Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am presenting two petitions today. First, I rise again to present another petition on behalf of the residents of Skeena—Bulkley Valley, specifically law-abiding citizens who do not agree with the Liberals' failing confiscation plan of firearms. Provinces and police associations do not agree with it. Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated that the program will cost over …
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition I rise to present on behalf of the residents of Skeena—Bulkley Valley is asking the House never to expand MAID to people suffering from mental illness. It is clear that the people of Skeena—Bulkley Valley believe that Canadians with mental illness should be met with supports, treatment and hope. Mental illness is treatable, and recovery is possible. People who are …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's speech was correct. As we know, the Conservatives are not putting up many speakers here, but we would like to get this issue resolved. As a new MP, I have heard all of the stories here about the victims, the testimony and what our citizens are going through, but the Liberals seem to want to debate the rights of offenders or how we should not debate the bill. All of us w…
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Mr. Speaker, that is basically how a responsible government is supposed to look at the economy. Basically, capital is going to leave and jobs are going to leave. The brain drain is going to happen. In the case of agriculture, we are going to have to import more food, and the government is actually considering supporting the International Maritime Organization's shipping carbon tax. It is another h…
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Mr. Speaker, I 100% agree. We should be looking at the capacity of vulnerable Canadians. In fact, that is what we have been doing in Skeena—Bulkley Valley for a number of years, and it does pay dividends in terms of independence. Those people are making good paycheques that actually contribute to the economy in Canada, which has been shrinking in the last 10 years in terms of oil, gas, forestry an…
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Mr. Speaker, that was not a question. That was a bit of a ramble, but the member is always getting up and asking about what we are doing here, talking about things. It is because we were elected to come here to debate these issues. I made a commitment long ago to make sure that, if I was in opposition, I would hold the government to account. The member just got through saying that the bill will ad…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be dividing my time with the member for Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan. We are debating Bill C-19, the Canada groceries and essentials benefit act. Listening to the speeches all day today, the debates, I cannot help but ask, why this bill? It is mainly for two reasons: first, Canadians cannot afford to pay their bills and they cannot afford to buy groceries; and second, this was…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Skeena—Bulkley Valley is ready to build. Conservatives worked with the government to pass Bill C-5 so that the Prime Minister could approve projects quickly while cutting red tape. However, after a year of speeches, no single project has been approved and no barriers have been removed. Skeena—Bulkley Valley is already contributing and is asking for a chance to invest, build and work. …
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Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to rise for the third time to present a petition on behalf of the residents of Skeena—Bulkley Valley, specifically law-abiding citizens who do not agree with the Liberals' confiscation plan. Provinces, police associations and now the Charlottetown council do not agree with the confiscation plan. In fact, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated that this program …
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Madam Speaker, I have sat in the House now for less than a year, and all I have listened to is Liberals lecturing us on aboriginal issues. They are trying to teach us about what reconciliation is and what aboriginal rights and title are, yet our ancestors helped create section 35 and the case law. Central to that was the environment. Do we need a lecture from the Liberals on what aboriginal rights…
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Mr. Speaker, the motion on the floor today is: That the House...support the construction of one or more pipelines enabling the export of at least one million barrels a day of low-emission Alberta bitumen from a strategic deepwater port on the British Columbia coast to reach Asian markets, including through an appropriate adjustment to the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, while respecting the duty to co…
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Mr. Speaker, it is 10 years too late to believe in Canada. Why did you not believe that 10 years ago, when you started all these policies? There was Bill C-69, the tanker moratorium. Why did you not believe it then?
