Parliamentary Speeches

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, the member spoke much about part 7 and, as always, the devil is in the details. Part 7, the Borrowing Authority Act, would increase the amount of borrowing by an astronomical figure, but with a qualifier. In the Financial Administration Act, in paragraph 46.1, the wording permits the government to borrow any amount to pay back debt, and Canadians are very concerned that this is just a…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, through some great work by the Auditor General and the PBO, we have known for a fact that many of the COVID support programs were very poorly targeted and, even more shocking, friends of the Prime Minister got single-source contracts shaped by the PMO staff, which is totally illegal. We sent money to people in businesses who should not have received it. We overpaid so much that the …

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, yesterday it was reported by our local newspaper, the Langley Advance Times, that there were five overdose deaths from illegal drugs in Langley in January and February. In the past, this number would have represented the entire year in my city. All reports are pointing to the fact that the illicit drug market has become far more toxic. Despite this, the Liberals want to reduce the pen…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, honestly, the big thing is this definitely starts at home. For myself, I know I tried very hard to ensure my kids were not accessing anything that was unacceptable, yet we still struggled with the problem. We, as parents, need to be very aware that this is getting more and more accessible. I have an 11-year-old granddaughter and I fear for her when I see the kind of material that is a…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, it is very important that we do not try to just throw money at this issue. This issue is much bigger than that. This is a very core issue and we, as a Canadian society, really need to look at what we teach our young people. Absolutely, we need to continue to support our women. There has been tremendous work done during the pandemic to give assistance where needed. There has been a lar…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, I would first like to correct the record. I did not say it was the sole reason. It is one of the root causes, but there are many reasons why we have this happening. We live in a world where girls are told that their value is in their WAP and how well they can straddle a stripper pole. We live in a world where Willie Pickton was able to pick up a prostitute, rape her, kill her and thro…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in tonight's important debate on the Parliament of Canada's response to the disturbing rise in gender-based violence that we are seeing across our country. Before I get to my remarks on this motion, I want to start by offering my sincere condolences to the families of the seven women in Quebec who recently lost their lives in heinous ac…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, in the Vancouver area the cost of an average home is already inflated by $644,000 because of red tape from all levels of government. COVID is not the time for extra costs for home owners. At the finance committee, I asked the assistant deputy minister in charge of tax policy if there were plans for a new home equity tax. He told me that he would not comment on new taxes and that I sho…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, what we have here is a perfect example of a Liberal technique on display, brought to us by the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader's railing against the opposition simply for pointing out that Liberals have not a shred of credibility left as champions of women's rights, based on what has been happening at committee. It seems the government is saying that if a big …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, having listened to this very passionate speech, I am very thankful for the member standing up and fighting for women in regard to the incredible tragedy we see happening with a company like MindGeek. Does the member believe that the Liberals have any credibility left as champions of women's rights, based on what we see happening at committee?

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I would ask this. Does the member believe the Liberals have any credibility left as champions of women's rights, based on what has been heard at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women?

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, does the member think the Liberals actually care about protecting women in the military? From where I sit, I just do not see it.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, in my constituency mailer this month, I sent out a number of phone numbers for mental health support because it became clear the statistics were terrible: 42% of British Columbians have had a deterioration of mental health; 13% of British Columbians increased substance use as a coping tool for COVID; and 8% of British Columbians have experienced suicidal thoughts and feelings. I won…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, does my hon. colleague believe that a plan for border opening should be laid out clearly by the federal government? That is what we are asking for in this motion.

