Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, tonight we are talking about Bill C-49, an act to amend the Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord. I am a member of Parliament from the other end of the country, the Pacific Coast, and it is a real honour for me to be joining in the debate about something that is so important to Canada. It goes to show that Canada really is a nation from sea to sea. I am from the other ocean, but …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am up with a follow-up to a question that I had put to the Liberal minister. On May 3 in question period, I asked a question about the failed drug legalization pilot project in British Columbia. That project was a joint initiative of the federal Liberal government and the provincial NDP government to basically decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs for personal …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, we often hear the Liberals say they are taking a science-based approach. The science is in, and it is not working. There were over 2,500 toxic deaths last year during the pilot project. It was worse than the year before. This is going in the wrong direction. We have known about this for quite a long time. The provincial government introduced this legislation a while ago, and unfortuna…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by over 800 people, primarily from my home province of British Columbia but also from right across Canada, who are concerned that, since 2014 violent crime has increased by 38% and gang-related homicides has increased by 126%. Petitioners are concerned about the lack of regulations regarding the use of drugs in public places, about repeat offenders …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about Constable Greg Pierzchala of the OPP, who was murdered by a man who was out on bail for similar crimes. There were bail restrictions of course, but the police who were in charge of those told the justice committee that they did not have the tools, the resources, the ability or the manpower to be able to supervise those bail conditions. What can the minister tell u…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it has been reported in the city of Victoria that the same man has been arrested three times in three days for auto theft. Where was he today? He was out on bail again, so it is catch and release three times, and the people of Victoria are wondering why the police are not doing their work. My question for the minister is this: How many times is enough before a dangerous repeat offende…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there was another story also coming out of the city of Victoria that a person charged with illicit drug trafficking three times was released on bail three times, and people are wondering what is going on with the police. Now the police, in their public notices, have taken to highlighting Bill C-75 of the Liberal government, which directs them to release people with the least restraint…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, Constable Shaelyn Yang of the Burnaby RCMP was murdered in October 2022, about 18 months ago. She was stabbed to death by a drug-crazed person when she was doing a wellness check at a homeless camp in Burnaby. This happened right at the time when the current Liberal government together with the NDP provincial government of British Columbia tried a pilot project of decriminalizing drug…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister, it is clear he is not worth the crime, chaos, drugs and disorder. His radical experiment in British Columbia with taxpayer-funded hard drugs and legalized street drugs has led to more crime, chaos and disorder. Common-sense Conservatives have put forward a motion to put an end to this risky experimentation. Will the Liberals vote w…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for that very thoughtful comment. Indeed, shipping out raw materials is not as productive as actually further manufacturing products. However, I made a point in my speech about the importance of Canada developing its high-tech sector, to scale it up into international competitive standards. We are failing in that.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree that the average worker should be able to afford a home in this country. A well-paid carpenter should be able to afford an average house. It may not be the luxury house that he happens to be building or framing; however, every person in Canada who has gone to the effort of getting an education or on-the-job training, and who has a good job, should be able to fulfill the dream …
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Mr. Speaker, I would point out that, with Canada's very high real estate costs, many of our investment dollars are going into real estate. One economist called it a “black hole” for investment. That money could otherwise be going to much more productive industrial use. I believe this is what Canada is lacking: investment in technology and industries that are really going to grow our economy. That …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we are talking about budget 2024 and the budget implementation act. In the budget report, the Liberal government makes a claim that the GDP, the gross domestic product of our economy, is set to grow by 3.5% this year. GDP is a good measurement because it talks about the health of the economy, and admittedly, a 3.5% growth is not bad, if that is indeed what it is going to be, but membe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we are talking about the budget implementation act, budget 2024. In its budget, the Liberal government makes the audacious claim that its ongoing investments are “making life more affordable for Canadians and improving access to housing.” I thought I would compare that to what is actually happening on the ground in communities across Canada and in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove. What…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister, it is clear that he is not worth the crime, the chaos, the drugs or the disorder. As a result of his extremist drug policies, we have open drug use in front of an elementary school in Langley, discarded needles at a playground in Willoughby and crack smoking at a bus stop in Brookswood. People from Langley want to know when the Prime…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the result are in, and they are a disaster, with 2,500 opioid—
