Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte is home to many great firsts. My community is home to the earliest published recipe of the iconic treat, the butter tart; the Oro African Methodist Episcopal Church, which is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, African log churches still standing in North America; and the historic Fort Willow Conservation Area, which was actively used as a supply depot…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, there seems to be a bit of a pattern developing here. I also would like to bring forward my issue with a non-answer, actually a failure to answer my question that was put, which is Question No. 1002. This is a very short question. It is not that I did not like the answer; I did not get an answer. In its answer, the government is saying it did not answer. I will put this into the rec…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, at the very beginning of his speech, the member mentioned that there is no place for handguns in Canadian society. I think I quoted him almost verbatim. While I agree there is no place for illegal handguns that criminals are using to commit crimes, I would like to remind him of a quote, especially since sitting very close to him there is a proud Olympian who might find this quote in…
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Madam Speaker, I should say the member has a good Olympian on his team over there, who may be interested to hear this. Lynda Kiejko said: I take great pride in representing my country on the world stage, as do all athletes. I'm sad that due to the handgun ban, the order in council, Bill C-71 and this proposed legislation, I will not be able to represent Canada on the world stage. Athletes who come…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, there is an exemption for Olympians, but not for someone who is not in the Olympics, so no one would be able to train to get there.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I want to be very clear: The Liberal government does not want us to debate Bill C-21. It wants it to be imposed on this House and on Canadians. Today, we are limited to just a single day of debate, because the Liberal government decided to force a closure motion through the House to prevent parliamentarians from debating this legislation in detail. This is fundamentally undemocratic…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, there are so many questions there that I am not sure which ones I will answer in the short five minutes I have. First of all, I have never done any fundraising on this issue. I have been on the public safety committee now for a year and a half and have sat through hours and hours of discussion on this topic. Do I think this is going to make our communities any safer? No, not whatsoe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, and if people were not listening I will repeat that part, in the past eight years, I believe, the maximum has never once been given. Yes, we agree with longer sentences, but if the maximum is not being given, what is the point of increasing it? We need to work on reducing crime, and we believe in giving harsher sentences, especially to people who are com…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, what I would like to talk about in response to that is factual information. It was amazing how much the NDP and the Liberals were siding with each other in those debates the member is talking about. We sat in that committee for so long, and I am curious to see what members from places such as Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, Courtenay—Alberni, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, North Island—Powe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I was not mispronouncing the ridings whatsoever. They are great areas. I have been to some of them and I would like to get to even more. I was in Nunavut last summer and it was very interesting. What I was pointing out is that all of these rural ridings I am sure will be very interested to know that the members of the NDP were siding with the Liberals at all the committee meetings a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, that is a great question. Yes, there is a lot of concern over that. We have no details on it, which is very concerning. We do not know who is going to be on the committee. We are assuming its members are going to be appointed by the Liberals. We feel that, down the road, the exact same hunting rifles and farmers' tools that were placed on the past G-4 and G-46 amendments will be pla…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, two years ago, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service detected that a member of Parliament and his family were being targeted by an operative from Beijing in response to a vote in this House of Commons. We know that CSIS informed the national security adviser to the Prime Minister and the relevant departments at least two years ago. The Liberal government is now blaming CSIS for t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the speech tonight included the word “profits” many times. I heard the words “massive profits”, and profits were getting bashed around quite bit there. For someone who has been in business for over 25 years and has been involved in businesses that had zero profits, I know that profits are usually a good thing. I would like to ask my colleague how we differentiate and when we different…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned a little bit in his speech about how much Canadians are struggling. I am hearing that in my own riding. I would like him to maybe talk a little bit about his area. I know that for the residents of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte that our food bank is getting overwhelmed. Recently, I had discussions with the executive director of the Barrie food bank who told me t…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are out of money, and the Prime Minister is out of touch. Currently, food bank usage is at an all-time high, mortgage and rent costs have doubled and many cannot afford to heat their homes. While 24% of Canadians say they cannot afford a vacation this summer, the Prime Minister decided to jet off to Jamaica on a luxury vacation at a private villa, courtesy of a big-time Trud…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the biggest concern is, quite frankly, that people listened to and believed the Prime Minister when he stood in front of the country and said that inflation rates would remain low for a very long time. He should be someone Canadians can look up to, believe and respect. Obviously, in this case it did not happen and rates have gone up drastically. People are now struggling. In my comm…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in the House today and add the voices of the people