Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is that whole “fail to plan, plan to fail” analogy. However, I would say, even going back to former president Kennedy, there was not the infrastructure to go to the moon at the time when he made the call to say that they were going to get there, but he made the call to say that they were going to get there. I think we need to have the leadership, from the entire House, say that w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, money does not grow on trees in Quebec, nor does it anywhere else in our country, or anywhere for that matter. We know it is a very expensive endeavour to do this, but it is an accurate response. Indeed, the government is spending a lot of money, but is it spending it in the right direction? That is a huge question mark. We would disagree on how the government is spending money. It …
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Madam Speaker, I have read that report. It is 28 recommendations, and it is a great report and a place to start and really build our defences. I will go back. The NDP premise today has been all about priorities for money and other things that are important. I do agree with the member that things are important, but if we cannot defend our own borders and our own country and our own people and, wher…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is important that I thank the member for Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, and it is also important to read out what the motion is about. It states: That, given that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance has made an immeasurable contribution to peace, security, and prosperity for all its members, the House call on the government to increase spending on national defe…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, over the last year Nunavut has experienced a record high number of water advisories. Iqaluit residents have not known if their water is safe to drink for over six months. The government has long promised to make infrastructure funding for the north a priority, but has failed. Why do moms in Iqaluit still have to bathe their babies in bottled water?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I apologize for interrupting my colleague in his speech. We actually have Liberals across the way laughing while this speech is going on, laughing at what the member is speaking about. Frankly, it is hardly funny and hardly funny for Canadians. I hope they would respect the House and actually listen to the member.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Putin's invasion of Ukraine has taught us all that we cannot take our Canadian Arctic sovereignty for granted. Russia recently filed a claim that adds 705,000 square kilometres to Russia's current Arctic claims. U of C Professor Robert Huebert said, “We haven’t seen a country before that’s extended over its neighbours. Here’s a situation where they’re claiming the entire Canadian and …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Putin's invasion of Ukraine should be a wake-up call to all of us that we cannot take our Arctic sovereignty for granted. NORAD commander General Glen VanHerck recently warned that delaying the updating of our outdated northern defences leaves us all at risk. Canada, like Ukraine, shares a border with Russia, a border that is poorly defined and today is in dispute. University of Calga…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I was reading the quote. I apologize once more. With astonishing speed, opponents of government action could quickly be labelled racist, misogynist, homophobic or any other of a litany of insults intended to personally scar opponents and discredit them as the worst society has to offer, without addressing the substance of their argument. We are debating the Emergencies Act today and…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I just wanted to say, first of all, I appreciate all Canadians' prayers right now. I have been getting messages that they are praying for us in this place to make good decisions. I covet them and we are thankful for them, especially at this very trying time for our country. Today, we are debating the Prime Minister's Emergencies Act. We have already heard about the thresholds and wh…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
I will try not to do it again, Madam Speaker. I will go back to the article entitled “Goldstein: [The Prime Minister] can't unite us because his strategy is to divide us”, which states, “This because [the Liberals] divided Canadians up into little slices of political support and opposition across the country, in order to extract the maximum number of seats from the minimum number of votes cast.” T…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I am shocked by what the member asked me. She is basically justifying the Prime Minister's comments. The reference was to people who had vaccine hesitancy, as we call it. She is saying that it is okay that the Prime Minister called them extremists who don’t believe in science, often misogynists, also often racists, with a small group that muscles in, and that he said, “We have to ma…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member's comments. There is an old phrase from the Bible that says a calm answer turns away wrath. I think in this place we do need to bring the calmness, so we do not encourage things to get worse. I absolutely take that. I feel it is all of our responsibility to be that way. That is where I think this act is fanning the flames. We need to do our very best to bring…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, that was a great question. This place is often a place of contention, but it needs to be a place of forgiveness too. We have given the Prime Minister that opportunity. I even called on him to just apologize. I think a lot of people feel like that. They would accept a simple apology, but we have not heard that yet. We are calling on him—
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today, I congratulate a very dedicated member of northern B.C., Judy Desjarlais. Last month, Judy was elected chief of the Blueberry River First Nation and just yesterday served her very first day as chief. Judy said she is dedicated to “bringing unity back” and “building a prosperous future for her nation”. For almost two decades, Judy and her husband Boomer have owned Top Notch Oilf…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I was the former chair of the access to information, privacy and ethics committee. One thing we learned there is that privacy is a big deal. Most of us in Canada believe that. However, apparently the member across the way does not think it is a big deal. He is saying it is no big deal and telling folks not to worry about it. With the new quantum computing capacity, de-identified infor…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I thank our opposition members who are very concerned about privacy. Again, as a former member of that committee, we did a lot of work around the world. Somebody mentioned Shoshana Zuboff and many of our other colleagues globally who care about this issue. This simple, nonchalant approach the government has with people's privacy and data is illustrated in the decisions it is making an…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, tonight we are debating Bill C-8 and another tax-and-spend bill by the current Liberal government, which does not seem to understand a lot of things. The Liberals do not seem to care about people's privacy. They do not seem to care that there is record inflation in our country. We hear the Deputy Prime Minister go on about it not being a big deal, and that it is not the government's f…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, my office has been flooded with meetings, calls and emails about Immigration Canada and the buildup of almost two million applications that have not been processed. This has led to processing times of more than two years, and the applicants are running out of time. These delays are costly and highly stressful not only for the people applying but for many workplaces too. We had a great…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I bring forward today a petition from people who are concerned about the Liberal Party of Canada, as promised in its 2021 platform, denying charitable status to organizations that have convictions about abortion and that the Liberal Party views as dishonest. Further, this may jeopardize the charitable status of hospitals, houses of worship, schools, homeless shelters and other charita…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the impact of border closure and border restrictions related to COVID-19 on the hunting and outfitter tourism industry: (a) what are the government's estimates on the loss of revenue for the hunting and outfitter tourism industry during the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) what specific measures will Destination Canada take to promote hunting and outfitter tourism to an international audience…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, like many of my colleagues, I am bringing forward a petition brought to the House by Canadians across Canada that deals with international trafficking in human organs. Specifically, as mentioned by my colleague for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, it would amend the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to prohibit Canadians from travelling abroad to acquire human organ…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition from many Canadians today on the issue of organ harvesting, especially as it relates to Canadians travelling abroad to participate in it. It is terrible, and we need to stop it.