Private Members’ Business
Madam Speaker, it truly is an honour to participate in the debate on Bill C-224. I thank the member for Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne for bringing this important legislation to the House. We may disagree on a lot of things, but I know that she is equally passionate about serving and fighting for those brave men and women who serve our communities and our country. If members will indulge me for just a …
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Madam Speaker, the cost of food has risen 15%, gas is over $2 a litre, and what the government has done to our seniors is shameful. Public transit is non-existent. For many people, the hospital is over a two-hour drive away. My constituent Dave Kendall wrote and said, “I am slowly going broke, and my savings are disappearing.” He had one question for the government, so I will ask it for him. “How …
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Madam Speaker, after two long years of restrictions and lockdowns, it is great to see our country finally getting back to normal. In Cariboo—Prince George, our communities, friends and families have been through a lot, but despite the adversity, our Cariboo spirit is stronger than ever. Summer is just around the corner and we are looking forward to welcoming back visitors from across Canada and ar…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister needs to look up from her talking points. These are people, men and women, who we have asked to serve our country, at home and abroad, and unbelievably they are being asked to go to Habitat for Humanity for accommodations. The Liberals have failed to provide our troops with equipment that they need. They have failed to protect our troops from sexual misconduct, and now th…
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Madam Speaker, with all due respect, I do apologize for saying the comments, but I do not apologize for the feelings that this side of the House has, when the government has essentially given itself a majority with its colleagues from the NDP. I want to ask what happened to the “sunny ways” of 2015, when the Liberals were not going to start with dilatory motions; they were going be the most open a…
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Madam Speaker, it is interesting to hear the government House leader ask for Conservative MPs to come and actually tell him what they are hearing from their constituents, when all the Liberals have done is shut down debate once again. The Liberals do not really want to hear how rural and remote Canadians feel about their policies. Also interesting is that the lapdog from New Westminster—Burnaby co…
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Madam Speaker, I apologize if perhaps my comments struck a nerve with our colleagues. With all due respect, I know our colleagues to be honourable. I do, but it is frustrating—
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Madam Speaker, I was just getting to it.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, 500 days ago, I stood in the House and asked for the support of all colleagues to bring 988, a simple, easy-to-remember three-digit national suicide prevention hotline, to Canada. That date was December 11, 2020. On that day, parliamentarians of all stripes stood together and supported bringing 988 to Canada. Collectively, we gave Canadians struggling with mental health issues hope. F…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the events on February 17, 2022, near Houston, British Columbia, described by the Royal Canada Mounted Police as "a violent confrontation with employees of Coastal Gaslink", which also included a road blockade: (a) does the Marten Forest Service Road and the Coastal GasLink location near it meet the meaning of "infrastructure for the supply of utilities such as ... gas", for the pur…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-269, An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act (suicide prevention). Mr. Speaker, suicide impacts us all. There is probably not a member in this House who has not been touched by suicide. I know that suicide and mental health have negatively impacted my life. Just three weeks ago, I received a call saying that I had lost yet another friend to suicide. When some…
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Mr. Speaker, it has been 500 days since our Conservative motion to bring 988 to Canada unanimously passed in the House. In those 500 days, an estimated 5,500 Canadians have died by suicide. A further 137,000 have attempted suicide. The Minister of Mental Health and Addictions does not know the existing national suicide prevention hotline number, but she knows 988. She knows that 988 will save live…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from Calgary Shepard for the incredible work he has done. It is not a surprise, as he is somebody who dives right into whatever file he has. I have a question for him, and I apologize if it was already brought up, as I am doing my House duty from the beautiful riding of Cariboo—Prince George. Does this bill respect the constitutional right to repres…
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Madam Speaker, there are a few points on which I actually completely agree with my colleague from across the way, one being that we very often wonder what the motivation is for our sovereignist colleagues in the House, although we know what their motivation is. However, I also want to mention that the House of Commons truly is the people's chamber, and it should be representative of the population…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, how do I sum up my support in two minutes? This bill has to pass. We need to do more for our firefighters, for those who stand as our silent sentinels, for those who run into burning buildings and who run towards danger each and every day, for those who put their lives in jeopardy so that our families can sleep safely, be safe and be sound. I will save the rest of my time for the ne…
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Madam Speaker, the situation in Ukraine has deteriorated by the hour. NATO's refusal to provide a safe humanitarian no-fly zone has weighed heavily on me and my constituents. The news is inundated with images of young women and children at border crossings in Poland as they flee the tyranny of Herr Putin. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has issued a class-based national inter…
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Mr. Speaker, the isolation, the financial pressures and the extraordinary measures that Canadians have endured have all taken a toll on our mental health. Pre-COVID statistics tell us that every day an average of 11 Canadians die by suicide. For every person lost by suicide, over 275 Canadians attempt suicide each and every day. Unnecessary vaccine mandates are further exacerbating our mental heal…
