Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate the community of Taber in my riding for being named a finalist in this year's Kraft Hockeyville competition and for being selected as Alberta's provincial winner, earning $50,000 for arena upgrades, along with a chance to compete for the $250,000 grand prize and the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game. This recognition comes at a critical time for T…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's question. It attempts to drive at some clarity as to motivation, but the Bloc is the sponsor of that amendment. It would have, and would continue to have, a chilling effect on these faith groups across the country. The government does not have a good record with respect to restraining itself from overreach as its ideologues and ideologies evolve through tim…
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Mr. Speaker, I suppose I appreciate the question from the member opposite, but such as it is, I do not know of any organizations that I affiliate with that are advocating for hate speech and trying hate speech. The religious organizations I have spoken to, including the United Church, the Catholic bishops and many other pastors and congregations in my riding are absolutely chilled. They are absolu…
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Mr. Speaker, since I took office, my office has not received more letters, emails, phone calls or petitions on any single issue than on Bill C-9. Every day, dozens of residents in my riding call my office about the bill, and if the Liberals were honest, they would admit they are hearing the same. These families, religious leaders and ordinary Canadians are not confused. They are not misinformed. T…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the contribution to this discussion from the hon. member, my colleague. I wonder if he could comment a bit on the lack of consultation with agents like those from the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada, and with Orthodox rabbis. There has been no serious consultation on this particular contentious part of the bill, and that feedback would be most in…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not believe the member from across the way, the Liberal heritage minister, that the Liberals would feel restrained in any way at all. This would simply embolden them to silence dissent, silence opinions that are opposed to theirs and further divide Canadian society. I appreciate the question from my colleague.
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Mr. Speaker, that was a great speech, and I think it causes us to have a lot of thought. I wonder if my colleague could comment on the really insidious nature of what we are facing here right now related to the likelihood of self-censorship that would happen if this bill is implemented.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, the chilling impact of self-censoring goes directly to what the problem is with all of this. The entire population could be subject at different times to exactly that, and that is frightening.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member's statement and thoughtful words. Could the member comment on the notion that, just like the magic of compound interest, we have what seems to be compound bureaucracy, where we get bureaucracy upon bureaucracy that just gums up the works and makes matters worse? Could the member also comment on how the system could become more efficient to reduce the bureaucr…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for introducing the bill. I really appreciate it. I have spent a lot of time since I came to Parliament visiting my riding and speaking with constituents about their circumstances. The cost of living is palpable across the country, and not just in my home province. A big part of the cost of living crisis is related to the affordability of homes. I do not he…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know where to start. There are so many elements to what the hon. member across the way has discussed. I would like to just begin with the preamble that he recognizes again that I am right, and in fact probably far right, and more right than him. I would ask the member opposite, if the government is so interested in collaborating and so interested in collaborative results and …
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Mr. Speaker, commerce resuming does not mean tariffs are coming off. Beijing has postponed its decision on whether it will reduce tariffs on Canadian canola just weeks before seeding begins. Decisions need to be made now by farmers. Last year many farmers, including me, chose not to seed canola because of those tariffs and the price collapse. Yet the Prime Minister stood before Canadians and said …
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Mr. Speaker, I find it a bit rich that the member is more than willing to demonize one source as biased yet claim the Canadian Climate Institute as gospel and as a reliable source, since it is funded solely by the government. Could the member comment on the relationship between the cost of energy and poverty, globally? It has been demonstrated by innumerable sources that higher costs of energy in …
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Mr. Speaker, Canada used to be a nation of builders. We used to stand on our own two feet. Instead, Liberals are standing in our way when Canada should be strong, united and ready to build. Conservatives worked with the government to pass Bill C-5, handing it powers to approve major projects faster, but the PM's rhetoric has not matched reality. Not a single new project was approved, and not a sin…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to present today a dissenting report from the environment committee. This report, born amid global and domestic upheavals, threatens to shackle Canadian companies with expensive regulations that shove ideology down the throat of reality. It is another top-down decree from ivory towers, fattening consultants while choking off capital to those who have built this nation's prosper…
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour today to rise to present a petition on behalf of Canadians who are concerned about the Liberal-Bloc amendments to Bill C-9. These amendments are looking to criminalize speaking and teaching texts from the Bible and other sacred texts. This has no place in our society, which is protected by our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These are fundamental rights. The freedom …
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite inspiring to see an opposition party or a party in the House that has absolute conviction and no equivocation of its principles. I applaud the member for that, and I really think it is a very important feature. This is unlike our Liberal colleagues, who are trying to play both sides of the fence, and I wonder how good that picket fence is feeling right now. I wonder if the…
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Madam Speaker, I have come to learn that a very common feature of questions in the House is for members to ask them repeatedly and still not get an answer. I apologize that I do not have a clear opinion. I am just not well versed in the circumstance of the previous reality. It seems reasonable, but I do not know for sure.
