Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Conservative members of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying to table, in both official languages, our supplementary opinion. Conservatives welcome the committee's recommendation that individuals whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness be indefinitely excluded from eligibility for medical assistance in dying. This will sa…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay. The government has asked us today to accelerate consideration of the spring economic update because we are told time is short. What the government neglects to mention is that much of the time pressure is entirely of its own making. Let us be clear about what this motion would do. It would force all…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand that when a family is struggling financially, the answer is not to keep increasing the limit on the credit card. Could my colleague explain why he thinks the government believes doubling the deficit and announcing another $48 billion in spending commitments will somehow make life more affordable for Canadians?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the press reports that Liberal MPs say the President of the Treasury Board is not very present, not very diligent and struggling to master his files. Last week, Canadians watched him stand in this House, unable to answer a very basic question about his own department. If the Prime Minister demands confidence from his ministers, does he still have confidence in the President of the Tre…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have spent 10 years telling Canadians that the solution to every problem is more government spending. Canadians now face some of the least affordable housing in the G7, record food bank usage and the highest household debt in the G7, and ours is the only country in the G20 in a recession. At what point does the government admit that its spending is not solving the afforda…
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Mr. Speaker, I would not agree that the Liberals were elected to make a whole bunch of announcements and get nothing done. Conservatives believe in the basic principle that government does not create prosperity by endlessly spending borrowed money. We would focus on getting costs down, removing barriers to investments, speeding up approvals, supporting the workers and businesses that actually buil…
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would say that there are many examples of where the Liberals have gone wrong in this budget. The PBO found that the government used most of the additional fiscal room for new policy priorities, leaving the deficit track substantially unchanged. In other words, when the government had some breathing room, it did not use that room to meaningfully lower the deficit or giv…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians keep hearing announcements about new funds, new agencies, new strategies and new spending programs. Could my colleague explain why, after 10 years of these announcements, Canadians are facing higher housing costs, higher grocery bills and lower affordability, rather than the prosperity they were promised?
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Mr. Speaker, I actually want to talk about the fact that what we are opposing is a process that weakens accountability and a fiscal plan that seems to be planned out on the back of a napkin. Parliament exists to examine legislation, improve it and hold the government accountable for taxpayer dollars. That should not be controversial. The amendment moved by my Conservative colleague would allow com…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals want to make it easier to hide information from Canadians by no longer allowing government emails or text messages to be part of an information request. Even the independent Information Commissioner is opposed. Will the President of the Treasury Board reverse this proposal and defend Canadians' right to know?
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals keep telling Canadians that their safety valve measure in the bill, or, more accurately, a poison pill, a get-out-of-jail-free card, will be used only in rare and exceptional cases. If that is true, why were they unwilling to exclude serious offences such as aggravated sexual assault, extortion, and child sexual offences? If it is truly meant to be narrow, why is it wri…
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Mr. Speaker, the grandparents listened to the Liberal members dismiss concerns about the recession, rising debt and the cost of living. They told me they wished they could call and tell the government what they were seeing in their own lives, as seniors struggling to make ends meet. They talked about grocery bills that keep climbing, adult children who are struggling to get ahead, and their grandc…
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Madam Speaker, Canadians did not need a Parliamentary Budget Officer report to tell them that the economy was in trouble; families knew it when their groceries kept getting more expensive, when their mortgage payments doubled and when young people gave up on owning their own home. For years we have been sounding the alarms, yet the Liberals kept telling us, “Everything is fine.” Now, the PBO confi…
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Mr. Speaker, earlier today I was speaking with some grandparents from my riding who were actually sitting in the gallery listening to my colleague, our finance critic, speak on the state of our economy. I did not realize they were coming. I am very grateful to have met them downstairs. As they listened to the Liberal members—
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Mr. Speaker, when Canadians hear the government talk about Bill C-16, they probably think it is a bill about protecting victims. They hear about protecting women from abuse. They hear about protecting children from exploitation. They hear about stopping the spread of deepfake pornography. They hear about tougher measures against coercive control in abusive relationships. Most Canadians would hear …
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives support the parts of the bill that protect women and children, address coercive control and deal with deepfake exploitation. In fact, many of those ideas came from the Conservatives in the first place. The problem is clause 63. The government wrapped good measures around a poison pill that would let judges go below mandatory minimum sentences for serious crimes. Victims …
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Mr. Speaker, I hope I have been able to tackle some of that in my speech, but the arguments we have heard from the Liberal side do not explain why they rejected every reasonable safeguard Conservatives proposed in order to define things. If their release valve or get-out-of-jail-free card is truly only for rare and exceptional cases, why do they not say that in the bill? Why not limit it to first-…
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Mr. Speaker, if mandatory minimums can be ignored, then they are not mandatory anymore. The government says there would be jail time, but that misses the point. Parliament sets mandatory minimums because some crimes are so serious that there must be a clear floor.
