Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, this is exactly what we should be talking about in the House of Commons, which is ways to help save our constituents money. This is a great idea. I am really proud of the fact that recently our government cut Visa and Mastercard transaction fees by 26% for small businesses. That is money small businesses can reinvest back into their communities or businesses. They can sponsor a soccer…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like to go back to Saskatchewan resident and poverty elimination expert Mr. Gilmer, and I will again read from this article because I think it is quite informing. If the member opposite does not want to listen to Food Banks Canada, perhaps she could listen to food bank workers and poverty elimination experts from her riding, or at least from Regina. In this case, an advocate…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is nice to be here in adjournment debate. I would like to thank my friend and colleague from the Conservative Party, with whom I have co-hosted events here on the Hill. I would like to thank her for her work for parents, and I enjoy the opportunity to talk about poverty elimination measures because it is a policy topic I am interested in personally. I am going to focus my respons…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association is here on the Hill in Ottawa today with workers, advocates and professionals in the parks and recreational sectors right across the country. They are here advocating for public spaces, for access to recreational facilities, for active transportation and for operating costs. They want to make sure that parks and recreation and physical act…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide are gaseous air pollutants composed of nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. They are one of the groups of related gases called nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxides. The health effects of nitrogen dioxide pollution include increased inflammation of the airways, worsening coughs and wheezing, reduced lung function and increased asthma attacks. They are, in…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. friend and colleague for the debate today. Not all Greens agree with the hon. leader of the Green Party. I know many Greens who believe in nuclear energy. I consider myself an environmentalist and know many environmentalists, and many of us agree with the notion that nuclear energy is green, renewable and necessary to power our green revolution and inno…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would invite the member opposite to Halton Hills to see what comes out of a gas-powered electricity-generating station. I can see colour just fine. It was brown effluent. I would invite him to come. I know the member's community still burns coal to create electricity. That is the dirtiest way known to make electricity, and natural gas is not far behind. There are net-zero ways of …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, unfortunately it is true. The three- or four-week Conservative-led filibuster in the House of Commons has extended to committee as well. The Conservatives open most meetings by saying they would like to see the minister at committee. I presented a motion today that would see the minister come to committee on Wednesday to discuss Bill C-73. Of course, they would be more than welcome …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be here for adjournment debate with my friend and colleague from Courtenay—Alberni. Before I start, I would like to extend my sympathies to Peggy, who has experienced this fraud in her life. I have had constituents in my riding as well who have lost sizable amounts of their life savings to these heartless scammers. It is a disgusting practice and we certainly need t…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, to answer the question from my hon. colleague, I do in fact clean it up quite often. I host cleanups in my community with kids and we pick up garbage, but picking up garbage is not going to solve climate change. The members think it is hilarious that a politician might actually get dirty every once in a while and pick up some garbage, but I would invite my colleagues to try to get e…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend and colleague from the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development for her speech. I want to say that I am proud of Ontario's electricity system because our system is clean and it includes nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is safe and important. I am going to get into it in my speech, but in 2005 in Ontario we still burned coal for electr…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Thanks very much, Madam Speaker. I hope members opposite have not used up all of their clever heckles while they are sitting down, because I want to hear what they have to say when they stand up and it is their turn to speak. Sometimes, when I do school visits, teachers have to remind their students they should not speak out of turn. They are usually in grade 5, so 10 years old and 11 years old. I…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is absolutely astonishing that when the member gets up and shares the tabloid-style rhetoric she always does in the House, other Conservative members clap. It is also disgusting that the member would insinuate that our government, or any government, would encourage a park to burn intentionally, where a brave firefighter lost their life and thousands of Canadians lost their homes.…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. It is important to note that that Quebec is very lucky to have a strong electricity generation system thanks to hydro power. That is, of course, a major asset for Quebec, but the other provinces are not in the same boat. Not every province in the country has a system like that. Nuclear power may not be an option or necessity in Quebec, but it i…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to rise today to talk about nuclear energy and some other associated important issues. The issues are related to carbon neutrality, net zero and all the efforts our government and various other governments across this country are making to encourage and join a green and clean revolution when it comes to how we generate electricity and how we get our energy in Canad…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. friend and colleague for his work on his private member's bill. I have met with stakeholders who feel very strongly that we ought to pass legislation to ban fossil fuel advertising. Before I commit to supporting it, I will say that when I was an Olympic athlete, many of our activities were sponsored by Petro-Canada, which is owned by Suncor. I am not go…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today is “sneak it in” day, so Participaction is here in Ottawa to remind us all to make room in our busy schedules to sneak in some movement. Movement is medicine. It is preventative medicine for our minds, our bodies