Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, let me just say that, in the 1970s and 1980s, when we had the most purpose-built rentals constructed in our country, it was under a taxation plan that deferred capital gains. That is the only time we have seen the amount of rental construction that we actually need. That was a policy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, I believe. Unfortunately, he quashed that policy. I think we need to look…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am always pleased to rise in the House of Commons and share, hopefully, some insightful words. Before I begin, yesterday you informed me, Madam Speaker, that you were born in Portugal. Yesterday was national day in Portugal. I know there are some celebrations going on in Ottawa, so to all Canadians of Portuguese descent, happy national day, even if I am a day late, and have a grea…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the member for Fleetwood—Port Kells raises an important point. Development cost charges by our municipalities increase the cost of new builds at an alarming rate. Second, to that point, I do not believe municipalities, irrespective of jurisdiction, have always been transparent about how those development cost charges are used. I know that in some cases they might charge a DCC on a r…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, with respect to the labour shortage and housing for workers, including housing for people who build homes, the Canadian Home Builders' Association came forward with a very interesting proposal, and it is one I support: removing the GST on new home builds in Canada. Imagine the government did not collect $50,000 to $60,000 on new home construction through taxation. Imagine if we said…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I actually do believe that the private sector has a much bigger role to play in solving the housing crisis we find ourselves in today. I do believe that the private sector could do much more. What we have seen in the last eight years is a government trying to replace the private sector, and all we have seen are disastrous results, higher housing costs, more homelessness and more deb…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, under the government, Canadian families are in more debt than any other country in the G7. Last week, with the passage of budget 2023, the costly coalition poured another 60 billion dollars' worth of fuel onto the inflationary fire, sparking another interest rate hike from the Bank of Canada. Families with variable-rate mortgages, those who the Prime Minister encouraged to borrow, pro…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the legislative review of the Cannabis Act launched by Health Canada in September 2022 and the related online questionnaire: (a) how was the online questionnaire advertised to the public; (b) over what time period did each of the advertising methods in (a) take place; (c) how many individuals provided feedback through the questionnaire; and (d) what is the breakdown of the responses…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, on the third to last vote, I believe, I stepped out for a moment, and the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville referred to me as a rat. I think the member is an hon. member, and I would ask him to kindly retract his comment.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, as the member from Winnipeg knows, the agreement signed with British Columbia was different from the agreement signed with Manitoba, where she is from. We have to look at every agreement with the provinces individually. The Province of British Columbia, which has an NDP government, rightly gave some of the day care workers a raise when this program went through to retain some of tho…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, why I love hearing from my colleague on the opposite side is that we have a Parliament to parler, or to talk and to discuss ideas. If there is agreement between political parties or an idea raised, that is what this chamber is all about. We come here to do exactly that. I do support private corporations that see a need and a way to retain workers by working with their business to pr…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, with respect to means testing, at the end of the day, I chose to put my children in child care and chose to take on the economic and fiscal responsibility of paying for that. However, I believe that early learning and education for children has to be treated a little differently from school-age programs. I am not challenging that the government does or does not have a certain role i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise for my second speech tonight. It is democracy in action. When I think about child care, I think of many stressful evenings with my wife trying to figure out where our kids are going to go and how we are going to pay for it. Child care has personally cost me a lot of money In fact, when my son was born January 4, my eldest son Declyn, I remember joking with m…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes. We would support treatment on demand and that is one area where we see some collaboration between two parties in the House of Commons.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will not be making any excuses for the Conservative Party. We are here to stand up to the government in order to help Canadians maintain their ability to enjoy a high standard of living. We must oppose this budget because it is not good for Canada.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is another great night for democracy. It is always an honour to rise on behalf of Canada's number one riding, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, and share a few words in the people's House of Commons. In this year's budget, Conservatives asked for a couple of things, or three things to be exact: to bring home powerful paycheques, to bring home lower prices on homes and to build more ho…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, let me address the first and third questions to begin with. The reason we have so much foreign direct investment is because of LNG Canada. In fact, much of the manufacturing and investments we are seeing in western Canada are related to pipelines and natural gas development. The natural gas development, which was the largest private sector investment in the history of Canada put forwa…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, as I previously mentioned, my second vote on Bill C-281 did not go through accordingly on the app. I did not inform you at the appropriate time, but I am seeking permission to apply my vote as a yea.