Dean Allison

Mr. Speaker, Canadians with documented, serious and permanent COVID-19 vaccine injuries have been waiting years for help. A government contractor was hired to provide that help. The government contractor got $54 million for little to no results. Two-thirds of that money went to administration and overhead. Only 252 out of tens of thousands of vaccine-injured people were given any help at all. On what day are the victims going to get their money?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals elected a Prime Minister they thought was an economic genius. They got fooled that he was a master negotiator. He sold himself as the guy to hire in a crisis. He caused a crisis in the U.K. and then ran away from it. Then he came to Canada and deceived people with his fearmongering and caused a recession within a year. Canada is now the only G20 country in a recession. We have the highest household debt and the worst housing affordability, and unemployment, especially among young people, is at shocking levels. Investment is down for five straight quarters. Do not worry, though, folks. The Prime Minister has a genius master plan: He hides from question period and the media. He blames everybody but himself and mutters something about needing more immigration to fix the messy—

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Special Joint Committee on the Exercise of Powers Under the Building Canada Act, entitled “Review of the Governor in Council’s and the Minister’s Exercise of Their Powers and Performance of Their Duties and Functions Under the Building Canada Act”.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present two petitions on behalf of the residents of my riding of Niagara West on Bill C-9. In both petitions, the petitioners are concerned that the Liberal and Bloc amendments to Bill C-9 could be used to criminalize passages from sacred texts. The petitioners also say that the state has no place in the religious texts or teachings of any faith community. They believe freedom of expression and religion are fundamental rights that must be preserved. Finally, the petitioners call upon the government to protect religious freedom, uphold the right to read and share sacred texts, and prevent government overreach into matters of faith.

Mr. Speaker, I have another petition on a totally separate issue that I would like to present. It was initiated by a constituent of mine, Jim Jeffs. The petition calls on the government to remove the licence of cannabis producers that allows the escape of cannabis odours. It also asks to raise the minimum age of possession of cannabis to 25 years and not allow the production of cannabis in edible form. Finally, the petitioners ask the government to act on the recommendations from the Cannabis Act review, which include setting and monitoring targets for reducing youth and young adult cannabis use, and reinstating health warning messages that pertain to serious cannabis-related mental health risks, including psychosis and schizophrenia.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask the same question. At the end of the day, if we are not investing back in our businesses, how are we going to grow the economy? After five quarters of negative growth in business investment, how exactly are we going to grow our economy?

Mr. Speaker, as a member of Parliament, I attend some fantastic events with some of the most amazing people in the world. Shine On was one such event, held on a beautiful Niagara evening. It was hosted by John Howard of Megalomaniac winery, and we could feel right away that it was something special. It really spoke to the kind of community we have and that I am so proud to represent. What stood out most to me at the event was the leadership from Kevin and Linda Luttjehuizen and their daughter Kaitlyn. Kevin and Linda are proud owners of Harmony Jewellers. They have raised over $1 million for the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital Foundation and McNally House Hospice, two of the most important organizations in our community. What an incredible contribution that is by this family. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Harmony Jewellers. After five decades of support from the community, they are making sure they return that support in a meaningful way. Given the challenges that Harmony Jewellers and its staff have faced over the past year, seeing that kind of generosity and resilience on display was remarkable. It was one of those nights that remind us of what our community is really all about.

Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of petitions to present today from the fine folks in my riding of Niagara West. The first petition talks about Bill C-9 and the petitioners' concern around the Liberal-Bloc amendments to Bill C-9, an act to amend the Criminal Code in relation to hate propaganda, hate crime and access to religion or cultural places, which could be used to criminalize passages from the Bible, the Quran, the Torah and other sacred texts. I have another petition to present on Bill C-9. Once again, there are thousands of signatures from people in Niagara West. The concerns of petitioners are that the state has no place in the religious texts or teaching of any faith community, and that freedom of expression and freedom of religion are fundamental rights that must be preserved. Therefore, the petitioning citizens and residents call upon the Government of Canada to protect religious freedom; to uphold the right to read and share sacred texts; and to prevent government overreach when it comes to matters of faith.

