Parliamentary Speeches
808 speeches by Adam van Koeverden — Page 13 of 17
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the word “diversity” brings about a different sense or meaning for a lot of people. This place contains a lot of diversity in terms of our backgrounds, beliefs and systems. However, we are in a country called Canada with many distinct nations and distinct identities, and they are all welcome here. I do not see any reason why we cannot work together despite some of the differences. Con…
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Mr. Speaker, as the member was speaking, I was just reflecting about the opportunities we have had to play soccer with staff from some of the high commissions here in Canada, and that represents the kind of fraternity that I was referring to, which I do not think is a frivolous thing. It is unfortunate to use a term like “fraternity”, which is steeped in sexism, but we agree that those occasions a…
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Mr. Speaker, three days after being detained by Iran's so-called morality police for supposedly wearing her hijab improperly, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed. This human rights violation began a series of protests across Iran in over 80 cities, leaving over 200 people killed by security forces. This indiscriminate killing has also left at least 23 children dead. My thoughts are with all Iranian…
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Madam Chair, I know we are not supposed to use props, but these greasy rectangles of glass in our pockets are devastating for children. They distract them. They keep them on those things, and they keep them from developing that physical literacy I was talking about. They can be an encouraging way to keep in touch with their friends and make sure their parents keep track of them, but we have to enc…
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Madam Speaker, before many of us ever got involved in politics, I would say that we looked to the member for Wellington—Halton Hills as a beacon of hope in the Conservative Party with respect to fighting climate change. We saw him as the only leadership contestant in a race who was willing to talk about and acknowledge climate change. He, at the time, I believe, was a proponent of carbon pricing, …
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Madam Speaker, the Conservatives have loved avoiding three simple facts throughout this debate. The first is that climate change is real and carbon pricing works. I appreciated the note about William Nordhaus and his Nobel Prize explaining just that. The second is that the price on pollution is not a tax. When the Conservatives say “fuel taxes”, they are saying the Supreme Court of Canada wrong. I…
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Madam Chair, I submit to my hon. colleague that he has spent quite a lot of time in rooms with experts discussing this issue, and far more than I have. I am new to this conversation. It is uncomfortable. It is intimidating. It is scary. We are not experts on mental health in this room, but my hon. colleague has heard from many. I wonder if he can articulate to the chamber this evening what he has …
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Madam Chair, I am glad my colleague from Nanaimo—Ladysmith focused on children tonight. It is an important subject of conversation. Unfortunately, children are often forgotten in society. I am also glad she connected the climate crisis to kids and their mental health. My question is about children. We all know that kids spend a little too much time on their phones. I spend too much time on my phon…
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Madam Chair, it is an honour to rise in the House today to take part in this debate on such an important issue, which is the topic of how we can collectively improve the mental health of Canadians. As we take part in today's discussion, I want to recognize we share a common commitment in this place to address this serious challenge together. Indeed, we all ran on a commitment to our neighbours, an…
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Madam Chair, the member is once again after my own heart. I am proud to stand up and talk about the community sport for all program, which I was fortunate enough to work on with support from our caucus. The community sport for all program has invested $80 million, half of it so far and $40 million next year hopefully, in community sport programs across the country focused on disadvantaged youth, y…
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Madam Chair, the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith knows exactly what I love to talk about in this House, and that is the power of physical activity, primarily for kids. I am a kinesiologist. I was an athlete, and one of the things that is missing from my life, as much as it used to be, is physical activity every single day. When I talk to kids, like Josephine, Meghan and Jamie today, they talk to me a…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate that clarification. I will be honest: It was not a mistake. It happens all the time. It is an effort to catch parliamentary secretaries with a speech or a response that has nothing to do with the question, so the member opposite can stand up and say that the parliamentary secretary is not answering their question. If I were to answer the question he asked in June, it mi…
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Madam Speaker, our government understands the urgency of this situation, and I would say the government understands the urgency of this situation even more because of my friend and colleague from Courtenay—Alberni. We are moving fast and forward with a fact-based approach to ending this crisis. The overdose crisis is having a devastating impact on people. It is ripping the hearts out of our commun…
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Madam Speaker, before I answer the question from the hon. colleague for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, I would like to talk for just a minute about adjournment debates. As a parliamentary secretary, I am happy to come into this place and discuss important issues, resolve questions that were not fully answered during debate or in question period and be accountable, but occasiona…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to come into the House to discuss these issues with my friend from Bow River. He was a teacher, so it is interesting to me that he, like many of his colleagues, refers to a change in the price on pollution, or “carbon tax”, as he calls it. Of course judges in courts across the country have deemed it not to be a tax, because it is not a revenue program, but wh…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to talk with my colleague from Bow River. I am glad that he brought up the top of climate change. I met with a whole bunch of farmers from my riding. Many people are not aware that the riding of Milton is home to many ag producers. We have beef farmers, chicken farmers, egg farmers and apple farmers. When my family came from the Netherlands, they settled just…