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, on May 5, 1945, the Canadian Army finally secured the liberation of the Dutch people from Nazi occupation. It was a welcome end to a fierce year-long campaign starting on D-Day in northern France, continuing through a cold winter bogged down at the Scheldt River, and finally ending with the liberation of Arnhem and surrounding cities. This victory came at a cost of 7,000 Canadian sold…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the results are in. They are a disaster, with 2,500 deaths last year and six, on average, every day this year. The Liberal minister responsible for hard drug use says that she is waiting for more information from B.C., but the B.C. government says that it has given her all of the information, as if 2,500 drug deaths in one year is not enough data to go on. Canadians want to know why L…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the best support the government can give to Canadians is to make life more affordable again, bring interest rates down, bring inflation down. Munir and his family should not be paying $8,200 a month for their mortgage; $4,000 should be enough.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we are talking about budget 2024. The Liberal government claims that its ongoing investments are making life more affordable for Canadians and improving access to housing. That claim is straight out of the budget report. I was very surprised to hear that, because what I have heard from people in my home community, as well as from Canadians right across the country, is exactly the op…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is time to turn the hurt that the Liberals have inflicted on Canadians into the hope that they so desperately need.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, with respect to our monetary policy and how it relates to health care policy, I did some quick math: $1.2 trillion of national debt at a 4% interest rate would be $48 billion for annual servicing costs. What does the member for Montcalm think the likelihood is that the Liberal promises about health care, dental care and now pharmacare would actually be successful in this environment…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the development and implementation of the Beneficial Ownership Registry: (a) what are the details of all contracts signed by the government to date related to the registry in any way, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) vendor, (iii) value or amount, (iv) description of goods or services, (v) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced, competitive bid), (vi) duration…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to expenditures by the government to operate and maintain the Corporations Canada Business Registry, the NUANS Registry, the Multi-Jurisdictional Registry Access Service, and the Beneficial Ownership Registry, broken down by registry: (a) what were the total costs associated with each registry, broken down by year from 2017 to present; (b) what are the details of all contracts entered …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we request a recorded division.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, where is the accountability? Where are the funds? What a boondoggle. In a misguided attempt, the Liberal government tried to control our borders during a pandemic. It wasted at least $60 million on an app that should have cost no more than $80,000, and the app does not even work. Without competition, the Liberals handed out a contract for $20 million to a couple of guys operating ou…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by 75 people in my community to draw Parliament's attention to the plight of Pakistani Christians, who were persecuted for their faith, who did not receive protection from their government and who have fled to Thailand, where they continue to face persecution while they wait for their Canadian visa applications to proceed. They are calling upon th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, today we are talking about Bill C-62, a bill necessitated by the Liberal government's total mismanagement of the medical assistance in dying, or MAID, regime. The first example of the mismanagement is the government's failure to appeal a lower court decision that mandated Parliament to expand MAID beyond what it was initially intended to be. This lower trial court ordered that Parliam…
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Mr. Speaker, there were a couple of good questions in that. I would point out that the Carter decision was about medical assistance for people who were dying. The condition had to be irremediable. The suffering had to be intolerable, and natural death had to be reasonably foreseeable. That was the law that Canadians thought was going to be our law going forward. It was not long before that was ove…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, first of all, about housing, I would point out that, under a Conservative government, housing was difficult, but it was not the crisis that it is today. That is the point that we have been making, and that the leader of the Conservative Party has been making, time and time again. The crisis has been brought on by the mismanagement of the Liberal government. I would also say, about hou…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, on the west coast, we know a lot about natural gas, and we now have the technology to convert it into liquid form, put it onto ships and ship it safely across the ocean. This is exactly what western Europe is requiring to get it natural gas coming from Russia. It just makes sense that friends should be helping friends out, particularly in a time of war. This is a missed opportunity …
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Madam Speaker, what a lot of Ukrainians are concerned about is something I read in The Globe and Mail today, which is that apparently the Prime Minister's Office had specifically invited the known Nazi who was here when President Zelenskyy was in the House. The invitation read, in part, “Dear Yaroslav Hunka, The Right Honourable...Prime Minister of Canada, is pleased to invite you to a special eve…
