Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, in Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola we have three valleys. The Okanagan Valley is well known for tourism, but so are the Similkameen and Nicola valleys. In fact, Experience Nicola Valley recently received the 2022 marketing program of the year award from the Canada Prestige Awards program. They are sharing the stories that get people to come to places like Nicola Valley, but unfort…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Conservatives came to Parliament to talk about giving Canadians a break from record-high gas prices. Yesterday, the Prime Minister came to Parliament to talk about giving himself a break thanks to a backroom deal with the NDP. A GST cut at the pumps would help millions of Canadians struggling with the highest inflation levels in 30 years. As every member of Parliament is…
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Madam Speaker, I am very happy that the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley is asking about this. He should actually get on the phone and talk to John Horgan. John Horgan has repeatedly said he is going to be taking action on this. In the B.C. Utilities Commission process the member talked about, it was actually said that they could not talk about government taxation whatsoever. If there are informat…
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to be here today. It is always an honour to rise on behalf of the good people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola on an issue that is so incredibly important. Kelowna has seen high gas prices of about $1.84 a litre. In Merritt, an area that often has protests for high gas prices, it is at $1.93. These are challenging times, and these prices aggravate many problems we h…
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Madam Speaker, the member asks a very good question. Right now all provinces are feeling the strain of their health care system from the pandemic. They have all asked for an increase in transfers, which the federal Liberal government has refused to listen to for such a long time. Alberta is also receiving a windfall right now because of its resource revenue, and it said that at $90 a barrel, it wo…
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Madam Speaker, it is really simple. This member, being from Quebec, knows that the province does get some of its gas and energy from outside of Canada. There is going to be a different approach in every different province. For example, if the international price of gas goes up, we are going to be paying more. Again, the issue we ultimately end up with is that whatever that price is gets magnified …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member opposite has raised a number of points. First of all, we are not talking about the community development fund and 10% a litre on gasoline. We are talking about the GST. There is crude oil. There are refinery costs. There are taxes: the provincial gas tax and the federal community development fund tax. That is all under the umbrella of the GST. This is about giving a break…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Victoria, a fellow British Columbian, for her intervention. I know she feels strongly about these issues. The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan invests heavily in financials, with 15% or 16% of its assets there. Many widows and orphans get what they get back from banking stocks. By the same token, we have the Liberals' crazy idea, which the NDP is endorsing, of sud…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, so many Canadians are struggling to find an affordable place to rent, let alone purchase a home. Why? It is because home prices have doubled since the Liberals took office, and they are up 43% since 2019 alone. Over the past two years, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which reports to the Minister of Housing, has given out $48 million in bonuses. Did the minister personall…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this minister is supposed to be the Minister of Housing not the minister for “show me the money”. What performance metrics could possibly justify doling out $48 million, an average of more than $12,000 per employee, to over 93% of employees during an affordable housing crisis? Will the minister show some spine and cancel these bonuses, or will he do what he always does and just blame …
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Mr. Speaker, my friend from the island will probably recognize that we have been very critical of the government regarding the Canada emergency wage subsidy for allowing profitable companies to access it while at the same time increasing dividends to shareholders and allowing bonuses for executives. This is unlike when Minister Jim Flaherty made some concessions on pensions with Air Canada. He put…
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Mr. Speaker, the member referred to the NDP's finance critic, the MP for Elmwood—Transcona, and I would like to thank that member specifically for his work at the finance committee. He supported the amendment from the member of Parliament for Simcoe North to Bill C-8 that would ban foreign buyers from purchasing Canadian residential properties. This member has mentioned that in his riding on the i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the member has been a great addition since this Parliament began. I would like to ask him a quick question in regard to what is not in this bill. At committee, the MP for Simcoe North brought forward an amendment that would in fact help the Prime Minister keep his commitments to Canadians on housing. It would basically ban foreign ownership or purchasing of residential properties here…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Simcoe North for his work on the finance committee, where he put forward suggestions to help the Prime Minister keep his commitment to Canadians. Unfortunately, the government members rejected those suggestions. I wanted to talk a little more about the fiscal policy the member was raising in his speech. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has actually said the gove…
