Routine Proceedings
With regard to vacancy rates in government owned office buildings in the National Capital Region with over 100,000 square feet of office space, broken down by building: what is the (i) name, (ii) location, (iii) total square footage, (iv) total square footage of usable office space, (v) current number of employees, (vi) square footage of occupied office space, (vii) square footage of vacant or uno…
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Madam Speaker, as I look around the chamber today, there are a few people who I think would remember my predecessor in my role as the member of Parliament, when I first was elected, for Wild Rose. His name was Myron Thompson. Myron was pretty well known. He was the guy with the cowboy hat and he was pretty outspoken. One thing many people do not know about Myron Thompson is that back when he was a…
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Madam Speaker, he is certainly better known for the way his trademark mangling and misuse of words and phrases has resulted in strangely keen insights that are still widely quoted today by many. I have a few favourites. One of them is “I didn't really say everything that I said.” Another one is “We made too many wrong mistakes.” Another is “Swing at the strikes.” When I thought about Bill C-27 and…
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Madam Speaker, maybe I have set a trend here with the Yogi-isms. He said, “The future ain't what it used to be”. It seems, though, that with this government, the future is what the past was. That was the point of the remarks I made. It is, unfortunately, a pretty apt remark. What it really boils down to is that we have a government that I think Canadians do not feel they can trust to get the balan…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the invitation to be heard from a committee. I am not sure that I would consider myself an expert in any way. I know that there will be many whom people need to hear from. However, one of the groups of experts that we need to hear from is Canadians themselves. Canadians are concerned about their privacy. Beyond that, the member mentioned the fact that we need to look at…
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Madam Speaker, I think that the member raises some important points. These are questions that need to be resolved. There is no question about the fact that this is a bigger and bigger issue, as more and more data on Canadians is out there. I think that this has to be dealt with and there needs to be a balance found. However, I just do not think that Canadians trust the current Liberal government t…
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With regard to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC): (a) what are the details of all funding agreements VAC has, or has had, in place with the Canadian Virtual Hospice since January 1, 2020; (b) what are the details of any projects funded, in whole, or in part, with the Canadian Virtual Hospice, including, for each, the (i) project description, (ii) purpose of the project, (iii) amount of federal contrib…
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Madam Speaker, we have seen how slippery this slope has become with what I would call a botched expansion of MAID by the Liberal government. A few short years ago, MAID was seen as a procedure that would be used in exceptional circumstances and that would require very strict criteria to be placed around it. Now MAID is being administered under increasingly questionable and concerning circumstances…
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Madam Speaker, I am glad the member raised this because it is really important to understand we are talking about this kind of slippery slope we are leading down when we talk about expanding this into mental health. I mean, there are many veterans in this country who struggle because of the service they have given this country. They struggle with psychological injuries, mental injuries, and PTSD. …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During the debate on Bill C-39, I had finished giving a speech and was in the middle of the question and answer period. The normal practice is that someone asks a question, and usually, before moving on to the next item of business, there would be an opportunity for the person being asked a question to at least reply to the question. I was not afforded th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister, many Canadians are left shivering in the cold because they cannot afford to heat their homes, and the Prime Minister has shown zero compassion, refusing to take responsibility for the pain he is causing with his punishing carbon tax. However, Conservatives will fix what he has broken. We will axe the tax and keep the heat on. Does the P…
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Why is he supporting the government?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to falconry services obtained or used by the government since 2016, broken down by department or agency: (a) what are the details of all instances where the government has used falconry services, including, for each, (i) the date, (ii) the location, (iii) a summary of the situation, including reasons for using falconry, (iv) what was accomplished with falconry; (b) what are the details…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am well aware of the fact that the Liberal government likes to make announcements, put out press releases and try to pretend like it is doing something. That is what we have seen from the Liberal government. This is another great example. It makes announcements about all kinds of money it is going to put into Veterans Affairs, but it does not spend it. A report just came out this we…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I move that the first report of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, presented to the House on Tuesday, March 1, be concurred in. In May 2019, the veterans affairs committee published a report entitled “Moving Towards Ending Homelessness Among Veterans”. Then, after two elections and two Parliaments and more than two full years later, with no government response to that report,…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the member for his service to our country. That is something the Liberal government has failed to do in its actions. I am glad he highlighted there are so many groups. He mentioned one in his riding, but there are so many groups across the country that are picking up the slack. They are filling the needs the Liberal government is not ensuring are being fi…
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Mr. Speaker, in his remarks, the Liberal member made the comment that one homeless veteran is one too many. I certainly agree with him on that, but it is everything that came after that which I disagree with. He mentioned all kinds of dollar figures they are spending on studies and things like that. It is not a question of more money being spent on studies. This is a question of will. It is time f…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague on the delays in service for francophone veterans. There is no doubt. It has been very clear that francophones are, in fact, receiving even worse service than anglophones. I will condemn that, but even more importantly, I will condemn the fact that the government is leaving veterans out in the cold. It is leaving them to wait for two years, in many…
