Parliamentary Speeches

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I am hoping the government House leader can update the House as to the business of the House for the rest of this week and into next week, and if she can let the opposition know the degree of certainty for the calendar. We have recently had a few changes after the Thursday statement, and we do have a constituency week coming up, along with some supply days that we are expecting. There…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, you ought to know that when rules are not followed or when there is a derogation from a rule, and when that is pointed out to the Speaker, the Speaker then enforces the rules. The Standing Orders are the property of the House. It is up to the House to decide when we are not going to follow a rule or when we are going to change a rule. This is a standing order that the House has adopte…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to remind the Chair of Standing Order 30(5) under “Time for Statements by Members, Oral Questions and orders of the day”. It states, “Not later than 2:15 p.m...as the case may be, Oral Questions shall be taken up.” It does not say, “may be taken up”; it says, “shall be taken up”. It is well past 2:15 p.m.

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I just want to add my voice in support of the comments made and the point raised by my colleague in the official opposition. I will endeavour to not repeat what she has so eloquently put before the House, but I want to stress a couple of points. The first is that there is definitely precedence on things, such as legislation being leaked, constituting a breach of privilege. That has be…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, thank you for recognizing that it has been a difficult few days. While your tenure will not be long, I hope it will be smooth. As such, I will make my intervention today as simple as possible for the chair occupant. I am sure you will do a great job over the next few days. I am not sure a five-day tenure will qualify you for a portrait in the hallway, but I will leave that to you to n…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I did try to vote by the app. It did not work, so I came in. I endeavoured to try to save the House time by not getting up after to register my vote so I just did it while the roll call was being done. Thanks to the parliamentary secretary, I see that my effort was wasted, but I did have technical difficulties so I came into the chamber to register my vote.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, given all that has transpired, I will seek unanimous consent of the House to have my vote recorded as a “nay”, out of respect to you.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I encountered technical difficulties in trying to use the app and I would like my vote recorded as a nay.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I was Speaker when the government changed the law to ensure that the House of Commons security reported to the government. That was done for very specific reasons, one of which was the fact that the House of Commons itself does not have the resources to do comprehensive vetting and background checks. That is why the change was made. Nobody believes that it is up to your office to do c…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it is the government that is politicizing this issue by refusing to accept its responsibility. There is only one group of individuals with control over who has access to a foreign head of state. This is a head of state who is fighting for his country's life against an illegal invasion by Russia. The Prime Minister has a duty of care for that entire visit. Now the government House lead…

Mr. Speaker, we are getting completely mixed messages today. Today is Yom Kippur, which our Jewish fellow citizens will be celebrating. It comes hot on the heels of this atrocious international incident that the government allowed to happen, and we need clarity. Just a few moments ago, the government House leader said the government had no idea that this individual had been invited. Now, the gover…

Mr. Speaker, I just want to underscore the point my colleague just raised. Is it the government's position that when we have a foreign head of state visiting, the government does zero security vetting for who will be in the same room as that head of state? Is that the message we are sending to our allies, so that when they come here, they will not know who is going to be in the gallery? What kind …

