Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the hon. member talks about these wonderful programs. Well, we have not seen them. We are talking about the first-time homebuyer incentive, and it is a complete bust. It does not work in my riding. People have to earn more than the maximum amount set out in the program even to afford to buy a house, so it is another example of a failed program. We are just asking the Liberal-NDP gov…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am going to focus on my riding again. The western part of it is highly urbanized. I talked about the SkyTrain coming to Langley. It is going to help the people living in those urbanized areas. The people in the eastern part of my riding need to drive on the Trans-Canada Highway, and it is completely clogged up. To those people at home, I am also advocating for the expansion of Hig…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am here this evening to talk about the recent flooding in the Fraser Valley, in particular in the Sumas Prairie area. The Minister of Emergency Preparedness or his parliamentary secretary will be well aware of the extent and dimensions of the damage and the estimated cost for repairs. It is somewhere between $339 million and $580 million to seismically upgrade the Sumas Prairie di…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, of course, we in the Fraser Valley are grateful for support from the federal government in funding repairs and enhancing infrastructure to adapt to climate change. However, my real question today is this: What is the state of negotiations with our American counterparts regarding the Nooksack River specifically, which drains Mount Baker and the North Cascade Mountains? I ask because …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, business people in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove and indeed right across Canada are deeply concerned that inflation is not transitory, as the government likes to say, but is becoming deeply embedded in our economy. A farmer told me recently that the cost of getting their specialty products from Langley to Calgary, Alberta, has doubled from $3,200 per truckload to $6,000. This is c…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, the film industry in B.C. is demonstrating once again its job-creating power. The industry has plans to build dozens of new state-of-the-art stages across the province, and my riding of Langley—Aldergrove will be the beneficiary of a lot of that new investment, with a massive expansion of the Martini Film Studios. Just recently, it broke ground on a 33-acre campus that will employ 2,0…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, that's a great question. What could have been done? Let us take a look at where it was done successfully in other provinces and other cities. The problem is in Ottawa. Far be it from me to criticize the police forces of the nation's capital, but they could have subpoenaed tow trucks or asked the provincial government for more help. They could have asked for police forces from across…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, a number of earlier speakers made the point that the measures under the Emergencies Act are temporary in nature, yet the Minister of Finance just the other day said that some of the provisions dealing with financial services organizations, banks, credit unions and perhaps crowdfunding platforms will become permanent. I wonder if the member has a comment about that.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek. We are here this whole weekend debating the merits of the Liberal government motion to invoke the Emergencies Act. Before I get into that, I want to take the opportunity to thank the many people in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove who have reached out to me to encourage me and to plead with me to vote against th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, that is completely absurd. To quote what the Minister of Justice said, “If you're donating to the freedom convoy, to a Trump-like movement, you ought to be worried.” Those are not my words, those are his words. If he misspoke, he should correct himself. He should also take a look at the legislation and correct it if there was a drafting error. I cannot believe, like the member, that…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, there were two questions. The first was about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Indeed, the Emergencies Act says that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights must still apply, but it is not good enough just to say that. The regulations coming out of the order in council actually have to honour that, and I am submitting that did not happen.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, the people of my riding of Langley—Aldergrove are pleased to have a commitment from all levels of government now to extend the Metro Vancouver SkyTrain from downtown Surrey into downtown Langley. It is exactly what is needed by Langley, one of Canada's fastest-growing urban centres, but it is not enough. Every day, thousands of commuters are stuck in traffic on Highway 1, westbound …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Canada's economy needs to improve productivity, and for that we need to grow our workforce, with more highly skilled immigrants and more people with the skills, training and knowledge that employers require. However, here is the problem. People cannot afford to live in some of our economic-generating cities because of out-of-control housing inflation. When will the government take c…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the recent flooding in British Columbia brought out the best in Canadians: neighbours helping neighbours, charity springing into action and farmers working together for the common good. I want to highlight the work of an exemplary corporate citizen in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove, a whole industry actually. Mutual Fire Insurance of British Columbia was started about 100 years ago b…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned that young families across Canada are giving up the dream of ever owning a home. Nowhere is this more true than metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, the epicentre of Canada's housing affordability crisis. People like Alison in my riding, who just in the last year saw house prices increase by more than the amount of money she and her partner were able to save up…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Order in Council SOR/2020-96 published on May 1, 2020 whereas it states that “the newly prescribed firearms are primarily designed for military or paramilitary purposes” and as the former Minister of Public Safety has re-stated this in the House of Commons of the over 1,500 newly prohibited firearms on numerous occasions: (a) which specific models that were prohibited on May 