Parliamentary Speeches
946 speeches by Adam van Koeverden — Page 12 of 19
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to discuss this Conservative opposition day motion. The Conservatives have been quite persistent on talking about the price on pollution, and I just want to point out, as we have many times, that they campaigned on a worse version of the price on pollution. They campaigned on a promise to have some sort of a bank account where people would get deposits.…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member for Kitchener Centre's sentiment. I would just quote Jean Chrétien. He is so many people's favourite historical figure, although I do not call him a historical figure, because he is in good health. I hope he is having a good day. Jean Chrétien is an incredible voice for Canadians. He said that, when a person is in the House, if the Conservatives are saying th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a), the Public Health Agency of Canada, PHAC, is aware of two sexual assault complaints filed by travellers while abiding by the government’s hotel quarantine measures since March 1, 2020. Further information is provided below in the response to part (b). With regard to part (b), the following two complaints resulted in criminal charges. In February 2021, an indiv…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a really good question. I would also like to say that I have a tremendous respect for my colleague on and off the soccer pitch. I will be completely honest and forthcoming. I was not on the environment committee, and I do not know why decisions were made with respect to this bill, but I also know that a bill, if it tries to do everything, might achieve nothing. In this case, thi…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciated my colleague's comments and his speech. I liked the part in his speech where he said that it was okay to disagree with people from his own party, or with the leader of his party. I agree with that. I noticed a few things. There is a kind of division that I have a hard time rationalizing. For example, some Conservative members believe in climate change and some do not. In…
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Roundup is a trade name, okay. Mr. Speaker, members can tell I did not grow up on a farm. I picked apples every once in a while. My apple farmer uncle, Gerry, who is now deceased, used to call me “the city boy” when I would come to the farm and pick apples. I guess he was right. Thanks for confirming my wise old Uncle Gerry's assertion that I was a city boy. Glyphosate caused harm to my family. I …
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Mr. Speaker, I wish I could have seconded the motion from the member for Kingston and the Islands just a moment ago. It was a good point. As parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Health and the member of Parliament for Milton, I am proud to rise to speak on Bill S-5. It is important to take some time to speak to the work that our government has done on modernizing the Canadian Environmental P…
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Mr. Speaker, the question was about carbon pricing, which is not directly related to CEPA, but I am happy to talk about it. I would point out that in the great province of my colleague opposite who asked the question, there is no federal backstop program because there is a provincial government that prices carbon, and always has. If I am not mistaken, that was an action by the previous Liberal gov…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry if my colleague did not like my speech on mushrooms, which are a very important source of copper. That is something I did not know a week ago. I want to come back to the topic of leadership and courage in Bill S‑5. The question is, why did the government have the courage to create and consider a bill similar to the Government of Quebec? The answer is in the question. It is …
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Mr. Speaker, I would be absolutely thrilled to. Gone are the times when Canadians could rely on Conservative-elected politicians to be real with them about climate change. Back in the day, in the eighties and nineties, Brian Mulroney indeed was a leader. He fought against acid rain. He also believed in fair taxation. He brought forward a really effective wealth tax called the GST at the time, now …
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the commentary from my colleague opposite. I wish to amplify the voice of a northern Alberta indigenous leader who has accused Imperial Oil of a nine-month cover-up over a massive release of toxic oil sands tailings on land near where his band members harvest foods. That is Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. He said, “During that nine-month period…
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Madam Chair, it is nice to be here this evening to talk about these important issues related to the budget and the business of supply. I thank very much the Minister of Finance for being with us here tonight to answer all of our important questions. I would like to take a moment to thank her personally for her extraordinary work and for being such an incredible Deputy Prime Minister and also the f…
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Madam Chair, I would first like to ask the Minister of Finance if she could reflect on Crozier Consulting Engineers' very innovative approach of using the first-time homebuyers' plan to provide its employees with a $20,000 bonus up front for a down payment toward their first home and how we can encourage more businesses to do something similar.
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Madam Chair, I am trying to be as quick as possible, but I also want to give the Minister of Finance some time to answer this question because I know it is a very important one. Our government is proud of our investments to support Ukraine through the most challenging time of its life. I want to highlight that this past weekend in Poland, at a World Cup that I used to go to every year, the Ukraini…
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Madam Chair, I hope there is an opportunity for all members of this House to come together and collectively renounce those comments. I had opportunities to talk to constituents in Woodstock, Montreal and Milton, and the issue that arose in Woodstock is our support for seniors. In Montreal, it was about electric buses. As I was knocking on doors, kids were returning home from schools, and federal i…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is shameful how misinformation is being peddled by the leader of the Conservative Party. Last week, when the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development spoke of the horrible wildfires in Alberta, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, the member of Parliament for Carleton, yelled across the aisle, “Started by your government”. The former leader of the Conservati…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Addiction is a complex issue and the deadly opioid epidemic, which has been fuelled by a poisoned drug supply, requires a compassionate, evidence-based approach to save lives. Recently, members of the Conservatives, including the MP for Saskatchewan—
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Mr. Speaker, I believe we can disagree on policy matters without resorting to derogatory name-calling and referring to other members as murderers.
