Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today on behalf of the citizens of Cambridge to table a petition to withdraw Bill C-9. Petitioners request that the government uphold and protect freedom of religion and freedom of speech as these fundamental rights must be preserved.
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Mr. Speaker, the grocery inflation crisis is tearing apart families and tearing apart our communities. I received a letter from a senior citizen in Cambridge whose son had to move back home because he could not afford the cost of living. He wants to get married but cannot even move out of his mom's home to buy his own, start a family, have children and be able to feed them. With the cost of lettuc…
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Mr. Speaker, rebates do not fix problems; they confirm them. The Liberal government is offering rebates as it has run out of answers. Canadians are being forced to pay $12 billion more in inflationary deficits because grocery inflation spiralled out of control with the Liberal government. Families in my community are demanding lower prices for food. Experts are clear: Food costs more because of en…
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Mr. Speaker, after a decade of Liberal government, Canada has gone from having the strongest middle class in the G7 to having the highest food inflation in the G7. A full-time job used to put food on the table; now it does not even guarantee a full cart of groceries. The government keeps claiming it is helping, yet food inflation has doubled since the Prime Minister took office. Canadians are stil…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's speech was very compassionate. The rise in the cost of food is also an issue in my riding and in my community. People want government to prioritize lowering these costs. They are struggling and cannot put food on the table to feed their families. I am wondering if my colleague could share how food insecurity is affecting her community, especially mothers, and the diffic…
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present a petition on behalf of Canadians in regard to Bill C-9. The petition calls on Parliament to support people of all faiths so they can live according to their beliefs without discrimination or government interference. People who signed the petition are calling on the government to uphold and protect freedom of religion and freedom of speech, which are fundament…
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of Canadians who call on the government to withdraw Bill C-9. Canadians feel that religion is under attack, and they ask the government to respect and protect religious freedom and freedom of speech as fundamental rights that Canadians expect Parliament to uphold, as the state has no place in the religious texts or teachings of any faith …
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is now the inflation capital of the G7. Food prices are rising faster than families can keep up, twice the rate of the U.S., and recycled Trudeau-era rebates do not fix the problem. Canadians cannot eat the paper on which this Prime Minister's empty promises are written. Restaurants are being squeezed out of business with higher food costs, and Canadians are cutting back becaus…
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite has been voting against Conservative motions for the past 10 years. We have been fighting to protect Canadians for all that time. This bill has a safety valve. When it comes to mandatory minimum sentences, could the member give us a simple definition of what “mandatory” actually means? If it has a safety valve, is the bill not just suggestion?
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her great speech. It was quite touching. I hear the same concerns in my community of Cambridge after the 10 years of soft-on-crime Liberal policies. In the conversations my colleague has had with people in her community, what has she heard with respect to what is needed for people to feel safe again, especially when it comes to strengthening the conseq…
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Mr. Speaker, the member has spoken about the people who want real solutions. How do the problems of porous borders and broken trust, like drug trafficking, the potential for consumption sites near schools, gun smuggling and irregular migration, show up in her community, and what does that mean for families and local safety?
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Mr. Speaker, prices at the grocery store were how the Prime Minister was to be judged. From Trudeau's crisis to the rebranded, not-so-new Liberal cabinet, Canadians are seeing costs go from bad to worse. Today's food price report shows that Canadians are bracing for the largest grocery increase in years, nearly $1,000 more. Under a decade of the Liberals, families have gone from spending $159 a we…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke about the pressure seniors are under, but one thing we are both hearing about is the fear. Could she share what seniors in her riding are telling her about the choices they have to make now and how even basic dignity is becoming unaffordable?
