Routine Proceedings
With regard to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada passport offices, since January 1, 2018: (a) how many public service employees or full-time equivalents were working physically in person at each passport office, broken down by office location and by month; and (b) how many passports were issued each month?
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Madam Speaker, I want to first welcome everyone back. One of the things I have seen today is the great focus on individuals with disabilities and their stories, and I think that is tremendously important. However, we as parliamentarians sometimes gloss past and do not speak specifically enough to the details. I want to thank the member for Malpeque. His work on the finance committee with me has be…
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Mr. Speaker, as we will soon rise, let us recap what we have learned. A Canadian diplomat attended a party at the Russian embassy and embarrassed our country, but the minister says it is not her fault because her staff do not check their emails. We learned that the Emergencies Act was not used at the request of the police, but the minister falsely claimed otherwise. The Liberals do not get a pass …
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Mr. Speaker, who would have thought it? The last time inflation was this high was 40 years ago, when we had another divisive tax-and-spend Liberal prime minister named Trudeau. They say history repeats itself; I say we should have learned from the last experience. With so many Canadians struggling, would the Minister of Finance acknowledge that her $100 billion of stimulus spending is inflationary…
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Mr. Speaker, these Liberals always want to talk about what Moody's thinks, but the only Moody that that member should think about right now is the mood of the Canadian people. Conservatives have been pointing to the example of Alberta for months. When the Alberta government cut gas taxes, the price of gas dropped along with the province's inflation. Lower gas prices are a win for consumers and for…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has continually gotten inflation wrong. First she said deflation was the concern. Then she said inflation was transitory—wrong and wronger. Now she says she is considering cutting taxes at the pumps. Good. When Alberta did this, it reduced its inflation rate as higher energy prices drive inflation. Every G7 country is doing something on gas prices. When will sh…
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Mr. Speaker, these speNDP-Liberals love warning labels so much, there should have been a mandatory “this product causes inflation and will be harmful to your economy” sticker on the last budget. This Minister of Finance is fond of saying that her government “can walk and chew gum at the same time”. Okay, then, could she explain to the House how she can inject a post-COVID-19 stimulus of $100 billi…
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Mr. Speaker, they keep trying to change the channel, but these speNDP-Liberals do not, will not or cannot understand that their obsession with spending is fuelling inflation and hurting Canadians. Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO, said, “Fiscal policy has every bit as much a role to play in dampening inflation as does monetary policy...and fiscal policy should definitely not get a pass in the i…
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Mr. Speaker, the finance minister must be wearing industrial-grade noise-cancelling earphones to avoid hearing the calls from economists to cut her government's over-the-top spending. She knows that it is only adding gas to the inflationary fire. The Prime Minister has said that anything that has a hint of fiscal restraint is austerity. He axed Bill Morneau for wanting to get post-COVID spending u…
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Madam Speaker, I just walked into the proceedings, and I wanted to ask to see whether the Bloc—
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Madam Speaker, ABS: When buying a vehicle, ABS stands for automatic braking system. When a vehicle senses an impending danger, it brakes immediately. Canadians have no such braking system when it comes to our finances. In fact, we have the opposite. The finance minister has a different take on ABS. It is “always be spending”. Will she order an immediate pause to all discretionary spending to fight…
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Madam Speaker, the member is just plain wrong, and I see where she gets it from. The Minister of Finance has gotten inflation wrong at every turn. She said deflation was the concern; that was wrong. Then she said it was transitory; that was wrong. Now she has a so-called affordability plan that only includes more spending. Stephen Gordon is an economist at Laval. He has said that now is not the ti…
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Mr. Speaker, $3,100 in food and alcohol costs for a flight to Dubai may seem normal to these "speNDP-Liberals”, but it is beyond the reach of a vast majority of Canadians, who struggle every day to pay their bills, let alone imagine taking a flight. However, that did not stop the finance minister from lecturing to Canadians how good they have it from her podium in Toronto, where they charged $1,00…
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Mr. Speaker, $3,100 for in-flight catering, for food costs, is no joke to Canadians. These Liberals will not listen to pragmatic suggestions to help fight inflation. They will not stop their inflationary deficit spending. They will not give Canadians a break at the pumps. They think it hurts us, but instead, when they reject our ideas, it hurts Canadians. Hope springs eternal, so I will try again.…
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Mr. Speaker, this is a question on the point of business that was just referred to by the government House leader. The Conservatives would like to know which opposition House leader was consulted, because it certainly was not the Conservatives. I believe the government owes Canadians and the House a little more transparency and openness.