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Madam Speaker, the member opposite is continuing to heckle, telling me to be a man about it. This kind of misogynistic language in this House of Commons is not welcome. He is telling me to be a man about after I stood and apologized. I do not know what he would like me to do. I was talking to myself and muttered something under my breath. That type of misogynistic language has no place in this Hou…
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Madam Speaker, I am deeply apologetic if I offended the member opposite with any words that I used sitting here by myself.
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Mr. Speaker, it is very important to reassure our community about how important this bill is in preventing firearms trafficking. A record number of guns last year were seized at the border, but we need to do more. Bill C-21 would do more. It would invest in the CBSA, after the Conservatives cut so much of the funding for our border services agency. They like to say that all these guns are coming i…
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Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge the hard work of my colleague on the public safety committee. I know he is always committed to ensuring that the NDP gets credit for its good work, but a lot of great rural members of Parliament from other parties, including mine, stood up and said that it did not reflect the will of a lot of their constituents. I am grateful for all of those voices. That is how this pla…
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Mr. Speaker, one thing I did not get to talk about is all of the investments and programming that the government has made with respect to changing culture and ensuring that there is a place to go and an alternative to crime, particularly in urban areas, so that young men, primarily, have access to sport, the arts, mentors and role models. That is what is missing in so many of those communities: ma…
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Madam Speaker, it is a real honour to rise in the House to acknowledge the very hard work of the public safety committee and many members in the House who have been tireless in their advocacy and their consultations with various groups across the country, and to speak to the importance of the bill, as we aim to strengthen public safety in our communities and ensure they continue to be safe. I woul…
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand up in this House to make sure that the rights of both responsible gun owners and those who aspire to compete in the Olympics are upheld, which the legislation does.
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Mr. Speaker, we can talk about cheap politics, petty games and filibusters. Indeed, my colleague opposite talked about some of the petty games, but he did not reference the fact that so much of the time that they have been asking for has been wasted by the Conservatives through this filibuster process. As the gun lobby is attacking members of Parliament like me on social media for standing up for …
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Mr. Speaker, every time the member gets up, he accuses me of bragging about something. I do not have to brag about going to the Olympics. I represented Canada four times. That is not bragging; it is a fact. I am not bragging—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we take an evidence-based approach to solving the addictions epidemic and the poisoned opioid crisis that is having such a devastating impact on our communities. It has really been alarming over the last couple of weeks to hear the members in the Conservative Party blaming addicts, people who use drugs, for this crisis. We take an evidence-based, science-fir…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, yesterday was such an important day for Canadian sport. Our government announced reforms to the Canadian sport system that will improve governance and accountability, increase athlete engagement and decision making, and enhance safe sport practices right across our country. Canadians love sport. It keeps us happy and healthy, and ensures that our communities are active, connected and …
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday was a really important day in Canadian sport. Our government announced reforms to the Canadian sport system that will contribute to sustainable culture change through improved governance and accountability; increased athlete engagement and decision-making; enhanced safe sport measures right across our country; better diversity and athlete representation on boards, with term …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that this week is National Nursing Week. I would like to thank every nurse from coast to coast to coast, including our Minister of Seniors. Nurses absolutely do the most important work, and it is a very thankless position sometimes, so I would like to thank them. To the substantive question, nurses deserve fair wages. They deserve a…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I just cannot thank my colleague enough on behalf of everybody in my riding whose family is struggling with the circumstances around a loved one's disability. I do not want to suggest all of them are struggling. Many of them thrive thanks to great community support. It is great because of a lot of volunteers. It is great because of organizations like the Special Olympics. There is an …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking my colleague for bringing awareness to this issue. I also want to say that our government understands the situation very well. It recognizes that this is a very important challenge. I want to commend and thank everyone who has the strength to share their stories. On the subject of an inquiry, I want to repeat for my friend that it is not a question …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, we are speaking very fast. I am going to try to get my ideas out in English because they take longer in French, although I am working on it. This has been a work in progress for many, many years. I used to come to the Hill to advocate for a better sporting environment back in 2015 or 2016. The first time that I came here to do government relations on behalf of athletes was in 2009. …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague and friend for his guidance and leadership. It is a very good example of where the real experience is lived in a diverse House of Commons. We are making the best policies and we are making progress. That is an excellent example. On behalf of all the families in Milton living with a person with a disability, I thank the member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin. I w…
