Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, food banks across Vancouver Island are overwhelmed. We are seeing a surge in seniors, young families, newcomers and, increasingly, full-time workers who cannot afford the price of food. These are people who played by the rules, who worked hard and who never imagined they would need a food bank just to get through the week. Instead of helping, the Prime Minister is increasing the indus…
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Mr. Speaker, I asked a question, and I got a deflection. People in my community can speak to the impact of the industrial carbon tax, because unlike the Prime Minister, they do go to the grocery store. It is not just my local food bank, the Saanich food bank in that member's riding says they have also been seeing more young families, seniors and newcomers. Family Services of Greater Vancouver is a…
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Mr. Chair, in response to my last question, the hon. member explained some of the reasons he thinks Canadian lumber is special, which give us some time to make a deal, but I have spoken to the forestry companies and workers in my communities, and I can tell members that they say we do not have time to wait. The government has announced some limited relief, yet it seems to be in no hurry to move on…
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Mr. Chair, the member opposite admits we need the U.S. market and claims the U.S. market needs us, but the European Union negotiated a 10% flat rate with the United States while we sit at 45%, and purchases are rapidly shifting. The Prime Minister, in the meantime, says that he is in no hurry to make a deal because this is not a burning issue. What is the member opposite going to do when demand ha…
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Mr. Chair, the government keeps trying to tell us that $1.2 billion is a big number while telling us that $78.3 billion is a small number. The Liberals say that relief is on the way, but our communities tell me that it is going to come too late. The assistance programs that this government is rolling out, first of all, took six months to announce, and I am told that companies are being told that i…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have introduced the most costly and largest budget deficit in history outside COVID. It will drive up the cost of food, housing and everything else that Canadians buy. In Nanaimo—Ladysmith, food bank use is up and donations are down, in part because the people who formerly supported these services now increasingly need to use them to make ends meet. Liberals had the chanc…
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Mr. Speaker, families grieve, addicts struggle and communities do their best to backfill for government failure, and the Liberal government's transformational budget has nothing for us. The word “addiction” appears only once, on page 247, to remind us that $1.2 billion in provincial transfers to support not only addictions, but home and community care and mental health services will vanish after t…
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Mr. Speaker, the budget spends a lot of money on some things, but it also promises to cut spending, including on services that Canadians value. I asked a question about this earlier this morning and was supposed to be reassured by an answer from my colleagues that the CRA would be stepping in to improve efficiencies by filing tax returns presumptively for a number of Canadians. With the CRA's accu…
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Mr. Speaker, my riding, of course, is very far away from Ottawa, and we rely heavily on the services the federal government provides locally to be able to do things such as file taxes and figure out eligibility for various government programs. This is a budget that is going to make major cuts. I am wondering if the hon. member can share what services are going to be lost to the people in my riding…
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Mr. Speaker, I asked one of the members earlier about service cuts to places like my riding, which is very, very far away from Ottawa and where we really rely on our services. He answered by saying that the CRA would improve efficiencies by pre-filling applications and tax filings for Canadians. Given the extremely low accuracy of the CRA in answering questions, as I believe the CRA is answering q…
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-238. This bill would amend section 738 of the Criminal Code so that courts could make offenders pay back community organizations, like shelters, emergency services and victim support groups, that have faced rising costs because of human trafficking and serious drug offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. This is a worthy idea, and I ap…
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives worked hard to repeal Liberal bail. We introduced legislation weeks ago. Unfortunately, the Liberals refuses to work with us. They refused to propose amendments, and ultimately, they defeated our bill because it was put forward by us, not them. Now the Liberals have introduced their own bill and are calling for co-operation. I want to be clear that we will work with anyo…
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Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of the Liberal government, Liberal elites and insiders have never had it so good. The Prime Minister told Canadians they need to sacrifice. He promised he would spend less, but instead he spends more. The latest example is that the head of the Prime Minister's new defence investment agency, who has never served, will draw a $700,000 salary. Meanwhile, rent has doubled, …
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Mr. Speaker, the member should tell that to the 700,000 kids lined up at food banks. How much more do they have to sacrifice for Liberal insiders? Canadians need a government that puts ordinary families first. While Canadians are sacrificing, the Prime Minister is handing out $700,000 salaries to his high-flying buddies like Halloween candy. When will the Prime Minister stop using taxpayer dollars…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a good reminder that I have naloxone in my truck, in my car and in my house. We have it in our community offices. It is ubiquitous in our lives. When it comes to the CBSA officers whom the government has promised more times than I can count, not only has it not hired those officers but there is also no money in the main estimates or the supplementary estimates (A) for those CBSA…
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Mr. Speaker, when I heard about Bill C-12, I was hopeful. I was hopeful because I believed that the Liberals had listened to what both Canadians and Conservatives have been saying about Bill C-2. On the surface, it looked like there was some reason to hope. Bill C-12 is a repackaged and less offensive version of Bill C-2. It does remove the most egregious of the sweeping new powers that the govern…