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With regard to the 2022 budget not including the commitment by the Prime Minister on page 69 of the 2021 Liberal election platform to “Introduce a Veterans stream to the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI)”: (a) why was this specific commitment not included in the 2022 budget; (b) has the government developed a specific timeline for when the veterans stream will be added to the RHI, and if so, what is …
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Mr. Speaker, it is not often that colleagues will hear me give praise to the normally silent voices within the Liberal caucus. However, after reading The Hill Times' piece this morning by Abbas Rana, which says a “massive majority of the Liberal caucus wants the Prime Minister to drop federal COVID mandates”, I wanted to sincerely thank those who spoke out against the Prime Minister's Office in an…
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Mr. Speaker, he is the divider-in-chief and ditherer-in-chief. Canadians have long appreciated that most groceries are exempt from GST. This keeps groceries affordable for families. Yesterday, when the Conservative opposition voted to temporarily do the same by suspending GST on gas and diesel to help Canadians with out-of-control prices at the pumps the speNDP-Liberals voted against it. When will…
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With regard to COVID-19 vaccines thrown away due to spoilage or expiration: what was the available national wastage rate between May 1, 2021, and April 21, 2022, including the (i) percentage of doses wasted, (ii) number of doses wasted, (iii) number of doses administered?
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Mr. Speaker, I have to go there, because the member raised the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and I have no idea why this member would want to raise that. Former finance minister Bill Morneau pointed out that the Canada Infrastructure Bank did not do what was intended. This member is trying to say that somehow, if the Canada Infrastructure Bank was not an entity, if it did not exist, municipalities w…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to stand in this place on behalf of the good people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola. Today, I am going to be speaking to Bill C-19, but I will also be speaking to some of the points that I am sure the Liberal government may not want to hear. Part of democracy means everyone having a say before a decision is made. As the previous speaker said, there are a number …
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Madam Speaker, it is excellent to hear the member complain about the member for Winnipeg North. I would simply say this. First of all, we proposed in the last election to shore up our health care system. It is something that every province wanted, including my own province. John Horgan, on behalf of all of the provincial premiers, asked that there not be any new spending or new social programs and…
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Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate the question from the hon. member from Quebec. In her question, she asked whether I support less taxes and at the same time strong services being provided by government. It reminds me of an answer I received at a business luncheon from my predecessor, the Hon. Stockwell Day, before I was elected. He actually said at that business lunch that he was a strong pro…
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Madam Speaker, there are two sides to every coin. We have a job to do, which is to present views and to be heard. The government also has tools, such as time allocation at report stage. The Liberals imposed time allocation almost right away, before many members, including members in their own caucus, had a chance to speak. We could talk about process here, but what I am going to talk about is the …
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Madam Speaker, this is where I have always said that leadership is everything. If something is not working, we would expect the minister to be there and to be immediately working with all the force that they can to identify where the gaps are and how to close them. As my fellow member from British Columbia has said, there are externalities that are being created by the slow processing times. In my…
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Madam Speaker, maybe the member could clarify and clear the air. Did he write that speech, or did he literally just take sections of chapter 5 out of the budget? I would just like to know.
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Madam Speaker, I know it is getting a little late, so I first want to thank the member for being here to participate. It sounded a bit like a canned speech, but I will leave that to the member to decide whether it was by his own hand or someone else's. I think it was around this time five years ago that the former minister of national defence tabled a new national defence policy. I have been liste…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her speech. The Standing Committee on Finance found that the government and the Minister of Finance did not show the necessary willingness to reform EI. Does my colleague have a theory to explain why she is right about the government and about what, exactly, happened with this budget bill?
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It is a laughingstock of an organization.
