Government Orders
Madam Speaker, unfortunately, I was elected only in 2019, and I know the member was elected more recently, so I cannot really compare. I have not done sufficient data analysis. I am just saying that I support income testing for the program. I know plenty of people would use it, myself included, though I likely would not meet the requirement anyway because I have the privilege of being compensated …
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Madam Speaker, I think it is pretty obvious, with the way the bill passed the first time through the House, that the House does recognize the importance of child care in this country. We are all in agreement with the bill's intent. However, I raised in my speech last year something that has really come to the forefront of one of the challenges with the current agreements, which is the impact they …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like the minister to explain how the carbon tax is tied to reconciliation when we have the Chiefs of Ontario, which represents 133 first nations, and the Assembly of First Nations taking the government to court asking for a judicial review with respect to their view that the carbon tax is discriminatory against our first nations.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am presenting is to do with online verification for access to pornography on the Internet. Petitioners are calling upon the House of Commons to adopt Bill S-210, which seeks to protect young persons from exposure to pornography.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today, but prior to that, I have a point of order. There was a missing statement from ministers today, which is that the great prognosticator from Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, Wiarton Willie, predicted an early spring this morning. The first petition is from constituents in my riding who are calling for the House of Commons and the Government of Canada to rev…
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Madam Speaker, first, I just have a quick comment. There was a transfer of leadership in the Canadian Armed Forces training mission, Joint Task Force-Ukraine, just a few days ago. I want to thank all the Canadian Armed Forces members who are part of that mission in training Ukrainians, in particular the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel James Boddy, who is the outgoing commander, and the new comman…
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Madam Speaker, on a point of order for me and for the member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, I have had my hand up since we were calculating the votes. I know we are past the calculations now, but as I had technical difficulties, I would like to seek unanimous consent to cast my vote as a nay on the last vote.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) benefits delivered via contract by Medavie Blue Cross: (a) from January 1, 2022, to December 12, 2023, how many technical issues with the Medavie Blue Cross online portal were reported listed by (i) month, (ii) claim area affected; (b) how many veterans did these technical issues effect; (c) what was the dollar amount of outstanding or delayed claims; (…
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With regard to Old Age Security (OAS), for the 2022 tax year: (a) how many OAS payment recipients were not residents of Canada for tax purposes; and (b) how much was paid out in OAS payments to the recipients in (a)?
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With regard to the federal government’s announcement to reboot post-war efforts to construct housing with a housing design catalogue: (a) who will be eligible to participate in the consultation process; (b) what are the key design aspects or characteristics for these houses that the government is prioritizing; (c) what is the duration of the consultation period; (d) what are the estimated number o…
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With regard to Canada’s census of agriculture and government information about farmland in Canada: (a) how many farm properties exist, broken down by federal electoral district; (b) how many different entities own agricultural land, broken down by federal electoral district; (c) how many different farm businesses are located in each federal electoral district; (d) what is the total number of acres…
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With regard to Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC): (a) is the independent impartial report completed by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton regarding the allegations of mismanagement of SDTC and provided to the minister available to the public; (b) if the report in (a) is published, where is it published on a government of Canada website; (c) if the report in (a) is not published, when and…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I want to clarify your point here. We are in a hybrid Parliament, so people are in this chamber regardless of whether they are here or voting virtually.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for his commitment to trying to help make a difference in the world. There are so many countries Canada could help. The government of the day, way back when, chose to get us involved in Afghanistan. The member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan talked about the challenges around fatigue, and that is the biggest challenge I always had in talking to Canadians…
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Mr. Speaker, first, as I said, we have to get those who helped us and those leaders, the former Afghan women MPs I talked about, to safety. They are the ones who will eventually go back to Afghanistan, not all of them but some of them, someday, or maybe even their kids, depending on how long this takes, to actually lead that change. That is number one: We have to get out the people who are those l…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. I have brought this up in the chamber before during debate on this specific issue. That is the risk we are putting out there. It does not matter if we end up in a country in Africa, or we end up in a country somewhere in the Middle East again in the future. Whether it is our military, our diplomats or Canadian NGOs that depend upon getting the necessary quali…
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to split my time with the member for Edmonton Manning. I actually want to start my speech by answering the questions that NDP and Bloc members asked of the previous Liberal speaker: Why is it so important to debate this motion today? I have an article here from today's international news, titled “Female-Led Afghan Refugee Families Reluctant To Return To Afghanistan Amid Fre…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's bringing up the changing dynamics. We saw that first-hand in Afghanistan with the west's pulling out. I would like to ask the member the same question I asked the parliamentary secretary, and it is really a favour: to use his voice with the Liberal government, as a member of that party, to get some clarity around the current programs that exist for helping th…