Mr. Speaker, today marks the start of national public safety telecommunicators week. It is a week to honour the dedicated 911 communicators who serve as the calm, steady voices behind the line during some of the most terrifying moments of a person's life. These professionals are often the first responders in an emergency. They listen to things that no one else will ever hear: the raw panic in a parent's voice, the final breaths of a loved one and the heartbreaking sobs of a family facing unimaginable grief. They carry a heavy emotional burden, yet after a difficult call, they take a deep breath, compose themselves and answer the next call with the same compassion, focus and professionalism. Every 911 communicator across this country should know how much they are appreciated. Their compassion, their courage and their steady presence in people's darkest moments matter more than they will ever know. We see the difficult work they do, we respect the weight they carry every shift and we are truly, deeply grateful.

Mr. Speaker, Canada's auto sector has been gutted. Production was cut in half since 2015. Thousands of jobs are gone and exports have collapsed. Now, with U.S. tariffs hammering our workers, the Prime Minister has done nothing to stop them. Instead, he has accepted them as permanent while using Canadian tax dollars to subsidize foreign-built vehicles. That is not a plan. That is surrender. The Conservatives have put forward a tariff-free auto pact to double production, restore our supply chains and bring jobs back to Canada. Will the Prime Minister stand up for Canadian workers and support our plan, or will he continue with the managed decline of the auto sector, just like the—

Mr. Speaker, once again it is an honour to rise in the House. As I like to do every chance I get, I want to thank the voters who voted for me in Niagara West. I never want to take that vote for granted. I want to make sure they understand, every time I stand up, that I appreciate the support I have been given over the last 21 and a half years. When I look at what has gone on and why we have the opposition motion today, one of the things that concerns me is the fact that I continue to see crime on the rise, and it is evident all around me. I will give the example of what happened during my campaign. My campaign office last year was in Grimsby, Ontario, just a few doors down from a jewellery store. In daylight hours, I think it was actually around noontime, a truck backed up and smashed into the store in an attempt to rob it. It shows how organized the thieves were that not only did they smash into the store with a pickup truck, but when they got out of the truck, they also had another car waiting, and from that car they drove to another car. We think about this as organized crime because it was not just a couple of random people doing a smash-and-grab; it was actually something organized at a much higher level. This has been happening in major cities around the country. I have not seen a lot of it in rural parts like Niagara, and certainly not in a town like Grimsby. However, what was so troubling to me was the fact that this was the third time this happened in three months. Think about that for a second. We were campaigning in April, and within three to four months, the same jewellery store was hit for the third time. Think about that. This is a local jeweller who gives back to the community and does a bunch of stuff. As a matter of fact, there were people in the store who were actually doing repair work from the previous break-in. When we talk about jail not bail, and things like that, this is why we need to look at what is going on. A number of other incidents happened in my riding, which is very troubling. The store I was talking about is Harmony Jewellers. The robberies were absolutely horrible to see happen. In the middle of the day, on a busy street, that was happening. People could have been hurt, not only by being attacked as the truck drove into the back of the store, but during the getaway as well. I look at some of the other things that are happening, and the member for Niagara South has done a great job talking about a repeat violent offender in Welland. He has been talking about the issue non-stop. These are small towns where we are not used to seeing this type or level of violence. It is not first-time violence; the troubling thing is that it is a repeat violent offenders. When I look at these things, I realize that our communities are not much safer. I look at violent crime statistics since 2015 when we were last in government, and I see that a number of violent crimes are up by over 55%. Firearms crimes are up 130%. Extortion has skyrocketed 330% across Canada. Sexual assaults are up 76%, and homicides are up 29%. Other members have mentioned this today, but I think we need to continually reaffirm these numbers and let people know that they are not safer than they were when the Conservative government was last in power in 2015. The challenge is that what the Liberals are great at doing is talking in a very fanciful way about things they are going to do. They say, “This is what we are going to do. This is what we hope to accomplish. We are going to have some meetings, and we are going to set up some round tables.” However, what they fail to ever do is deliver on results. At the end of the day, when we look at today's opposition motion, it makes a whole lot of sense that the people who are repeat violent offenders should be getting jail and not bail. The other thing these reports do not address is the fact that most people have given up on the system. They do not even want to report, because they are worried and they are concerned. A number of my colleagues have been talking about extortion. We have seen it out west in a variety of places, with some places just outside Vancouver. We have not seen that level of activity in my riding, and I am grateful for that, but those kinds of things still happen in Ontario in places like Brampton. As we continue to look at what has gone on, we need to look at the numbers. We need to look at the facts. We need to understand that what is going on right now is not getting better; it is getting worse. The words that we are getting from these guys are nothing more than that: They are just words.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to stand and present a petition from the folks in my riding who are really concerned about the Liberals' Bill C-9. The petition says Canadians are concerned that the Liberal-Bloc amendments to Bill C-9 could be used to criminalize scriptural passages, that the state has no place in the religious text or teachings of any faith community and that freedom of expression and freedom of religion are fundamental rights that must be preserved. Therefore the petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to protect religious freedoms, uphold the right to read and share sacred texts, and prevent government overreach when it comes to matters of faith.

