Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is getting late, so I will circle back one last time. Does the minister believe Canada's AAA credit rating is safe?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here tonight. I want to congratulate the new Minister of International Trade on his appointment. It is a pleasure to be here with everyone today. It has been reported that Canada and the U.S. are in trade negotiations and these are nearing completion. Can the minister confirm that these discussions are, in fact, occurring?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate you reminding me of that. I will be splitting my time three ways. It has also been reported that the digital services tax and Canadian imposition of the electric vehicle mandate are trade irritants for the Americans. Can the minister confirm whether or not that is the case?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, one of the gentlemen at Fitch recently said that the lack of a budget “raises questions about transparency and contributes to [Canada's] greater economic...uncertainty”. Does the minister agree with that statement?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this is for the Minister of Finance. It has been reported that the government needs to issue or borrow over $600 billion of debt this year. Is that true?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, to read the press release, which would only become more clear after the election. Will the minister answer whether he believes Canadians who voted for reciprocal tariffs and elbows up did so with full knowledge that the government, quietly and secretly, under the cloak of a vague press release, removed tariffs during the election?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, does either minister over there currently support the electric vehicle mandate and the digital services tax that the government imposed last Parliament?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we have confirmed discussions are ongoing with the Americans. We have confirmed the digital services tax and electric vehicle mandate are, in fact, trade irritants that the government imposed. Will either minister admit that the Liberal government's previously imposed digital services tax and electric vehicle mandate are the reason we have challenges with the American relationship?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like just a confirmation: Does either minister support both the digital services tax and the electric vehicle mandate that the government imposed last term?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, is the finance minister aware that despite the Bank of Canada not lowering interest rates, both the 10-year yield and the five-year bond rate for Canada have increased?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, can either minister answer whether they were aware of the remission order that was signed prior to the election that would provide relief to Canadian companies that are facing tariffs?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, does the minister believe it is reckless to issue record amounts of debt when the Bank of Canada is warning that the market may not be able to absorb that amount of debt, or if there is fiscal uncertainty in the world, that our interest rates will increase when we have record amounts of Canadians renewing their mortgages? Do they need to pay more, yes or no?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is asking Parliament to approve almost half a trillion dollars in spending, up 8% from last year. Nothing says spend less and invest more like spending more money on high-priced consultants and contractors. That is going up to $26 billion a year, which is more than a 35% increase. Is the kind of change the government is trying to deliver to push civil servants out t…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am just curious. Is it parliamentary language to claim that someone is a “traitor?” I am just looking for clarification on the rules and bounds.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, last year the finance minister said the deficit would be less than $40.1 billion, and now Parliament is still waiting for the public accounts to confirm whether the minister kept that promise. Can the minister spare us the suspense and tell us what the deficit was for last year?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, what is the point of making promises that the Liberals do not intend or try to even keep? In 2020, the finance minister said that when the need for stimulus was over, it would be withdrawn. The Liberals did not withdraw it. Then it was that the debt-to-GDP ratio would continue to go down, except one year later, it went up. Then she said the deficit would be less than $40.1 billion, an…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, every day I turn around and there is another scandal coming from the government. We are proud to be Canadian, and we are going to fix it after the next election. Since the finance minister does not like answering the complex question, let us start with an easy one. Last year, she made a commitment that the deficit would be no greater than $40.1 billion. This goes exactly to the financ…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the finance minister's report card is in. Canadians have the highest consumer debt in the G7, per capita GDP has fallen for six consecutive quarters and Canadians now make $30,000 less than their American counterparts. This is a made-in-Canada per capita GDP recession, and in the face of global trade and economic uncertainty, the finance minister's plan is to increase taxes on energy,…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, why do they not just take the GST off everything and reduce government expenditures to pay for it? There is a problem. We do not have enough money. I have been around this town for three years, and I still cannot find the money tree that these parties think exists in this town. Why do they think we have to keep spending with deficits? Not only that, the NDP asked for taxes off heati…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is really wonderful to see you again. I thought the last time I would see you before the holidays was my last speech a couple of days ago, but