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Madam Speaker, today I rise to speak to Bill C-13 and the impacts it would have on cattle producers, especially in my riding of Bow River, but first I want to recognize the storied history and legacy of ranchers in southern Alberta. The beef industry has long been vital to the region. Since the late 1800s and the era of open grazing, the herds of the Circle Ranch, the Bar U and many others have gr…
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Madam Speaker, the comments and questions from the member opposite are truly one of the greatest pleasures to experience in this House. Alberta beef, and Canadian beef worldwide, is noted for its quality. It is sought out by the world because it is the best beef in the world. However, I think the member misunderstood. I was not talking about the Philippines and the partners that we already have in…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak. Likewise, being an Alberta beef producer, I have some difference in opinion as to where the best beef in the world comes from. This is not an opportunity for a schism in the caucus, but it is a great discussion. Policy matters. That is what I was trying to get at in the gist of my speech, that it is about the people, their life and their attach…
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Madam Speaker, taxes on goods make everything go up, and make everything more expensive in life. There is less—
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Madam Speaker, I am very thankful for the opportunity to rise today in the House to speak to Bill C-4, a bill respecting certain affordability measures for Canadians and another measure. I will not be speaking to the other measure, but I will be speaking to the first three. I am splitting my time today with the member for Richmond Centre—Marpole. Let me begin with a simple truth. Some elements of …
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Mr. Speaker, last week, Liberal members scrambled to explain that their so-called MOU with Alberta was not the approval of a pipeline. It was just more consultations, and the B.C. Liberal caucus rushed to distance themselves from it entirely. The same agreement includes a massive increase in the industrial carbon tax, a hike that will raise the cost of everything for families and businesses alread…
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Madam Speaker, it is two parts, two questions and too much time. With voting, it is up to the government to convince us how to vote and to bring in the amendments required to make this something that will actually help Canadians. It is up to the government House leader to earn the support across the aisle. As to the first part of the member's question relating to the Premier of Alberta, the grand …
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Madam Speaker, the short answer is that the question answers itself. It is absolutely ridiculous that this is the circumstance seniors find themselves in after more than 10 years of the Liberal government. Thirteen and a half cents is a pittance and an insult to the people who have worked so hard and contributed their whole lives to the building of this country. It is absolutely not acceptable, no…
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Madam Speaker, again, the member opposite knows full well it is fully up to the government and the House leader to convince this side of the aisle that the government has good legislation, or it could accept our amendments and incorporate them into the legislation. It is absolutely a no-brain circumstance, and that may be part of the problem on the other side of the aisle. Amend the legislation. M…
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Mr. Speaker, I am shocked the member opposite did not state that I was right, like far right, even more right. An adage I have from when I was working in the field in the oil and gas industry is that, as one of the engineering staff, “The engineer is here, and he is here to help” was the biggest fallacy and joke in the system. A more poignant adage is “I am from the government. I am here to help a…
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Mr. Speaker, this is another example of the disconnect between our position and the Liberal position. The self-serving nature, apparently, of the transactions taking place have a very bad perception. The reality is that the Liberals are not going to help the Canadians on the street, day to day. We need to get government out of the way, programs reduced and taxes reduced so that people keep more mo…
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Mr. Speaker, I have been waiting for an opportunity to address this issue in the House for ages. The government's exorbitant price for the Trans Mountain pipeline had a direct correlation to its jeopardizing of the project and its exposure to a suit by the private proponent that was going to build that pipeline for a quarter of the cost, or less, of what the government spent. I do not believe, and…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government's gun confiscation scheme has been a failure from the start. Its Cape Breton pilot reportedly collected just 22 guns, yet the government continues to hold back the official results. It is likely because this dismal result is true. Now the Liberals want to roll this broken program out nationally, including in southern Alberta. To make things even worse, the polic…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the hard-working families, farmers and forgotten rural communities of Bow River in southern Alberta to speak against a budget that will make life more expensive for every single Canadian. The government has delivered a spending plan that will drive up the cost of food, drive up the cost of housing, drive up the cost of energy and dig this country deeper and d…
