Government Orders
Mr. Chair, can the minister update the House and tell us what the average price of a home to rent or buy is in Mississauga?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague. My hon. colleague has another thoughtful question. Is it a mistake, or is it an error? Could it be negligence? It could be all of the above. We cannot set up a system where we insulate ourselves from very important issues and then try to use that as a shield to say, “I did not know, and I cannot be held accountable for that.” Westminster parliamentary democracy h…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the member for Huron—Bruce makes an excellent point. This is exactly why the question of privilege was raised. This also affects every other member in the House. That is why we need a further thoughtful study at committee. I look forward to the results of that study and whatever comes from it. Tomorrow is another day, and we are sure to learn new information.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise, and it is always a pleasure to see you in the chair. I will ask for the Chair's indulgence for a brief 30 seconds, before I start my remarks on the substance at hand, to recognize the Ramara Chamber of Commerce, which held its annual AGM tonight, and to recognize some wonderful businesses and organizations in the community. Lagoon City Pier One Resor…
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My apology, Madam Speaker. I will paraphrase appropriately. On Friday, the Prime Minister got in on the gaslighting action. He said, “I was reassured to see that [the member for Wellington—Halton Hills] had received multiple briefings following the information collected by CSIS to ensure that he and his family were kept safe or would at least know what was going on in the extent that they needed t…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a very thoughtful question. I share the member's concern about the future of democracy. I would also just reiterate that the briefing note alleges there were multiple members of Parliament. We actually only know of one that has been public. It is possible that there are other members in this chamber who have actually experienced a similar thing. It should concern all members.…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member is quite right. We need to thoughtfully think about allegations of foreign interference, and we need to examine them very closely. Do members know where we would be able to do that? It is in a public inquiry, for which the government seems very reticent to admit. Now, this hon. member, whom I respect greatly, says that we learned at committee that there was no …
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Madam Speaker, I really appreciate the opportunity provided by my hon. colleague to expand on the reasons for which the government believed it was elected in the first place. “Sunny ways” was the refrain we heard. We also heard “better is always possible”. Those things sound really great, but then eight years later, things get a little tired. It is not so sunny anymore, and there is a bit of a clo…
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise here this evening and share my thoughts on Bill S-6. Before that, however, I just want to acknowledge that I heard the intervention from the hon. colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby about the point of privilege that was raised earlier. I want to say that I welcome his comments and thoughts on that matter. It is an important issue. I will turn to Bill S-6 …
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Madam Speaker, it seems rather unfair for a government to impose a penalty on somebody for filing their taxes late when they are unable to get simple questions answered by CRA. We said to extend the tax filing deadline, and it did not like that for a bunch of reasons. That is fine, but how about they just not impose penalties or waive penalties for those people who owe money but who file late beca…
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Madam Speaker, we should be engaging with indigenous communities on how we could better serve them. Some of them, as I understand, still use paper forms, and it is actually very difficult for them to deal with the government. Let us be also clear that all regulations are not bad regulations. It is like saying unchecked capitalism is not necessarily the best thing. If we look at the 1930s, we had t…
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Madam Speaker, let us bring it home.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, a cloud hangs over the “Sunshine City” as we mourn the passing of the legendary Gordon Lightfoot. Gordon Lightfoot was born in Orillia in 1938. He sang choir at St. Paul's United Church and performed on numerous occasions at the ODCVI high school. It was his connection to the Canadian atmosphere and the environment around him that made him special. He is to Canadian music what the Gro…
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Mr. Speaker, I feel a little sorry for the minister, who now has to stand up in the House and defend an indefensible position. The finance committee already agreed with the government that it would prestudy the bill. The purpose of time allocation is usually to move a bill through the House so a committee can start to study it, but all parties agreed to prestudy this very large bill to make sure t…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, do you know what day it is today? It is tax-filing deadline, and yet thousands of CRA workers are still on strike. For almost two weeks, Canadians have been trying to get through on the phone to have their questions answered and they have been unable to do so. The government knew when the contract was up and it also knew when the tax-filing deadline was. Therefore, will the government…
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With regard to the government's response to Order Paper question Q-908 and the statement that approximately $320 million had been spent on integrity activities associated with various COVID-19 relief programs, as of March 31, 2022, and that approximately $556 million is estimated to be spent from fiscal year 2022-23 through 2025-26 on integrity activities associated with various COVID-19 relief pr…
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Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister also said, “The pandemic debt we incurred to keep Canadians safe and solvent must [and will] be paid down.” Even just a few months ago, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the budget would be balanced. That is another promise made and another promise broken. Now the government is adding $4,300 in new spending and debt for every household in Canada, and there …