Mr. Speaker, I sit here amused once again at the absolute arrogance of the Liberals, who think they are the only ones who could have a plan for this country. As a matter of fact, after 10 years of an absolute disaster, they still think their way forward is the best way. When anyone else challenges that vision, Liberals automatically say they are self-interested and only doing it for themselves. Does the member right there not think that the most self-interested person in the whole government is the current Prime Minister?

Mr. Speaker, it does pay to be Brookfield under this government. Just last month, Canadians were told that we are sending $528 million of our money to the European Space Agency. That is great news for European jobs and an even bigger coincidence for Brookfield, because it just happens to own 50% of a campus in the U.K. that is home to a major ESA facility. I am sure the Prime Minister, the former chair of Brookfield Asset Management, was just as surprised as the rest of us when this deal landed. This is the same Brookfield that, while the Prime Minister was chair, used Bermuda addresses above bike shops and Cayman Island post office boxes to avoid paying billions in Canadian taxes that could have helped the more than 2.2 million Canadians now relying on food banks every month or the young families who have given up dreaming of ever owning their own home. Connected insiders keep winning, while regular Canadians keep getting the bill. Conservatives will keep exposing this every single day, because clearly, someone has to.

Mr. Speaker, as we approach the joyous Christmas season and the promise of a new year, I rise to extend warm holiday greetings to all Canadians. This is a time of celebration, reflection and gratitude, a time to cherish family, friends and the many blessings we share in this great country. First, I thank my wonderful wife and children for their unwavering love, patience and support throughout another busy year. They are my greatest joy and inspiration. The hard work and commitment of my dedicated staff in Ottawa and back home in Niagara West make everything possible, and I am truly grateful for each of them. I also thank the incredible constituents of Niagara West, which includes Grimsby, Lincoln, West Lincoln, Pelham, Wainfleet and St. Catharines, for their trust, their kindness and the privilege of serving them. It is an honour to call this beautiful part of Canada home. From my family to everyone, merry Christmas and may we never forget the real reason for the season: the birth of Christ. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Mr. Speaker, as always, I want to thank my constituents of Niagara West for putting their trust in me to be their voice here in Ottawa. It is an honour and a privilege to serve them. I have been their representative in this place since 2004, and I will continue to tirelessly fight for their interests every single day. Unfortunately, the Liberal government, through 10 consecutive budgets, is working against the interests of my constituents. In fact, I believe it is working against the interests of Canadians in general. The Liberal track record under Justin Trudeau was abysmal, and it is the same bunch running things again for the new Prime Minister, so it is no surprise then that things are actually getting worse. Let us not forget that the Prime Minister was Justin Trudeau's economic adviser since 2020. Many issues have gotten exponentially worse since he took office in April of this year. He promised he would fix things. Well, he has not done much fixing, but he sure is travelling a lot. He has circled the planet four times over with spectacularly bad results. In fact, he has done nothing but burn jet fuel and contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions. The Prime Minister first promised he would have a deal done with the United States by July 21, and then he changed it to August 1. He has travelled there a few times, so where is the deal? Today is December 2, and there is no deal and none being worked on as we speak. Things are so bad on the negotiation front that every time the Prime Minister goes somewhere, including the United States, somehow Canadians end up paying more tariffs. It is one failure after another, but if we listen to the Liberals talk in this place, they would say that Canadians have never had it so good. Sometimes I think they live in an alternative universe. They even say that we are imagining the taxes we are paying on food and fuel. All people have to do is watch question period and they will hear it for themselves. The rhetoric does not match the facts on the ground. That is what the most frustrating part is for Canadians. Hard-working Canadians are losing their jobs on a daily basis. Let us recap a few here. Stellantis announced that 3,000 Canadian jobs will head south to Illinois. A week later, General Motors said that it is ending electrical van production at the CAMI assembly plant, putting 1,200 people out of work at their Ingersoll plant. Quebec truck manufacturer Paccar was forced to lay off 300 workers because of additional American tariffs on commercial trucks, bringing the total job cuts to 725 in their Sainte-Thérèse plant. These followed TFT Global laying off 425 workers in Oshawa, and Magna cutting 49 jobs in London. In Ear Falls, 150 union workers were laid off when the town's sawmill shut down. One hundred and fifty workers were laid off by Western Forest Products in B.C. and 150 more workers from Interfor's Ontario plants. Just yesterday, we found out that Algoma Steel will let go of 1,000 workers. All these people have families, mortgages, bills and kids to take care of. These folks are now wondering what is next and what is going to happen to their futures. Does the Prime Minister care? That is debatable. Recently, the Prime Minister said that he did not care about the U.S. negotiations that led to the layoffs I just mentioned. When asked about the trade talks, the Prime Minister responded with a smug, “Who cares?” and that he did not “have a burning issue to speak with the president about right now,” while Canadian families and businesses are suffering. Let us not forget that he is