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, it has come to my attention that my second vote on Bill C-281 did not go through correctly. Therefore, I seek the permission of the House to apply my vote as a yea for the previous vote.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, in her speech, the member opposite just said that we need to help keep people alive until they are ready to receive treatment. I represent the Fraser health region. We had the highest number of deaths caused by opioids last year, and we are on track to pass that number again. Under this policy, it is like death has become normalized. I agree with part of the member's speech in that we…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, since the decriminalization of hard drugs by the Liberals and NDP, we have seen a record number of opioid deaths in the province of British Columbia. Not only that, the government has failed to uphold its part in the agreement as it relates to the protection of children. Why has the government not done more to protect kids from exposure to crack pipes and needles at schools and parks …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, during today's debate, the Liberals have been conflating safe supply and safe consumption sites. They are two separate policies. The reality is that the member for Brampton Centre said safe consumption sites saved 45,000 lives. However, anyone who has spent some time on the Downtown Eastside or in the Fraser Health region in my community, which has even higher overdose death rates tha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I represent Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, which is in the Fraser Health region. In British Columbia, the most deaths from opioids took place in the Fraser Health region. In 2022, 680 people died in the Fraser Health region. Since the implementation of the decriminalization policy of the Liberal government, those deaths have only increased. I have a very specific question today for th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, your home, my home, our home, let us bring it home and reform medical cannabis licences. Licences for the production of medical cannabis are often abused, with production in excess of personal amounts diverted for commercial sale on the black market. The amount of cannabis individuals are authorized to possess for medical purposes is impossible for an individual to personally consume.…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to present two petitions today. The first is on behalf of Canadian chicken farmers who have been affected by the Ukraine goods remission order that was implemented last June. When these farmers visited Parliament Hill last week, their request was that this order not be extended past its June 9, 2023, expiration date. While eliminating all tariffs on supply-managed…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the second petition I would like to present is on behalf of home builders across Canada. When the GST was first introduced in 1991, the GST new housing rebate was introduced alongside it. This rebate ensured that new home building would not be discouraged by the GST, and the Government of Canada committed to adjusting the qualification thresholds every two years to reflect changes in …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to government funding for new recreation centres and swimming pool facilities, since 2016: what are the details of all projects funded, including, for each, the (i) location, (ii) name of the facility, (iii) description of the facility, (iv) date the construction began, (v) date of completion, (vi) total cost of the project, (vii) amount of federal contribution, (viii) program under wh…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Canada Digital Adoption Program: (a) how many and which vendors applied to administer the (i) "Grow Your Business", (ii) "Boost Your Business Technology", stream; (b) what metrics and criteria were used by the department when determining which applicants in (a) would become administrators, broken down by stream; (c) what is the dollar value of the contracts provided to Magnet to…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is a great pleasure to rise on behalf of my constituents in Canada's number one riding, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. In preparation for my remarks this evening, I began to think about all the challenges my riding faced in 2021. Just shy of two years ago, the village of Lytton burned to the ground. Forest fires consumed the province of B.C. Lives were lost, animals were lost and…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, that was the whole point of my speech. It was about taking action on preventing and responding to emergencies, supporting environmental protection related to aboriginal lands and strengthening the enforcement of CEPA. They were all points I raised in my speech. It all goes to the point that British Columbia is never going to get its fair share in this country until we have equal ele…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, for the most part, what I am opposed to is an out-of-touch government that has spoken a lot about protecting the environment, but when it actually had the chance to act and make substantial improvements for the people of Lytton, it did not take those necessary steps. This is even though the government has politicized the people of Lytton from time to time. People in Lytton do not ha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the people of Lytton and the Fraser Canyon want the federal and provincial governments to take action to improve infrastructure so that they can live in their town. Investments are needed so that these people can continue living in their town. Nearly two years after the disaster, we are not there yet.