Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, as always in the House, it is a pleasure to rise to speak and raise the voice and the message from my constituents in the eastern interior riding of Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry. I will be splitting my time here this afternoon with our opposition House leader, the member for Barrie—Innisfil. I want to start my intervention and notes on Bill C-9 today with a bit of a personal parlia…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, to clarify for my colleague from the NDP regarding this piece of legislation, I agree. Looking at the proposal and the draft, this could strengthen it and ensure there is a full process for every complaint that goes through to a review of judicial misconduct. The bill would improve and modernize that. What I was alluding to in my speech was an opposition to Bill C-5 and the eliminatio…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise tonight once again to speak to the government's proposed Bill C-11. In the last Parliament, it was Bill C-10, and it certainly generated a lot of feedback and frustration from Canadians across the country. We have been witnessing that here again in the last couple of months with this bill in its current form. I have been receiving a lot of emails and advocacy peti…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to pay tribute to a wonderful community volunteer, Dr. Rachel Navaneelan, who is not only a well-respected dentist in our community, but founder of Rachel's Kids, a charity that provides supports to local children and those internationally as well. The backyard of her Riverdale home was buzzing on the weekend with her 17th annual garden party, which is a fun…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government enforcement of measures related to commercial milk and dairy imports at land border crossings: (a) what specific training is provided to border agents to ensure milk and dairy imports crossing the border comply with trade agreements; (b) what is the estimated amount of milk and dairy products imported each year, broken down by point of entry where they come into Canad…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government enforcement of measures related to commercial poultry imports at land border crossings: (a) what specific training is provided to border agents to ensure poultry imports crossing the border comply with trade agreements and are labelled correctly; (b) what is the estimated amount of poultry products imported each year, broken down by type of product and point of entry …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, in the last Parliament, I had a petition on my social media for Canadians in my riding, particularly in my region, who were concerned about the overreach of the bill and the vague definitions. It was a slippery slope that did not go through. It is not a fake outrage. There are many things that the government, the NDP, the Bloc and others could do to give further clarity to the definit…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from the NDP's intervention. It is always nice and appreciated to give a Canadian shout-out to a Canadian artist. That is appreciated. On the revenues, as I said in my intervention, we need to make sure that companies such as Netflix, whether of a national or foreign nature doing business in Canada are paying their fair share, and also contributing to Canadia…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, amendments could be made that could improve the quality of the bill. I have always tried to be constructive, and many of my colleagues have been. There are areas that could provide better definitions. There are areas that perhaps, as I mentioned, could provide specific exclusions. The reality of this is that the government bungled it in the last Parliament, in terms of the management …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be brief in my two minutes of what was hopefully going to be a 10-minute speech to reiterate something I have been hearing from farmers and businesses in my riding pertaining to fertilizer. I want to go on the record in the House and thank Duncan Ferguson, the president of the Glengarry Federation of Agriculture; Doug MacPherson, the general manager and president of Munro Agrom…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would say this move today is hypocritical of the government, but I am not surprised, because we have a Liberal-NDP group that does not want to talk about the economy. The Liberals and New Democrats do not want to talk about inflation and they do not want to talk about the cost of living. They surely do not want to talk about the carbon tax and the price of gas that they are backta…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, one of the big issues we talk about in the budget, as I am hearing, is gas prices. The member's riding is just on the other side of the provincial border, across from mine in eastern Ontario, and I know that commuters are having a very difficult time with rising gas prices. Can the member confirm that the budget reaffirms the commitment to a carbon tax that adds to the cost of fuel …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague from the Bloc and I are actually neighbours. Our ridings are side-by-side on either side of the provincial lines. I would like her to comment on the rising gas prices, which is something I know is impacting both Ontario and Quebec residents. We both have a lot of commuters who rely on driving to go to work, to access general services, to see their families and for their…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, today I am presenting a petition to the House that was brought to my attention by Rosemary Abell and others with the St. Peter's Catholic Church in Cornwall. It has been signed and supported by 129 constituents of mine. This petition highlights the need for Canadian-based companies to better protect individuals who are subject to human rights abuses along the supply chain through glob…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague and I served at the public accounts committee together for a while. The Auditor General concluded that the government is spending more money but getting less service for it. We saw it recently with the report tabled last week on services for veterans' disabilities. I would like him to comment, from his time at public accounts, about the frustrations. It is one thing to …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, finally, after years of delay, Canada is one step closer today to the long-standing and discriminatory blood ban being lifted in this country. It has been a long time coming. The pain, the stigma and the frustration that many gay, bi and trans men have felt in this country for too many years has not been fair. While today's news is welcome news, it did not need to take this long. I ha…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the line