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Madam Speaker, I want to answer the member's question, and then I am going to ask him a favour. The reason we are debating this and why it is so important for this to be debated today, as I read in my previous intervention, is that women who are stuck in Pakistan and are being forced to return to Afghanistan will be eliminated. Those are their words, not mine. There are a number of Afghans who are…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for raising this very important debate, considering the travesty that is going on in Afghanistan, in particular against women and girls. Reports are coming out, as recently as today, talking about the 1.7 million foreigners in Pakistan they are looking to push back to where they came from. This in particular has a huge impact on women and girls who are f…
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Madam Speaker, when it comes to veterans affairs and recognizing the ultimate sacrifice that many of our veterans and Canadian Forces personnel have made, particularly in Afghanistan, when we left 158 Canadian Armed Forces members behind, it should be non-partisan. This process about recognizing the incredible contribution that these veterans have made to our country and to freedom in Afghanistan …
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Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is entitled to attack political parties, but when he attacks all members in the House, including those within my party who are actually Afghanistan veterans, I take that personally.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague for bringing the motion forward. I would argue that other than the affordability crisis that we are dealing with in this country right now, the government's priority always has to be the defence and security of its citizens. We obviously have a weakness when it comes to what we need to do to improve things in the Arctic. I am looking forward to reading t…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this week, I introduced my first bill, Bill C-358, here in the House of Commons. This bill would remove the GST from the Liberal carbon tax. Simply put, it would remove the tax from the tax. After eight years of the Liberal government, more and more Canadians are struggling to survive due to the rising costs of everyday goods. The Liberal carbon tax has yet to achieve a single emissio…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-358, an act to amend the Excise Tax Act (carbon pollution pricing). Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to introduce my first private member's bill today. This bill, an act to amend the Excise Tax Act, is quite simple in its objective. This is to remove the GST from the carbon tax. Removing a tax from a tax is just common sense. While many Canadians would prefer to ax…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, this past summer, there was some real talent on the baseball diamonds in Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound. Two softball teams from my home town in Tara, Ontario, were crowned Canadian champions. The under-17 Tara Twins took the Canadian Fast Pitch Championship tournament in Fredericton, New Brunswick by storm, winning the gold medal against the Plattsville Lightning. The under-15 Tara Longhorn…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise for the first time in this session of Parliament to speak to Bill C-56, an act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Competition Act. The lack of affordable housing has been top of mind in my riding of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound as home and rental prices have continued to increase over the last eight years. To give members some data, in 2015, when the current govern…
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Madam Speaker, I am not shocked that the member for Winnipeg North is disappointed; I am frequently disappointed in a lot of the stuff that comes from that side of the aisle as well. I am not shocked by his comments. My point back would be that I believe every MP in the House should have the right to speak to every piece of legislation, because a lot of MPs do not have the opportunity to speak as …
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Madam Speaker, I am not going to get into the specifics of our plan. Our job right now is to criticize. Maybe that is even too harsh of a word. I would like to say that we will hold the government to account to ensure the legislation it is putting forward is the best possible for all Canadians. If the member is concerned about provincial politics, I encourage her to resign as a federal member of P…
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Madam Speaker, I apologize to my colleague for not breaking out the French today, but I want to try to get a serious reply back to his question. We absolutely believe in the Constitution, but as I said in my speech, the challenge we have with housing is that it transcends all levels of government. It requires everybody to work collaboratively and co-operatively together. If he actually reads what …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the inconsistencies in the reporting of data by certain departments and agencies in the government's response to Order Paper question Q-1385 on security clearance denials: (a) has the government provided direction to all departments to (i) collect and record data on security clearances, (ii) standardize responses, and, if so, what are the details; and (b) why were certain department…
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With regard to the Special Immigration Measures for Afghan Nationals who assisted the Government of Canada: (a) broken down by unique email address, how many applications were received via email or webform for this program, to date; (b) how many application names did not appear on Department of National Defence (DND) or Global Affairs Canada (GAC) referral lists; (c) were the applicants in (b) not…
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With regard to the findings from the 2023 Auditor General Report 2 titled “Connectivity in Rural and Remote Areas” that “59.5% of households had access to Internet coverage at the target speeds” in rural and remote areas: (a) after the completion of the Universal Broadband Fund, what percentage of rural and remote communities will still need connectivity to meet the 50/10 goal; (b) by 2026, what i…
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With regard to the government halting activity with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB): (a) was an initial risk analysis of the organization completed prior to Canada partaking in the activities of the bank pertaining to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence, and, if so, what were the findings; (b) were concerns regarding CCP infiltration or control within the bank raised from Canad…