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Mr. Speaker, the President of the Unites States has ordered the release of their strategic reserve to help struggling families with record high gas prices at the pumps. There is an idea for our jet-setting Prime Minister for his meeting in Los Angeles. We know he likes to import American cultural problems to paper over his lack of leadership. Could he instead import good ideas from our neighbours …
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Madam Speaker, every economy is different, but the member is 100% right. Those G7 countries and other OECD countries are doing what they can to protect not only their consumers from the issue of high gas prices, but their economies. If we look to Alberta, it has reduced its gas tax when it is above $90 a barrel. Trevor Tombe, a University of Calgary economist, has said that this reduces inflation …
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of the opposition motion before this chamber. While obviously I cannot speak for other members of this place, I can state that the affordability crisis in many parts of my riding is critical. I am reasonably certain that other members of this place also hear similar concerns from some of their citizens. The recent rise in interest rates is taking as …
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Madam Speaker, I am disappointed that the Bloc is not seeing the bigger picture here. British Columbia has its own provincial carbon tax. That is something this motion would not affect whatsoever, but what it would affect is the GST. The goods and services tax is actually a tax on all provincial tax excise and the provincial-federal gas tax excise, as well as any carbon taxes. When we pay at the p…
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Madam Speaker, that member should come to see some truths here. First of all, when the Harper government lowered the GST from 7% to 5%, it maintained the 7% rebates for those on low income, which helped out seniors. Conservatives have always tried to help people with the lowest means. At the other side of this, New Democrats keep saying this will help oil companies, but the GST is applied on the t…
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Mr. Speaker, almost every G7 country has a plan to deal with high gas prices and runaway inflation. For example, Germany has a $16-billion plan to lower gas prices. The Americans have released their strategic reserve. Even the British government has cut gas taxes and is considering more. From our Prime Minister we have word salad. Besides blaming Putin or suggesting that people buy an electric veh…
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Mr. Speaker, despite having lower gas prices, the Americans have acted to help struggling families fill their tanks and keep life affordable. The Prime Minister likes to import the divisive politics that occur to the south of our border and claims that if we do not act firmly and rapidly it will only get worse and be more difficult to counter. As our largest importer of American politics, when wil…
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Madam Speaker, I am glad the member brought that up. No other G7 country is putting these tariffs on. Let us remember who pays the tariffs. The tariffs are actually eaten up by the farmers who have to pay to get them. The money is not going to Russia; the money is going to the government. If we want to be able to feed the world, particularly given the focus by the Russian military on destroying th…
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Mr. Speaker, since I asked about gas prices and leadership last week, the average price of gas has jumped 11¢. Now the Americans, the British and even the Germans have lowered gas prices to protect their consumers. They did not talk; they acted. However, the Prime Minister has lost the plot. Does this actor turned Prime Minister understand that the only leadership he has shown in the G7 is to rais…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the constituents of Louis-Saint‑Laurent for their choice of MP. He is brilliant. We heard from the Standing Committee on Finance that the government was going to make major changes to the Competition Act. Can the member explain the perspective of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology? This is important to many Canadian businesses.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday the national average gas price was $2.06 per litre, with expectations it will jump again this week. Canadians are struggling and are looking for help. Conservatives have proposed temporarily cutting the GST at the pumps. The Prime Minister has said that Canadians should just go buy an electric car. Do the speNDP-Liberals really believe this is a credible answer for commuters…
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Madam Speaker, simply put, regarding the Competition Act changes, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce officials could not even articulate a position because they literally said there was so much occurring in these provisions that they could not say anything other than to please stop, wait and consult so the industry could fully understand what the government was intending to do with these changes. I …
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Madam Speaker, I am very happy we can get into the guts of this particular report in debate. Recommendation 3 is on “engaging senior officials for complex procurements”. This relates to the Treasury Board. It recommends: That the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat provide the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts with reports outlining the progress made with regard to ensuring t…
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Madam Speaker, I have said before that the procurement system in this country has not worked well. It is something that is a challenge to us. We must do better. I would point out that the PACP report states that the Office of the Auditor General found that ESDC: had not established a clear governance structure for the Benefits Delivery Modernization program. In 2019, an independent review found un…
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Madam Speaker, I said during my speech that we should be taking the Auditor General very seriously. Although there were recommendations the government said it would agree to, it has not followed through on all of them. We need to do a better job with procurement in this country. The interesting thing is that this member just voted against my motion to end debate, so we are continuing to debate the…
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House to speak. Today, I would like to talk about agile procurement processes. Before I get into the substance of the debate, I would like to say, first of all, that the Auditor General's role is extremely important. Anyone who wants can show appreciation for that role, where time, energy, human ingenuity and, I am sure, robust discussions happen so that C…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his ongoing work to make sure that the government is both accountable and responsive. The use of agile systems to run procurements is something that has long been discussed. Members should be prepared, because I am going to shock them: Sometimes industry cannot read the mind of the government. There are so many things the government can do. The member …
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Madam Speaker, the last time Prince Edward Island had inflation as high as 9%, it was in the 1980s when there was also a big-borrowing, tax-and-spend, inflationary Liberal prime minister in office. The regional breakdown is even worse in Charlottetown and Summerside, clocking in at a breakneck speed of 9.5%. The rising cost of fuel is only outpaced by this “always be spending” Prime Minister. Will…
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Madam Speaker, wow, there is so much to unpack there. This member has supported the government through thick and thin. We all need our loyal soldiers, but by the same token, let us just take a look at a few things. First of all, under the current Prime Minister, there has been more debt added to our national debt than under any prime minister alive. This member continues to follow the “always be s…
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Madam Speaker, we actually put an amendment in to force the government to have the installation date of January 1 for the coming into force of the ban on foreign speculation in our residential real estate market. That member supported it, so I want to thank him for that. When it comes to express entry, the government was trying to give the Minister of Immigration unfettered powers. Through a good …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Joliette for his contributions in the House and at the finance committee. I will 100% say that the amendments that were put forward today by Conservatives encompass his suggestion that the government and the finance minister are too occupied with other issues and that they are putting forward terrible taxes, including a tax on producers that will…
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