I use very often is that a week is an eternity in politics, and for the past five years it has become increasingly difficult and more stressful for anybody buying a home or looking to rent anywhere. In Cornwall and my riding of SDG, the average price of a home is now $430,000. In the province of Ontario, last month the statistics showed the price was over $1 million on aver…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the very reason I am standing in the House talking about affordable housing is that I care. We care about it across the country. I will never challenge the intent of the government and say that it does not care about housing affordability, homelessness or helping first-time homebuyers. This is about the approach it is taking to try to get there. The Liberals have had seven years. Th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the VIA Rail stations in Brockville, Smiths Falls, Alexandria, Kingston, Belleville, Cobourg, Oshawa, Port Hope, Gananoque, Napanee, St. Marys, Trenton, Wyoming, and Ingersoll, Ontario, and broken down by station: what are the details of all capital investments which have occurred at the station since 2010, including the (i) date of the investment, (ii) project completion date, (iii…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the minister has to keep reusing the same recycled talking points and twisting people's words because he is embarrassed, and rightfully so, of his record as minister. He claims to have a plan that would help make housing more affordable, but under his watch, we have seen housing prices double and rent become more unaffordable than ever before. More and more people are looking at the s…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, after listening to the commentary and speech from my colleague across the way, I have to say that with respect to our responsibilities as members of Parliament, there are two things. One is to talk about all the things we would advocate with respect to spending, and the member went through a litany of what that would be. What was completely absent from all of that discussion was how…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Saskatchewan for her speech. In her riding, like mine, the carbon tax is an issue that many Canadians are talking about in terms of affordability and the cost of living. One of the things I would like the member to comment on when we talk about the government's economic record and its fiscal plan, albeit from this fall looking ahead perhaps to the budget ev…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable how tone-deaf and out of touch the Minister of Housing is when it comes to the realities the average Canadian faces. He tries to brag about how well the government's housing plan has been working over the last five years while the average housing price in the country doubled under his watch. Rents are skyrocketing with no end in sight, and a record number of Canadia…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I will say two points on that. Number one, it is one thing to monitor and track pricing, pricing changes and the correlations between them. There is a difference between that and our proposal, which would have lowered the price and taken the GST off fuel as an option, particularly when prices at the pumps are very high. It would have been a tangible, direct way to give back. That is…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure, as always, to rise in the House to represent what I feel are the views in my riding of Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, in eastern Ontario, in response to the government's economic plan. Since it tabled this legislation, which we have been debating over the last couple months, last week's circumstance of the surprise but unsurprising deal between the NDP and the Li…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc Québécois for his question and his intervention. In this section, there is a 1% tax on vacated homes. I would use as an example, in the province of Quebec, perhaps the city of Montreal, where housing prices are in the millions of dollars. With no disrespect to the 1%, that could be into the tens of thousands of dollars. I would argue that it does n…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the reply, and I will summarize again what I said in my intervention. We are five years in and halfway through the $72 billion that was promised. The Auditor General said that the Liberals actually did not spend what they said they were going to. Actually, I am kind of glad about that, because if they had spent more than they already have, we would be further …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise tonight to follow up on my question period topic from a few weeks ago on the issue of housing and the crisis our country finds itself in. Having only 35 seconds to ask a question in question period is not the easiest to summarize a major national issue. I hope this 10-minute back and forth tonight will be a bit more helpful. I hear repeatedly across my riding, wheth…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the adjournment proceedings tonight. I will start with a candid comment that I have said to several constituents over the course of the last few weeks when we have debated the many issues facing the city of Ottawa specifically and our country: I cannot wait until we can come to the floor of the House of Commons and not talk about COVID …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I apologize for any hiccups, but it was relatively relevant to the topic. The Emergencies Act is an example of something that we were confronted with as Parliament in the past few weeks. I will just say this to my hon. colleague. We are now into year three of the pandemic. The light at the end of the tunnel is here. It is not politicians that are saying that out of turn. We are hear…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, my hon. colleague was referencing in her previous intervention the economic pressures that we can put on Russia. We have seen that from the global community in the last couple of days. I believe, in the coming days, we are going to see even more pressure and more success through that. I would like my colleague to take the opportunity to talk about some of the economic measures that ha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the speech by my colleague from across the aisle was a personal one in connection to what we are seeing unfold in the world today. I am with him in saying that I believe this House is united, that the parties are united, that Canadians are united. It has been wonderful to see the number of countries around the world calling out this horrific invasion and the tactics of Putin for what …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I want to build on the comment from the NDP member and talk about that. I mean, the line is the logistical challenge of Canada providing, for example, natural