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Mr. Speaker, as we enter the Christmas season and celebrate the birth of Christ, Canadians are reminded that this is a time not only of celebration and hope, but also of compassion and grace. Across our communities, local food banks and charities are working tirelessly to ensure that no family goes hungry and that every child feels the joy of Christmas. Their work reflects the best of who we are, …
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Mr. Speaker, every time the Prime Minister is wheels up, Canadian bank accounts go down. The Prime Minister has taken 28 trips, travelling far enough to circle Earth almost four times. What do Canadians have to show for it? There are no new trade deals and no concrete wins, just photo ops, fancy meetings and hollow letters of intent that never turn into real results. He met with China: higher tari…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is pushing ahead with a costly and misguided gun grab that ignores the real problem: illegal guns smuggled from the U.S. Instead, it is targeting the most responsible, law-abiding Canadians. In Cape Breton, the mayor says that he was not consulted. The local police union was blindsided, and the project is run by the brother-in-law of the local Liberal MP. Canadi…
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Mr. Speaker, I believe the Secretary of State for Sport was using unparliamentary language in describing a member of the House. I would ask him to withdraw it and apologize.
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Mr. Speaker, it is really disturbing to see this kind of thing. I hazard to speculate on where the sources might be, but it is very obvious that a lot of agencies and people will benefit from advertising this kind of behaviour and will profit from this kind of behaviour. I would not want to say that this was deliberate, but we need to establish a system that ensures abuse like this does not take p…
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Well, Mr. Speaker, there may be some we would have to be more selective with, just like a very good asylum system.
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Mr. Speaker, the RCMP indeed had a reputation globally of being absolutely top-shelf, but like any institution, it is subject to the potential of management weaknesses—
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Mr. Speaker, there are very good analogies all over government and all over private industry, but we have seen management weakness in previous governments and even in the most recent Parliament. That is what has brought us to this place today. I think all of us could ask for the best performance possible from our institutions globally.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my esteemed colleague, whom I highly respect. Bill C-12 is going in the right direction. It has merit, but on the reinforcement of accountability measures and the punishment and treatment of people abusing the system who are outright criminals, we need to ensure there is no more bail and that we fully follow through on all of these things. Otherwise, soc…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not a scholar of the Standing Orders. I understand that two items cannot be debated at the same time, but from that perspective, I cannot comment. I would like to thank the member for correcting me on the notion that Conservatives are the only ones who stand for the right thing to do. Every member of the House has the potential to cross the aisle and join the Conservative Party.
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Mr. Speaker, this is exactly what Canadians are expecting, but they do not trust that the government is going to follow through on accountability and responsibility measures to ensure that is the outcome that will be achieved. We are absolutely in support of stronger mechanisms, stronger controls and better accountability. I hope that a committee will be able to address enforcement and get those i…
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Mr. Speaker, I will not agree with my colleague. We do not believe that the changes would go far enough. Yes, change needs to happen, but the bill would not go far enough.
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I would do more. Mr. Speaker, I would keep the Crown accountable. I would keep the bureaucracy accountable. We would keep the system working for the benefit of the people and would ensure fair treatment of refugees and that people fleeing persecution and abuse worldwide have a safe haven in Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, mail is one of the most sacrosanct private communication methods we have in society. There is a presumption of privacy in our mail, and the bar must be exceedingly high to have a judicial review on any attempt or ability of the government to interfere with it or surveil it. I am very concerned. Any weakening of privacy conditions is problematic and prone to abuse.
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Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak to Bill C-12 today. Conservatives have forced the Liberals to back down from Bill C-2. That bill would have given the government broad powers to access Canadians' personal information from banks, telecoms and other service providers without a warrant. The Privacy Commissioner confirmed that the Liberals did not consult him before proposing th…
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Mr. Speaker, we request a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, I am another Alberta MP here, watching $1 trillion going out of the country. The Prime Minister keeps breaking his promises. He said Canada would be an energy superpower, yet he will not green-light a single pipeline. He promised the fastest-growing economy in the G7, but now we have the fastest-shrinking one. He said he would create jobs, but 86,000 are gone. Enbridge is calling out …
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