Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I also recall that when we were debating that and other issues in this place relating to mandatory minimums, there was a fair degree of evidence and concern that as jurisdictions used mandatory minimums, that tended to decrease what a judge did at the moment of sentencing and increase the likelihood of plea bargaining, as defence lawyers realized they were not going to have much optio…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to turn to the question of the Victims Bill of Rights. When the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights was going through this place, I had the honour to be a member of Parliament at that time. I worked with then ombudsperson Sue O'Sullivan, who was trying to get some specific ways of enforcing the Victims Bill of Rights. It is one thing to write the Victims Bill of Rights, but C…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the things that concern victims and their families is the sort of black box around plea bargaining. Victims' impact statements can happen at the point of an open court, but plea bargaining leaves victims and families out. I wonder if the minister has any thoughts on how Canada could get the balance right to ensure that victims and their families have more access to consideratio…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the minister will not be surprised that I want to turn to Bill C-69 and the sections relating to the Impact Assessment Act. I never did practise constitutional law, but I have been consulting with some constitutional law experts. The minister brought the bill forward, so he must think it will meet the standards of the Supreme Court of Canada that this is federal jurisdiction. I do not…
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Mr. Speaker, I am all in favour of the purpose of Bill C‑64, but I take issue with rushing through the work, because we must participate in the debates. I really wish we had time. I understand the pressure, as things in this place seem to face so many obstacles. The concern of the government is that things will get bogged down As the leader of the Green Party, we have been, in every platform for I…
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Mr. Speaker, there is much in my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby's speech that I want to support, but I was particularly drawn to his reminiscences, believe it or not, of a better time that I think of quite often: the degree of co-operation that happened in this place during COVID. I distinctly remember the work we did. There were all of the finance critics from every party, including me fo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the minister's comments addressed parts of Bill C-69, but unfortunately, as we know, it is an omnibus bill. As an omnibus bill, it includes other parts that are not intended to help Canadians who are most in need or help indigenous communities, but to push through, without proper study, quick and dirty amendments to the Impact Assessment Act. I intend to move a motion later today to a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I rise to add the voices of those in the Green Party across this country and myself, as someone who was so honoured to know and love John Fraser as a friend, a colleague and a fellow warrior in the battle to save this planet. He would raise a glass and say, “To the conspiracy, to the conspiracy to save the planet.” The Hon. John Fraser brought into that conspiracy his ability to pull …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise tonight to participate in the debate on Bill C-69. The debate has been treated by some speakers as a debate on the whole budget. That is fair enough as it is the budget implementation bill. I certainly appreciated very much the remarks by my colleague, the hon. member for Kitchener Centre, moments ago, who focused on some aspects of Bill C-69 and the budget tha…
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Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more. It is more than just ironic. It is unbelievable that the government continues to give subsidies to fossil fuel industries despite all the promises to cancel subsidies and government support. For example, $34 billion has been invested in building the Trans Mountain pipeline. This flies in the face of our efforts to protect our climate and, as the member said, it…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend from King—Vaughan and I may not agree on the details of this. There is no question but that Canadians are facing an affordability crisis. We do need, though, to spend the money it takes to alleviate that affordability crisis. What we have seen over the last number of decades is a growing gap between the very wealthy and the poor. A growing number of people who would not…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be very clear. Members of the Green Party do not always vote the same way. My colleague from Kitchener Centre and I discuss every issue. We are governed by what we think our constituents would want us to do. However, a budget vote is the ultimate vote of confidence in government. As much as I would like to vote for the elements I like within this budget, and I passionately beli…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is my extreme honour to take the floor today to pay tribute to someone I knew and loved. When I start to describe his life, I think members will find it extraordinary that such a brave war hero continued to be so busy in his community. Peter Godwin Chance died April 19 at 103 years old. I cannot begin to tell colleagues about his exploits as a naval commander in the war, surviving …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, this petition from residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands and beyond concerns Canada's engagement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, otherwise known more familiarly as NATO. The petitioners point out that the Minister of National Defence's primary responsibility is to protect Canada within its borders and that the Minister of National Defence is not mandated to engage in wars in …
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Mr. Speaker, we do not really have a lot of time in this place to dive into things like productivity. What increases Canada's productivity? Why do we lag in productivity? I have long found a line by Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, pretty compelling. It is, “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything.” I have heard answers to that over the years, and I…