the one who promised to negotiate a win and to handle Donald Trump. Canadians are still waiting while things are getting worse and worse. The Liberal deficit this year is nearly $80 billion. The national debt is a staggering $1.3 trillion. Let us put it this way: For each individual watching at home today, and for every Canadian, their portion is $33,000. That is every single Canadian's debt to pay back. When I say every single Canadian, I mean from newborn infants to seniors in long-term care facilities. It is everyone. They owe $33,000 and this amount is only getting bigger. Why is it getting bigger? The interest payment alone is about $60 billion a year as these deficits continue year after year. It is what experts call an economic ticking time bomb. An analyst at Reuters warned that the deficit trajectory risks undermining confidence in Canada's long-term financial stability. Let me translate that so that my Liberal colleagues can understand. The Reuters analyst basically said that Liberals are managing this country like a teenager handles their first Visa card: buy now, cry later. We all know the current slogan, in essence, is the same as Justin Trudeau's. The Prime Minister's “we are spending less and investing more” slogan is just Justin Trudeau's “the budget will balance itself” nonsense. What do they have to show for all these deficits they have been running for last 10 years? As expected, it is nothing but terrible results. We are seeing depression, hunger, homelessness, addiction and crime. We have an affordability crisis the likes of which we have not seen in generations. Young folks cannot buy homes. They are delaying starting families. They are living in their parents' basements and they do not see a way out. We have a 7% unemployment rate overall. It is double for young people. What about attracting investment to Canada? There is not much there either. Business investment is cratering. For folks listening at home, when businesses decide not to invest in Canada, it means that jobs are not being created in Canada. Like I have been saying for many years, Liberal red tape and over-regulation are choking the life out of Canadian businesses and foreign investment. Business confidence in Canada is already at low and near recessive levels, according to multiple surveys. Do not worry, the Liberals have a plan, which is to cross their fingers, close their eyes and whisper manifesting affirmations. RBC politely described the Liberals' expectations for their budget as overly optimistic. Let us translate this too. A banker is basically saying that these people are dreaming. What about the Liberal record on affordability? I think that everyone at this point knows that the Liberal out-of-control spending and taxation have caused hunger, poverty and homelessness in our society. The average household pays 41% more in income taxes in 2023 than in 2010. Let me say that again, because most Canadians will be shocked to hear this. The average household paid 41% more income taxes in 2023 than in 2010. I wonder who was in government then. More than one in four Canadians needed to use savings or borrow money to buy food. More than one in four is experiencing food insecurity. The average family of four will spend over $800 more this year on groceries compared to last. We are seeing food bank lineups reminiscent of bread lines in communist regimes. Food bank visits are at an all-time high. More than a million people visited the food bank in the past year. In Ontario, one out of every 16 people has gone to a food bank because they cannot afford to eat. That is 24,000 people across the province every single day. It is a staggering 87% increase compared to 2020. How anyone can think they are doing a good job given these statistics is astonishing to me. Food banks across the country are at a breaking point. That is the record of the Liberal Party of Canada for the last 10 years. That is the record that they are somehow proud of. The policies they have chosen to implement, like taxing people into poverty, inflationary spending that makes people's paycheques worth less and over-regulating businesses into bankruptcy, or worse than that, out of the country, are their record. That is what they have been able to achieve. All the while, they are getting cozier with foreign hostile powers like China, when the Liberals are fully aware that Beijing has been involved in espionage and interfering in Canada's elections. How many examples of Beijing interference in Canada do the Liberals need to understand that Beijing is Canada's adversary, not a friend? The Liberals have barely addressed the Winnipeg lab situation, where two so-called scientists were fired from the lab because they were working in Beijing's interests. All of that said, this is really what Canada has become. It is what this generation will be known for: an affordability crisis, a housing crisis, a foreign affairs crisis, a trade crisis and many other crises, probably, the way things are going. There is hope at the end of the tunnel. Canadians can rest assured that with a Conservative government, this type of devastation directly caused by Liberals will be fixed. It will be fixed with common-sense ideas and policies that put Canadian families at the centre. Canadians want lower taxes, affordable food and homes, and an overall life that is a safe life. They want a future for our children that involves being able to have a family in a home on a safe street and pride in who we are as Canadians. Our Conservative plan is one of pragmatism. It is time for the Liberals to admit that they have failed spectacularly in the last 10 years. As our Conservative leader has said repeatedly, please copy our plan. We talk about it in this place all the time. We have laid it out online for people to read, including Liberal MPs from across the aisle. Canadians are desperate for a change in direction. I think all of us in this place want what is best for Canadians. I truly do. Let us make this happen. Let us work together toward a future that Canadians can be proud of. The budget, as it currently stands, is simply not it. That is why I just cannot support the budget and why I will be voting against it.