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Mr. Speaker, less than one year ago, the Deputy Prime Minister stood in the House and said, “We are absolutely determined that our debt-to-GDP ratio must continue to decline and our deficits must continue to be reduced.... This is our fiscal anchor. This is a line we will not cross.” That is a promise made and a promise broken. The big spending budget yesterday would add $4,300 a year of spending …
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With regard to phone lines paid for by the government, broken down by cellular line versus traditional landline, for each part of the question: (a) how many phone lines was the government paying for as of January 1, 2023; (b) how many of the phone lines are dormant; (c) how many of the phone lines are active but have not been used or have not had any activity in the last year; (d) how many of the …
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister's high-spending government, it has little choice left but to raise taxes on hard-working Canadians. That is right. If Canadians want to numb the pain of higher inflation and a slowing economy with their favourite beer, spirit or wine, they have to dig deeper into their pockets. The excise tax on alcohol is going up over 6.3%, costing consumers a…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here again with you today to talk about a very important issue. I want to thank all members who participated in this debate, whether they agree with this piece of legislation or not, but in particular my friends from the Bloc, who spoke in favour of this piece of legislation, which I think is very important. I would like to touch on a few things for members to…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, on April 1, the government is increasing the excise tax on alcohol, beer, spirits and wine by over 6%. As if inflation is not hurting Canadians enough, now they have to dig deeper in their pockets to enjoy their favourite libation. It is expected that this would cost taxpayers, Canadians, consumers and businesses $125 million more next year. It is enough to drive one to drink. The exc…
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With regard to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), broken down by year since 2018: (a) how many commercial (i) trains, (ii) train cars, crossed into Canada, in total, broken down by point of entry for each year since 2018; (b) how many of the (i) trains, (ii) train cars, in (a) were physically inspected by the CBSA; (c) how many of the inspected (i) trains, (ii) train cars, contained illegal…
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Mr. Speaker, one year ago, a Liberal MP said, “It’s time to stop dividing Canadians”. What has happened in the last year? Canadians are more divided than ever. Inflation is at a 40-year high, 50% of Canadians are cutting on groceries, rent is up and mortgage costs are up, except we cannot question these issues or we would be called unpatriotic by the government. Canadians are struggling, and the P…
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Mr. Speaker, that is an absolutely excellent question. I see that there are expanded powers for two ministers. I trust at least one of them. However, the Governor in Council provides a more fulsome review. Maybe even an external body that is removed from politics would be the right way to go. As I have said, we never know whom we will end up having as a minister, and I think we should take a bit m…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague may be happily surprised to hear Zellers is returning in a few locations. That may be some welcome news. In any event, the world is different today. Geopolitics changes over time and regimes change. That is why we need principles under which to look at all transactions. I agree about entities that are controlled by or influenced by a foreign power, for example, whether it…
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Mr. Speaker, I have very much enjoyed getting to work with the member on the finance committee. He brings many insightful comments forward. Of course, we think the thresholds the government is currently using to review transactions are likely too low. I would refer the government to recommendations from the previous industry committee. The member rightly recognizes that there are likely more trans…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in this House to talk about a very important issue. Today we are talking about investment, national defence and security. The world is a far different place today than it was even a year ago, and there has been a concerted effort by hostile foreign powers to undermine western democracies, undermine our national security, undermine our economic interests…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we did support the government with the GST supplement, which is actually running out now. What we did not support was distributing dental and rental benefits by a process that is being called into question by the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Auditor General, who says it increases the risk of fraud. If we listen to everybody else, the government says …
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Mr. Speaker, with respect to Chinese state-owned enterprises, could the member reflect on the threshold he believes might be reasonable? I believe the last committee in the previous Parliament indicated that a much lower threshold, maybe even zero, should be considered.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of fiscal mismanagement, the Liberal government is not even hiding it anymore. It has now decided it no longer needs to accept the advice of the Auditor General, who says $27 billion in COVID support payments need to be investigated. Instead, the CRA says it is not worth the effort. Will the government take the advice of the independent Auditor General, or does it be…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), broken down by year since 2018: (a) how many commercial (i) trains, (ii) train cars, crossed into Canada, in total, broken down by point of entry for each year since 2018; (b) how many of the (i) trains, (ii) train cars, in (a) were physically inspected by the CBSA; (c) how many of the inspected (i) trains, (ii) train cars, contained illegal…
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With regard to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy: (a) how many complaints did the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) receive concerning recipients misusing the subsidy; (b) of the complaints in (a), how many did CRA investigate; (c) what were the findings of the investigations in (b); and (d) how many fines have been issued to recipients who misused the subsidy?