1, …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to federal government statistics on labour shortages in British Columbia: (a) what are the government's estimates on the percentage and number of businesses in British Columbia that encountered a labour shortage in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by sector and industry; (c) what is the projected labour shortage in British Columbia for (i) 2022, (ii) 20…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, it is an honour for me today to rise in response to the Speech from the Throne that was presented by the Governor General in the other House on November 23, 2021. In her opening comments, the Governor General made reference to the recent flooding in the Fraser Valley and in southern British Columbia. The memories were very fresh at that time and they are still very fresh today. I wa…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I agree completely that Canadians do step up and help fellow Canadians. There are so many great charitable organizations that are doing really good work. They should have the support of the government. The government cannot solve every problem; the government is not the best at solving every problem. We need to allow free enterprise, people with charitable intent and the many well-r…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I know the member opposite's riding was also impacted by the recent flooding, so he would have first-hand experience with how significant that has been. Yes, absolutely, the government has to step up with very serious dialogue about climate adaptation. It is glaringly obvious that it needs to be done. It should have been done 10 years ago. It should have been done 20 years ago. Now …
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, clearly the government is not doing enough. I just gave two suggestions that the government could do. It could increase the housing supply. I know there is lots of talk of that, but there is very little action. Alison is a perfect example: She is waiting for results that are just not happening. There should also be restrictions on foreign ownership. Those would be two really good th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by a number of citizens from my home province of British Columbia who are deeply concerned about the abhorrent practice of forced organ harvesting and trafficking. They are encouraging this Parliament to pass Bill S-223, which has been presented here before. It is time to get the job done.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, by now the Minister of Emergency Preparedness is well aware that part of the flooding in the Fraser Valley last month was caused by a breach in the Nooksack River diking system in Washington state, yet he should have known about this a long time ago. There are certainly enough reports and studies to that effect, but the government failed to act in a timely fashion to avoid the floodin…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it starts with having enough people in the workforce. Right now, there is a shortage of health care workers. We are focusing particularly on nurses. We need to solve that problem. We need to get enough people in the workforce working in hospitals and in the many other fields where nurses serve their patients and keep Canadians safe. That is where we need to start. I would certainly …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member's question gives me an opportunity to talk about jurisdiction and Canadian constitutional law. I am not talking about the federal government taking over jurisdiction. Of course, we are going to work with the provinces. Health care is a provincial matter. The federal government needs to work with the provinces to find the best way to increase health care resources.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am here to talk about the government's proposal to amend the Criminal Code to criminalize certain behaviour, which I believe most Canadians thought was already against the law. Before speaking to Bill C-3, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the fine people of Langley—Aldergrove for endorsing me for a second term. It is a great honour to be re-elected. I have promised m…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, spending $1.4 million on a study is important of course, but we are talking about $1 billion. If the minister did not bring the chequebook today, will it be in the budget? It is absolutely essential. It is existential to the Fraser Valley. The minister did not make any reference to negotiating a treaty with the United States regarding the Nooksack River and the Columbia River, throu…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, last week I had a question for the Minister of Emergency Preparedness about the recent flooding in the Fraser Valley and in particular in Abbotsford, which touches on my riding. I pointed out in my question that the Sumas Prairie diking system needs repair. We have known that for a long time. That is not news, and we knew that the price tag would be roughly $500 million, which seems…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, as other speakers have said, this needs to go to committee to be studied. We do not have a lot of detail about the government's plans in that regard. I do know that many unionized workers working in federally regulated industries have paid sick leave in their contracts, and I believe in the sanctity of contracts. I would certainly be willing to look at gaps where further assistance …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, about a month ago Mayor Braun invited the members of Parliament whose ridings touch his city of Abbotsford to a meeting to talk about the aging Sumas Prairie diking system. He explained that the cost to repair would be about $500 million, but the economic impact of a breach of those dikes would be devastating, measured in the billions. About two weeks ago, the nightmare came to pass. …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Is that all you have?
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your appointment. I want to thank the member for Surrey Centre particularly for highlighting the work being done to enhance the diking system around the Nicomekl River and the Serpentine River running through Surrey and also through my riding of Langley—Aldergrove. However, we heard earlier in debate today that a significant cause of the flooding on the Canadian sid…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, about a month ago I, together with the members for Abbotsford and Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, met with the mayor of Abbotsford. My riding of Langley—Aldergrove touches the western part of Abbotsford. The mayor summoned us to this meeting to explain some of the weaknesses in the diking system around the Sumas Prairie, for which a request for federal funding of about $500 million had…
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