Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is always good to see my hon. colleague, who is my riding neighbour. She mentioned in her remarks that the Liberal government, as an affordability measure, removed the consumer carbon tax. However, in a previous speech in the House, she said, “The central plank of our climate plan, the federal carbon pricing system, is giving Canadian households more money back in climate action in…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I did not know there was a secretary of state for revisionism, but here we are. From the party of the charter that was just found a couple of weeks ago by the Federal Court of Appeal to have trampled on the civil liberties of Canadians, I find that a little rich. When the parliamentary secretary dismisses the concerns about Bill C-9's attack on religious freedoms, she is actually sayi…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour, as always, to rise on behalf of the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, all of whom have seen first-hand the rise in crime that has taken place over the last 10 years, aggravated largely by Liberal reforms to bail and Liberal reforms to criminal justice that have made it easier for repeat, often violent, offenders to be out on the streets. This is why I spent muc…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise on behalf of Canadians, including those in my own constituency, who are alarmed by what the Liberal government would do through Bill C-9. They are concerned that in spite of claims that Bill C-9 would protect communities from hate, in actuality it would expose faith communities to harm from the government for daring to express their faith and to quote religious text…
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Madam Speaker, I am proud to present a petition on behalf of Canadians concerned over Bill C-9. Canadians believe that the state has no business involving itself in matters related to sacred texts or religious teachings and that freedom of expression and freedom of religion are fundamental rights that must be safeguarded.
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Madam Speaker, it is a great privilege to rise on behalf of Canadians, many of them in my riding, raising very severe concerns with the way that the Liberal government is, through Bill C-9, attacking the religious freedoms of Canadians. The petitioners are concerned in particular about the amendment adopted by Liberal members of Parliament that would remove long-standing protections for religious …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Federal Court of Appeal has once again affirmed that the Liberal government broke the most supreme law in this country, which is the Constitution, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, when it wrongly used the Emergencies Act. It also ruled that the government violated the charter rights of Canadians by freezing the bank accounts of political protesters and limiting the legal right …
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Mr. Speaker, I understand that my hon. colleague had more to say. I hope that in what is remaining is a plan to reduce the prices. We will support the government in giving Canadians a bit of relief, but this relief does not deal with the underlying problem that is causing the crisis, which is that food costs have gone up and continue to rise. A family that is skipping meals because it cannot affor…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege, as always, to rise on behalf of the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, although I am not rising at this moment with any pleasure. We know that people across the country, and certainly people in my community, are struggling with the price of food right now. I spoke to a woman last week. She shared something that I know is not unique to her and that was no…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his desire to seek transparency in food prices in Canada, although I would offer up that Canadians are already aware of how bad food prices are. Canadians are aware of what the food price report in Canada is saying, which is that they are going to spend $1,000 more this year on food. The average family of four will spend $17,500. I wonder if my colleague would…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, tens of thousands of Canadians have been reaching out to members of Parliament over the winter break to tell the Liberals to set aside their divisive and toxic Bill C-9 and to stand up for the fundamental rights and freedoms of Canadians. I am pleased to report that today at the justice committee, we were finally able to get the Liberals to agree to set aside the divisive bill and foc…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege, as always, to rise on behalf of the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South and, I will also say, as a member of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and as a representative of an issue that has become a galvanizing one for many Canadians. It is an issue around which I saw tremendous attention, with issues pertaining to justice. …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for at least sort of listening to the speech, but what she missed was me talking about the fact that by embedding a safety valve, by giving judges a tool to disregard mandatory minimums, we are not actually bolstering or expanding those mandatory minimums. That is the crucial point that we have to acknowledge, that if mandatory minimum sentences are to be mandator…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege to rise on behalf of Canadians who are alarmed by what the government has claimed is a bill to protect communities of faith in this country but that would actually risk further harm to them. The petitioners who have signed this petition are very concerned about the fact that the government is trying to interject itself into the ability of people of faith to sha…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your great work and it is good to see you after a lengthy winter break. Conservatives always stand ready, in good faith, to deal with the criminal justice priorities of Canadians. We have been saying that since the justice committee was convened, I have been saying it since I was placed on the justice committee and we have been saying it as the justice committee has wo…
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Mr. Speaker, I have had the privilege of working with my colleague on the justice committee. While we obviously do not see eye to eye on some issues, I know that he does have a passion for public safety. I think that is underscoring the work we need to do on this and any other justice bill. There is a long-standing legal debate in Canada about who ultimately has the authority to make the laws. To …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Peace River—Westlock, my brother's former member of Parliament, for his intervention. The issues dealing with crime across the board, and not just the crime we are dealing with in the context of Bill C-16, have been rampant. This very quickly became one of the top issues I face from constituents. In fact, after affordability and the cost of living, crime is t…