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Mr. Speaker, to the government House leader, we are not arguing. We are watching the Liberals argue over this MOU. We are watching them argue over the climate action plan. We are trying to be supportive.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a Liberal MOU. This is a Liberal decision. This MOU never came to the House. By the way, on the idea of a private investor, there is no way a private investor would invest in Canada when we have the tanker moratorium and Bill C-69, the environmental laws. It is just too much. Today, it can be a signal. There has got to be 10 to 20, maybe 30, signals that have to be sent, on to…
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Mr. Speaker, that is exactly why we want to talk about this today. What we are talking about today is not definitive. This is just the Liberals' wording in the MOU, but it will be definitive once the application is made. At that point, the Liberal government will have to make a decision. Will it allow a pipeline to be built? Will it allow it to be fast-tracked? Will it go to the Major Projects Off…
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Mr. Speaker, this is basically the whole problem. We do not know what the government's position is, whether we are talking about indigenous consent or provincial consent. We do not know. Today will be a huge day for—
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Madam Speaker, the whole origin of the MOU came because of the pipeline, but the Liberals are now trying to paint this as Conservative opposition to climate action. We are watching the Liberals argue their own climate action plan. In fact, a minister resigned saying the Liberals flip-flopped on their climate action plan. Does my hon. colleague agree with the minister who resigned saying the Libera…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, we are talking about Motion M-15. It is not a private member's bill. It is not a pathway to anything specific in terms of legislation or regulation or policy. It is basically a suggestion from the colleague across the aisle. Before I start my comments, I would like to acknowledge something that happened in the House not more than an hour ago. Bill C-225, Bailey's law, was passed, and …
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Mr. Speaker, I thought private land was the discussion, and to the best of my recollection, most of the houses being built in Canada are built on private land. If we are going to talk about private land, we also have to talk about the plan to take private land out of the land base. I think it is totally directed. In fact, of all the promises we are talking about here, I think housing should be add…
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Mr. Speaker, that is basically what the Liberal government has been doing for the last how many years, since I have been watching, anyway, in terms of not really looking after the average Canadian and not looking after low-income Canadians. If we look at the budget, for example, there are not many residents in my riding who can afford a $100-million yacht or a $100-million jet. Those poor billiona…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, LNG Canada and Chevron's Kitimat LNG project got efficient approvals mainly due to pre-consultations, which the Liberal government has not done. Instead, the Liberal government proposed to do consultations over Zoom, over video calls, to deal with constitutionally protected rights and title. Now the Liberals say it is up to Alberta to get consent, which is wrong. This is Canada's resp…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, again I rise on behalf of Skeena—Bulkley Valley lawful firearms owners. Alberta does not endorse the firearm confiscation plan. Ontario police do not endorse the confiscation plan. In fact, the safety minister himself, the guy who is in charge of the firearms confiscation plan, does not support his own plan. On behalf of Skeena—Bulkley Valley lawful firearms owners, I say that they wa…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Kenora—Kiiwetinoong. Like a few members, I am brand new here. This is my first term as an MP, but I was an MLA back in B.C. for seven years. I was also a chief councillor for six years, and previous to that, I was a councillor for eight years. A lot of the issues we talk about are very similar to what I have done in the last 20 years, but …
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Mr. Speaker, I could not care less about what the member is disappointed in. Why does he not come to talk to the people in my riding who cannot afford a loaf of bread? What does he say to that? Why does he not get around the spin and the rhetoric of the budget and Bill C-4, and actually do something of substance to reduce costs like the Liberals promised? Right now I am judging the member and his …
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Mr. Speaker, it is a mystery as to why the Liberal government will not go 100% of the way, in terms of taking the Conservative ideas to reduce the pressure on families. It is a mystery. All the government seems to do is water down Conservative ideas and take 50% of what we did. The carbon tax is a great example. The government is keeping the industrial carbon tax and keeping the International Mari…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's speech was incredible, very insightful and very heartfelt. When I was an MLA in B.C., starting in 2017, we were arguing the same points to the B.C. government. The B.C. government was blaming the federal government, and now we hear the federal government saying that we need more co-operation. It is a back-and-forth blame game. Could we have gotten ahead of this if,…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is an incredible honour to present a petition for the first time on behalf of the residents of Skeena—Bulkley Valley. Before I get into the petition, I would like to thank all my Conservative colleagues for, over the last year or two, presenting similar petitions on behalf of Skeena—Bulkley Valley. I am here to say that I will take it from here, but I thank them for presenting thos…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I would like to open by saying what an honour it is to be back where I started, on the environment file. I was the environment critic for the Liberal Party back in British Columbia as an MLA. Back in 2003, my main goal was to remediate the environmental damage done to my territory by industrial development. That led me down different pathways. It led me to aboriginal rights and title,…
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder if my colleague could share her thoughts on how a national strategy might be developed and what key components or structures she envisions for it.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for an incredible speech regarding deficits. I think the Liberals missed the point of what he said. I was in the situation of remedial management and third party management, and it was very humiliating. It was for one year of unmanageable deficits. It was very humiliating, and that is why I went after an economic base. What is third party management, and what would …
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Mr. Speaker, I referenced the approval of LNG Canada, but we have met with the departments, and it is clear that there are no outstanding permits or authorizations needed for LNG Canada. I am assuming that phase 2 needs an approval in terms of emissions. Is this why LNG Canada phase 2 has been added to the major projects list? Is there going to be a decision on the emissions from phase 2, from pha…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canada has the fastest-shrinking economy and the second-highest unemployment rate in the G7. B.C. forestry workers have already been hard hit, but it is going to get worse. The Prime Minister promised to negotiate a win with the U.S.A, but softwood lumber tariffs have doubled since he took office. Instead of keeping his promise to Canadians, he is promising to invest $1 trillion in th…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government cannot make up its mind. On one hand, it says it is unjust, and then it says it is the greatest deal in the world. It needs to make up its mind. There are mills closing all across B.C., including Skeena Sawmills in Terrace and Canfor in Houston. West Fraser's shutdown left hundreds of my constituents out of work in an already weak economy. Our communities are hu…
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Mr. Speaker, that is basically what the Haida court case of 2004 clearly defines. I will make it clear: It is the community that owns the rights and title; it is not a collective of first nations. It is not even their leadership, unless the community itself decides who the leadership will be. By the way, the Liberals talk about respecting aboriginal rights and title interests. Why did you approve …
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Mr. Speaker, treaties have evolved. Foundationally, defining aboriginal rights and title is a main part of treaty negotiation, versus extinguishing them. Given that the Liberal government is going to appeal the Cowichan court ruling, is there a reason aboriginal rights and title are not mentioned in Bill C-10?