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Mr. Speaker, their programs do not feed seniors. When the Liberals claim their taxes are imaginary, I think of a senior woman in my community, one who told me she can barely afford to eat and that some days she wishes she simply would not wake up, because living with this indignity is harder than dying. That is what 10 years of soaring food prices and punishing taxes have done to Canadians: not im…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the annual hunger report from Feed Ontario came out today, and it shows just how hard life in Canada has become. For the ninth year in a row, food bank use has increased. More than one million Ontarians visited a food bank, for a total of 8.7 million visits, in the last year, the highest level ever recorded. These are not conspiracies; these are facts. The more the Liberals spend, the…
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Mr. Speaker, it is really sad to hear that in my community, the fridges are not full as my grandmother's once was. What the budget is bringing is more debt, higher taxes and less hope. Families in Cambridge are already skipping meals so their kids can eat. Demand at the Cambridge Food Bank is up 114%, and there are 1,000 new families turning to it for the first time, including people who have full…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are living through some of the most challenging times in recent memory. Families are struggling to make ends meet, young people are losing hope for stable careers, and businesses are facing an economy of uncertainty. A housing crisis is pricing out an entire generation, youth unemployment is climbing and productivity, the engine of our prosperity, is in decline. The Prime Mi…
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Mr. Speaker, all we hear are paper promises all the time. The budget removes over $4 billion from Veterans Affairs over the next four years, while veterans continue to face long wait times for disability claims and experience gaps in mental health support and delays in accessing services. That is not my opinion; it is in black and white in the budget. Veterans do not need talking points; they need…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree that things are getting tough for everyone. Just today I heard about two more businesses closing in my community because of tariffs and the rising cost of doing business in Canada. These are the facts of the past 10 years of Liberal mismanagement, and it is not going to get better with this budget. Since January, $61 billion has left Canada, and domestic investors are pouring …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the alarming rise in scams targeting seniors is a growing concern in our communities, with a 300% increase in money being lost to scams since 2020. Across the country, criminals are preying on trust and vulnerability, and seniors are losing their life savings, money they worked for decades to earn. In Cambridge and North Dumfries, I have heard heartbreaking stories of individuals who …
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Madam Speaker, first the Liberals made it unaffordable to feed kids; now they want applause for feeding them. Canadians used to line up at the grocery store. Today, they line up by the millions at food banks. Under the Liberals, Canadians are working full-time and eating part-time, because paycheques shrink while grocery bills balloon. Eighty-two per cent of Canadian households say they do not hav…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned the frustration victims feel when the same offenders are released again and again, as well as the terrible tragedies that are happening from it. Could she share more on how the revolving door justice system erodes public confidence, overwhelms our police forces and puts victims at greater risk?
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government brags every day about all the money it spends, but that is not the government's money. That is the paycheques of hard-working Canadians. That is the money that families could be spending to put food on the table. Instead, the Prime Minister uses it to feed his endless bureaucracy, which snuck in a hidden industrial carbon tax on fertilizer and farm equipment tha…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals keep saying that everything is great, but the only thing growing faster than their debt is the food bank line while they play hide-and-seek on taxes. Taxing farmers with a hidden industrial carbon tax, while 2.2 million people visit the food bank every single month, is insanity. This is while 20% of them work full time, and 33% are children. Anyone but the Liberals can se…
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Mr. Speaker, that is definitely a huge concern. First of all, citizenship and the Canadian identity are the heart and soul of what makes this country so good. I am very honoured to be a proud Canadian citizen. It is a privilege that every family must earn, whether through their ancestors building this country, fighting to defend it or just following the rules and requirements set out for new Canad…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal across the way is reflecting on the Liberal soft-on-crime approach. This is consistent with the Liberals. If the Liberal government wanted to actually clean up the mess it made of the immigration system, it would focus on legislation to do that, not force through Bill C-3, which would expand loopholes and the exploitation it could face. The Liberals are mocking Canadians b…
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Mr. Speaker, there does not seem to be any respect at all. As I said, there are a lot of inconsistencies in this bill. If the Liberal government wanted to actually clean up the mess it made with the immigration system, it would focus on legislation to do that. This is an overreaching bill that is open to so much exploitation, and the government has failed to address what is happening in our immigr…
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Mr. Speaker, all I can say is that there does not seem to be any common sense here. I am trying to understand the logic, or lack thereof. That is a tough question to answer. I do not see any logical reason for wanting to push through a bill open to errors, failures and exploitation without addressing any of the problems the Liberals' past attempts have created. With the Liberals' track record of i…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to once again be on my feet to talk about some of the government's latest legislation. As a refresher from high school civics, the bill is now at third reading. This means it has been introduced in the House, debated, sent to a committee, amended and is now being debated a final time before we vote on whether to pass it. At every stage of this process, Conservatives h…
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Mr. Speaker, under the Liberal Prime Minister, Canada's biggest export to the U.S. has become well-paying auto jobs. Paycheques are vanishing. First it was Windsor, then Brampton, then Oshawa, then Ingersoll. Now people in my community are terrified that Cambridge will be next, with thousands of livelihoods hanging in the balance. The Prime Minister admitted that he is unlikely to get a complete t…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, recently, I had the honour to pay tribute to the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service, also known as the Wrens, at the 83rd anniversary of its training establishment in my hometown of Cambridge. Established in 1942, HMCS Conestoga was located in a former detention centre for “wayward” girls. The facility that was originally meant to punish women was transformed into a place to empower…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the Liberals are running out of policies to steal from the Conservatives. It is deeply disheartening to see the Liberals not put up any speakers to defend their own bill, despite the fact that they are supposedly so proud of it. Even with the changes we forced the government to make, the bill still has deep flaws, as I outlined in my speech. I look forward to working with my c…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, during constituency week, I had the privilege of joining a ride-along with the south division police in Cambridge. I have always respected the work our frontline officers do, but seeing their focus and professionalism first-hand was a powerful reminder of the challenges they face every single day. That night, officers were on alert for Kevin Koehler, a violent repeat offender released…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a privilege to rise on behalf of the people of Cambridge and North Dumfries in this place, especially to discuss an issue as important as our Canadian borders and keeping people safe. Everyone watching at home might remember that this is not my first time in the House talking about border security. A few weeks ago, I spoke about Bill C-2, which was introduced by the gover…