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to present a petition regarding Bill C-6. The petitioners have serious concerns about the consequences of the legislation, including limiting the options available for LGBT Canadians to receive counselling and the criminalization of conversations between children, their parents and other mentors about sexuality. A recent Nanos poll has found tha…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, all members of Parliament have seen their email accounts absolutely blow up. We are receiving tons of emails and phone calls about this issue. I am going to quickly share one that I received. I think our colleagues really need to take a look at it. They will have it in their emails. It is from Trudo Lemmens, a professor in the faculty of law at the University of Toronto. He said: I …

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, it is my honour to present two petitions on behalf of Canadians today. The first petition I will be presenting is related to Bill C-6, the government's poorly crafted conversion therapy ban. We, here in Parliament, and the overwhelming majority of Canadians want to pass legislation that criminalizes, in an explicit manner, coercive counselling practices. However, in an unfortunate a…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, the second petition is with respect to the Tigray conflict that has rocked Ethiopia since November of last year. The petitioners recognize that credible reports indicate that war crimes, such as indiscriminate shelling of civilian towns and villages, extrajudicial killings, at least one large-scale massacre, looting and sexual violence, have all occurred in the Tigray region in Ethi…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I also had a constituent and her husband who were on the Diamond Princess. She and her parents were stuck in quarantine for a long time. They had to stay in Japan because her parents both caught COVID, and in the end her father passed away. This was their anniversary gift to their parents. The incredible sadness they had to go through was enormous. These travel advisers worked to help…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I have to say I do not have confidence in the Liberals. When I saw they shut down the cruises into Vancouver until March 2022, I recognized they did not have Vancouver and British Columbia in mind. They are just not thinking ahead. They are constantly putting out fires and they are really harming our economy more and more by the day.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, it is very important to recognize that we need to pull out the stops for small business. The numbers that I mentioned that we got from the CFIB as to how many small business are going to fail if we do not start helping right now and do it well is absolutely astronomical. We know that we will not be able to return from this disastrous situation of a lengthy lockdown without the maximum…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, for more than a year now, I have been talking with women across my riding and across the country, many of whom are the main breadwinner of the family and have been faced with juggling the responsibilities of child care during imposed school closures with keeping their small businesses afloat. They have not been able to access income support because their industry does not qualify. Par…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I wonder if my colleague could talk of the risks we would be taking by having an election during the pandemic. I know that here in B.C., we saw a huge spike in cases following the election. Could he speak to those kinds of risks we are putting Canadians to by holding an election during a pandemic?

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I cannot tell the House how excited I am to hear that the Liberals have a concrete plan to help us reopen. That is really exciting. Businesses are asking for certainty, because that is how we can go forward. I have one concern. We are about to start vaccinating in B.C. For that to begin, we have to delay second doses for some of our seniors. Earlier today, Pfizer was at the health c…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the member mentioned that people seeking PR has dropped dramatically. Over the weekend, I received a desperate plea to help someone who has been working hard to become a Canadian. He was basically begging me. He asked me to put myself in his situation. He was getting absolutely no response back from Service Canada. He started this back in 2019. He has had to reapply every time for v…

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As you mentioned, the big difference now is that 24 hours have passed. What if one minute has passed? Will that be deemed a sufficient change for a motion like this to be brought forward again?

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, it is 100% guaranteed that we will kill people who would have gotten better. That is a statement made by a well-respected Canadian psychiatrist this weekend at an emergency Bill C-7 meeting I cobbled together in response to this Frankenstein bill that we are now debating here in the House. How the Senate managed to change the bill from what it was to what it is completely boggles the …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my colleague said it was not possible for someone to get MAID if they were in an emergency. I wonder if he could speak to the story of Candice Lewis, a 25-year-old woman with a significant disability who lives in Newfoundland with her mother, Sheila Elson. Elson reported that when Candice was receiving emergency medical care treatment in a hospital in 2017, a doctor approached her t…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I have to say that it was shocking to see what sort of a “Frankenstein” bill the Senate back to us. We have not even had a chance to discuss or debate any of those other things and here they are in the bill. It is absolutely unbelievable and we need to stop it in its tracks.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, yes, it is absolutely perverse to imagine that we would be the only country that is going to offer a service such as euthanasia before treatment has been accessed. We need to ensure that people are not choosing this because they are desperate. We need people to be supported by health care and mental health care so that we are not seeing them die unnecessarily. We have heard that from …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I would point out that I was reading a quote by Tyler White, the CEO of Siksika Health Services. Therefore, everything I said when I used that terminology were not my words; I was simply reading from what Tyler White said. It is inappropriate, at a time when we are discussing such a massive change to our health regime and euthanasia, to talk about pipelines.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, what is really shameful is that we did not ask for this lower court decision to go to the Supreme Court. One lower court judge from Quebec should not decide a complete change in the way Canadian law works and the way our mental health and disabled patients are treated. Again, I beg that we have a thorough discussion and go all the way to the Supreme Court with this.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, the death of a parent is a very difficult thing. That is why we have been calling for better palliative care. Things can be peaceful and different. My father-in-law passed away also. We as family were able to be around him and sing psalms from the Bible. It was a wonderful time in our lives where we could reconnect and remember the history my father-in-law passed down to us and our gr…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, what I do believe is that because only 30% of Canadians can access palliative care, we are failing our seniors. We need to make a change. We have been begging and asking. My dear friend, Mark Warawa, was begging for us to look at palliative care and the needs of seniors. We need to get on that right away.