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite talks about the Liberal Party's receiving more votes in the last election than it has ever received before. Well, the Conservatives also received more votes in the election than we have ever received before. When it comes to transformational change, the Prime Minister will make that change for his buddies, but there is no minister of mental health and addictions in…
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Mr. Speaker, I have two teenagers, so when it comes to young people and their future, it is on my mind as a parent, as it is on the minds of parents in our communities. The current generation of youth is working so hard and facing so many obstacles. If we want to keep them out of gangs and out of trouble, we have to provide them with opportunity. That is one of the things that drives me.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank, based in Nanaimo, feeds more than 15,000 families up and down the island who cannot afford to keep up with rising grocery prices. They have done everything right, but they are still waiting for the $5 million in federal funding they were promised by the Liberal government. The Prime Minister said he would be judged by the prices Canadians pay…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to join the debate on Motion No. 14, and I begin by thanking the member for York South—Weston—Etobicoke for bringing it forward. It appears that the minister has been listening to those of us on this side of the House, because the motion speaks to three things. First, it speaks about strengthening the accountability and effectiveness of Canada's international deve…
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Mr. Speaker, I especially appreciate the emphasis my colleague has put on Conservative support for the reconciliation process with first nations, Métis and Inuit communities, and also the emphasis he put on the expense of creating another costly bureaucracy when families are struggling so hard to make ends meet. The Auditor General's office is an independent institution that audits federal governm…
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Mr. Speaker, why did the government choose not to place the new commissioner under the independent oversight of the Office of the Auditor General, where accountability and transparency are already well established? This would give first nations, Métis and Inuit partners greater confidence in the commissioner's impartiality.
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Mr. Speaker, the problem is not as much with the courts as it is with the speed of justice that the government feels they need to pursue. When it comes to the issue of Liberal bail, they Liberals say they have been waiting for that, they are waiting for this, they are waiting for a trade deal. They are waiting and waiting. Canadians are tired of waiting for the Liberals. They use lots of nice word…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians hold deep pride in the men and women who wear the uniform of the Canadian Armed Forces. They serve in dangerous places with courage to defend the values and freedoms we hold dear. We ask them to put country before self, to risk their lives so that we can continue to live in safety and freedom. For far too long, too many of those who have served have had to fight another batt…
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Mr. Speaker, this bill is about the prosecution of serious criminal offences around sexual misconduct. The government has had 10 years and six months to bring this forward. We need to get it right and we need to work together to do that.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question. I think he has raised a point that really needs to be addressed. We have gotten to a point on this file where the trust is so low that we need to move these kinds of offences into the criminal justice system. I really cannot help but wonder what would have happened if the Liberal government had acted faster during the 10 years it had to d…
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Mr. Speaker, we will see what the amendments are and what the process brings.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask my hon. colleague to elaborate a bit on the ways in which a Conservative government would address the issue.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, every dollar the Liberal government wastes means higher taxes hidden in Canadian grocery bills. The Prime Minister has not even spared our morning coffee. Since he took office, the price of coffee is up 23%, and sugar is up 20%. Liberals refuse to scrap the industrial carbon tax, the packaging tax and the fuel standard tax. The sweet things in life should not come at a bitter price. W…
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member defended the Liberal record on bail reform, yet he acknowledges that serious violent crime is on the rise. We have certainly heard member after member tell tragic stories of situations that occurred in our ridings with people out on bail. The Conservative bill we are debating today talks about protection of the public. I am wondering how the hon. member believes that c…
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Mr. Speaker, I think that is a really important point. One of the real struggles, particularly in the last couple of years, has been for people who are experiencing extreme examples of hatred and violence in their communities and on the streets. We have had a lot of instances where people stand on one side of the street and yell at people on the other side of the street with law enforcement in bet…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians believe in a country where everyone can speak freely, worship freely and live without fear. I believe that all hon. members of the House agree that no one should face threats because of their race, their faith or who they love, yet today, Canadians are confronting an alarming reality. The police tell us that hate crimes have risen sharply since the Liberals came to power, up…
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Mr. Speaker, I really want to thank the hon. member for everything he has done to support his community and our communities. He has really shown care. I am personally grateful for that. When it comes down to whether or not we need new laws, we are only going to find that out when we make a sincere effort to enforce the ones we already have. Yes, that will involve working with our provincial counte…