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moved: Motion No. 1 That Bill C-8 be amended by deleting Clause 2. Motion No. 2 That Bill C-8 be amended by deleting Clause 3. Motion No. 3 That Bill C-8 be amended by deleting Clause 4. Motion No. 4 That Bill C-8 be amended by deleting Clause 5. Motion No. 5 That Bill C-8 be amended by deleting Clause 6. Motion No. 6 That Bill C-8 be amended by deleting Clause 7. Motion No. 7 That Bill C-8 be ame…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question from my colleague. As I said earlier in my speech, other important spending that Canadians count on, like health care, is set to go up at a certain rate, but our debt servicing will be far in demand. In fact, the debt servicing rate will be far over what we will spend in the fiscal year 2026-27 on military. Yesterday, the Minister of National Defence trie…
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the work the member does on behalf of his constituents. In our Constitution, it is very clear that the federal government, rightly or wrongly, has the ability to tax in areas like property. It has taxing powers that provinces and municipalities do not share. It has a very wide range of tools. However, typically governments have trended not to go into those areas…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, during the election, the Prime Minister was clear on his solutions to address out-of-control housing inflation. He said he was going to ban foreign ownership on homes in Canada, yet when the member of Parliament for Simcoe North proposed to do just that in finance committee, the Liberals voted that amendment down. Is the Prime Minister only serious about giving young Canadian families…
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Mr. Speaker, the committee heard the amendment. We voted on it, and that party voted it down. We are only trying to get the Prime Minister to keep his promises. Home prices have increased a gobsmacking 43% since 2019, and the Liberals only seem to pursue new ways to increase the price of housing and push people out of the market. Their latest scheme of mandatory energy labelling at the time of sal…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, four months ago, devastating floods hit the communities of Merritt and Princeton, among others, in my home province of British Columbia. I gave full credit to the Prime Minister when he told these communities he would have their backs and that he would be there for them. However, that was four months ago, and today the bills are due. When Princeton Mayor Spencer Coyne called the dedic…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the government House leader and his suggestion about the use of the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations. I sat on that committee when Chris Charlton, an NDP member, and former senator Bob Runciman were the co-chairs. It worked really well under the independent counsel of Peter Bernhardt. We learned at that committee the definition of SOR, or…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is united for the people of Ukraine. One of the things my leader raised in her speech was the importance of Europe's reliance on Russian gas and how that has put so much at risk. It is funding the very missiles and tanks that are invading Ukraine today. Canada could play that special role. We also know the Americans bring in 590,000 barrels of Russian oil every day. Could Canad…
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, in my speech I said very clearly that there are laws within Canada that allow for the coordination of police and for establishing order without invoking the Emergencies Act. It has never been used before. The member is just wrong. No one has said that any of the massive protests outside of this place could not have been dealt with using existing laws. Now I will quote the Prime Mini…
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, leadership is everything. Stoking divisions and name-calling, as the Prime Minister has done, and I will not use his unparliamentary terms, have escalated the crisis much more. He could have chosen to work with the solicitor general of Ontario to find ways to support utilizing existing measures, not the Emergencies Act. It is the equivalent of awakening the kraken, a legislative lev…
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, I understand that when people are pushed to the limit, they want to push back. We are supposed to channel the concerns of Canadians to this place, and as I said, if the government felt that the threshold was too high in the Emergencies Act, it could have moved to amend it, but it did not. We here in this chamber now have a responsibility to look at whether the Prime Minister and his…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this party does not support the Charter of Rights. It also does not seem to understand that continued use of the Emergencies Act for the Prime Minister's political purposes will only further divide Canadians. Former NDP MP Svend Robinson said that a very dangerous precedent is being set. Why has the Prime Minister not rescinded these emergency powers today?
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Mr. Speaker, the trucks outside are gone. The protests are over. There are no more blockades. However, the Prime Minister is still determined to punish those involved under the Emergencies Act, where there is no due process to protect the innocent. Worse yet, he does this with the NDP's support. When did the Prime Minister lose all respect for the charter and when did the NDP lose their way?