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Mr. Speaker, last fall, terror struck my community of Vanderhoof. A lone gunman hunted and opened fire on the RCMP. He unloaded over 20 rounds into our detachment. The mental and emotional trauma of that day still remains. These are men and women from across all backgrounds who believe in our country and our laws so much that they put their lives in jeopardy each and every day, and yet, unbelievab…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, on November 25, 2021, at 12 noon, a white Ford F-350 pulled up to a small RCMP detachment in my community of Vanderhoof, British Columbia. Seconds later, the driver started shooting, narrowly missing the officers and civilians inside. He circled the building and continued shooting. Minutes felt like hours. Leaving behind rounds and bullet-ridden vehicles, the suspect fled into the com…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it will be no surprise that I disagree with the member 100%. Where I will agree is that we have had thousands of protests here in our nation's capital since I was elected. I get that the 10 days of honking and all manner of noise were not appropriate, but all Canadians wanted was to be heard—
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Madam Speaker, my colleague has a very good question. That speaks loudly to me and says that the Prime Minister continues to be afraid that his leadership is threatened. He knows he overstepped his boundaries and his grounds, and he knows his leadership is fragile, so much so that he has to put that veiled threat out there so that his colleagues and his MPs, whether here or in his coalition with t…
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Madam Speaker, I can only speak to the thousands of other protests that we have seen on the Hill over the time I have been a member of Parliament. I can only speak to the people I have spoken to, the law enforcement professionals, the experts who were there, as I am not expert in this, who said this was a ham-fisted overreach in power. This could have been accomplished with the very same laws that…
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Madam Speaker, we are at a historic moment in our nation's history. The sun will come up tomorrow, and the eyes of our nation, indeed of the world, will be looking at how we comport ourselves over the next couple of hours and how that vote goes at eight o'clock tonight. If I am being completely truthful with those who are in the House, the last two years of my political life have been among the ha…
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Madam Speaker, in 2006, the CRTC shamelessly said no to the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention's request to bring a simple three-digit suicide hotline to Canada. It has been 427 days since my motion to bring 988 to Canada passed unanimously in the House. In that time, 4,600 Canadians lost their lives to suicide and over 117,000 Canadians attempted suicide. What is the Liberals' plan if th…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, last August, I was honoured to attend the start of the ground sonar search at the former residential school St. Joseph's Mission in my hometown of Williams Lake. Last week I, along with Canadians across the country, were heartbroken to hear the news out of my hometown that, after completing phase one of the ground sonar search and searching only four of 400 hectares, the burial sites …
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With regard to the government’s timeline for establishing the 988 telephone line for emergency mental health services: (a) what is the government’s target for when the 988 telephone line will become operational in Canada; and (b) what is the government’s funding commitment towards the line for each of the next five years?
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Madam Speaker, first, let me send my heartfelt condolences to my colleague for the loss of her loved one. My son lost one of his best friends to COVID, a young gentleman just in his twenties. To the best of my knowledge, it sounds like this is about a member's privilege. The reality is that it is not about a member's privilege. It is about the jobs that we were all elected to do. We can all find w…
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Madam Speaker, this is my first time standing in the House. Yesterday I was so concerned with sending my condolences to the town of Vanderhoof that I forgot to thank the residents of Cariboo—Prince George for once again electing me. I also forgot to thank my rock, my wife, and our family for all their support. Without them, we cannot do what we do. First off, in answer to my colleague's question, …
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Madam Speaker, following up on the question from my hon. colleague, the member for Timmins—James Bay, if it is deemed relevant, I would like to ask my hon. colleague from the Liberal Party why his leader did not denounce the activist David Suzuki for threatening to blow up pipelines in regard to the protests.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to stand in this House, as always, and add to the debate. I first want to send my heartfelt thoughts and prayers to my community of Vanderhoof, because literally 20 minutes ago a warning came across that there was an active shooter in the community. I meant to stand up and say to please stay safe and stay inside, but my understanding is that the shooter has been caug…
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Madam Speaker, that is exactly what I said when I said that this House does not belong to us, it belongs to the electors. They elected the 338 members of Parliament to stand, be counted and bring their voices to Ottawa, not the other way around, to represent them, do that work and make sure that, at least on the opposition side, we are holding the government accountable. On the government side, th…
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With regard to the government’s Wellness Together portal: (a) what specific programs or services are offered through the self-guided tools offered by the providers identified on the Wellness Together webpage, including (i) Mindwell, (ii) Welltrack, (iii) Tao, (iv) Breaking Free Wellness, (v) BreathingRoom, (vi) Kids Help Phone, (vii) Homewood Health; (b) for each of the programs or services in (a)…
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Mr. Speaker, last week, the CRTC announced it will start consultations on a three-digit national suicide prevention hotline. We do not need more consultations. We do not need more inaction. Help should only be three digits away. The government could have introduced legislation immediately after passing our motion to bring 988 to Canada, six months ago. The government has the power to get this done…