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Mr. Speaker, I think that is a good question. Part of the challenge with this legislation is that it leads to legislative whack-a-mole when we start talking about different locations. I fear that it really will drive people back into residential neighbourhoods. Then we will be constantly trying to chase these protests around to different locations. We have had these protests in so many different l…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his remarks. I particularly appreciate the depth of the historical references and the research he has done. Turning to the situation and the serious challenges that we are facing today, including things like failure to get a trade deal, mounting federal debt, runaway costs and serious crime in our communities, I wonder if the hon. member agrees that…
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Mr. Speaker, Alberta's prevention sites were meant to be temporary, but the Liberal government just extended its legal exemption by a year without consulting local governments or residents. Nanaimo's city council debated spending $412,000 of taxpayers' money to fence off City Hall because of issues tied to our downtown overdose prevention site, and it still has a deferred motion on the books calli…
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Mr. Speaker, more than 52,000 Canadians have died since the addictions crisis was declared a public health emergency in 2016. Over 16,000 of those deaths were in B.C., including heartbreaking losses in Nanaimo—Ladysmith, yet the Liberal government has quietly extended overdose prevention site exemptions by a year while failing to expand treatment and recovery. Why are the Liberals doubling down on…
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Mr. Speaker, I think what is important to remember is that we are talking here about serious, violent, repeat offenders. The motion is not targeted toward people who are serving short sentences in the community.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear that the hon. member across is enthusiastic about the legislation that will be coming forward later this fall. I would love to see it, and if the legislation contains the kinds of provisions that we are calling for and would make Canadians safer, then I would be delighted to support it. In the meantime, I would ask him, as a show of good faith, to support our motion …
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Mr. Speaker, I often rise in this House to speak about crime in my community: street disorder, property theft and the ever-present threat of fires from discarded drug pipes. However, today I rise to address something very different: the crimes of repeat violent offenders. These are not the petty offences of someone down on their luck or struggling with addiction. These are acts of violence committ…
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Mr. Speaker, I am always so sad and distressed when I hear of a police officer being harmed while on duty. What is really important about this motion is that when violent repeat offenders are released on bail and are present in the community, it provides an additional form of retraumatization for our officers and our first responders, who know who these people are, and who end up being retraumatiz…
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member read from a September 9 Winnipeg editorial citing the need for more provincial prosecutors. Does the hon. member understand that it is the Liberal government's revolving door that is keeping prosecutors busy and that scrapping Bill C-75 would free those prosecutors up to focus on other cases?
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague has spoken eloquently about the impact of these Liberal policies on his riding. One thing I have heard about repeatedly in my riding is the trauma that victims of crime experience and the retraumatization that happens when repeat offenders are present in the community and walk by them on the street or show up in their neighbourhood. I am wondering if my colleague might sp…
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Mr. Speaker, as Pierre Elliott Trudeau said, “The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not worshipped; it is our future in which we will find greatness.” Our constitution is a living tree, and I have confidence that this motion, which has been carefully considered, would pass muster at the Supreme Court of Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to double housing starts, but they are down 16%. It is no surprise when we see who is in charge. The housing minister oversaw a 150% surge in home prices and doubled rents in Vancouver, while the new $13-billion housing czar helped hike Toronto homebuilding taxes by 700%. When will the Prime Minister admit that all he is doubling are gatekeepers and deficit…
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Mr. Speaker, I echo my colleague's sentiments. I am not sure that I have an answer that would disagree with him. With respect to fentanyl, I would like the government to act with a broad array of measures. I ran on a promise to bring our loved ones home drug-free. What I would really like to see the government do is commit to providing the funding that would allow us to provide the treatment and r…
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Mr. Speaker, regulatory search powers often overlap with law enforcement. This is a question of whether we inspect first and then get a warrant or we get a warrant and then inspect. The law as it stands is fine and clear.
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Mr. Speaker, of course I support the process that currently exists where law enforcement has to get warrants to search people's property, including their mail. To the extent that those in law enforcement have reasonable grounds to believe that a crime has been committed or is going to be committed, they already have the tools to do that in a court of law. I am not sure what the member thinks he is…
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Mr. Speaker, many MPs have spoken about different aspects of the very lengthy Bill C-2 today. This afternoon, I rise to focus on just four small words whose removal from the Canada Post Corporation Act would transform this bill from being an act that promises security into one that delivers surveillance. Those words are “other than a letter”. Under the current Canada Post Corporation Act, Canada P…
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Mr. Speaker, I live in a community that is deeply affected by the addictions crisis, and I share the government's desire to stop fentanyl in its tracks. We propose to treat fentanyl dealers as murderers. The government proposes to allow all Canadians' mail to be opened in the hope of finding things in it. I will leave it to Canadians watching this debate at home to decide which would be more effec…
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