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have been very clear from the beginning. We support stronger protections for women, children and victims. We support action on coercive control. We support action on deepfake exploitation. We support stronger tools to protect children online. What we do not support is using those victims as a political cover for a clause that attacks mandatory minimum sentences. The gove…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, one of the great questions facing any nation is whether it trusts its people more than it trusts the government. That question lies at the heart of the economic challenges facing Canada today. For most of our history, Canada was a country where ordinary people could arrive with little more than a dollar in their pocket, work hard, take risks, build a business, buy a home, raise a fa…
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Madam Speaker, one of a federal government's values is how it treats those who served our country. Veterans do not need more announcements. They need timely services, reliable benefits and access to the supports they have earned. With this budget adding more debt and pushing interest costs above $50 billion a year, could my colleague explain how Canadians can have confidence that veterans will rem…
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Madam Speaker, what we are witnessing is not simply a recession. It is the predictable result of a government that believes prosperity can be engineered by Ottawa rather than created by Canadians themselves. For a year, the Prime Minister has promised growth. Instead, the economy has shrunk in three of the last four quarters. More than 112,000 jobs have disappeared. Business investment has fallen.…
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Madam Speaker, governments that are confident in their ideas welcome debate. Governments that are uncertain of their ideas shut it down. Canada is now the only G7 country in recession. Jobs are disappearing, investment is leaving and families are falling behind, yet instead of allowing Parliament to fully examine a budget that would affect every Canadian, the Liberals are once again shutting down …
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is the only G7 country in a recession. People vote with their feet when they have no other way to vote, and investors vote with their dollars every single day. Right now they are voting against Canada. More than 112,000 jobs have disappeared in just three months. Behind every one of those jobs is a Canadian wondering how to pay the rent, buy groceries and keep the lights on. If…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is facing serious economic challenges. Jobs are disappearing, investment is leaving and families are struggling to make ends meet, yet the government has chosen to shut down debate on a massive omnibus budget bill that would affect every region in the country. I would like to ask my Bloc colleague this. Regardless of our differences on policy, does he believe Canadians are well…
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Madam Speaker, Canada is the only G7 country that is in a recession. More than 112,000 Canadians have lost their job in just a few months. Food banks are reaching record levels of usage. Families are struggling to pay their mortgage, their rent and even their grocery bill. At a time like this, Canadians would expect members of Parliament to be debating solutions. They would expect their elected re…
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Madam Speaker, every dollar spent on interest is a dollar that cannot be spent on the future. Canadians will pay more than $50 billion this year simply to pay the interest charges on federal debt. That money produces nothing. It creates no jobs, builds no infrastructure and improves no public services. Could my colleague share her thoughts on the long-term consequences of forcing Canadian families…
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Mr. Speaker, the point is that the government acted too little, too late and only temporarily. The Liberal plan provides a fraction of the relief that Canadians need, and it is for only part of the year, while the other federal costs remain layered on energy. Even according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the average household will only save $124. That may help a little, but it is not serious…
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Mr. Speaker, in the 1970s, during Britain's energy crisis, there was a saying that the government treats taxpayers like lemons; that every time it needs more money, it just squeezes harder. That is exactly how Canadians feel today every time they pull up to the gas pump. Whether someone is a mom driving their kids to hockey in Cloverdale, a tradesman in Langley filling up his truck before work or …
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Mr. Speaker, I heard the very same things in my riding. I also heard that, at the end of the day, Canadians are looking for common sense, not political theatre. The Liberals have created a system where rising gas prices benefit government revenues because every increase at the pump means more tax revenue flowing to Ottawa. Meanwhile, ordinary Canadians absorb the consequences as higher fuel costs …
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Mr. Speaker, economists and business voices across the country are warning that, when people no longer trust the rules around property ownership, investment disappears, housing slows down and affordability gets worse. We are now seeing stalled projects, bankrupt developers and fewer homes being built while young Canadians lose hope of ownership, but the Liberal government calls that fearmongering.…
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Mr. Speaker, this ultimately comes down to priorities. The government has become far too comfortable with collecting more money every time gas prices rise while pretending that higher costs are somehow beyond their control. However, Canadians do not have the luxury of pretending. They feel these costs every day when they buy groceries, commute to work, heat their homes or run a small business. Des…
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Mr. Speaker, 11 years ago, people invested in our community because they believed in the future. Families moved there. Builders built there. Small businesses took risks there, but now developers are facing insolvency. Businesses are being extorted. Families are worried about crime and people are starting to wonder if the rules even make sense anymore. After years of mixed signals from the Liberals…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada now has some of the highest household debt and least affordable housing in the G7. Food bank use is at a record high. Seniors are skipping meals. Young families are delaying having children. Working parents are choosing between groceries, rent and medication. However, I have heard the Liberals say over and over today that they are improving affordability and that Canada's econo…
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Mr. Speaker, when the government forces Parliament to shut down debate, Canadians should ask themselves one very simple question: What exactly are the Liberals hoping that Canadians will not notice? The choice to use time allocation is the latest in the government's attempt to shortcut transparency. Debate is cut short, scrutiny is treated like obstruction and billions of taxpayer dollars are push…
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Mr. Speaker, families across Canada know that, when their interest payments start eating up their household budget, something is seriously wrong. That is exactly what is happening with the Liberal government. Debt interest costs have now exploded to $59 billion a year, up 10% in just one year alone. Canadians are now paying more in interest than the federal government sends to provinces for health…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, what we are witnessing now is the consequence of years of Liberal market distortion through subsidies, red tape and unpredictable government policy. The Liberals overheated the housing market with record immigration levels and developers responded by investing billions, hiring workers and putting shovels in the ground based on the conditions the government created. Then Ottawa suddenl…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada's housing market today looks a lot like a young man driving a road racer down an icy highway in the middle of winter. The engine roars, the tires grip and the driver thinks he is in control and so he presses harder on the gas. Imagine a souped-up, five-litre Mustang with more horsepower than common sense. The speed builds, but suddenly the tires lose traction. The steering beco…
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Mr. Speaker, a recent study by the Montreal Economic Institute estimates that the government's buy Canada policy could drive up costs by more than $12 billion a year. During an affordability crisis, does my colleague think paying much higher prices for Liberal vanity projects like Alto rail is the best way to help Canadians keep more of their hard-earned dollars in their pockets?