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Madam Speaker, before I start, I would like to say thanks to my friend from Courtenay—Alberni. He is a tremendously passionate, outspoken and dogged ambassador, advocate and spokesperson for this cause. He knows that I respect him. He knows that I think he is doing incredible work here in the House, in his community and across the country regarding the overdose crisis. I am proud to be in the Hous…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague and friend for the speech. I am looking forward to doing some Canada-Netherlands Friendship Group work with him if he is interested. We have some work to do and he is my co-chair, so I will be counting on his engagement there. My friend talked about how it is important, as a Conservative, to stand up and help people who need it most, people who do not have ac…
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to chime in today on this very important bill. Also, this debate is occurring on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. I am sure my hon. colleague is aware of this important day. I am also really glad to hear there is a community food centre in his riding. We are neighbours in fact, so it is good to hear that the Community Food Centres is doing so much goo…
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Mr. Speaker, Niagara has lost a giant. Keith Simmonds was a business leader at Great Wolf Lodge, a mentor, a friend, a celebrated community member, a father and a husband. Keith died last weekend on a charity bike ride doing what he loved: raising money for charity with his friends. I only met Keith three weeks ago. Along with 36 other riders, we were part of R2//NYC. We rode our bikes to New York…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Guelph for his consistent advocacy, particularly on health-related matters, for his constituents in Guelph. I was at that meeting last week. According to the Canadian Dental Association, over 2.26 million school days a year are missed because kids are having tooth decay and other tooth-related matters fixed at their dentist and fully one-third…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. Although I take French lessons three times a week, I will answer in English to ensure my comments are clear. It is important to have a place, in the House, where we can debate the minutia and the details of the importance of a strong social safety net. That is why I appreciate the high-level question and debate from my hon. member. We all …
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Madam Speaker, the Conservatives have been very ambiguous on which piles of money they disagree. Is it the CERB, which supported millions of Canadians across the country when they were out of work? Is it the wage subsidy, which supported small and medium-sized businesses across the country to support their workers? They have been very ambiguous with respect to which piles of money the government h…
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Madam Speaker, I do want to thank my hon. colleague from Edmonton Strathcona for her work and her tireless advocacy on behalf of students and young people in this country. In brief, what I will do is make my way over to her side of the chamber and discuss how we can better support students.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to be here today with my friends and colleagues to speak to the very important issue of making life more affordable for all Canadians. I am pleased to contribute to the debate today on this motion. Making life more affordable for Canadians is a key priority for our government, and I would like to highlight some of the measures that we are taking to address the cost…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for flying in today and for sticking around at the community level to ensure that everybody had what they needed before she came to the House of Commons. I was fortunate enough this summer to visit my friend and colleague in Halifax and visit throughout the riding. I got to see first-hand her commitment and dedication to the constituents in her riding. That was ev…
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Mr. Speaker, on September 12, a tragic and terrifying series of gun attacks left our community shocked, scared and in mourning. A Toronto police officer, Constable Andrew Hong, and Shakeel Ashraf, a small business owner from our community in Milton, as well as his colleague, Satwinder Singh, an exchange student, were brutally murdered when a gunman terrorized our communities and the residents of M…
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Madam Speaker, I thank members on the other side for committing to support this measure. When I was growing up, my mother received an HST refund and I know that it helped her with raising two boys with tight paycheques sometimes, and I am confident that this measure will do the same for families now. My hon. colleague's speech wound around a bit and talked about how sending out cheques can contrib…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for the great speech this evening and express condolences to his community and everybody across Atlantic Canada, throughout the Maritimes as well as in Quebec, and to all those who have been impacted by this tragic storm. Like many members of this House, I have spent a lot of time in Nova Scotia. My brother was born there. We lived in Dartmouth for a…
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Mr. Speaker, it is so important that we are here tonight to talk about what we can do to help people who are affected by this in Atlantic Canada and throughout Quebec. It is also really important that we stick to the facts. Earlier today, in question period and throughout the afternoon, we have been hearing some misinformation about some occurrences. I just want to read into the record something p…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows quite a lot about international development and I look forward to our next chat in the elevator on this topic. I did want to highlight, because I had the opportunity to visit the Red Cross in Nova Scotia this summer, its extensive network of community-level contacts and relationships. The type of rapid response that these donations will rely on are those relati…
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Madam Speaker, in June, the Government of Canada suspended the vaccine mandate for federally regulated transportation sectors and federal employees. Compared to when the mandates were first introduced, Canada has higher levels of immunity from both vaccination and infection. There is a wider availability of antiviral drugs, and we are better equipped now to effectively manage the COVID-19 pandemic…
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Madam Speaker, public health experts use the latest scientific evidence available on effectiveness, availability and the uptake of vaccines when providing guidance and advice regarding vaccine mandates. The original question that the member asked does not resemble the one that he presented tonight. If he would like to talk about this, he has my phone number. I would be happy to chat any time.