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Mr. Speaker, 66,349 is the number of Canadians who laid down their lives during the First World War. The number of Canadians who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Second World War is 44,090. The number of Canadians who gave their lives during the Korean War is 516. The number of Canadian Armed Forces members who lost their lives in Afghanistan is 158. Those are the numbers, the statistics, but th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, people in my part of Alberta were just hit with five inches of snow, and more is on the way. Winter is coming, and Canadians will need to heat their homes to keep out of the cold. Why is the Prime Minister taxing home heating fuel like it is some kind of luxury? Has he forgotten we live in Canada? When will he do the right thing and cancel his plan to triple the taxes on gas, grocerie…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member made a great point. There is no doubt that the spending the government has undertaken has led to more difficulties and more pain for Canadians with the inflation we have seen as a result of some of its actions. Canadians deserve a government that will consider what the effect would be on Canadians when it needs to spend money and try to find ways where it can find savings…
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Mr. Speaker, I used to serve as a volunteer firefighter in my community. However, one does not need to be a firefighter to know that one cannot put out a fire by pouring more gas on it. That is exactly what the Liberals have done. They have created the worst cost of living crisis by overspending the hard-earned tax dollars of Canadians, causing a rapid increase in inflation. With inflation at a st…
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Madam Speaker, the member wants to know what the difference is between the Liberals and the Conservatives. I can tell him that very clearly. The Conservatives want to ensure we take good care of the hard-earned tax dollars of Canadians. We want to make sure we are putting Canadians first and not making life more difficult for them through the kinds of things we have seen from the Liberal governmen…
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Madam Speaker, I would first point out that the member certainly misunderstood or misconstrued my comments. I understand that. He is simply trying to justify the fact that the NDP are trying to prop up a government that does not deserve to be propped up. He has to try to justify that somehow to his voters, so I get what he is trying to do, and it is his prerogative to do that. Having said that, is…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Winston Churchill once said that trying to tax your nation into prosperity is like trying to stand in a bucket and pull yourself up by the handle. If the Prime Minister is being honest, he would admit that the carbon tax is just that, a tax that does nothing for the environment but is designed to provide his government with buckets and buckets of cash from the wallets of Canadians. Wi…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I stand to recognize Mike and Lori Reist, the co-founders of Adopt-a-Grad Foundation of Canada. Initially known as “Project Jack & Jill”, the charity was formed by Lori and Mike after a single mother reached out to Mike in 2016 to see if he had a suit that her son could use for his high school graduation. When Mike reached out to the community through social media, the community ralli…
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Mr. Speaker, the apple does not fall far from the tree. The last time inflation was this high, the Prime Minister’s father was in office. A recent Ipsos poll reveals that 72% of Canadian families with kids are worried about putting food on the table, and Food Banks Canada is already reporting that 23% of Canadians are eating less than they should be due to rising food costs. There are many great f…
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Mr. Speaker, freedom of speech is a fundamental right in Canada. It is enshrined in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms in fact. Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states: Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (a) freedom of conscience and religion; (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communicatio…
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Mr. Speaker, I think that question gets at the heart of one of the challenges with the bill. I mentioned during my speech the fact that there essentially is a lot of room for interpretation, and a lot of grey area, in terms of how this would all be implemented. I think leaving Canadians in the dark in such a way, when we are talking about essentially censoring what kind of content they can see wit…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the member was referencing an example I used of a film about the hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs. I do not know what his objection is to a Canadian hockey team being in a film. Maybe if it was the Montreal Canadiens he would be more open to it. I do not know. He also mentions the idea of several other examples I used, and I used the example of Deadpool. It was filmed in Ca…
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Mr. Speaker, the member suggested I am seeing things that are not there. I think he is actually right. There are some things I am seeing that are not there. What I am seeing that is not there is the idea of freedom from the government, the idea of respecting people's rights, the idea that we can actually let Canadians choose for themselves what they want to see on the Internet, what they want to s…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a couple in my riding recently returned from a trip to Greece. When they tried to register for the ArriveCAN app, they were sent the wrong verification code eight times. When they tried to contact the CBSA to fix the issue, the CBSA told them it did not offer support in relation to re-entering Canada. I hear stories like this from my constituents all the time. The ArriveCAN app is inc…
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Mr. Speaker, I think this a good question and a good point that the member raises. I know that this is something I hear frequently from many people. I have experienced that myself. We just want to be able to have a couple of extra channels that maybe will allow us to see a few more hockey games or something, and we are forced to buy a whole package of things that we do not even really want to be a…