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Mr. Speaker, we recognize that Canadians are proud of our health care system, but it is not meeting expectations these days. That is why we made a $198.6-billion investment in our health care system back on February 7, and we expect that is going to help with things like the human resources and health care challenges that my colleague and friend has articulated so well. I am glad that the member i…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, May 5 is Dutch Heritage Day in Canada. The bonds of history and friendship between Canada and the Netherlands are unbreakable. Dutch immigrants have been coming to Canada for over 100 years, and today, over a million Canadians can proudly claim their Dutch heritage. This includes my dad Joe, our siblings and cousins, and over 2,000 Miltonians. Even Princess Juliana, before she was Que…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his fine speech. I would like to take this opportunity to express solidarity with my neighbour from Wellington—Halton Hills. He is my friend and a good member who embodies all that is best about the House. My colleague raised the issue of blame. He wonders who, in the circumstances, is to blame. I would like to say that the conversation we are having today r…
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Mr. Speaker, our government and the Minister of Health appreciate the leadership and contributions of the PMPRB as an independent quasi-judicial body. The minister does not provide direction to the PMPRB and, as stated in section 96(5) of the Patent Act, the PMPRB must consult with various parties, which include the minister, before issuing any new guidelines. In this context, on November 28, 2022…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 11th anniversary of the Sashbear Foundation's Sashbear Walk for mental health and suicide prevention. Starting on May 13 and running through the month of June, the Sashbear Walk will be held virtually and in five in-person locations in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland. The foundation and annual community fundraiser were inspired by Sasha …
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Madam Speaker, I have a quote for the member opposite. As she knows, I have spent considerable time in her riding of Peterborough—Kawartha, and this quote is as follows: “Safer supply...is what's giving us hope”. This is a quote from Peterborough Currents, an organization that provides harm reduction for many of the member's constituents who suffer from addiction. Participants in this safer supply…
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Madam Speaker, Canadians deserve elected representatives who come to Ottawa with solutions, not just cheap shots and slogans. Triple-triple is a coffee order at Tim Hortons, not a policy solution. It is not a valuable contribution to the debate in the House. However, budget 2023 invests in solutions like dental care for uninsured families, investments in mental health and more doctors and nurses t…
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Madam Speaker, I enjoyed storytime. I hope my colleagues enjoyed storytime. The whole time, I was searching for a reference to the budget, to the implementation act, to renewable energy or to any of the challenges that are being faced by the great province of Saskatchewan. As my colleague knows, my father used to live in Saskatchewan. I visited often. We have some mutual friends over there. There …
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Madam Speaker, I prepared a question about the budget. My colleague's speech was about a lot of things as he acknowledged that the budget is about a lot of things. There are a lot of Canadians and a lot of concerns out there. It does cover a lot of bases. Two of the things that I am the most proud to bring to my constituents are two programs that are going to help them a lot: the dental care progr…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, my colleague is a keen scholar of human rights and geopolitics, and I always enjoy his speeches on those issues. I am also quite interested in progress in Africa and, like the member and all Canadians, am very dismayed by the crisis in Sudan and the great setbacks that country and the people of Sudan are experiencing right now. I am proud our government has taken a keen interest in th…
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Madam Speaker, first I have a couple of quick corrections. It is not business as usual at Gymnastics Canada. A lot has changed. It has committed to an independent cultural review road map, the CEO has resigned, contrary to what my colleague said, and it is now in fact a signatory to OSIC and Abuse-Free Sport. These are the changes that we demanded. These are the changes that MPs from all parties d…
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Madam Speaker, with regard to affordable housing, does my colleague want to see more housing co‑ops? I know that there are many housing co-ops in Quebec. My colleague is from a rural riding. What would the solution be with respect to housing co-ops in a riding like Abitibi—Témiscamingue?
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her comments and mini-speech. There were a lot of questions in there. This government has done some amazing things over the past seven years. I am going to speak in English so that I can get my idea out because I have never actually said this in French before. There is no government in history that has done more to solve seniors poverty. When we took power in …
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Mr. Speaker, it was nice to see my colleague at the Canadian Chiropractic Association's meeting yesterday. I had a chance to give a speech as the parliamentary secretary for health. I had a chance to acknowledge that the doctor opposite is in fact a chiropractor. I know that he was well received by many of those constituents. Indeed, when we frame the conversation around what one likes about the b…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise this evening to talk about budget 2023 and all of the investments it is going to make in our country and in our communities right across Canada from coast to coast to coast. Since the tabling of budget 2023, I have had the opportunity to spend some time in my riding, as we all did, throughout the Easter break. However, it was more than just Easter break in my…
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