Routine Proceedings
With regard to changes in government policies, regulations, and taxation measures that came into effect on April 1, 2022, broken down by department and agency: what are the details of all these changes, including, for each, (i) what the change was, (ii) the reason for the change, (iii) the costs or projected costs associated with the change, (iv) the additional revenue or loss projected for the go…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, in many parts of my riding and across beautiful British Columbia, we are blessed with truly pristine forests. Sadly, many of our forests are increasingly being violated by illegal dumping and other unauthorized uses of Crown land. The garbage and filth left behind is simply alarming. Today I would like to recognize a man named Kane Blake, who decided to do something about it. Mr. Blak…
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Mr. Speaker, gas prices are at record highs, and Canadians are suffering. As other G7 leaders take action on high gas prices, when given a chance to support a Conservative motion to give Canadians a break at the pumps by dropping the GST on fuel, the Prime Minister and his spend-DP-Liberals voted against it. This is the same Prime Minister who said four years ago in Vancouver that high gas prices …
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals make big promises on housing affordability, but the changes in their budget law on GST for assignment of sale make a terrible situation even worse. The GST is already charged by the builder of a duplex or fourplex, but under these changes, if the purchaser of the units then sells one to a family, that family must pay the GST to the government again. Can the tax-and-spend …
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Mr. Speaker, I usually rise in this place to correct the member for Kingston and the Islands for some of his words, but today I truly support them. I am here to submit a petition on behalf of Canadians in support of Bill S-223. This is an important subject. Most Canadians would be shocked and horrified to find out that there is not a law prohibiting a Canadian citizen from leaving Canada to receiv…
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Mr. Speaker, they are raising the cost of housing and the member has nothing to say about that. I guess the truth hurts. Let me say that what is truly cruel, though, is when the Liberals propose a shiny, new first-time homebuyer savings account and young families with dreams of home ownership actually believe them. What they do not say is that it will take five years to max it out at $40,000, if t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciated the speech from the member opposite in the House today. What I would like to talk to the member about is the issues that arise specifically with Canada and China that do not fit neatly in the box of any particular committee in this place. With the Minamata Convention on Mercury, Canada has an excellent record on the reduction of mercury, to make sure it does …
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Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate a fellow British Columbian speaking here tonight. The gentleman has described his experience in radio with the CRTC, but the Internet operates on much different principles. I speak to younger constituents who specifically cite the concerns around net neutrality. Net neutrality is literally a commitment by governments to not hold back data unless it is illegal …
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the work being done by the member for Regina—Lewvan tonight. He is a great advocate for his riding. I want to follow up on what our Liberal friend said earlier about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms means that the government cannot do something directly to an individual. In this bill, the government would actually be giving the auth…
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Mr. Speaker, other G7 leaders are trying to help their citizens and businesses deal with the higher cost of fuel, like releasing gas reserves in the United States. We may not have a strategic gas reserve here, but the Prime Minister can lower gas prices by temporarily reducing the GST on gasoline and diesel. This would save small businesses, commuters and seniors on a fixed income 8¢ a litre. Will…
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Mr. Speaker, when first I said that the Liberals’ ban on foreign buyers was so full of loopholes that it was like Swiss cheese, I had no idea that the government would give itself the biggest loophole of all in its budget law. Get this: After royal assent, the government gets to decide if it ever is allowed to come into force. That is right: NDP and Liberal members will vote for the ban that reall…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's intervention today and his attendance at the occasional finance meeting, where we can discuss housing inflation, among other things. He mentions, specifically, the so-called foreign buyers ban in Bill C-19. The minister has to, first of all, identify a particular property that falls outside the many loopholes and exemptions the government has given for a…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a slightly different point of order. One of the principles and guidelines for Oral Questions, and obviously members have to be seated in their assigned seats to direct their questions to the Chair, is that members ask only questions concerning a matter that is “within the administrative responsibility of the government”. I believe that if you check the question from the memb…
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Mr. Speaker, last year the Prime Minister flew to Tofino on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It was reported that he stayed in a $18-million surf mansion whose owner's name was found in the Paradise Papers. Now we hear media reports that high-ranking Canada Revenue Agency officials are making sweetheart deals with big businesses so they do not pay their fair share of tax. Could the P…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are horrified to hear media reports that high-ranking Canada Revenue Agency officials are making sweetheart deals with multinational corporations so they do not pay their fair share of tax revenue. Worse yet, internal Canada Revenue Agency emails raised concerns around corruption. Has the Minister of National Revenue met with the CRA Commissioner on this issue, and does she …