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Mr. Speaker, the member raises her concern about the different pay she claims for actors from Canada or from the States or whatever it might be. What we are talking about here is a very broad and very sweeping bill. If she really feels that there is a need to address that specific concern, I would suggest to her that this is certainly the wrong way to go about approaching it. We could say that may…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, for years, alongside constituents in my riding, I have been working to build the trail that runs all the way from Calgary to Banff and Lake Louise, and we have made great progress. Despite the Liberals cancelling construction of the section from Banff to Lake Louise, we have still managed to get some large sections built, including the Glenbow Ranch Trail between Calgary and Cochrane …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that sounded like another load of disinformation. Tourism operators, restaurants and other small businesses in Alberta are ready to be back at full capacity, but there is something holding them back: severe labour shortages. In many cases, these shortages are forcing them to cut back their business hours. They cannot even turn to the temporary foreign worker program, because the Liber…
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Mr. Speaker, their party is the problem. The problem is inflation and they are the ones causing it. At 6.7%, inflation will cost Canadians an extra $2,000 this year. At the grocery store, Canadians are feeling the sting of higher prices, totalling an extra $1,000 this year. At the gas pumps, Canadians are paying 40% more than they were last year. The natural gas that Canadians use to heat their ho…
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Mr. Speaker, after seven years of the Liberal government, the price of the average home has doubled from $400,000 to $800,000. More and more Canadians are unable to afford a home, and others cannot even afford rent. In Canmore and Banff, people are forced to live in vans or share apartments with a dozen other people because they cannot even afford rent, let alone buy a home. In Airdrie and Cochran…
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Madam Speaker, the member had a lot of comments on the failures of the government. There are certainly things I would agree with and some I would not. He did have a lot of complaints about the government. I will note, though, that the NDP is, on this and other things, supporting the government and keeping it in power. I know he would probably stand up and say the NDP is getting all these promises …
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Madam Speaker, regarding the government's budgetary policy, one of the big challenges this country faces right now is inflation, which is driving up the cost of everything. I would love to hear the member's thoughts on that and on the government's role in that, and what he thinks can be done to help ease the cost of living for Canadians.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, entitled “Review of Statutory Instruments”. If the House gives its consent, I intend to move concurrence in the first report later this day.
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Mr. Speaker, if the House gives its consent, I move that the first report of the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, entitled “Review of Statutory Instruments”, presented to the House earlier this day, be concurred in.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Corporate sponsorships and donations account that was established by the Department of National Defence (DND) and referenced on page 158 of the Public Accounts of Canada 2021, Volume I: (a) what is the value and number of donations that the fund received, broken down by fiscal year since 2016; (b) what are the details of each major donation (larger than $10,000), including for e…
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With regard to information the government has about the actions of foreign governments attempting to influence the 2021 Canadian election: (a) is the government aware of any attempts by foreign nations to influence the 2021 Canadian election through (i) hacking or other cyber espionage, (ii) influence operations, (iii) propaganda or false news reports, (iv) other intelligence activities, broken do…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister needs to realize is that one of the most effective tools against Russia right now would be to stop importing their unethical oil, which many of our allies are relying on. If only there were somewhere else in the world with abundant reserves of oil and natural gas that could replace it, somewhere that produces energy in an environmentally responsible way, in a w…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the most effective tools that the world has at its disposal right now is to stop the imports of Russian oil and gas. I certainly will say that I do acknowledge and congratulate the government for stopping that from coming into Canada, but we also could, with our Canadian energy, be the replacement for that Russian oil and natural gas with our good, clean, environmentally respon…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, a lot of things the hon. member listed are of concern. They are of great concern and they need to be dealt with. However, there is a very high bar for using the Emergencies Act and it certainly has not been met. We are not talking about threats to the sovereignty of the country and we are not talking about foreign invasions, things that would ordinarily be requirements for this. The…
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Madam Speaker, let us talk about hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the Prime Minister's statements in 2020 compared with his statements now. They are very similar types of situations. Blockades were happening that were going on for weeks. They were across the country and were blocking critical infrastructure. These are all the arguments we are hearing today for why this act is required. The Prime Minister, …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I thought that we lived in a democracy in Canada, but in a democracy, the government cannot suspend people's rights, freeze people's assets or seize their bank accounts just because they disagree with them. That is what we are seeing today. That is what we are seeing with the application of the Emergencies Act. That is why, when we vote on this on Monday night, I will be opposing th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, that is a very fair statement. We all want to see extremes avoided. Certainly, I want to make it very clear that nobody condones illegal activity when it is taking place. With regard to the folks who are engaged in it, action needs to be taken to ensure that it is not being allowed to happen. At the same time, the invocation of the Emergencies Act does not have a justification. Talk…
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