of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte to today’s debate. Residents in my riding, in places such as Midhurst, Elmvale, Minesing, Shanty Bay, and Moonstone, all beautiful little communities, know very well that Canadians are getting less and paying more. They are struggling to pay rent, feed their families and heat the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, as we have seen many times over, the Liberal government ran in 2015 on being open and transparent, and on sunny ways. I have heard many times from many of my residents that it is anything but that. They are having trouble getting access to many documents, many institutions and many facts along the way. Hopefully, we can correct that as we go forward. Some day soon, Conservatives wil…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I do not think we have a tax problem in this country. I think we have a spending issue. Taxing more really does not solve a lot of issues. It could perhaps drive people out of the country, and we need good people to create good jobs, good businesses and a good economic situation. I really do think raising taxes is never a good idea, unless it is absolutely necessary. What we need to…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I do not know how much of that is in the budget, but I think there should definitely always be respect among the federal government, the provincial governments and all municipal governments. Sometimes, what is lacking in politics these days is respect among all politicians. I agree with the member opposite that we should all be respecting each other and our boundaries and should be …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, Canadians are struggling to pay rent, feed their families and heat their homes. Everything is more expensive. Instead of showing compassion for struggling Canadians, the Liberal government has decided to increase the carbon tax on April 1. Canadians who are already struggling because of the Liberal government's inflationary spending cannot affo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, to be quite candid, I have two teenage boys who are always kidding that I am a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to different social media platforms. I have never had TikTok. I do not know much about it, but I understand there have been a lot of issues with it. I think with all of our social media platforms, we need to stop, review them and look at who is taking information from them,…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, all of those are legitimate concerns that we will be addressing at the public safety committee if and when this bill gets there. I do not know if I can rank them today, because I think they are all significant. Everybody has different issues that come to mind based on what is most important to them. Obviously, privacy is one of the most important things to people. What I mentioned i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in the House today to speak to this important legislation on behalf of the good people of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte. I am pleased to see Bill C-26 come forward in the House. Improving the resiliency of our critical infrastructure is of the utmost importance to our national security and the everyday safety of Canadians. This legislation consists of two separat…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government's soft-on-crime policies, our justice system is broken. Recently, OPP Constable Greg Pierzchala, a Barrie resident, was murdered by a violent repeat offender who was out on bail. Constable Pierzchala died a devastating and preventable death. I would like to send my deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. In response to thi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to meetings and other communications between the Prime Minister, the Minister of Public Safety or their exempt staff, and the RCMP commissioner, Brenda Lucki, since January 1, 2020: what are the details of all such meetings or other communications, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) type of communication (text message, group chat, in-person meeting, etc.), (iii) participants, (iv)…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to foreign corporations claiming the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credits, broken down by year for the last three years: (a) what is the total number of foreign companies which have claimed SR&ED tax credits; (b) what is the total value of the credits claimed; and (c) what is the breakdown of (a) and (b) by country where the company was headquartered?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the statement in the 2022 Fall Economic Statement that “Enterprise Crown corporation revenues are projected to decline by $6 billion in 2022-23, largely reflecting Bank of Canada income losses”: (a) how much was the Bank of Canada’s income losses in fiscal year 2021-22; and (b) what are the projected Bank of Canada income losses for fiscal years (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24, (iii) 2024…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, last week, the Liberal government tabled an amendment to Bill C-21 that would prohibit hundreds of thousands of hunting rifles. This government wants to turn law-abiding hunters and farmers who use rifles as tools to feed their families and protect their livestock into criminals overnight. Meanwhile, since the Prime Minister has taken office, violent crime has risen by 32% and gang-…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, let us talk about some facts. Just yesterday in the public safety committee, the Liberal government's own firearms expert who helped write Bill C-21 admitted on record that hunting rifles would be banned if this law is enacted. Will the Liberals admit they have made a mistake, admit these amendments are affecting law-abiding hunters and farmers, and cancel Bill C-21?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is great to have a quick rebuttal to the last answer I heard, where the member talked about Conservatives supporting this bill. We always support good legislation that comes through. Recently on the public safety committee, we have been reviewing Bill C-21, which is questionable legislation that is coming through. What is slowing that down now is a huge amendment that has been thro…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I sit on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, so I will be looking to see if that consultation was done. We will be making sure this comes through as a good bill, because we are in favour of this as a start. This bill has been brought up twice before. Unfortunately, it did not make it through. It died both times. Could we get some reassurance from the member …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I do have to mention I grew up in a law enforcement environment. My father has been, for 32 years, on the Ontario Provincial Police, so I have nothing but the utmost respect for law enforcement, and I mentioned that many times in my speech. Yes, I agree that there are bad apples in every organization. Hopefully this commission and this oversight will help weed out that, and the peop…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I was not around when this was brought up twice in the past. Bill C-98 and Bill C-3 came out in the 42nd Parliament and 43rd Parliament. They did not come through and both died on the Order Paper. Perhaps the member could share some of her wisdom as to why she feels these bills did not make it through and why here we are again debating pretty similar legislation for the third time.