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Madam Speaker, I will keep my comments short and sweet as our hon. colleague has summed it up quite concisely. My question for my hon. colleague is this. Would he not agree that one group controls the legislative agenda in the House, and that is the government, which has dithered and delayed more than anyone? It has cast stones at us and the opposition, saying we are holding up its legislative age…
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague is absolutely right. We have seen the government master very well the manipulation of the media in spinning the story about how Canada is back. What we have really seen is that the Liberals have taken first nations children to court, that they are a government plagued by scandal, and that they continue to only look after their Liberal friends and family. This is a …
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Madam Speaker, that is simply not true. This is coming from a government that prorogued last summer right when Canadians were desperate for their relief programs, which were just about to end. Why did the Liberals prorogue? They prorogued to cover up another scandal by the government, by this Prime Minister. It is absolutely false, and again there are more falsehoods coming from the other side. It…
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Madam Speaker, the comments from my hon. colleague, for whom I have great respect, are simply misleading. Every step of the way, we have worked tirelessly on a team Canada approach. Sadly, what we have seen is a government that chooses to do whatever it wants to do. The Liberals are in power. They have their legislative agenda. Why are they dithering and delaying on the important pieces of legisla…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank our hon. colleague for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for sharing his time with me to comment on the third report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, as well as the effects of the pandemic on some of our most marginalized countries. To date, more than 112 million people around the world have been infected by the COVID‑19 virus…
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Madam Speaker, at the end of my hon. colleague's speech, he mentioned COVAX, which we know is an important program. Could I give him a couple of extra minutes to explain the importance of the COVAX program?
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Mr. Speaker, it has been 181 days since we passed this motion, 181 days of inaction. Every 24 hours, 11 Canadians die by suicide. A further 275 attempt it. Using those numbers, in the 181 days nearly 2,000 Canadians have died by suicide. A further 50,000 have attempted suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death of young children in Canada. Will the Liberal government commit to passing m…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, last week, I met with a local child care worker named Christian who shared with me how devastating COVID has been on the children he cares for, how he struggles to provide important daily necessities for these children, and how that has negatively impacted the children's mental health, well-being and self-esteem. Christian did not know who to turn to. That night, Kelly and I were tryi…
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Mr. Speaker, I have really struggled to come up with the appropriate words for this speech. I want to ask my colleagues if they believe us now. Can they hear us now? As it has been said, for those who have been listening, this should come as no surprise. Survivors and families have been telling their stories for so long, and the news of the remains of the 215 children found in a mass grave at the …
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Mr. Speaker, I have been saying for so long that we spend billions of dollars trying to recognize and understand other countries' cultures, how to do business with them and how to walk among them when we have failed to do that here at home with our own people. We need to do more. We need to listen to our elders. We need to walk with them and understand the process of grieving that is taking place.…
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Mr. Speaker, what we need to do is put aside our partisan swords. We need to be there for our first nations. This recovery has to be directed by the first nations and what we can do as leaders within our communities. As I have challenged my colleagues before, we need to understand, sit with them, learn from them and listen. We have to walk with them at their pace. This is going to be a long proces…
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Mr. Speaker, we have to understand our past. We currently live in a cancel culture. We want to erase all of this, tear down statues and erase the past. What we need to do is remember our past. Without our past, we do not know where we have been. Without our past, we have no idea of who we are today. Without our past, we do not know where we are going. Without our past, we cannot ensure that this n…
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Madam Speaker, federal leadership on this pandemic has been confusing and chaotic every step of the way. The risk is low, the risk is high; do not wear masks, wear masks; we are not closing the borders, we are closing the borders. Canadians just want their lives back. Yesterday, the CDC issued guidance that fully vaccinated Americans could ditch the mask if they were outdoors or indoors. That is h…
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Madam Speaker, federal leadership on this pandemic has been confusing and chaotic every step of the way. The risk is low, the risk is high; do not wear masks, wear masks; we are not closing the borders, we are closing the borders. Canadians just want their lives back. Yesterday, the CDC issued guidance that fully vaccinated Americans could ditch the mask if they were outdoors or indoors. That is h…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, if you go to the next person, I will connect and then come back.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, nearly one in two Canadians is expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. That means half of our family, friends and colleagues will hear the words “you have cancer” at some point in their lives. We all know someone whose life has been changed by this disease. Our family has been negatively impacted by cancer, and we have lost far too many friends and family members to th…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-294, An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act (suicide prevention). Mr. Speaker, 147 days ago, the House of Commons unanimously passed my motion supporting a new national three-digit suicide-prevention number. It has been 147 days, and every 24 hours, 11 Canadians take their own life and another 275 attempt to end their life. Using these stats, since passing t…
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