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Madam Speaker, the people the hon. member opposite is talking about were certainly alive when Canada shipped a gas turbine to Russia that, unbelievably, allowed Russia to increase its production of natural gas, which is sold to western Europe to raise more money to feed the war machine that is killing Ukrainian people today. Do they know that? He talks about nostalgia. Of course many Canadians are…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to notify you that will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member of Parliament for Regina—Wascana. The Conservative Party is the party of free trade in Canada. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney and former president Ronald Reagan signed the first free trade agreement in 1988. There was a lot of resistance at the time from a lot of nay-sayers who were saying th…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, after eight years of the Liberals, my home province of British Columbia is facing a housing affordability crisis, and that is impacting economic development as workers are frozen out of the real estate market. The Liberals' housing announcements in the fall economic statement are nothing more than empty words. Josh, who lives not too far from me, told me that his mortgage payment ha…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government’s response to reports that the BC Cancer Agency was refusing to provide life-saving cancer treatment and instead suggested that a patient receive medical assistance in dying (MAID): (a) what assurances, if any, does the government have to ensure that patients are given the opportunity to receive potentially life-saving treatment prior to being asked to consider MAID; …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, where is the support from the Liberals for our common-sense bill, Bill C-234, which they rejected? It is a common-sense solution to tackling food inflation. Why did the Prime Minister reject supporting Canadian farmers and the citizens who rely on them for a good, safe, affordable food supply?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the Rocky Ridge Turkey Farm in Langley just received its heating bill. It was $3,000 and shockingly, a quarter of it is the carbon tax. When it quadruples, farmer Steve's heating bill is going to be 60% carbon tax. It is ridiculous. After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, it is clear that the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost. What is his advice to farmer Steve? Is …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to expenditures by the government on cannabis intended for veterans: (a) what were the total expenditures on cannabis intended for veterans, broken down by year for the past five years; and (b) what are the details of all contracts that the government has for cannabis intended for veterans since 2018, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) vendor, (iii) value, (iv) amount of cannabis …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Lytton Homeowner Resilient Rebuild Program: (a) how much money has been distributed through the program to date; (b) how many recipients have received funding through the program; (c) what was the average payment amount received; and (d) how many applications have been received to date?
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, the Internet is an amazing tool. It is fast, powerful, readily accessible to all and inexpensive. Economically, socially and culturally, it has levelled the playing field so anybody and everybody can be their own publisher, their own printer and their own marketing agent. They can even be aspiring musicians or artists without the need for an intermediary like a publishing company, a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the member opposite is not even listening to what British Columbians are saying; 72% of people in my province say that the carbon tax is both ineffective and unfair. Even the NDP premier is now calling for carbon tax fairness. The member for Cloverdale—Langley City has a choice to make on Monday. Will he vote for the Liberal plan of different taxation for different people, depending…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, people in British Columbia are coming to realize that the NDP-Liberal carbon tax is exactly that, a tax plan that is causing inflation, higher interest rates and higher mortgage payments. After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government's mismanaging our economy, Canadians are starting to realize that the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost. On Monday, will he allow his members…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the current NDP-Liberal government, where are we at? Well, more Canadians are frozen out of the housing market, rents are doubling, inflationary deficits are driving up mortgage payments and our federal government is saying, “Our inflation is not all that bad; look at other countries.” That is exactly what an enterprising Ontario couple did. They sold their modest…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is a great question that would take a lot of conversation to fully answer, but it goes to show us how important the sex offender registry is. It is a very useful tool for the police. It is not perfect, but it is another tool.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there are good things in this bill. One of them is to give more voice to victims in publication bans, so we completely support that. However, we need to study the bill. It is too bad that it is going to be so rushed, but our committee is soon going to be seized with this topic. We have already started the investigation into the bill, and we will do the best that we can with it.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I am going to donate to the cause, so I thank the member for that. It was good work. The member is absolutely right that the vast majority of victims of sexual assault are women. He is also absolutely right that, as the member for Fundy Royal said, witnesses have told us that the justice system is a legal system and not really a justice system. We heard from witnesses at…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we are here today talking about a very uncomfortable topic: sexual crimes, the way we deal with offenders and the way we protect victims. We acknowledge as a society that sexual crimes are heinous or injurious and have long-lasting effects, sometimes for the rest of the life of the victim. We recognize that the majority of victims of sexual crimes are women and children. We also ackno…
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Madam Speaker, I have a question about the grocery portion of Bill C-56. I am reading the Competition Bureau's report from June of this year entitled, “Canada Needs More Grocery Competition”. In that report, the Competition Bureau makes the point that the big three retailers earn a profit combined of $3.6 billion. It sounds like a lot of money, but that is on $100 billion of sales. So, that is a 3…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, of course we all stand behind the age-old principle of the presumption of innocence and the right to reasonable bail. However, I am going to talk again about the 40 people who have been responsible for 6,000 interactions with the police, which is 150, on average, per person. At some point, perhaps they lose their right to be free on bail. The problem with Bill C-75 is that it gutted…
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