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Mr. Speaker, before I start, I would like to ask for unanimous consent to split my time.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the wonderful member for Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner. It is always a pleasure to rise in this chamber to speak to legislation. Today, we are talking about Bill S-8 to ensure that foreign nationals who are subject to economic sanctions are not able to enter our country. Since we are also talking about human rights, I did want to take a moment to addres…
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Mr. Speaker, as was mentioned previously, the bill was passed in the Senate in the spring and has been sitting all fall waiting to be dealt with in this chamber. Now it is a couple of days before we rise for the winter holidays and we have been asked to fast-track it. The Conservatives hope it gets to committee quickly, but, at the same time, it has been sitting throughout the fall waiting for som…
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Mr. Speaker, no, I do not think so.
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With regard to the measures in Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms), to increase the maximum penalties from 10 to 14 years imprisonment for certain firearms related offences: (a) how many people have been convicted of each of the related offences since January 1, 2016, broken down by year and offence; and (b) of those convicted in (a), how…
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With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): what is the total number of employees or full-time equivalents in each (i) division, (ii) enforcement area of the CRA, broken down by year since 2016?
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With regard to income tax and the Canada Revenue Agency, broken down by year since 2016: (a) what is the total number of people who filed income tax returns, broken down by income tax bracket; and (b) what was the total amount of revenue collected, from personal income tax, broken down by tax bracket and tax return filed?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General stated that the process the government relied on to distribute COVID benefits led to $4.6 billion in overpayments to ineligible individuals, and at least another $27 billion that needs to be investigated. How much of this $32 billion can taxpayers expect to recover? How much money is the government going to spend in administrative costs to recover money for taxpaye…
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Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the Auditor General said very clearly the postpayment verification process is anything but rigorous. The problem is that taxpayers are now on the hook for these billions of dollars they may never receive back. This is the same failed process the government is relying upon when distributing its new dental and rental benefits. Will the government admit it had no cont…
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Madam Speaker, the government's key piece it likes to talk about in the economic statement is the interest relief for students going to school. The question is fairly simple. How many more students will get to access post-secondary education from this government change than otherwise would be the case? The government does not have an answer. It is giving a windfall to the students who are already …
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With regard to the Shared Equity Mortgage Providers (SEMP) Fund: (a) how much of the $100 million fund has been distributed to date; (b) how many applications for the SEMP Fund have been (i) received, (ii) approved, (iii) denied, (iv) received, but a decision is still pending; (c) how many new home units receiving SEMP funding (i) have been completed, (ii) are currently under construction; and (d)…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians should judge a government by what it does, not what it says. What the government does is spend, spend, spend. Spending is up 30% versus pre-COVID levels and Canadians are paying the price. Inflation is at a 40-year high level. Next year, we are going to spend almost as much on servicing the debt as we do on health care transfers to the provinces. Canadians cannot afford much…
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Mr. Speaker, I am seeking unanimous consent to split my time.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have only been here for a year, but I have been driving all over the city and I still cannot find the money tree. I do not know where it is, but the government spent $100 billion of added debt before COVID and spent $500 billion of debt during COVID. Forty per cent of the money spent during COVID was not even related to the pandemic. That is not from us. That is from the independent…
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Mr. Speaker, we do not have a student debt problem in this country. About 65% of the working-age population have post-secondary education. It is wrong to ask 100% of the working-age population to subsidize that 65%. The government should have taken the same amount of money or half the amount of money and put it toward grants for low-income students who are not otherwise able to attend post-seconda…
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Mr. Speaker, yes, sometimes inflationary readings indicate economic uncertainty. The government's own numbers were projecting 3.1% growth next year, and now it is projecting only 0.7% growth. There are economic challenges on the horizon. The government wants to talk about making the EI system better. We abandoned the EI system during COVID because it was inadequate. I would ask the government wher…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that growing the size of the government is going to fix the inflation problem. I support the NDP opposition day motion, which called for a study on greedflation with respect to grocery stores. I hope we do not prejudge the end of that study. I am looking forward to that study being done, as well as the one by the Competition Bureau. It is very important work. Any comp…
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