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising for the first time in the course of the debate around the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan's question of privilege. I know it is going to PROC. I have been listening to the debate tonight. I hope I can do this without sounding too schoolmarmish, which is one of my worst failings. I think that if we could all just think about us as Canadians dealing with fore…
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Mr. Speaker, I get those kinds of calls in my office as well. We reach out and try to provide connections for people who are falling between the cracks, with other charitable agencies and help. However, as a party, we believe that we need to go to where the wealth is. We are surprised and disappointed that the Minister of Finance has not done that. Corporate assets in this country have more than d…
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Madam Speaker, when my hon. colleague and friend from Nunavut speaks, she shames us all. My partisan instinct might be to jump up and say, but I am from the Green Party. I want to be a good ally more than I want to make empty claims. I want to be there, as we all do, along with my colleague from Kitchener Centre, to stand up when it matters, to insist that we do more than use “land back” hashtags …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, and contrary to what the Minister of Environment just said, Canada is not on track to meet our target for 2030, which is expressed to the United Nations as 40% to 45% below 2005 levels, only conveniently forgetting the range into 45%. On top of that, we are still spending more money to support fossil fuels than to decarbonize: $34 billion on Trans Mountain; another $5.7…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in this place on behalf of the people of Saanich—Gulf Islands who are looking to see climate action and, particularly, transit plans across Canada. They note that the federally supported 10-year transit plan will end in 2027 and that we still lack an effective public transit plan that serves Canadians, particularly in rural and more remote areas, such as Vancou…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the debate right now is on time allocation on Bill C-64, and I would put it to the Minister of Health that I would love for us to be having a debate on an actual proposal for pharmacare. It has been since June 2019 that the former Ontario health minister, Dr. Eric Hoskins, gave the government and this country clear direction that we need a national pharmacare program. We are the only …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I know that we are debating Bill C-49 on offshore wind, but for my hon. friend for Tobique—Mactaquac, I am surprised to see a Conservative MP wanting to go to bat for SNC-Lavalin getting more work with its shady practices. SNC-Lavalin bought Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. for the bargain basement price of $15 million back in, I think, 2013. It is behind Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, an…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, even for the Liberals, this is really something. It is a hat trick: three times, three different platform promises broken in one omnibus budget bill. First up, they broke the commitment to have UNDRIP honoured and consult with indigenous people. Second, they used their omnibus budget bill to change environmental legislation. Third, once again, they failed to fix the Environmental Asse…
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague from Kings—Hants and I have never compared notes, but we went to the same law school. I am drawing on my experience as a proud graduate of the Dalhousie University school of law to say that the current government has completely bungled impact assessment and has bungled repairing the impact assessment law. He referenced it in his speech. Therefore, I want to put to …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to keep track. On the question of privilege, I was very distressed by the additional information provided by the hon. member for Lethbridge. I am sure all of us in this place know how critically important it is that we have no question in our minds as to the accuracy of Hansard. I want to stop for a moment to thank the various staff members who make it possible to have…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it was a remarkable question period. I am sure I can speak for many of us with respect to your effort to maintain decorum under difficult circumstances. What I want to speak to, with all due respect, is misidentifying members of Parliament who sit here as members of the Green Party as independents. I would like to ask, Mr. Speaker, that in future perhaps your office could reflect on o…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, to my hon. friend from Vaughan—Woodbridge, this is very disturbing from a member in this place who has participated more than anyone else in terms of understanding the Kinder Morgan pipeline, being an intervenor in the NEB process, having read all the material put forward by that particular private sector promoter, and knowing full well that the pipeline is not complete. It does not…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, does my hon. colleague agree with the government spending $34 billion to build the Trans Mountain pipeline, which the private sector had decided was not profitable and something it was not going to pursue? Every billion is 1,000 million, so it was $34,000 million. Would the hon. member like to comment on that waste of public funds?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am rising to present a petition that is of keen concern to residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands. In fact, it is a petition that other petitioners within the riding have had me present to the government and to the Parliament assembly before. It is not an unfamiliar issue, I know, to members on all sides of the House. It is the crisis of the absence of family doctors, specifically in Saa…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there have been consultations among the parties and I believe, if you seek it, you shall find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move: That the House unequivocally condemn antisemitism, and in particular reject the idea that Jewish Canadians are responsible for the actions of the State of Israel.