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I appreciate the opportunity to clarify this, Mr. Speaker. Let me take a step back. Conservatives tried, in December, at the justice committee 19 times for the government to let us focus on Bill C-14, to allow us to focus on bail. The Liberals on the justice committee denied that while this very member was speaking in this House of Commons asking why the justice committee was not focusing on bail.…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I will not allow the secretary of state to point fingers, when the very communities she is claiming to be speaking for have been the ones to cry—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it is difficult, day in and day out, to see the Liberals claim to have the solutions for the problems they have created. For the last 48 hours, Liberals have rejected 17 attempts by Conservative members to advance critical bail reforms, because they will not get off their desire to attack the religious freedoms of Canadians. Canadians want real reforms to bail, not Liberal obstruction…
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Mr. Speaker, the secretary of state is pointing fingers because she does not want to look at the millions of fingers that have been pointing at the Liberal government for allowing these problems to fester. Even today, Liberal members of the justice committee said that the Minister of Justice would come before committee only if we agreed to wave through their divisive and toxic Bill C-9. Why are th…
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Mr. Speaker, as members are aware, we open our days in prayer each day, which is a testament to the spiritual roots of this country. I am wondering if you can rule on whether our parliamentary privilege will protect us from prosecution if Bill C-9 becomes law.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As members of the House are aware, we open with prayer each day, and I am hoping you can rule on whether members will be protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege should Bill C-9 pass.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Conservatives on the justice committee tried three times to let the committee prioritize the study of the much-needed bail reforms on which it would be possible for us to have a consensus. What was so pressing that the Liberals did not want to study their own bail bill? They launched a full-scale assault on religious freedom in this country that risks the prosecution of tho…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour to present a petition on behalf of Canadians alarmed that Liberal-Bloc amendments to Bill C-9 would be used to criminalize passages of the Bible, the Quran, the Torah and other sacred texts. A lot of this concern emanates from the fact that the man who is now the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture said that prosecutors should be able to “press charges” for …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the chair of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Yesterday the Liberals got up in question period and accused Conservatives of obstructing work on Liberal Bill C-9, which takes aim at religious freedom and freedom of expression. The Liberals said they wanted to conduct clause-by-clause review today, but this morning, the Liberal chair cancelled the m…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in relation to the motion adopted on Thursday, November 20, regarding Parliament's unwavering commitment to protect children from sexual exploitation. This was a very important motion, and we proceeded with a very rigorous debate in this committee. We unde…
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Madam Speaker, on a point of order, there have been discussions among the parties. I believe that, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to revert back to tabling committee reports.
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Madam Speaker, unlike my colleagues on the Liberal benches, I do not enjoy thinking about taxes all that often, because every time I do, the blood pressure goes up. I think we need to have a wholesale re-evaluation of government spending. Let us stop looking at Canadians as though they are an endless source of money, or as my Francophone colleagues say, une vache à lait.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for her question. Given that she voted for the budget and now says she regrets it, maybe more time to review the budget is necessary for all of us. I do not take a position on the specific timing of the budget, but I do not respect the Liberal government holding the country hostage by saying to the opposition parties that we must pass…
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Madam Speaker, I think it is very difficult when a government tries to shoehorn a large suite of changes into a single bill and then turns around to accuse Conservatives of not working on the government's timeline. We need to get it right more than we need to get it done quickly on some of these things. I will go back to comments I made earlier about the priorities the government has set out. The …
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Madam Speaker, I am glad our hon. colleague pointed out how much the Prime Minister enjoys travelling. The reality is that Conservatives do support a strong economy, which is why we were saying that we need to get rid of capital gains for profits that are reinvested in Canada. It is why we need to get rid of the consumer carbon tax and the industrial carbon tax. It is why we need to eliminate the …
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, which represents so much of what we have in this country. We have the larger city of London and rural communities such as Eagle and New Sarum. We have burgeoning communities like St. Thomas, which were once viewed as small farming towns but now are growing to tens of thousands of people, who ar…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, when GM shut down the CAMI plant and laid off 1,200 workers, the industry minister claimed she was on it. She said she was demanding a full update from GM within 15 days, and that she would offer transparency to Canadians. This was 39 days ago. There is no clarity, no plan and no relief for auto workers in Elgin, St. Thomas and London, whom the Liberal government told it would have th…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Markham—Unionville is the embodiment of what the Conservatives have been trying to say, which is that to be a Canadian citizen requires, or should require, a commitment to and an investment in Canada. Can the member, as someone who was not born in Canada, speak to the value of Canadian citizenship and what that should mean for people?