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite really needs to look in his own backyard and at his own government. Today, at the public safety and national security committee, the public safety minister doubled down on calling the RCMP racist. If that member wants to be serious about supporting police officers, then maybe the Liberals should back up that tough talk by voting for our Conservative legislation, wh…
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Mr. Speaker, there is a lot that is happening right now that is nothing more than a smokescreen for our current government. The things she mentioned are no different than hiring 1,000 CBSA officers when the agency can barely deal with losses through attrition. When we open the Gordie Howe bridge next year, the shifting of personnel will leave a massive hole in the system. Plus, there is no trainin…
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Mr. Speaker, what is despicable is what the member across the way is focusing on after I just discussed Canadian lives that are being lost due to the opioid crisis. Lives are being lost every single day. What we need is accountability and prevention, stronger border controls to stop deadly drugs from entering the country, better access to real treatment and recovery, and a government that supports…
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Mr. Speaker, the government says it is going to hire 1,000 more officers for the CBSA, but hiring 1,000 CBSA officers barely deals with the losses currently happening through attrition. When we open the Gordie Howe Bridge next year, the shifting of personnel will leave a massive hole in the system. In addition, there is no training capacity for these 1,000 proposed officers. Can the member explain…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, it is never a wasted opportunity to stand up in the House to talk about something so important, so vital to all of our lives: the strength and stability of family. It is a simple word, but it means so much to all of us. We all know, as members of Parliament, that our families are our bedrock, our biggest support system, our cheerleader at the best times and, let us be honest, our ther…
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Mr. Speaker, there have been consultations among the parties, and I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, Bill S-1001, An Act to authorize Gore Mutual Insurance Company to apply to be continued as a body corporate under the laws of the Province of Quebec, be deemed to have been read a second time a…
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Mr. Speaker, after Conservatives forced the Liberals to back down from Bill C-2 for overstepping Canadians' freedoms and privacy, they have now returned with Bill C-12. Would my colleague not agree that Parliament must carefully scrutinize this revised legislation to ensure that nothing has been added that could once again put the privacy rights of law-abiding Canadians at risk?
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Mr. Speaker, the government says that Bill C-12 protects Canadians, yet it expands government powers to collect and share personal information across departments. Could he speak to why it is so important that Parliament scrutinize these new authorities to ensure Canadians' privacy is not compromised?
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister told Canadians to judge him by the prices they pay at the grocery store, so let us do just that. Sheri, a senior in Cambridge, wrote to me this week. She sent a photo of her grocery receipt: $197 for a few basics that will not last the week. The cause is Liberal hidden taxes like the industrial carbon tax on farmers who grow the food. These taxes are buried in every…
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Mr. Speaker, it is the same old answers. Let us talk about those so-called programs. Nine out of 10 kids do not get fed by the failed food program. The Liberals take food away from families to instead feed the government's constantly expanding bureaucracy. If those programs were working, then food bank visits would be going down, not up. Since the Prime Minister took office, beef strip loin is up …
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Mr. Speaker, that was not an answer. The government took food off Canadian tables and then built a bureaucracy to take credit for giving some of the crumbs back. Liberals talk about all of these programs, but if they were working, a third of the people using food banks in Cambridge would not be children. In my community, I have met parents who are working full time and are still skipping meals so …
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that Canadians should judge him by the cost at the grocery store. Well, they have, and he has failed. In Cambridge, the food bank saw over 23,000 visits last year, a 114% increase. One-third of those visits were children and youth, and 43% were first-time users. Families that have never used the food bank before are now lining up for food. Even people with jobs…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada already has the fastest-shrinking economy in the G7 and the second-highest unemployment. It is only going to get worse for Cambridge auto workers who work at Toyota, with jobs and investments fleeing south. Just after the Prime Minister's trip to Washington, the Trump administration said there will be no deal on autos, putting thousands of workers and their families at risk. To…
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Mr. Speaker, I volunteered at the Cambridge Legion for several years, and I am always proud to support our veterans and those serving in our armed forces. We all know that veterans put so much on the line for our country, and all they want is support from our government, but the Liberals have passed legislation like Bill C-5, allowing criminals convicted of sexual assault to serve their sentences …
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Mr. Speaker, given the scale and severity of the criminal activity covered under Project Road King, which spanned organized auto theft, international drug trafficking and firearms, could the member explain why 27 of the 30 individuals charged were released rather than held in custody? What does this say about our current approach to incarceration for serious and organized crime? Are there gaps in …
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Mr. Speaker, just recently, a 22-year-old and a 16-year-old in Cambridge violently attacked police and security officers, punching them, kicking them and pushing them to the ground. One was later caught possessing crack cocaine. The offenders are already back on the streets, released on bail. Crime is on the rise because there are no longer consequences to bad acts. My colleague is an accomplished…
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