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Madam Speaker, these Liberals continually promise the moon to millennials, especially when it comes to housing affordability, but their new savings account for first-time homebuyers is not in this bill. The things that are in it either make the problem worse, or they do not help at all. In Bill C-19 itself there is an assignment of sale that would only give more revenue to the government, which wo…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, Princeton, British Columbia, is a rural community in my riding with a population under 3,000. Six months ago, the community was absolutely devastated by severe flooding. The damage was in the tens of millions of dollars, and whenever the promised federal disaster relief funding arrives, it will not be nearly enough. However, there is hope. The community has rallied together like nev…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member's interventions at committee and also here. Yes.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I was placed on the finance committee and later elected as vice-chair very late in the process of Bill C-8, so unfortunately I only got to see the tail end of it. As I said, and this is something the member for Abbotsford was very strident on, the reason we were elected to this place is to make sure that we are producing legislation that fits the times. Unfortunately, this particula…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the good people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola. I have to warn members that this is not the first time I have participated in debating the bill. In fact, the bill was first introduced back in December. Now, much has changed in our world since that time, and much of it, sadly, has not been for the better. Recently, I reviewed my pr…
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Mr. Speaker, we cannot trust these Liberals. They tell hopeful millennials who make good wages and are stuck in their parents' basement, time after time, that they will act on housing affordability. Let us take blind bidding. These Liberals promised that they would ban it. Outside of making it a criminal offence, it is clearly an area that is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces. Will…
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Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's efforts here in the House to make sure that these points are being raised. If we have refugees coming from other countries who are experiencing difficulties, I know the Anglican Church of Canada has publicly raised the fact that there is too much paperwork in the government's process. Even if they get through that paperwork, other charitable group…
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Mr. Speaker, millennials with good jobs just want out of their parents' basements, but the cost of living under the Liberal government is going through the roof. The budget's signature housing promise is a shiny new savings account, but who has $8,000 a year to save, with out-of-control gas, grocery and housing inflation? Could the Minister of Housing please enlighten us: Where will these millenni…
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Mr. Speaker, from the Liberal government that brought us a disastrous air passenger bill of rights, which has been panned by consumer groups as completely useless, the government now wants to do a so-called homebuyer bill of rights. Page 47 of the budget says this is under provincial jurisdiction. Could the Minister of Housing please enlighten us as to exactly how the government will protect consu…
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's intervention. He is very thoughtful and I do appreciate his work at the finance committee. Let us start with supply. Supply needs to happen, rather than giving CMHC $4 billion over the next five years for a program that says it is going to be flexible with municipalities but does not actually say what the money is supposed to do. One of the key aspe…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a challenge because the Liberals continually promise things that they either have no idea how to deliver or no intention of delivering. We have seen this with infrastructure. Again, they dangle out that they are going to fund certain things and then they do not do them. When they are promising to deal with transit or even military spending in this budget, here is the question. T…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member from Winnipeg for giving me this stimulative lesson. I will say again that Stephen Gordon, professor of economics at Laval University, said, “We're at full employment, inflation has burst out of our comfort zone and the Bank of Canada is embarking on an aggressive tightening cycle. This is not the time for expansionary fiscal policy.” I am glad to open my ey…
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's intervention here today. He specifically cited the tax-free first home savings account as being a measure that his constituents would utilize, so I have some questions for him. First, what about the member's constituents who do not have $8,000 a year to set aside? Second, what happens over the next five years? Obviously, in the previous five years w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in this place and talk about things that my constituents, the great people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, care about and to talk a bit about the budget. Obviously, the budget is the social economic blueprint for the government to give the bureaucracy direction as to what it wants to have done. I looked at the budget in its totality, and it has b…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Abbotsford, not only for his public service but also for his giving a shout-out to all those communities still recovering from the floods of last year on which we have seen no action from the government. The finance committee heard from Statistics Canada that it has not recorded this level of inflation in 30 years, and in fact the main drivers were…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, like everything in this spend-DP-Liberal budget, what they announce is not what we get. Instead of a real ban on foreign ownership and housing like the Conservatives proposed, their so-called ban on foreign buyers is anything but that. Under this policy, a foreign national can still purchase a home. If they separate from their spouse, they can buy another home. If their child turns 18…
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Mr. Speaker, another spend-DP-Liberal housing policy that is not as advertised is the first-time homebuyer savings account. So many millennials cannot go to the bank of mom and dad and instead have to scrimp and save every penny, and they do not qualify today for a mortgage because of the Liberal stress test. If those who are fortunate enough to have saved today cannot get into a home, how in the …
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promises, he spends, he fails, he spins and then he repeats. The Prime Minister cannot help himself, let alone help millennials who are stuck in their parents' basements. Even last week, he was in my home province of British Columbia promising more action on housing affordability. When millennials see that housing prices have doubled since 2015, when he was elected …