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary said, back in late November, that “the issue of sensitivity toward persons with disabilities is central for all parliamentarians in the House.” I could not agree more. He also stated that the Liberals “are crafting a piece of legislation that ensures the autonomy, dignity and competence of individuals.” I wish that were the truth. What has been crafted is…

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, one might think that poverty groups, disability groups and indigenous peoples could count on progressive politicians to hear and stand with them in solidarity, helping to amplify their noble voices against the shocking wall of disregard. Sadly, they are on the other side, trying to protect themselves from the Liberal government. With the passing of the bill, their battle for respect…

Statements By Members

Mr. Speaker, last year, Crime Stoppers in Metro Vancouver received over 500 calls related to gangs and illegal weapons. Of the 510 calls, 401 were tips regarding illegal guns. Since the end of December, six shootings associated with gang activity have occurred here, five of which were fatal and two of which happened within the past week in my riding of Cloverdale—Langley City. Despite the clear ev…

Statements By Members

Mr. Speaker, Canadians' well-being is disintegrating under prolonged lockdown orders that just keep on coming. Yesterday, we read the heartbreaking news that there is a disturbing doubling trend of infants with head trauma and broken bones coming to hospitals across the country, indicating that parents and caregivers are struggling and need hope. Many Canadians have pinned their hope on the speedy…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I present this petition calling on the government to recognize the genocide of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, China. I do so on this day when we remember the horrific attack on Muslim worshippers in our country, who were gunned down as they peacefully kneeled in prayer. We have an opportunity to do more than just remember; we have a responsibility to eradica…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I think we could have done so much better than we did if we had followed the kind of protocols that farmers follow. Had our emergency stockpile not been empty, we could have ensured that seniors care homes had exactly what they needed. We could have protected them with PPE. We did not have anything in the cupboard. Honestly, regarding the tracking and tracing system, we are hearing …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the hon. member mentioned that for-profit care centres were a big problem. Here in my city, just down the street from me, there was a for-profit care centre that actually had to disallow public health care workers from coming in because they were only given two sets of gloves and two masks for a full month. They had no PPE. I would like to understand how he can blame for-profit care…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I wonder if the member might be able to tell me if the $700-billion credit increase that we are looking for is not actually for a plan to buy Facebook. That is the value of Facebook. I had to laugh when I saw that number. A $700-billion increase to credit is just crazy. I am sorry.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, right now our top priority should be our senior care homes. We need to make sure that we have proper funds going to protect them, to create this iron band around our long-term care facilities. That is for me. That is why I am here. I am very passionate about seniors, and that is what I am going to be focusing on.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Edmonton Centre. Canadians can be forgiven for thinking that this government has been developing a way of protecting Canadians from the virus from scratch. We are constantly being told that this is an unprecedented situation, a one-of-a-kind happening and no one could have planned for this. We are being told how hard this government has wo…