it is a delight to see you in the chair again this evening. It is a pleasure to rise on behalf of the constituents and residents of Simcoe North to talk about a very important issue. We are talking about tax relief for Canadians. If govern…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, this is the member whose party created two tiers of seniors in this country, those who are below 75 and those who are above 75. For the record, maybe that member needs to get some facts straight. Conservatives on this side of the House decided to vote in favour of doubling the GST credit that went to the poorest households in this country. I have no idea what that member has been th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, what an excellent question and astute observation from my friend from Perth—Wellington. He absolutely nailed it. People are going to spend so much time trying to figure out what is in and what is out, and retooling their machines, when the government could have easily just said that for the whole month or the whole two months, it is going to take the GST off everything. It would hav…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is an interesting question, but if the member just swapped what he was talking about for food, the exact same thing applies to what the government is doing. If someone was to take their friends out for a nice dinner and spends $10,000 on food, which a number of well-meaning people might actually be deciding to do after this, they would get a huge tax break. However, as I said bef…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, if the government does not want to listen to Conservatives, maybe it will listen to economists at National Bank, who found that real GDP has contracted 4% since 2022. This is unprecedented outside a recession. It is a made-in-Canada, per person GDP recession caused by the economic vandalism of the policies of the Prime Minister, whose only plan is to increase taxes on everybody: farme…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's economic report card is in: Canadians have the highest consumer debt in the G7. House prices have doubled. Per capita income is lower today than it was 10 years ago, and the average Canadian makes $30,000 less than their American counterpart. All of this is as a result of the Prime Minister's economic vandalism. In the face of economic uncertainty and global trade…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I have to remind my colleague that I am not the same vintage as him, but his reference to The Muppet Show I do get and I thought it was right on point. The fact that we have $400 million missing means the RCMP should be investigating. It has confirmed it is looking at documents. If we have an ability to ensure it has all the information it needs to do its job properly, we should all…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, we cannot be in contempt of Parliament when the majority of the Parliament wants access to these documents. It is really nice that the member quotes The Hill Times, but how about thinking about the largest circulated publication, The Globe and Mail, that says that Parliament has an ability to get these documents, that it has a right to get these documents and that it should not stop…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I am unaware of a 24-hour gag order; I apologize. However, what I would say to my hon. colleague with respect to the RCMP not wanting the documents is that it is up to the RCMP to not receive the documents. The government could provide the unredacted documents to members of Parliament first; we could then decide what to do with those documents. That would be a compromise, but that h…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, that was a great question and a pointed quote from my great colleague, friend and neighbour. Yes, the Liberals seem more interested in protecting themselves or their friends who might have been part of some criminal wrongdoing. Let us remind ourselves that they went out of their way to freeze the bank accounts of people they did not agree with. Why do we not freeze the bank accounts…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it is very cavalier. The hon. member for Abbotsford is a great member. I think it is time for accountability. If the Liberals do not want to get the $400 million back, then maybe they should have some ministerial accountability for this situation. What would that look like? It is true that a former minister was the minister in place when these individuals were appointed to the board…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, my colleague said the government is spending like a drunken sailor, but I wonder if she wants to apologize to sailors, who, of course, spend their own money.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I think everyone in this place can handle a good-natured ribbing, and I think my friend on the parliamentary secretary's side is a great person. I would just say that we are at a stalemate. We should find a compromise and move on. However, it starts with getting the documents, first and foremost.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it is such a pleasure to be here yet again to speak about the government's unwillingness to turn over documents. It is a bit like Groundhog Day. What a wonderful movie that was with Bill Murray. There is a good quote in that movie: “You wanna throw up here, or you wanna throw up in the car?” The person answers, “I think...both.” Maybe that is what Canadians are feeling while watchin…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, first, the compromise, as he promotes it to be a compromise, is not much of one. It is not even coming from the government. Why does it not give all the documents to PROC? That might be a compromise, but it is not even offering that. The way we got through this type of impasse in a previous parliament, under a previous administration, was the development of a special committee. Ther…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the CRA's assessment and collection data on vessel registrations, broken down by year since January 1, 2016: how many pleasure crafts, broken down by new and used, were registered in Canada with a total sales price (i) below $250,000, (ii) between $250,000 and $500,000, (iii) above $500,000 and up to $1 million, (iv) above $1 million?