtown Vancouver core and some businesses there and organizations that support businesses. We heard about the explosive growth of crime on the streets: shoplifting, smashed windows, open drug use. Merchants do not even bother calling the cops anymore because the police say that with the Liberal bail laws of release at the ea…
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Mr. Speaker, all day today, we have been listening to Liberals talk about food affordability in response to our opposition day motion, but to me it is déjà vu all over again. I have been here for six years and have been hearing Liberals go on and on about how a program is finally going to solve the inflation problem and deal with, for example, housing, infrastructure, supply chain resilience and o…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says to judge him by the cost of groceries. Well, the data is in, and it is not looking so good for him. The parliamentary budget office says the Prime Minister's spending is going to outpace even Trudeau's reckless inflationary spending, driving up the cost of groceries for seniors. Myra from Langley says, “I worked and planned for my retirement my entire life and …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Edmonton West for a very enlightened speech on an ill-conceived Liberal idea that is going to ruin our oil and gas sector, the emissions production cap. I have a question about another ill-conceived Liberal idea, and that is the north coast tanker ban. This is what the CEO of the National Coalition of Chiefs says, talking about the tanker ban: “No pro…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Pacific Economic Development Canada and Small Business British Columbia: (a) is Pacific Economic Development Canada aware of the appointment of any of its employees to the employee Small Business British Columbia board of directors (board); (b) if the answer to (a) is affirmative, (i) what was the name of the employee, (ii) what was their position at both Pacific Economic Developmen…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Terra Nova—The Peninsulas gave an inspiring speech. The member mentioned the importance of ferries. His riding and mine are at opposite ends of the country, but they have this in common: We are coastal provinces, where ferries for passengers and traffic are very important. However, in British Columbia, we are not even building our own ferries. I wonder if the member …
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Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of the tired, old Liberals, the cost of housing has doubled, putting the dream of ever owning a home out of reach for so many Canadians. It has also aggravated the homelessness crisis, which, incidentally, the current housing minister, when he was the mayor of Vancouver, said he would eliminate. Today, with 28,000 British Columbians without secure housing, many of them …
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Madam Speaker, the minister says he wants Canada's economy to be the strongest in the G7. He must realize that we are lagging way behind our trading partners. The OECD report says, “The level of Canada's labour productivity lags its peers”, and Carolyn Rogers of the Bank of Canada said just last year that our productivity metrics is in crisis: “it's an emergency—it's time to break the glass.” The …
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Madam Speaker, the Canadian dream is to own a home, but that dream has been shattered for so many young families. Those who own a home are now facing higher mortgage payments due to higher interest rates caused by 10 years of the Liberal government's mismanagement of the economy. According to a recent CMHC report, 63% of Canadian homeowners are worried about defaulting on their mortgages, and 17% …
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