Read full speech →Orders Of The Day
Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in this place to take part in debate, although I must say I am saddened that it is under the current circumstances. Last week, I put down my words very carefully on what my contribution to this debate would be, but last week is not this week. Today is not yesterday. I would ask, why are we still here? Why has the Prime Minister not revoked this massive…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member for his work on the environment committee as chair, but on this matter, he has said repetitively that the Emergencies Act is necessary so that there would not be a bureaucratic process for other law enforcement to come to the aid of the Ottawa Police Service. I am from British Columbia, and policing is actually a provincial responsibility. Peace off…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, while I disagree with much of what the member has to say, he is absolutely right. It is a national embarrassment, because we have seen newspapers across the world and journalists documenting what has gone on, which is really a failure. It is a local policing issue that has gone out of control. What we are here to debate today is very simple. Does the House confirm the declaration made…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the good people of Princeton, British Columbia. It is, as many in this place may recall, a small rural community of less than 2,000 citizens struggling mightily to rebuild after devastating flooding. After that flooding, the Prime Minister told the good people of Princeton not to worry, he had their backs and he would be there for them. Now the bills are due.…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the member is here to share stories. My home province of British Columbia put in place a minister for addictions several years ago, and now the Prime Minister has done the same thing with his government in this new cabinet. We have two governments that say they care about this. We have two governments that say they understand the problem. We have two governments that…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the member for Victoria is a fellow British Columbian and someone who listens intently to constituents. I promised this family that I would raise their story today. What I am saying is that whatever we do, let us make sure that the other actions we take here in this place do not add fuel to the fire. As earnest as the member for Courtenay—Alberni is in his private me…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for starting off tonight's take-note debate. This is a very serious subject in my home province of British Columbia, as was raised by the previous questioner. In 2016 and 2017, former minister of finance Bill Morneau put in his budget $50 million every year and touted this as a new approach for dealing with opioids. Just to break down the numbers, it was $50 milli…
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Mr. Speaker, it is certainly sad that I have to rise today, because I rose in this chamber to speak to this same subject in 2019. In the winter of 2019, we had an emergency debate on opioids, and we are here again. I know we are going to hear a lot of stories, very personal ones like the one we just heard from my Conservative colleague. However, I want to note more than anything that this problem …
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Mr. Speaker, I will give the member opposite a direct answer. First of all, in British Columbia we do not have access to rapid tests. The province has not decided to use those, and out of respect for provincial jurisdiction, I would like to hear the answer as to why it has not included them. However, we do not have access to those for businesses, schools and whatnot in the capacity seen in other p…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my fellow member from British Columbia and say that she has done more than her fair share to bring up the lack of action on housing, particularly in her riding, and the lack of federal monies, which the government continues to say are coming. When it comes to financialization, I do have some concerns about how our economy under the government is going. The finance comm…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for her question and for the work she does on the environment committee with me and other members. I certainly always appreciate her interventions. Let me start by saying that anyone who evades their taxes, anyone who tries to work outside the system, should be brought in to pay their fair share. On the flip side, I do believe the Government of Canada, and w…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister was crystal clear in this place when he told the people of Princeton, British Columbia, that he had their backs and would be there for them as they rebuilt from flooding. The community needs $2 million as soon as possible to rebuild, or their property taxes will have to go up by 70%. Can the Prime Minister tell the people of Princeton when they will receive the fede…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has made a commitment in this place. This is also a Prime Minister whose government gave Loblaws, a billion-dollar grocery chain, $12 million to buy new refrigerators. The people of Princeton just want to receive today the $2 million they were promised by the Prime Minister to rebuild their community. Can the Prime Minister answer why they are waiting when others ar…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in this place, particularly after such a great member. What a speech, and I congratulate him on it. I believe few would dispute that we live in highly unusual times. Indeed, we are charting a path through a pandemic without a playbook. This is not the fault of the government. Every government in the world is in the same situation. We all know different g…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to delayed federally funded infrastructure projects in British Columbia: what are the details of all projects which have yet to be completed, and have had their original expected completion date delayed by more than six months, including, for each, (i) the project location, (ii) the project description, (iii) the original expected completion date, (iv) the revised expected completion d…
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Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's contributions to the debate today. In June of last year, when it came to Bill C-208, a bill that would allow someone to sell their family farm or fishing enterprise to their children and be treated the same as if selling to someone at arm's length, the government and the minister said that the coming into force date was not specified in that piece…
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Madam Speaker, originally when COVID-19 and the pandemic arose, the Conservatives said we would support a response from the government that was responsive to needs, temporary and would bridge back to a regular economy. Liberal arrogance, as has been said many times, is the greatest kryptonite. It seems the Liberals have not learned anything from their previous experience with the Canada emergency …
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Mr. Speaker, it has been weeks since the U.S. jacked up softwood lumber tariffs on communities like those in my riding, yet the government seems to have given up, thrown in the towel. Workers in my riding cannot afford to give up. Why does the government not seem to care at all about fighting for forestry jobs?
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Mr. Speaker, workers in my riding cannot take the minister's statement to the bank. Communities in my region have been beset by fires, floods and now a government that has given up. They work hard and they deserve a government that works hard for them. Sadly, the Liberal government does not consider these families and these communities a priority. What do the forestry workers in my riding have to …
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly listened intently to the member's speech. His experience as a Crown prosecutor in Ontario excellently lends itself to the debate. There are changes in the bill to conditional sentencing. Obviously, if any mother were to see that someone who is charged with kidnapping could be given a conditional sentence, as in house arrest, they would find it egregious and wrong. Are ther…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, first of all, I congratulate the member for her speech in the House of Commons. I certainly know that she has many ideas to share with the House. Perhaps the member will continue to share the ideas that are important to her.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, first of all, I hope the member still considers that the whole purpose of the Magna Carta was to ensure the king could not unilaterally decide for everyone. That was an important step. The Conservatives have always believed in extending franchise to first nations and women, for example. It was Conservative prime ministers who first brought these ideas here in this place. I hope the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, on a point of order, during the previous engagement we had a member walking around the chamber without a mask on. I would just like us all to be mindful of each other by wearing masks in the House.
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