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Mr. Speaker, I think my friend from Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley inadvertently referred to former member of Parliament Paul Manley, Green Party, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, when I think he may have meant John Manley. My question is this: Would he agree with Greens that buying the Trans Mountain pipeline was a particularly bad idea? That is a statement with which Paul Manley would agree. I am…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend from Northumberland—Peterborough South is chair of the rail caucus, an initiative that self-started, and which I am very pleased and proud to participate in. It is all-party and non-partisan. I look at this budget, and I have to say I was very disappointed not to see a real focus on ground transportation that would include integrating rail and bus service to reach more …
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Mr. Speaker, in line with the question just asked, we were also shocked to see $200 a month, as if that could lift people living with disabilities out of poverty. In what world is $200 a month enough? At the same time, the red dress alert initiative will be given $1.3 million over three years. When we have stolen sisters versus stolen cars, the cars get $47 million right away. Can the Prime Minist…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this historic, unprecedented occasion. I would like to put this question to Mr. Firth. I know he will not have them with him at the moment, but will he provide to Parliament and the operations committee the full list of all website domains that he has registered or requested to be registered in pursuit of his business as an IT staffing fi…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to review some of the answers that Mr. Firth gave earlier today. To the hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, when asked if he would have liked to have answered differently when he thinks back and reflects on his answers to committee, his answer was that he wished he could have answered more concisely. I would like to put it to the witness that no one has accused him of …
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Mr. Speaker, in response to questions from the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable, Mr. Firth similarly had said earlier today, “I made mistakes.” Is it correct to say that, when the witness says “I made mistakes”, he is acknowledging that he behaved in ways that amounted to a contempt of Parliament by being deliberately misleading, evasive and dishonest? I would suggest that most Canadians would no…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like, in the last few moments we have here with the witness, to put myself in the position of a Canadian watching this on television, and wondering how this could happen. I think it is clear on a factual basis, and respecting this place and everyone in it, that there has been here, in this example, as the Auditor General has found and as the ombudsman has found, an appalling f…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pursuing evidence that the witness gave to the government operations committee on October 20. It is a very interesting skill set that the witness has, to obtain these various contracts. Mr. Firth said, “Between my business partner Darren and me, we have 30 years of experience dealing with IT companies, whether we are dealing with independent consultants or we have had the luxury …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, given the experience here, and knowing that the witness has health challenges, all I can ask is this: Is he not ashamed?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am sure my hon. friend from Lakeland was asking rhetorically if the word “treason” was too strong. Let me just put on the record that the word “treason” is far too strong. For my dear friend from Lakeland, I do not think anyone would ever imagine the MP for Lakeland was cowering. We are friends but we do not agree on this. Let me just point out the many ways in which I found her s…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I want to put on the record that the Green Party also supports the vote to do more. I also want to associate myself with the comments of the hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona, who said that this is not the right way to go about it. A concurrence debate does not give us the kind of full and detailed discussion that needs to be had. All I will ask my hon. colleague for West Vancouver—…
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Lakeland is my friend. Among the things she has said that need correction is that it was possible to participate in COP28 virtually. It was not. That is why the Government of Alberta sent so many people and so did the Government of Saskatchewan. The size of the Canadian delegation ballooned with members of the delegations of those provinces, that did not contribu…
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Mr. Speaker, to be clear, I agree with my friend from Provencher on one point. This bill should have been called the just transition act. The government and governments around the world, largely because of the work of Canadian trade unions, which were in Paris at COP21. They worked hard to ensure that climate action would not compromise the jobs of workers in the fossil fuel sector and that they w…
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Madam Speaker, the only thing that could possibly make a climate activist think this bill was worth more than the paper it was written on is the overreaction from the Conservative benches. Therefore, I would suggest to my Conservative friends that if they would just look at the bill and honestly say that they think it is a nothing burger, then that would also help our side, which wants to see real…
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Madam Speaker, I made this point earlier to the member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, and I just want to reiterate it. Not to be insulting or disparaging to my Liberal friends but, really and truly, the only thing that encouraged people to support the previous environmental assessment legislation that was brought forward as Bill C-69 was that the Premier of Alberta said it was the anti-pipeline act.…
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Madam Speaker, I have been looking for my moment to also comment on the question of privilege raised by the hon. member for La Prairie. I think the Bloc Québécois member's argument was very strong. When he presented his question of privilege, I thought it was solid and clear. I thought it was a violation of privilege to start seeing budgetary information shared in advance. In the last while, in di…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am returning to a question I put forward in the House during question period back on November 22. It deals with something compelling, which is Canada's preparedness for extreme weather events, particularly fires, floods and storms of all kinds, and how the government could better prepare for them. Certainly, the Minister of Emergency Preparedness and I have talked about this, and …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am sure that the government intends to do things better, but if any of the events I have mentioned this evening happen again, we are not prepared. We need to have a standing committee that meets every two weeks that includes federal, provincial, territorial, local governments and indigenous peoples and nations to share information. The adaptation strategy from Environment Canada's…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased to join my colleagues in paying tribute to our dear colleague and friend, the member for Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel. When I was elected in 2011, I was here on my own, as the only Green Party member, but I worked with the four Bloc Québécois members, including my dear colleague. We worked together, almost invisibly, but I think we worked as a small Bloc-Green coalition. I…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague from the Bloc Québécois for this motion and this explanation. The Green Party will also want to submit its point of view at a later time.
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