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Madam Speaker, I would encourage the House leader to go listen to my speech from Monday night on this, because I do not accept his argument that, just because certain members of opposition parties have used hybrid, it is somehow hypocritical of us. It is the rules. It is like the analogy I used on Monday night. It is like playing hockey 100 years ago, when they could not pass the puck forward. It …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for Foothills for bringing this bill forward again. He brought it forward in a previous Parliament, and I believe I had the chance to jointly second it then. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to speak to it, so I appreciate the opportunity to get a short intervention in to highlight the importance of this bill. Some of the previous speakers have alre…
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Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed to be speaking to the travesty of justice and human rights committed by our current Minister of Public Safety. I am disappointed, but to be honest, I am not surprised. This minister has a track record of mishandling files, which is ultimately a disservice to justice in this country and to victims. This is why we are debating the amendment put forward by the Conservat…
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask the member a similar question to one I asked earlier during this debate specifically around the amendment. It gets to the root cause of how victims are not being treated respectfully at times because of a lack of accountability within the minister's office, in this case the Minister of Public Safety. If the roles were reversed and she was a minister, would she accept…
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Madam Speaker, my question for the parliamentary secretary is around the amendment. It gets to the crux of the issue. I am going to give him a hypothetical. Maybe there is a chance in some future scenario that he is a minister. What would he do if he had staff who were hiding stuff from him, so that he was not aware of some serious allegations, especially when it comes to public safety and the imp…
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Mr. Speaker, one of themes in the report is the necessity to do a better job at consulting with victims before decisions are made, whether with respect to parole or within corrections services. Bringing it back to the amendment we are debating, I would like the member's take on the importance of ministerial accountability to consider the victims who need to be informed as a priority. When minister…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my good friend and colleague from Bay of Quinte to expand a bit on ChatGPT and the AI risks associated with it. We do recognize there is some great potential for AI. It can maybe help and streamline things, especially with data management and the sheer information overload that governments deal with. However, in particular I note the importance of guardrails and pr…
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Madam Speaker, a number of members and our House leader, as well as the member for Perth—Wellington, highlighted that this is really the purpose of our amendment to the motion. I think that is technically what we are supposed to be debating right now. It is about saying that we should keep this in place. There are parts that we do not like, but we can accept that. However, let us not make it perma…
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Madam Speaker, “Let me put it this way: If you don't want to work in Ottawa during the Parliamentary sessions—don’t run to be an MP. A hybrid Parliament made sense during Covid but it should never be permanent. I strongly oppose govt's move to make it permanent.” Those are not my words. Those are the words of the Hon. Wayne Easter, the former Liberal minister and MP for Malpeque for almost 28 year…
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Madam Speaker, I apologize for not trying to use a bit of my French tonight. It is getting late, and I do not want to butcher it too much. I have more of a comment than a question, because the member really emphasized the impact on the interpreters, and therefore, the impact on committees. I just want to share that it is bigger than even the committees. I have the privilege to sit on the National …
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Madam Speaker, we are elected to be here and to be the voice of the people in Ottawa, not the voice of Ottawa back in our constituencies. I feel that our job is to listen. That is why we have constituency weeks. I actually think we should sit longer. We sit less than most Parliaments in western democracies in the world do. We should not be breaking next week. We should be going into July; we shoul…
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Madam Speaker, I talked about that in my speech. I said that I am actually personally open to exceptions, such as babies being born, illness, death, etc. However, my point is the accountability aspect. That is what bothers me. It is about ministers of the Crown and parliamentary secretaries being here, being present and being able to be held to account, because they are the ones who have that priv…
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Mr. Speaker, I first want to thank my hon. colleague for recognizing the efforts made by the Bagotville military base to help during this crisis. I have a question for him. Can the federal government do something else to help his region?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my first question for the minister is one that I have been trying to get answered for a while now. It is about giving an update to Canadians on the Liberal government's commitment to plant two-billion-trees. How many have been planted to date? Second, could I get the minister's commitment to help make the program more efficient? It is very bureaucratic. I know conservation groups and …
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to recognize some well-deserving students from Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound who earned the right to participate in the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Edmonton just a few weeks ago. Nearly 400 student finalists from across the country took part in this national science fair, where they vied for over $2 million in scholarships and prizes. The six students from Bluewate…
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Mr. Speaker, as always, it is an honour to rise here to represent the great people of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound and speak to a very important bill. My first question is this: Why are we debating this today? I remind all MPs that funding agreements are already in place and have been signed by all provinces and territories. The money is already flowing, and I would argue, there is a multitude of other h…
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