Mr. Speaker, this is a very grave incident, on the day when the Government of Canada was welcoming the head of state of Ukraine, a country that is undergoing an unjust and illegal invasion, that there was a guest in the gallery whose presence fed into the Russian propaganda and narrative about the bogus justification for Putin's illegal invasion. State visits are organized by the government. Every…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, this is a very important issue, one that the House did not ask to debate. The reason these points of order are going back and forth is due to decisions made last week. I think it is incredibly important that all of us understand the context in which this occurs. I genuinely hope my colleagues will grant unanimous consent for my request to table the reporting structure of the Parliamen…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, it is crystal clear that he is not worth the cost. His deficits are driving up inflation. Even his finance minister knows this. Just one year ago, she said that her goal was to “not pour fuel on the fire of inflation”. Then what did she do? She grabbed the jerry can and poured $60 billion of new spending on that dumpster fire. The result was hi…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, since this is the first Thursday sitting of the House of Commons with a new government House leader, I would like congratulate my counterpart on the appointment. I wish her all the best in this role on a personal level, but maybe not on a political level. I want to thank her for some of the fruitful conversations we have already had. I thought I would ease into the flow of the Thursda…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that their inflationary spending is evaporating any benefit that Canadians might hope for. The Prime Minister admitted in this House that any benefit their programs might have provided Canadians was completely wiped out by higher inflation and higher interest rates. The former Liberal finance minister knows this. John Manley said, “This is a bit like driving your car wi…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, that is just complete nonsense. I did nothing of the sort. I said that the Prime Minister had information. He had evidence that led him to make a very public statement and a very public determination yesterday. That is all we are saying. We are not in any way saying that something might rise to the level of an actual court proceeding. We are saying that the information that was provid…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands knows full well that this offer was made in relation to a different kind of foreign interference, the foreign interference by the Communist regime in Beijing, and that it was part of a multi-faceted attempt by the government to avoid transparency on that issue. Our position is that the Prime Minister made a very public statement yesterday. He r…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, I think it is premature to talk about what might happen should information come to light. I think we should focus on the need for that information to come to light, and that is why it is our position that the Prime Minister should disclose the information he has that led to his statement yesterday. I think only then can we start to talk about what might come after that.

Government Orders

Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his questions. However, these great questions should be directed at the government. I am an official opposition member and I do not have the information that the Prime Minister has. I do not have access to the information from our intelligence agencies. I think that my colleague raised questions that many Canadians are asking. Only the Prime Minister or a memb…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, of course, Conservatives have been calling for stronger measures to protect Canada against foreign interference. My hon. colleague is correct, people come to Canada from all around the world because of what Canada offers. We are a diverse country, because people come to Canada for our freedoms; for the ability to live their lives the way they choose; to raise their children the way th…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, yesterday we learned from the Prime Minister that the Government of Canada had intelligence that linked the Indian government to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Surrey gurdwara in June. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to offer and convey my sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Nijjar for their loss. I know that it must be incredibly difficult, esp…

Government Orders

Madam Chair, I guess we could start with the government releasing some information. In all different areas the government has an aversion to transparency and accountability. It would be a great conversation to start. It can start by sharing what it believes it can at this moment. I think Canadians would welcome that.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I am hoping that there will be agreement on this one, because I would like to table a quote from the speech from the Minister of Finance from the fall economic update. She said that the government should not—

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, nobody likes an “I told you so”, except for everyone who told them so. It was not only Conservatives, but also our major security partners, such as Japan and the United States, and foreign affairs experts, who said the same thing, that the Communist regime would use the bank to bully developing countries and expand its power and influence. This bank built railways and ports with taxpa…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal-appointed board member on the Asian infrastructure bank just resigned, calling it a cesspool and saying that it was controlled by “the Communist Party crowd who operate like a secret police.” Who could have seen this coming? Who could have predicted that a bank structured to give Beijing effective control would use the bank to expand the power and influence of the Communis…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, given the late hour and the special order we are operating under, we understand that you have to put the question, but I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to not see the clock at 11:45 p.m. and allow the hon. Leader of the Opposition to continue, because I think some Liberals remain unconvinced and he has some more—

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, no.

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, this is on a different point, but it does relate to a decision by the Chair. I want to seek clarification on the use of the word “phony” in the House of Commons. You will recall that, last week, I referred to the special rapporteur, David Johnston, as the “phony rapporteur”, because the Conservatives simply believe it is a fake job. The job is fake. The idea that he is independent i…

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, as I was saying, it is our contention and belief, as more and more Canadians are realizing, that the position of the rapporteur is fake and the idea that there is independence around it is also fake. The government may believe something different, but it is certainly our right as opposition members of Parliament to make that assertion. On Thursday, my question was interrupted by the…

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, I take the point. I anticipated that you were going to mention that ruling, so I have something that I would like you to consider. We do have question period later on today—

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, “Water, water everywhere, so let's all have a drink.” At least Homer Simpson thought so as he scooped up a mouthful of sea-water to quench his thirst. Of course, while it may have the illusion of relief, drinking ocean water will not cure thirst; it will only make it worse. That is a lot like the Liberal budget. It is full of salt water. Canadians are parched with inflation caused by …