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Madam Speaker, on a point of order, the member for Winnipeg North is an experienced member. He knows better than to speak directly to my hon. colleague rather than through you. He was accusing you of doing something, which I am sure you will be the first to admit you were not actually doing.
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Madam Speaker, I love how much of a range there is of people, backgrounds and beliefs in this country. It is interesting that, when members of the Liberal government talk about the value of diversity, they never promote diversity of thought and diversity of opinion. That is a form of diversity they do not particularly go for. I hope the Liberal government will truly back off on its attempt to cens…
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Madam Speaker, I do not think we should allow external pressures to force something through that is imperfect. I want to thank my colleague for her question. I respect Quebeckers a lot for having these conversations about identity and nationality. Quebeckers understand their heritage and they have a clear definition of who they are. What bothers me about the Liberal government's approach is that t…
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Madam Speaker, this is a gross misrepresentation of what the Conservatives have been trying to do on this bill. There are already tools available to the government to deal with lost Canadians. The minister has tremendous latitude on this. What we are talking about is not a government that has not been in power for 10 years. We are talking about the value of Canadian citizenship and people who, des…
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Madam Speaker, it is a great privilege to rise on behalf of the citizens and residents of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. I say that because citizens and residents are two different things. All of them are important to me as a member of Parliament, but they are different. As a country, we have always made a distinction between those who are citizens and those who are not. The reason for this is tha…
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Mr. Speaker, we know that in Bill C-3, after the Liberals rejected the amendments that were passed at committee across party lines, the bar for citizenship has been lowered. I would like to ask the hon. member, very candidly, a very simple yes-or-no question. Does she believe citizenship of this country should be easier for people to access?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the question at hand is, what constitutes a substantial connection? Again, the Conservatives worked across party lines at committee to beef up this definition because we do not believe the one in Bill C-3 adequately ensures there is a substantial connection to Canada. I most certainly believe Canadian citizens should be invested in our country. That is absolutely not disputed, certa…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is a great privilege, as always, to rise on behalf of the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. I remember so fondly the first real job I ever had. I was 14 years old. I did not get a glamorous job. I was busing tables in a hotel restaurant in south London. I was occasionally doing room service if they needed someone to pitch in. When they opened a new café, I got to try my ba…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I do sincerely appreciate my colleague's understanding of the significance of the automotive sector in southern Ontario. Virtually every family has someone who has been touched by the sector. There is not a positive outlook right now and I do not think the people affected, from the conversations I have had, want to hear about supports. They want to hear about a plan for how they can g…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rose in this House a couple of weeks ago in the wake of the terrible news out of southwestern Ontario that 1,200 workers at the CAMI plant in Ingersoll were losing their jobs because of a failure by the government to fulfill a promise to stand up for and save Canada's auto sector. CAMI is not in my riding, but many of the workers of that plant do live in my riding, in St. Thomas, Lo…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, as a proud, law-abiding firearms owner, I have the great privilege to present this petition to the House. It comes from law-abiding firearms owners who are concerned about past legislation from the Liberal government and a stream of orders in council that serve no other purpose than to target the law-abiding community of gun owners in this country. The petitioners say that Bill C-21 n…
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Bowmanville—Oshawa North's speech was incredible. He and I had a similar experience, starting out working in restaurants. I would rather be scraping crusted lobster off plates than listening to some of the talking points from the member for Winnipeg North. The reason I bring this up is that my hon. colleague was one of the first people in the chamber to identify how har…
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Madam Speaker, with respect, the member is obfuscating. That is not the cause of the problems we are seeing in the TFW program. It is the fast food and hospitality sector and some unscrupulous immigration consultants, not all of them, who have abused the system to the point where our plan is very clear.
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Madam Speaker, I believe the temporary foreign worker program has been so destroyed by the Liberal government that the only way forward is to abolish it. I am very clear, especially as the member of Parliament for a lot of rural constituents and farmers, there needs to be a stand-alone stream for temporary labour for the agricultural sector. That is important and it is part of a long-standing init…
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Madam Speaker, I will say no to my hon. colleague; I noticed it before I got here. It is one of the reasons I wanted to come here, because we do see from the Liberal government a sense of breaking something, then showing up and all of a sudden it is the one we are supposed to trust with the solutions. Again, on the immigration file, I would be remiss to not point out the Liberal government promise…
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