Mr. Speaker, our job as the opposition is to make bills better. There are a number of bills that have come through us. We are talking about the budget right now, but we can talk about Bill C-8, Bill C-9 and a number of other bills that, quite frankly, are not in the best interest of Canadians. Our job as parliamentarians is to make those bills better. I have no problem at all trying to do that. We were elected to represent our constituents, point out the flaws in these bills and try to make them better. That is what we will do. This is our job. This is our requirement. This is what we will continue to do.

Mr. Speaker, my colleague from the Bloc raises an excellent point. Nowhere have we ever seen what the government is trying to do. Really, what it is trying to do is con Canadians. This is what it is trying to do. The government is trying to explain to Canadians that, somehow, we have two separate categories, operations and investment, when at the end of the day, parliaments from around the world look at spending as just one thing, as the member so aptly pointed out. It is one bucket. We can call it operations. We can call it marketing. We can call it investments, whatever we want to call it. The reality is that the government spends money. Money comes in in the form of taxes, and then what happens at the end of the day is that governments are responsible for then redistributing that money. The member makes an excellent point. No matter how we spend it, it is still spending.

Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. I really believe it is a dereliction of duty of the Prime Minister and the government. It is absolutely unconscionable that it is walking away from our largest trading partner, the most important trading partner, and saying, “Who cares?” They do not really think about it. They are not really concerned about the automotive industry, and then they are shocked when they have all these additional tariffs because they will not sit down to actually negotiate. They are shocked when they spend all their time making fun of other world leaders and somehow think this is not going to affect our relationships in any way. It was disastrous under Justin Trudeau because of how incompetent he was in trying to represent us, but now, for the government to continue along the same vein, is absolutely unconscionable. I feel sorry. I feel sad, and I feel very disappointed for all these workers who are going to suffer.

Mr. Speaker, can the Prime Minister explain to Canadians why every time we ask about a conflict of interest with Brookfield, his answer is basically, who cares, nothing to see here, and just ignore the fact that he used to run the place. Canadians are starting to wonder: If Brookfield were any closer to the government, would it need a visitor's pass or just a set of cabinet keys? How can Canadians trust that decisions are not being made in a boardroom instead of the House of Commons, or is the Liberal government now offering loyalty points for conflict of interest?