gas to Europe, but the other logistical challenge we have, and that Europe faces, is that they are reliant on Russian energy at this point. Part of the opportunity, as we look at the perspective we have as Canadians, is the atte…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, that was well put by my colleague from the Bloc. One thing that I want to focus on when we talk about this legislation is something I have heard several members speak about. Yes, we are dealing with legislation that created undue hardship for seniors and needs to be corrected. I think there is agreement on that, but when we deal with pieces of legislation like Bill C-12, I have hear…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, as the member for the Green Party mentioned in his comments today, there has been support for this legislation going through. There have been some issues of process, which have been the challenge and making sure that Parliament has the appropriate time to discuss and debate exactly what he spoke about today. This is to fix a problem we should have fixed a very long time ago. I think…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I know my committee colleague from the NDP has risen several times in the House to advocate specifically on the legislative change that we are seeing. I want to pick up on the point of timing and she raises a very good point. We started to hear a lot of confusion when CERB was rolled out about the impacts it would have in July in that renewal period. Those with busy constituency off…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, today Canadians are awaiting the vote on our Conservative motion calling for a plan and timeline to end all federal mandates and restrictions in Canada. For over two years, Canadians have done what is asked of them. They followed the rules. They did what it took to get us to a point where we can finally see the end of this pandemic. Other similar countries around the world have given …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am rising today to respond to the government's economic update, formally called Bill C-8. I have had the opportunity over the last few weeks, since the House came back, to address a few of the important economic situations that I feel is putting our country under enormous strain right now. I will use my time to talk about two key themes that I am hearing about repeatedly, over and o…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I was involved in municipal politics for years and I know that housing supply is a municipal and provincial jurisdiction. However, I agree wholeheartedly that we need to increase housing supply in this country. That will help with affordability. We hear NIMBYism all the time: We need to get stuff built, just “not in my backyard”. I also say part of the challenge that we need to tackle…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we are one of the most vaccinated countries in the entire world. That should mean that at this point in the game, with the science and the data that are available to us, we should be opening up and getting back to normal. People should be getting back to work. What people see is a deliberate strategy to politicize the pandemic, to give fear, to stigmatize people, to make it appear tha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from the Bloc for that intervention and comment. I agree with him. I laughed in the House the other day as we were talking about this legislation. A member on the government benches said they had had 35 meetings with premiers across the country in the past couple of years. The premiers' number one ask for the entire time was a permanent increase to health …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, sadly eastern Ontario provides a perfect example of how the Liberals have mismanaged the housing file under their watch. In five years the average price of a home in the Cornwall area has doubled to over $400,000. The Liberals boasted their plan is working, but the problem is only getting worse, not better. A realtor told me that one house in Cornwall recently had 13 offers in just fo…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Myles Lynch, a vibrant young man from St. Andrew's West, who used his lived experience to advocate organ donation. Myles battled cystic fibrosis and made history when he became the first Canadian to receive three double lung transplants in his lifetime. However, I am sad to say Myles passed away at the young age of 24 on December 31. Myles was what I wou…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there is a growing frustration among Canadians about the Prime Minister's lack of leadership to end this pandemic. We want to see an end to the protests and lockdowns. We denounce all forms of hatred and violence. The comments they last heard from the Prime Minister were earlier last month. He said we need to “hunker down” over the winter and hope for a better spring. Canadians are lo…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to privacy breaches that occurred since March 1, 2020, broken down by department, agency, or other government entity: (a) how many breaches have occurred; and (b) what are the details of each breach, including (i) the date, (ii) the number of individuals whose information was involved, (iii) the summary or description of the incident, (iv) the government program or service that was imp…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to executives at the Canadian Infrastructure Bank receiving bonuses during the COVID-19 pandemic: for the 2020-21 fiscal year, how many executives received bonuses in excess of (i) $100,000, (ii) $250,000?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the VIA rail station in Cornwall, Ontario: (a) what are the details of all capital investments which have occurred at the station since 2010, including the (i) date of the investment, (ii) project completion date, (iii) project description, (iv) amount of the investment; (b) what was the daily train schedule, including the (i) numbers and times of all stops at the station, since Jan…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Kingston and the Islands does like to pack a lot into the question. Appointing a minister to say that the government is going to do something is not a result. We hear this time and again. There are so many examples of the government saying that it is spending x number of dollars on this or that they have appointed so-and-so to study this. Nothing happens in terms of …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we talk about delineating things in the bill. The government is talking about help for opioids and addiction and is lumping everything into this bill that would not address that. There is a massive difference between a simple drug possession of a minor nature and somebody committing robbery, arson, kidnapping of a child and so forth. There need to be serious consequences. The governme…
Read full speech →