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Mr. Speaker, 2.6 million Canadian jobs depend on getting those tariffs resolved, and a year in, there is still no deal, no timeline and no negotiation. The Prime Minister cannot even decide if our relationship with the U.S. is broken or stronger than ever. When will the government stop the mixed messages and start real negotiations to remove these tariffs?
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Mr. Speaker, we all agree that U.S. tariffs are hurting Canadian workers. Businesses are being squeezed and uncertainty is growing, but loans are not a solution. Even industry leaders are clearly saying that the tariff is the problem. I would ask my colleague from the Bloc, if tariffs are the problem, does he agree that Canada needs real leverage, like building our energy resource capacity, to get…
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Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer released four reports on the Liberals' costly credit card budget this morning, and the picture they painted, in our briefing with Annette Ryan, was deeply concerning. Here is what she confirmed. We still do not have clear definitions of what counts as capital versus operating spending, so she cannot verify whether the government is meeting its own fisc…
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Mr. Speaker, a country that cannot keep its streets safe is a country that is totally losing control of its future. What is happening in my community of Surrey and Cloverdale should be a warning to every member of the House. Quiet neighbourhoods are being hit by gunfire. Families are wondering whether they are safe in their own homes, and businesses are being threatened. The rule of law is being c…
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Mr. Speaker, if the government is serious about restoring safety for Canadians, it has to act with clarity and resolve. This begins with consequences. Serious repeat offenders, particularly those engaged in extortion and organized crime, must face meaningful jail time, not symbolic penalties but sentences that deter and protect. The new Liberal legislation, which would make it criminal to shoot a …
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Mr. Speaker, the new Liberal space bill reads like yet another one-sided deal. Taxpayers would cover the risk, while Liberal friends and wealthy private investors would collect the reward. If launches fail, Canada pays. If they succeed, the profits are privatized. Why is the government proposing building a space program where the public carries the liability but the benefits are reserved for a sel…
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Madam Speaker, Canadians are being told that this is about building a space industry for the future, and of course, we all want to see Canada succeed in that space. However, they are also looking at this and asking a very basic question: How does a government end up committing $200 million of taxpayer money to lease a launch pad that is not even operational? Is this what happens when we move away …
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Mr. Speaker, I could not help but notice earlier when one of my Liberal colleagues shouted the famous Buzz Lightyear line, "To infinity and beyond” in response to today's space bill. That seems to be the level of seriousness this Liberal government has when it comes to such an important issue. This sort of trivialization raises a serious question. When Canadians see this kind of attitude, they won…
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Mr. Speaker, when Canadians hear “space launches”, they think of rockets and satellites, but what they should really be thinking about is security, who is launching, what they are launching and who is behind it. This where the bill falls short. There is no clear national security test written into law. Instead, we are told to trust the ministers. They will figure it out later, behind closed doors.…
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Mr. Speaker, the fellow I mentioned and his family definitely do not agree with the Prime Minister that affordability is the best it has been in over a decade. As a matter of fact, he admitted it has gotten so bad in Canada that he is wondering whether he should even stay. It is no wonder Canadians are talking about leaving. It now takes over half of median household income just to own a home in C…
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Mr. Speaker, I took an Uber last Saturday to the Vaisakhi parade in Surrey, and I got to talking with the driver. He told me he had lost his job to AI and now he is driving long hours just to make ends meet. He said that after all the costs of keeping his car on the road, he is making next to nothing. He hardly sees his little boy, who is in kindergarten, yet the Prime Minister told Canadians that…
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