Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, no community in this country will be protected from hate with legislation that threatens to imprison them for deeply and sincerely held religious beliefs, but that is precisely what Bill C-9 would do. This is a bill the Liberals are forcing to a vote today despite the cries of millions of Canadians from multiple faiths and civil society groups that this bill would violate their civil …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to have been ready and willing to rise on this adjournment proceeding on behalf of the good people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. The question on which I am following up is one that has become even more timely since I asked the original question of the government in question period, although if we look at the response, we realize that question period is not an appropri…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, when I came to this House, I made a commitment to work to make Canada a freer place. I wish it were not the case, but today I have to make good on that pledge. I will be voting against Bill C-9. This is not a surprise to people who have been following the discussions we have been having over the last few months. Instead of focusing on the fact that we are not complying with what the L…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have answered this question from the Bloc members so many times. I wish they would listen to my response. The case of Adil Charkaoui was a failing in political leadership and prosecutorial discretion. The religious defence was never cited by prosecutors as being a rationale for not charging Charkaoui, and more importantly, the religious defence does not apply to any Criminal Code of…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with those fundamental freedoms. I just do not believe the government is being authentic in its desire to protect them. The parliamentary secretary wanted to weave a narrative in talking about the use of the Emergencies Act involving COVID measures and the nature of the convoy, but I would note that even if all of that were accepted in the same way by everyone, …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to share my time with my hon. colleague from Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have an illustration of what I mentioned in my speech. This is the Liberals doing the “It does not do anything, therefore there is no point in opposing it” argument, to which I would ask, “Then what is the harm in leaving it in?” I absolutely believe in the rights enumerated in our charter. I only wish the Liberal government had the same view. If it did, it would not be a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am glad the Liberals are getting their money's worth with their media bailout, but that does not eliminate the many concerns that Canadians have raised across this country. The Liberals say, when these civil liberties concerns are put at their feet, to just trust them that they will not violate charter rights, because the charter protects those rights. However, last week, that very …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The parliamentary secretary may not recall them, but I actually have the minister's comments. Can I get unanimous consent to table them?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the short answer to that is no. I would actually point out that the member for Mount Royal was urged by former Liberal member of Parliament Irwin Cotler to consider leaving the Liberal Party because of anti-Semitism in the Liberal Party. If he wants to talk about inaction, he needs to look around at his colleagues. The Liberal government has no moral high ground to be the arbiters of …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I think there should be unanimous consent, but in the absence of that, we would request a recorded division.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there is a pastor in my riding named Al Stone, who is actually in Ottawa this week for the National Prayer Breakfast. Pastor Stone wrote a very heartfelt letter about Bill C-9. He said that in his decades in the church, he has never heard a preacher read from the books, even the ones that the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture said were hateful, and do so from a place of hate. …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois and the Liberals continue to misrepresent what happened in the Adil Charkaoui case. This man should be charged, because inciting violence is already illegal. Threatening violence is already illegal. I cannot say this clearly enough: Neither of those offences is subject to the religious defence. That is a bald-faced misrepresentation of the law. By the way, the prose…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this has been a challenging issue, to say the least. We heard from the Liberal government as to what it claims Bill C-9 is and what it would do. Then we read the bill and looked at what the Liberals are doing and how they feel about people of faith in this country. I think about the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and comments he has shared in the House, in which he said ver…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from just down Highway 401, not just for his question but also for his service, and I thank other law enforcement members in this country who have been very clear that the support they seek from members of Parliament is not the right to go in and arrest people for preaching religious texts. They want us to get serious about fixing Liberal bail. What is interesting…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee for his fantastic speech and for hosting an amazing town hall in Vernon, which I had the great privilege of presiding over with him. Over 600 people from B.C.'s beautiful Okanagan came out, because they reject what the Liberals are trying to do with Bill C-9. The member had, rather infamously now, spoken about how a few Liberals ha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I had the chance to be in the member's beautiful province speaking about Bill C-9 with people from across Manitoba. One thing that was so clear there is that these are people who are very motivated by their faith, their religious traditions and their religious beliefs. They understand their faith to be, in totality, about a message of love. Their concern is not that they want a licens…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, as it has been said in the House by a number of us, the volume of emails and phone calls we have been receiving from people urging us to oppose Bill C-9 is astronomical. I have one in front of me from a man named Brandon. He said removing the religious defence creates serious concerns for Canadians of any and all faiths and religions who believe the freedom to teach and practise their…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture: “Clearly, there are situations in [religious] texts where statements are hateful.” Prosecutors should be able to “press charges”. I fail to see where the misinformation is, when a Liberal cabinet minister is on record wanting people criminally charged for quoting scriptures he disapproves of.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am sorry, but that was incredibly unparliamentary and disrespectful language that a great many Canadians would be incredibly offended was uttered in the House. I would ask the member to apologize and withdraw that comment.
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rise to follow up on a question I asked in the House a few short weeks ago about an issue that has become a massive one, not just across the country, but in particular in the communities I represent across Elgin County, St. Thomas and London South, and that is the issue of food affordability. This is a global issue, when we talk about inflation, but it is one that has a disproportio…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague spoke about the investments, as he calls them, that the Liberal government has put into health care. There is a Somali woman who was in a polygamous marriage and lied to get into Canada. She won another chance to stay. There is Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, a father who, along with his son, was granted refugee status. They will stand trial on terrorism charges for an a…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, there was an old improv game on Whose Line Is It Anyway? where a question was answered with a question. I was hoping my question would be met with an answer. I am sitting here in opposition. The member opposite is part of the government. They are the ones who have to meet this problem with a solution. As Conservatives, we will continue to put forward more solutions in hopes they will …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a British Columbia school board trustee was fined $750,000 for the egregious crime of saying there are two genders. These are the same kangaroo courts that the Liberals' online harms act would empower. It is the same regulation of emotion that Liberal Bill C-9 would supercharge. The Liberals claim they will uphold freedom of expression, but they still have not said whether they will a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the only things the Liberals are building are false hope and bureaucracy. Liberal house flippers and penthouse dwellers profit while young Canadians pay the price. On this side of the House, we listen to the experts. The London Home Builders' Association told me this week that builders have to spend tens of thousands of dollars per home just on red tape and regulations. Every dollar s…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am used to a lot in the member's diatribes, but I know that he accuses anyone who does not support government mandates on vehicle purchases of being far right. How far left does one have to be to think that government involvement and intervention is the only way industry can operate in Canada?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the dream of home ownership is now a fantasy for more and more young Canadians, of whom 93% are saying that they are concerned about the state of housing. Nearly half of them believe they will have to leave their own communities because they cannot afford to live there. The government's own housing agency says homebuilding will drop over the next three years and prices will go up even…
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…
Read full speech →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, 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 →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…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
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.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
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 …
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 →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 →Adjournment Proceedings
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 →Government Orders
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…
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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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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.…
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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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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. …
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…
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…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
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, 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—
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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, 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.
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