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite mentioned that the legislation had been brought up twice before, and I agree with that. However, when Bill C-98 was introduced in 2019 and when Bill C-3 was introduced in 2020, many stakeholders, especially the union that represents CBSA officers, spoke about the fact that they were not consulted on draft stages. Could the member opposite please inform me if there …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, this was a Liberal promise back in 2015. The Conservatives are for this bill, which is being processed through right now. It has been before the House twice already. It has died both times. I am wondering if you are optimistic and hopeful that this time, we are going to get this through successfully—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, are you optimistic that it is going to get through this time and become the good bill that it is needed to be?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the Conservatives will be supporting this. We will be reviewing it at the committee, which I sit on. I am looking forward to that. Maybe we could hear a few words about that.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for South Surrey—White Rock this evening. It is an honour to rise in Parliament today to speak on behalf of the residents of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte. I am pleased that the government has finally brought up Bill C-20 for debate. The bill seeks to create the independent public complaints review commission to review complaints against …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I believe in deterrence. As I mentioned earlier in my speech, we had someone from our rail institution saying one one-millionth of all cargo that comes across is checked. I think that is just atrocious. That is a ridiculous number. I cannot even fathom what that is. It is next to nothing. There is a common saying in law enforcement that we want voluntary compliance of the law, and I…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I do have to apologize, but I had a very tough time hearing the question. I think the question was about the commission overall, and yes the Conservatives are in favour of it. We are looking forward to it being in place. It has been a long time overdue. It was a promise in 2015, and it is time to bring it in now.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are struggling to pay their bills. They are lying in bed at night wondering how they are going to survive the devastating effects of the Liberal government's inflationary spending. Canadians simply cannot afford anymore of this costly coalition. Today, the Liberal government is presenting its economic update. The Conservatives have a very clear demand. Will the Liberals comm…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative leader will put people first: their paycheques, their savings, their homes and their country. Canadians are struggling to make ends meet. The residents of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte are no exception to this crisis. A recent article in Barrie Today quotes Sharon Palmer, the executive director of the Barrie Food Bank. The article says that the rising cost of fue…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it is just inflation. Just this week, the executive director of Barrie Food Bank stated, “Everything we...buy is more expensive” She also noted that people who have historically donated to the Barrie Food Bank are now using it to feed their families. The number of households who have accessed the food bank in August was up 60% compared to last year. Would the Prime Minister please ack…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, “Justinflation” is really hurting the residents of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the member opposite. Just this week, in our local newspaper in Barrie, the executive director of the Barrie Food Bank was talking about how much more use there is right now. She is even seeing that some people who have historically donated to the food bank are now coming in and using it. She lists some of the reasons. Obviously number one was the inflation rate, …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today I am especially proud to rise in recognition of two outstanding leaders in Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte who will be starting their much-deserved retirement soon. Janice Skot led the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre for 17 years as president and CEO. She had an oversized role in making the RVH a regional leader in health care in Simcoe County and led an exceptional team th…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today I am rising in Parliament to commemorate the loss of a Barrie fundraising hero, William Dwyer, who passed away this week at the age of 96. My condolences go to his family, friends and the organizing team he was part of. Will was the epitome of selflessness and perseverance. He struggled with cancer, was hit by a car, was a World War II veteran and had several other health condit…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I have a very straightforward question. Where I come from, Barrie—Springwood—Oro-Medonte, the average price of a home is over $900,000. It is getting very tough for young people to buy their first home. In the recent budget 2022, there was a tax-free savings account set up to a maximum of $40,000. If someone hits that $40,000 in my area, they are still nowhere near being able to buy…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a February 2022 report by the Barrie and District Association of Realtors indicated that the average selling price of a home in Barrie was over $950,000. This is a 36% increase compared with the same time just one year ago. The report also stated that prices have risen 86% over the past two years in Barrie and the surrounding area. This astronomical increase in home prices has now mad…
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