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, petitioners in my riding are calling on the Government of Canada to provide additional funds to support the construction of the Lets'emot regional aquatic centre in Agassiz, which has seen its projected costs skyrocket because of inflation. The name “Lets'emot” means “one heart, one mind” in the Halq’eméylem language. Last spring, the provincial and federal governments both announced …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, pardon me. I apologize. After eight years of the Liberal government, Canada's immigration system is broken. With a backlog of over two million and an average processing time of over 20 months, targets simply will not be met. For skilled workers under the federal stream, in 2019, processing an application took 9 months. Today, it has tripled to 27 months. Why is the Government of Can…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, after eight years of Justin Trudeau, Canada's immigration system—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, let me begin by stating that, as a resident of British Columbia, a province that is under-represented in this federation, it pains me to see the government has removed Terry Fox's image from Canadian passports. To the motion and the debate today, I would like to point out that in 2019, it took nine months to get a federally skilled worker in Canada. In 2023, that increased threefold t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, he is almost as loud as I am when I get agitated about something, so it is very loud—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, since elected, I have really gotten to appreciate the hon. member's advocacy for the agricultural sector and his amazing hockey skills. To the question specifically, it is one I have actually been pondering for a number of nights. A report lands on the desk of a CSIS agent, stating very clearly that a member of Parliament has been targeted by a foreign government. What is that CSIS ag…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, respecting the design of a registry in Canada, I am glad the committee the member serves on is looking closely at what is taking place in the United States. I would defer any design of such a registry to officials at CSIS and the RCMP. I am not an expert on the design of a foreign agent registry. We do know, in Canada, that the best medicine is often sunshine and transparency. When we…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right to point out that it is not simply China that is trying to interfere in the affairs of Canada. The report specifically mentions Russia as well. Indeed, Canada needs a foreign registry similar to what Australia and the United States of America have. Canada needs to establish a national public inquiry on the matter of foreign election interference. Canada must clos…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, specifically on the NSICOP measure, although the report has been able to reach some necessary conclusions, this parliamentary committee does not report to Parliament. It reports to the Prime Minister's Office. What the Conservatives called for from day one was an independent committee that reported to this institution; at the end of the day, it is this institution that Canadians vote …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the question is very important, and it points to the overall capacity of the Government of Canada to respond to foreign interference in whatever format it threatens our country. That is why I outlined, again, the NSICOP annual report for 2019, which calls for such a strategy to provide a whole-of-government approach, so that Canadians can be confident in our institutions.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the 2019 annual report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians recommended that the government develop a comprehensive strategy to counter foreign interference and build institutional and public resilience. Why has the government been so negligent in its responsibilities, in its fundamental duties, to protect Canadians?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, last week The Globe and Mail uncovered a 2021 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service outlining how Canada had become a high priority for interference by the Chinese Communist government. It highlighted how my colleague, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, had had his family in Hong Kong targeted in retaliation for his vote on a motion in the House that recognized B…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, rather than expel a diplomat who targeted an MP's family, the Liberal government did nothing for two years. Last week, the Prime Minister peddled a narrative that it was the member for Wellington—Halton Hills who in fact knew and said nothing. Nobody in this chamber is debating that a Beijing official engaged in threats against a sitting member of this House. When will the Prime Minis…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, for your home, my home and our home, let us bring it home. There are 127,000 Canadians who are dual citizens of the U.K. Every single year, their pensions are not indexed in the U.K. Therefore, petitioners in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon and across Canada are calling upon the Government of Canada to consider those pensions in its negotiations with the British government for a new fre…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, earlier today in my speech, I referenced the report that was tabled on March 12, 2020, from NSICOP. It said that the Government of Canada should have established a comprehensive strategy to counter foreign interference. Why, after three years, have we seen no action from the government to take these critical steps to uphold Canadian sovereignty? Why do the Liberals continue to allow…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I was not aware of that. Could we reset the time and I will ask another question?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, there is a very important point that needs to be clarified today. Earlier today, the member for Winnipeg North and the member for Kingston and the Islands implied that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills was aware that threats had been made against his family two years ago. Could the member clarify who was correct, the member for Winnipeg North or the member for Wellington—Halton…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will lower my voice, but the passion with which I speak today is because I am scared that our sovereignty is at stake, that the government has been negligent in its responsibilities to Canada and that the country I knew as a young man is not the country of today. I can remember that in the early 2000s it was big national news when members of the American government, the FBI, came to…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, some of the points I was going to make in my speech were just covered by the member from Kamloops. With respect to the debate we just had, the point is that during the debate this morning the member for Kingston and the Islands, the member for Vancouver Granville and the member for Winnipeg North all alluded to the fact that it was the member for Wellington—Halton Hills who knew and d…
Read full speech →