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here today again to speak on behalf of the residents of Simcoe North and to represent their views, as well as to discuss a very important issue with respect to what we believe is potentially anti-competitive behaviour in Canada's e-transfer ecosystem. These revelations became known to us at the industry committee a couple of weeks ago. It is clear that Interac u…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I do not really know what to do with that, other than to remind the hon. member that the current government is the one in contempt for not providing the documents that it has been duly required and asked to produce by the House. The other day, I proposed another way. The Liberals could just get the $400 million back for Canadians, and we might be able to get back to the people's work;…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I always like to find opportunities to identify common ground with my colleagues. What my colleague has just espoused would be one of those circumstances. The free market generally works well, but it sometimes fails. This is an exact example in which we have the operators coming together to stand up an organization that, over the last 40 years now, has used its pricing power to preven…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I think we need to consider what is happening in other jurisdictions. Other jurisdictions that have moved much faster on payments modernization, in particular the U.K. and the U.S., have seen transaction fees reduced for users. I do recognize that we have to think about the different types of players throughout the entire ecosystem: small businesses, medium-sized businesses, and large…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the filing requirements for the GST and HST for businesses, broken down by calendar year from 2018 through 2023, and by province or territory: how many businesses filed their GST return using (i) only electronic returns, (ii) paper returns for some, or all, of their filings?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, the government is trying to hide something. I would love this to be the seminal case that goes to the Supreme Court about testing the privacy rights of individuals who have had their documents confidentially exposed by an order of the House when it is within its due right to get the documents. If that goes to the Supreme Court to test the government's position and the fact that someon…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to full-time Governor in Council appointees: (a) what GCQ 9 classified positions are currently (i) vacant, (ii) filled; (b) what GCQ 10 classified positions are currently (i) vacant, (ii) filled; and (c) for each filled position in (a) and (b), who was appointed to the position?
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, that is the best question I have received thus far on my speech. The government tried to make that argument at the time but my friend from Calgary Rocky Ridge is correct that Parliament has requested these documents, which is the full right of the House. The fact that the government is not providing them speaks volumes. One wonders what the Liberals are hiding. That is a common refrai…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke is always very astute. She reads the fine details, and yes, she is correct that the $400 million was on a sampling of transactions. Once we find $400 million has gone to ineligible recipients from the sampling, should we not look at the full amount? Maybe the government would be interested in looking at the full amount, but it has not sugge…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, what we should be concerned about is if a law has been broken. I do not care which party a person is from or when it happens, so long as it is within the statutory limitation period. That person should face the consequences of the law that was broken. In this circumstance, when board members are purposely and knowingly benefiting companies they have a pecuniary and financial interest …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in the House on behalf of the constituents of Simcoe North. It is nice to see you in the chair. Usually, that is not the case when I am speaking. Before I get into the heart of the matter, I would like to acknowledge a local benefactor in Simcoe North, who, over the summer, announced that he was donating $22.5 million to local charities in the region, i…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I love the comments from my hon. colleagues. Law & Order is a fantastic show; even the new one that is filmed in Toronto. Maybe they should actually watch some of it to figure out how these investigations happen. However, if the RCMP had access to documents that might be inadmissible, it could at least put together a timeline of events and it could put together what has occurred. The …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I have never seen a case where $400 million of taxpayer money went to ineligible recipients with direct conflicts of interest to members who sit on the board, who, by the way, are friends of the government and former employers of the Minister of Environment. I have never seen so much grift in my entire experience as a member of Parliament, which is only a few years. This $400 million …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, that is an interesting question. Maybe there are a few lawyers on that side who need to educate Liberal members on what a conflict of interest is, because it seems there is only one party in the House that, time and time again, does not understand what a conflict of interest is. Frankly, with respect to the RCMP, it does not have to look at the documents or use them in court if it doe…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the Liberal government, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. In the latest scandal to hit the Canada Revenue Agency, over 60,000 taxpayers had their personal, private information hacked. Not only is the information of these individuals floating around on the Internet, but this also cost taxpayers money. Over $190 million has been improperly paid to scam artist…
Read full speech →