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I appreciate having the opportunity tonight to talk about the Government of Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June, the Government of Canada suspended—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, as of June 3, 2022, the in-force Order in Council, or OIC, regarding COVID-19 is OIC 2022-0567, “Minimizing the Risk of Exposure to COVID-19 in Canada Order”. OIC 2022-0567 came into force on May 31, 2022. The OIC was repealed and replaced by “OIC 2022-0836 Minimizing the Risk of Exposure to COVID-19 in Canada Order” on June 27 and remains in effect until September 30, 2022. With rega…
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Mr. Speaker, in regard to part (a) of the question, since the onset of the pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada, or PHAC, has provided guidance and advice on public health measures at both the individual and community level to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health and safety of people living in Canada. PHAC’s guidance is informed by scientific evidence, expert opinion a…
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Mr. Speaker, collective efforts by governments at all levels in gathering, sharing and analyzing data have allowed Canada to monitor and report on numbers and trends and make evidence-based public health decisions to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no circumstance in which a public health authority can confirm with certainty the location in which an individual contracts COVID-19. The Pu…
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Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), in bringing the front-of-package, FOP, regulations forward, the government has given careful consideration and analyzed in detail the potential costs and benefits of its plan to inform Canadians of nutrients of concern in their food. All regulatory packages go through a rigorous cost-benefit analysis, which is summarized in the regulatory impact analysis statement,…
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Mr. Speaker, the vaccine injury support program, VISP, provides financial support to people in Canada in the rare event that they experience a serious and permanent injury as a result of receiving a Health Canada-authorized vaccine administered in Canada on or after December 8, 2020. The program also provides death benefits and support for funeral expenses in the rare case of a death as a result o…
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Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), all participants of the peer review process, including peer reviewers, are subject to the conflict of interest and confidentiality policy of the federal research funding organizations, which defines conditions under which an individual cannot be a peer reviewer, in particular sections 6.2.1 and 6.2.2. Those conditions are further detailed in the Conflict of Interes…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we will always prioritize Canadians' health based on scientific evidence. These labels are widely recognized to be a good tool to support Canadians as they make good decisions at the grocery store. Let me be clear. Canadians will still produce and purchase ground meat. However, they now have a choice to make and an informed decision to limit their saturated …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his collaboration on the health committee. Our government recognizes the importance of high-quality primary care and we also acknowledge that many Canadians are still struggling to access the care they need in a timely manner. Going forward, as outlined in budget 2022, our government will remain focused on advancing the priorities of Canadians in health, …
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Mr. Speaker, unlike my colleague opposite, we are concerned about the rising rates of chronic diseases in Canada. With last week being Men's Health Week, we talked in the House about how a disproportionately high number of men are dying from chronic diseases. I think we can all agree that more information at the grocery store is a good thing. Two in five adults currently report having at least one…
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Madam Speaker, on this side of the House, we agree that Canadians want to get back to normal, and we all want to get back to normal but we have to be honest. The COVID pandemic is not over yet. At every step, we have adapted our COVID-19 measures based on the current situation. This week, we were able to announce that we are lifting the travel mandates. We are pausing them because this pandemic is…
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Madam Speaker, we need to talk about men's health. This is Men's Health Week, and June is Canadian Men's Health Month, but we need to recognize how important it is for men to be aware of their physical and mental health every day of the year. Canadian men die at alarmingly high rates of chronic illnesses in Canada, yet 70% of men's health problems are preventable just by living a healthier life. H…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his commitment to his constituents and his consistent advocacy, particularly for lower-income families in his riding. The health committee just concluded a study on the health care human resources crisis in this country. We are going to make sure that every Canadian has access to a family doctor, including through telehealth in remote ridings, s…
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Madam Speaker, on this side of the House, we are alarmed and concerned about the rising rates of illnesses, and particularly chronic illnesses, that are impacted by poor diets. These labels are widely recognized by health organizations and the scientific community as an effective tool to help counteract the rate of diet-related chronic disease that continues to rise in Canada. More information for…
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Madam Speaker, the member has such a long track record of service in this place, so I have a very broad question for him, because I know he has a lot of knowledge. This is a complicated thing to figure out, how to best represent our neighbours, given the geography of Canada and how far spread out we are. Could he expand on the importance of ensuring that from a riding size perspective and a popula…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his collaboration on the health committee over the last couple of months. It has been challenging. That said, I would just caution that when we use language like “the vaccines do not prevent transmission and do not prevent this and that,” it limits all of those things. It is very well-founded that the vaccines are very, very good at limiting all of those …
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