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I really did not want to get up to speak, but after those comments from the NDP I would point out that petitions are not just from us as parliamentarians. We are representing our constituents, who are bringing their petitions to us to present to the House. It is their way to connect themselves to the House. I would just reiterate that and commend our member who brought that voice fo…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in recent years, Russia has refurbished and built over 30 Arctic bases, 14 operational airfields, 16 deepwater ports and over 50 military icebreakers. Further, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, also recently warned Canada that all the resources beneath the melting ice in the Arctic sea belong to the Russian government. When is the Liberal government going to stand up to thi…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, we are not only being affected by our Russian and Chinese colleagues across the way, it is also affecting our relationship with our North American colleagues, namely the U.S. In another article, dated December 1, 2021, U.S. General Glen VanHerck stated: The commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command says China and Russia are developing new ways to attack the continent a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, one thing I will say about our previous Conservative government is that we showed up. Our previous Conservative prime minister went to the Arctic many times to assert our presence physically in the Arctic. What is the Minister of Foreign Affairs doing to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic diplomatically?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I will be splitting my time tonight with the member for Calgary Nose Hill. It is about priorities, and Arctic sovereignty is a priority for our party. We talked about a recent buildup of Russian presence in eastern Europe tonight, as was mentioned by my colleagues from Wellington—Halton Hills and Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, but we have also seen a rise in Russian ambitions in the Arcti…
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Madam Chair, what is the Minister of Foreign Affairs doing to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic physically?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, six years is a long time. If it is a priority, why has the government not got to it sooner? The minister is talking about getting to it. When is she going to actually do it?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, we have heard a lot of words from the minister. We have not heard once about whether she has actually shown up in the Arctic and asserted our sovereignty as a minister. When will she do that? I think all Canadians are expecting her to do it soon.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, what is the minister going to do to make Canada relevant again in the Arctic?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, in an interview, a senior Canadian Armed Forces officer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the changes were long overdue. The significance of this announcement is just another example of Canada's irrelevance internationally. Does the minister think we are irrelevant internationally?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the minister just referred to speaking with her Russian counterpart, but I have not heard about her Chinese counterpart. When will that be?
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Madam Chair, frankly, talk is cheap. My colleague from Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman stated in a recent article: “The Russian government is opening military bases in the Arctic and the Chinese Communist regime is expanding its Arctic naval fleet beyond the capabilities of Canada and the United States combined,”.... The article continues: [The member] slammed the federal government’s “naïve and dangero…
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Madam Chair, to which countries specifically has the minister reached out to assert our claims?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I respect the member from Quebec, who is my former colleague on the natural resources committee. All I would say is that the industry originally wanted an agreement back in 2006. They wanted it in 2015 as well. Much of our industry, as the member well knows, and mills from my area, Mackenzie, are moving south. Good Canadian companies are moving their mills south of the border because …
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Madam Chair, I will commend the minister and our member as well. Our member from Saskatchewan has been working on the U.S. file for many years. I will give credit where credit is due. At least it is happening now. We hope some good things can happen, but I will remind the member that we had great fanfare when we had a sitting president and a prime minister who shook hands. In the first hundred day…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier for sharing his time with me tonight. Actions speak louder than words, and that is a theme I am going to get to. The lack of a softwood lumber agreement has affected my riding greatly. We are in northern B.C., where lumber and forestry are what we do. I want to take us to the time of Obama and the Prime Minister, back in 20…
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Madam Chair, I would do one better than that, just like what similarly happened when we had the agreement before and $4 billion was returned to Canadians as a result of that deal. My hope would be that those tariffs that have been collected in the past get returned to Canadians in this deal, which will be inked hopefully very soon. Am I confident that is going to happen? Not very. I am hopeful, ye…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I want to recognize my great Conservative colleague from Quebec. The Liberal member across the way who has criticized the member does not seem to understand what he is asking, which is why the Speech from the Throne did not recognize our natural resource sector and the people who are employed in that natural resource sector. They are looking for a government to defend them and defen…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the government continues to assure Canadians that negotiating a new softwood lumber agreement with the U.S. is a priority, yet just a few months ago the U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai, was quoted in Reuters as saying, “In order to have an agreement and in order to have a negotiation, you need to have a partner. And thus far, the Canadians have not expressed interest in engag…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I want to give a shout-out to everybody tonight who really have made the debate about the people of Abbotsford, the Lower Mainland up to the Fraser Valley and in the interior. It is really about the people and getting the people the help they need. That is what we are talking about tonight. As my colleagues from Abbotsford and Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon have mentioned so many tim…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, community leaders throughout my riding are alarmed by the lack of genuine consultation around caribou and other closures. The recent release of the province’s draft winter motorized recreation management plan in South Peace is a direct result of the caribou partnership agreement signed by the current Liberal government in 2020. The B.C. Snowmobile Federation, the Concerned Citizens fo…
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