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Mr. Speaker, in the last election, the Prime Minister cut and pasted from the Conservative housing plan and promised Canadians, “Houses shouldn't sit empty when so many Canadians are trying to buy a home. So, we are going to ban foreign ownership in Canada for the next two years.” However, he has done nothing of the sort. Why does the Prime Minister habitually promise things he has no intention of…
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Mr. Speaker, the only thing dropping in this housing market is the Liberals' credibility on affordability. At committee, Statistics Canada representatives said, “We have not seen gains this large in 30 years. The price increases are broad-based, with the biggest drivers being gasoline, food, supply chains and a heated housing market.” Will the minister admit to his failures, or will he continue to…
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Mr. Speaker, too many millennials make good money but are stuck in their parents' basements. They lose all hope when they see home prices up 36% in Toronto. At committee, a GTA Liberal member of Parliament said that Canada has a “healthy housing market”, yet witness after witness said the opposite. The Minister of Housing has access to the best housing information in the country. Does the minister…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Calgary Nose Hill for putting the bill forward in such a non-partisan manner. There is a huge opportunity for Canada. We just need to look at what happened with Ethereum. Ethereum was largely developed in Canada, but has moved to Switzerland. Why? It is because countries like Switzerland and Japan have clearly laid out national rules that explain what kind of …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member for his contributions to today's pre-budget concurrence debate. There is a very important issue in the Okanagan and, in fact, throughout Similkameen as well. The federal government will be doing a replacement program for the wine industry. Most people would ask what that has to do with anything. Well, on July 1, anyone in the wine industry, whether they have …
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the member for actually mentioning the pre-budget consultation report, which is the actual thing we are supposed to be talking about here in the motion. Actually, the title is, “Considering the Path Forward”. I would hope—
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Mr. Speaker, promises of housing affordability are a complete joke under this government. For example, housing prices in Toronto are up over 36%. In Montreal and Vancouver, they are up over 20%, and in Calgary and Ottawa, they are up 16%. All of these urban centres are full of hard-working young people who just want to get out of their parents' basements. When will the spend-DP-Liberal MPs join Co…
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Madam Speaker, as a point of order on relevance, we are discussing the pre-budget consultation and concurrence. Maybe the member could steer his thoughts and start talking about that.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's contributions to the debate today. Specifically, I would like to ask him about carbon capture, utilization and storage. The government has been making promises, through the Minister of Finance, to the energy industry. It has said it will support an investment tax credit to allow for those pathways to net-zero projects to move forward. There are a …
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Madam Speaker, I am glad the member talked about and actually read the report by the Standing Committee on Finance. Some of the other speakers obviously spoke for 20 minutes without any reference to what was in the report. On recommendation 191, the member and I will maybe debate a bit and disagree on that recommendation, which is for infrastructure for electric vehicles. I have spoken with the in…
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Madam Speaker, as a point of relevance, the member should be speaking to this motion today. I know he seems to be getting a little—
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, earlier this week, the Prime Minister flew all the way to Vancouver to make a speech on his new climate plan. As is often the case with this Prime Minister, promises were made. However, here is the thing. It is now five months since communities like Princeton in British Columbia were hit hard by devastating floods, and as we all know, this Prime Minister told the good people of Prin…
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Mr. Speaker, first-time homebuyers with good wages want to get out of their parents' basements. It is like a slap in the face to find out that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation now offers government-backed mortgages with a 50-year amortization to landlords, yet denies first-time homebuyers a 25-year mortgage. Why is the spend-DP-Liberal coalition fighting for more spending and lending to…
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Mr. Speaker, the spend-DP-Liberal coalition has never seen a rule on tax it did not like, regardless of how inflationary it would be. Take, for example, making an energy rating mandatory when selling a home. The Ontario Real Estate Association calls this a crazy thing to do in the middle of a historic housing affordability crisis, as it would only increase the cost of buying a home. Why is the spe…
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Mr. Speaker, the only thing progressive about the spend-DP-Liberal coalition is that people are progressively paying more for everything. Inflation bleeds the purchasing power of every single Canadian. The Governor of the Bank of Canada has confirmed that the carbon tax is inflationary. Some point to rebates, but the Parliamentary Budget Officer says the government will collect more than it rebate…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We had many discussions in QP today, particularly around the Bank of Canada confirming that the carbon tax is inflationary. I have the letter from the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, and would like to table it with unanimous consent. I have it in both official languages, so I think if you seek it, you shall find unanimous consent to hear about…
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Madam Speaker, housing costs are out of control. Toronto is up 36%, Montreal 20%, Vancouver 21%, and it is clear that the Liberals' plan to help good wage earners get out of their parents' basements is not working. Conservatives want to ban foreign ownership, dedicate federal properties for housing and create density around federal transit projects. The NDP-Liberals rejected all that. Since the ND…
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