and our communities, keeping us all happy, healthy, connected and strong. A little exercise every day is also great for our mood, productivity and focus. I am proud tha…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the hon. member's question. The Government of Canada shares the member's concerns about alleged wrongdoing in our procurement process, as do all parliamentarians and Canadians across the country. This is why we voted in favour of the motion to call Mr. Firth to appear in the House to answer questions, and we trust that his testimony was ful…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, like I said, all parties are troubled by the circumstances surrounding contracts awarded for work on the ArriveCAN application. Canadians and Parliamentarians deserve and demand answers, as does the government. There are many inquiries and investigations into the ArriveCAN contracts issue, and we fully support all of that work. It is important that we allow these activities to concl…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. friend and colleague from Kitchener Centre for his continued advocacy on this important issue and policy step. It is important, and our government firmly believes that at a time when middle-class Canadians are struggling to get ahead, and when it feels to so many like their hard work is not paying off as much as it used to, it is necessary for the gover…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I take exception a little bit to the suggestion that we have not taken note of what oil and gas executives and the mega corporations have been doing. They were at the environment committee, and I demanded answers from some of the CEOs. Frankly, what I heard back from the CEOs was inadequate. It was a demonstration that they actually do not know where they are invested and the impact…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would like to start by correcting the record. We have not lost the support of the House. There has not been a confidence vote that the government has lost. In two days, on Wednesday, there is going to be a confidence vote, and all parties have stepped up to say they are just not buying what the Conservatives are putting out there. It is based on false premises. They are, frankly, …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to stand to talk about one of our most successful policies in the last nine years. When our government took office in 2015, Canada's carbon emissions were rising fast in multiple sectors. It was not just the oil and gas industry, but it was particularly in oil and gas. Since then, they plateaued and are now starting to come down. They have been coming do…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, it is pretty rich for the Conservatives to stand up in the House when they introduced legislation when they were in government to raise the retirement age to 67 and gut Canadians' pensions. We are the party that reformed CPP and brought forward more senior supports. We are working to ensure that Canadians' pensions are strong. I have to mention that the member from British Columbia …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Canadians were proud to celebrate the exceptional performances of team Canada athletes this summer as they won a record number of medals and inspired the next generation of Olympic athletes. Through budget 2024, our Liberal government boosted the athlete assistance program that supports Canadian athletes. The carding checks directly support over 1,800 athletes across more than 94 sp…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, thanks to the CBC/Radio-Canada, Canadians enjoyed open and equitable access to countless hours of amazing sport from the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. Canadians cheered on our incredible athletes as they won medals, broke records and pushed the limits of human performance. The role the CBC plays as a public broadcaster in connecting Canadians to the Olympic and Paralympic Game…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, it is pretty rich for the Conservatives to be talking about pensions as they are actively committed to cancelling Canadians' pensions, while their pensions and the leader of the Conservatives' pension are worth more than $2 million. As always, the three-word slogans coming from the Conservatives do not make sense. They are not even true. Inflation is down. Interest rates are down. G…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the Conservatives will never let the truth or good news get in the way of their shameless exploitation of the challenges that Canadians are facing these days, and their three-word slogans are not solutions, are not policies and are childish. They are also fake news. Inflation is down, interest rates are down and gas prices are down, and thanks to our environmental policies, emission…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I will reiterate that the memorandum of understanding I referenced was signed just in June 2022. In collaboration with the First Peoples Cultural Council, the government signed an unprecedented five-year funding agreement for almost $104 million, which started last calendar year, and which was signed with the First Peoples Cultural Council. This year also marks the fifth anniversary…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address the House of Commons on this important issue with my friend and colleague from British Columbia. Our government has repeatedly committed to supporting indigenous peoples in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen indigenous languages. We recognize the important work that has been accomplished by indigenous communities acr…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I will start by restating, and will continually state, that Canada unequivocally condemns the attack by Iran against Israel. This attack only serves to destabilize the region and further escalate violence, which is disproportionately killing innocent people: women, children, the elderly and the disabled. This violence achieves nothing. It is completely unacceptable and it must come …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is a shame that the Conservatives keep using the words of the food banks completely out of context. When the food banks propose these things, they also make recommendations. None of the recommendations is to use any of the tired three-word slogans or eliminate a program which is actually supporting low- and medium-income housing. The Conservatives also like to completely ignore t…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would reiterate that Canada is committed to lasting peace in the Middle East, which includes the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel. That two-state solution needs to be a priority for anybody who is committed to lasting and sustained peace in the region. Unfortunately, I did not hear the term “two-state solution” in my colleague's…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, it is an honour and a privilege to stand in the House today for