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Mr. Speaker, I was a negotiator for my small native band, as well as a chief councillor, so I understand the frustration of the leaders. However, it seems to me that the first nations leaders are saying that the government-to-government relationship is not working because the government is not listening and not implementing a treaty. The government's response is, “Let's create a treaty commissione…
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the member talk about economic issues tied in with social issues, because that is what first nations have been talking about for the last 20 years, at least. It is nice to see the Liberals kind of waking up. We are talking about Canada's economy as well, which the member also mentioned. The Nisga'a have had a treaty with the government for 20 years. They opposed Bill…
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Mr. Speaker, we are here talking about the creation of a treaty implementation commissioner. Here is some background. I was the chief councillor of the Haisla Nation Council for six years, and prior to that, I was a councillor for eight years. During that eight-year period, I was treaty chairman under the B.C. treaty process; I was negotiating the treaty, so I read all the announcements over the l…
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Mr. Speaker, the principles are important, but not to the point of ignoring the Haida court case from 2004 or ignoring treaty first nations. The government is using UNDRIP as a cover to say that Bill C-48 is basically needed. It is not needed, especially when first nations are trying to resolve poverty. I put this back to the member: How does the government's UNDRIP legislation resolve poverty?
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Mr. Speaker, development of resources, such as forestry, mining and LNG, has actually brought in a lot of revenue, employment and training. I already mentioned that, to me, the Indian Act has become irrelevant and archaic, except for the funding agreement. We segregated Indian Act programs and funding into Indian Act bureaucracy through departments of my band council. However, we created a new str…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a great question. In fact, it was the Liberals' speeches that actually guided me toward economic development issues, such as forestry, mining, and oil and gas. I agree with my colleague that, over the last 10 years, I have not seen the Liberal government giving respect to first nations members regarding their rights. By the way, I am talking about the rights as defined in the…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said in my speech, the provisions of a treaty already define what the government is supposed to do, not only in terms of the federal government but also in terms of the provincial government and the first nations as well. It defines what their roles and responsibilities are now. This has always been a one-way street, though. First nations have always gone to governments and asked…
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Mr. Speaker, basically, yes, we supported it, but we wanted to put protections in, which we debated and we got in. By the way, I do not blame the first nations for their distrust of this, because one day, the government said first nations do not have a veto. I suspect it got that out of the case law, specifically, the Haida court case of 2004. However, the very next day, when it got political push…
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Madam Speaker, I have been listening to this debate for the last few days now. I hear the other side of the House talk about this when Conservatives talk about the rapes of children and toddlers, the murders and assaults, and women not wanting to walk the streets at night, including members of the Liberal government. The response is always the same. They say we are always sensationalizing or drama…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals now want to change the story. They want to deflect. They want to talk about grocery prices by looking at what analysts say, what farm yields are and what the weather is doing. That was not what the Prime Minister promised. The Prime Minister did not say he would follow the analysts, the yields or the weather patterns. He said to judge him by the prices at the grocery stor…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal promise was to reduce or control grocery prices. That was the promise. The government printing money or producing deficits and, as a consequence, borrowing money to cover those deficits increases inflation. Does the member agree that increasing the government deficit and debt will increase affordability pressures, including grocery costs, which the Liberals promised to con…
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Mr. Speaker, I recognize all the work that has been done by first nations all across Canada. It is very progressive, but it all comes down to what the benefit is to the people. My colleague from Alberta knows the benefits as well. There are a lot of first nations in Saskatchewan. If we want to take a look at the real benefits, we can take a look at the status quo of first nations that do not have …
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Mr. Speaker, I invite members to Kitimat, and I will show them the benefits that have accrued not only for first nations members in my community, but also along the pipeline route and down channel. One of the concerns we had, and one of the decisions we made when we started getting into real LNG development, was that we wanted to get away from the Indian Act. We wanted our people to build their ow…
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Mr. Speaker, yes, and I am not the only one who thinks that Canada already has the highest environmental standards in North America, if not the world. As I have said for the last 10 years, we cannot have this conversation in isolation. We are not the biggest polluters in the world. China, Russia, the United States and emerging economies have no environmental standards. They have no emissions cap. …
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Mr. Speaker, I definitely can. We need to stop the politics with LNG because it provides benefits to aboriginals and non-aboriginals alike. It increases GDP. I will say, there are no permits or authorizations needed by the federal government to approve phase two. It is all approved, and we just found that out today in committee. What is Canada fast-tracking? There is nothing else to approve.
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