Private Members' Business

I will do my best, Madam Speaker. You are absolutely right that there is context and that it is the Speaker's job to judge many factors when considering whether or not a term or a word is unparliamentary. However, I put it to you that it is a tactic of the government to take offence at words or phrases that have been used before, and they caused the disorder—

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Canada is cursed by a Prime Minister who tarnished that man's reputation by involving him in this scandal. The Prime Minister cannot be the one to decide how to investigate this scandal, because he benefited from it. David Johnston cannot decide either, because he is a family friend and a long-time member of the Trudeau Foundation. Frank Iacobucci cannot be the one to sign off on Davi…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, in response to yesterday's vote, in which members of Parliament, representing a clear majority of Canadian voters, demanded that he step down, phony rapporteur David Johnston said he is not going anywhere. In fact, he said—

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, in response to yesterday's vote, where MPs, representing a clear majority of Canadians, voted for him to step aside, rapporteur David Johnston said he is not going anywhere. In fact, he said he does not work for Parliament or Canadians; he said he works for the government. That is the problem. He works for the same Liberal government that benefited from Beijing's election interference…

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, I am rising to contribute to the question of privilege that was raised by my colleague, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, last week. To put it bluntly, I was flabbergasted. I am responding in particular to the government House leader's intervention on this point. I was completely flabbergasted when I heard the arguments he advanced, Madam Speaker, appealing to you to reject st…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, this sounds awfully like a political speech. The government had multiple opportunities to respond to questions in the House of Commons and has not. I would just point out there is a rubric coming up in Routine Proceedings called statements by ministers. If they have something to say, that would be the time to say it.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, a massive hole has been blown through the Prime Minister's story about the foreign interference campaign and harassment of the family of a member of Parliament. We now have confirmation that CSIS informed the national security adviser to the Prime Minister that families of members of Parliament were being targeted by an operative from the Communist regime in Beijing to intimidate that…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I note that the member may seek the floor, when it is his turn. We want to hear from our colleague from Alberta here who has the floor now, reading his speech. However, we all know what he said. We all know that both the member for Kingston and the Islands and the deputy House leader for the government were sent in here this morning to try to turn the victim into the vil…

Government Orders

Apologize, you joke.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the Minister of Public Safety is saying that the Chinese consular office had to be told what is allowed and what is not allowed in Canada when it comes to foreign interference. Is that the excuse for letting this operative stay? This operative from the communist regime has been conducting an interference campaign and a harassment campaign, targeting the family of a memb…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the government is now trying to hide behind the Vienna Convention to explain its inaction with regard to an agent from Beijing harassing a member of Parliament's family. Let me read it. Article 9 states, “The receiving State may at any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending State that...any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non-grata…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, for almost two years, the current government has known that an agent from the Communist regime in Beijing has been operating in Toronto. That agent orchestrated a harassment campaign against a member of Parliament because of a vote taken in this House. The government does not need to explain itself. If this does not rise to the level of expelling a diplomat, what on earth would? Why i…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I am rising to request an emergency debate on the issue of foreign interference by the Communist regime in Beijing. The Globe and Mail published a report yesterday morning indicating that families of members of Parliament have been subjected to an intimidation campaign orchestrated by PRC officials working out of Beijing's consulate in Toronto. In at least one case, this intimidation …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, it is just that this issue is so pressing. We have members of Parliament who are being asked to debate and vote—

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it being Thursday, I would ask the government if it could update the House as to the business for the rest of the week and the next week ahead.

Routine Proceedings

With regard to foreign diplomats interfering in Canadian elections, since January 1, 2016: how many foreign diplomats have been expelled or had their credentials revoked as a result of interference or suspected interference in Canadian elections, broken down by year and by the country represented by the diplomat?

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it is now time for the Thursday question. Before I go to it, I want to wish everyone a blessed Good Friday and a happy Easter. Christians in the western world will be observing both. Easter is coming up and I know it is a time when family members will get together, visit and take a bit of a break. A lot of Canadians are going through a lot of hardships and I want them to know we are t…