the first time after a summer break and speak to a policy proposal from the New Democratic Party on something I have always been very interested in looking at. I am always enthusiastic about any policy proposed in the House that aims to reduce or eliminate poverty in Canada. This project to bring forward a universal bas…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, we have been here before and we have talked about this before, with the member opposite and with many other members. The last I checked, Kelowna—Lake Country, a beautiful place, is in British Columbia. There is no federal price on pollution in British Columbia. In fact, it was a Liberal government in British Columbia that brought forward Canada's first carbon pricing system. It has …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her question. Once again, I enjoy working with her. The new funding that I just mentioned supports more than 1,400 projects to help municipalities adapt to the impacts of climate change. Over the past two years, we have implemented a clean fuel standard, something that the Conservatives promised to do in their last election campaign. However, they changed their …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the work of my colleague at the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development and in the House of Commons. We are the only G20 country to have eliminated subsidies for oil and gas companies, two years ahead of schedule, no less. This week, we announced $530 million in funding with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in order to work with our communit…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, if I could finish, the PBO concluded that carbon pricing is the most cost-effective way to fight climate change. Canadians will receive their Canada carbon rebate on July 15, which supports affordability.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that is not what the PBO did, and that is not what the PBO said. What the PBO said, back on April 17, is that he overestimated the economic cost of climate change. This means that all the axe-the-tax rallies are based on faulty math. This is just another reason for Conservatives to deny climate change. Denying the effectiveness and proven impact of carbon pricing is another form of cl…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank some lobbyists. I would like to thank Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada. I would like to thank the David Suzuki Foundation. I would like to thank the member for her question. I would like to thank all the climate activists and all the folks across Canada who are concerned about the extreme emissions of the oil sands sector. Liberals are not just listening; we are ta…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month. It is often said that we do not talk about or acknowledge men's health and wellness often enough. I tend to agree. I also agree that change depends on us and it needs to start with men. First of all, there is a stigma surrounding men’s mental health. Many men feel as though they cannot reach out for help when they need it due to some societ…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, campaign platforms are not a buffet. All the members on the Conservatives' side ran on a commitment to price carbon with Erin O'Toole. That they have abandoned those commitments just demonstrates very clearly that they have no integrity and no desire to fight climate change or lower our emissions. Let us look at what the PBO actually said, which is that “carbon pricing is [the most] e…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House respect the work of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. The office provides independent analysis to the government and to Canadians. Canadians rely on that information for insight into how these programs impact our economy and their pocketbooks. However, Conservatives are misleading Canadians. Our government will continue to support the PBO to fulfill the ro…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we have been clear all along. The Conservatives are really the only people who continue to mislead Canadians, particularly on the case of the PBO report. The PBO released a report on April 17 that indicated that they actually overestimated the economic impact of the carbon tax and re-emphasized the fact that Canadians get more back than they pay through carbon pricing. On July 15, Can…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, over the past two years, we have introduced a new clean fuel standard, something Conservatives pledged to do during the last election campaign. However, they changed their minds to please their leader and voted against. We have also raised the price on pollution, and we are putting a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector. We are the only major oil-producing count…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that is not what the PBO said. It is the opposite. The PBO has overestimated the economic impact of carbon pricing on Canada. It means that probably even more than eight out of 10 families are getting more back through the Canada carbon rebate than they pay in carbon pricing. This is just another opportunity for the Conservatives to deny climate change. Denying the effectiveness and p…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, let me say it again: There is no federal carbon tax in the province of Quebec. Quebec is a leader in the fight against climate change. The Conservatives are finding more and more reasons to deny climate change yet again. The government regularly shares confidential information with the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who uses it to produce its own reports.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, over the summer, Conservatives could consider taking a math class to brush up on their Conservative math. It really does not seem as though their math is adding up these days. Conservatives from Saskatchewan and Alberta should talk to their premiers, who jacked up the price of gas on April 1 by over 13¢. There is no Canada carbon rebate for provincial gas tax, and there is no rebate f…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, unfortunately for the Conservatives, that is not what the PBO said. The Parliamentary Budget Officer issued a report, about a month and a half ago, saying that he accidentally overestimated the economic impact of the carbon price on Canadians. I would like to re-emphasize for Canadians that eight out of 10 Canadians get more money back through the Canada carbon rebate than they pay in…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by wishing a happy World Environment Day to all Canadians, especially to the failed former leader of the Conservative Party, the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle, and to the new leader of the Conservative Party from Carleton, who have voted against the environment over 400 times in the House of Commons. It is clear where they stand on climate change, and it is clear …
Read full speech →