Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we released a detailed jobs plan in the fall. The Liberals' approach is clearly failing. Over 100,000 jobs have been lost. They talk about major projects, but they have not approved a single major project. Canadians at home are experiencing the catastrophic impact of Liberal policies. The Liberals promised a trade win. They have not delivered it. The industrial carbon tax remains in p…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I hope it was worth it. Under the Liberal Prime Minister, Canada is losing jobs at speeds not seen in a generation. Over 100,000 full-time jobs were lost in one month alone, and close to 50,000 youth jobs were lost. In the G7, we have the only shrinking economy, the second-highest unemployment, the highest household debt and the highest food inflation. The Liberal rhetoric simply does…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, as a response to the question that was asked, that was breathtakingly absurd. Is the government not aware of the job numbers? We had a four-minute response that pretends to ignore the existence of the massive drop in full-time employment. Over 100,000 full-time jobs were lost in the last month alone, yet the parliamentary secretary wants us to believe that we are about to have never h…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there may have been a problem with the translation when he was reading the previous quote, so I wonder if he could read it again to make sure that all members heard it in both official languages.
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the latest job numbers show that jobs are, figuratively, falling off a cliff, with 108,000 full-time jobs lost in one month and 47,000, almost 50,000, youth jobs lost in the same period. Under this Prime Minister, we are losing jobs at speeds not seen in a generation, and that is quite literally true. Outside of the COVID period, the last time we had a single drop in jobs in one month…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, 108,000 full-time jobs were lost in the last month alone. We are losing jobs at speeds not seen in a generation. We have the only shrinking economy, the second-highest unemployment, the highest household debt and the highest food inflation in the G7. The Minister of AI blamed job numbers on the war in Iran. The Prime Minister says that they are not so bad. People have had enough Liber…
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives share our condolences as well. On the issue of jobs, 108,000 full-time jobs and almost 50,000 youth jobs were lost in one month alone. The Liberal Prime Minister is responsible for generational deficits and generational job losses. Development is blocked, and not a single major project is approved. This fall, I announced the Conservative jobs plan: unleashing the economy…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, in every community, there are people who are practising the faith to a greater or lesser extent, sometimes not at all. Obviously, that is the case with the Jewish community, as well as other communities. The member has noted that the rabbinical council of Toronto, which represents the Orthodox community, has expressed profound alarm about the removal of the religious defence. We all w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the minister has tried to paint this picture of their listening to faith communities and making adjustments, but the objective reality is that not a single faith community or organization has changed in its opposition to the removal of the religious defence over the last four months. He cannot point to a single organization that has changed its position in response to this fake attemp…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, Conservatives respectfully submit a dissenting opinion on this report, highlighting the importance of not increasing EI premiums. At this time of high unemployment, especially high youth unemployment, our view is that we need to ensure that payroll taxes, which make it more difficult for businesses to create jobs, do not go up. The government needs to clarify its position as to whethe…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, imagine someone is in a situation where they rely on public services, public services that they are entitled to, yet regularly, when they try to access those services, instead of receiving the help they need, someone suggests that they die. For veterans calling Veterans Affairs Canada, people with disabilities seeking information about benefits, seniors and people living in poverty, a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have known that member for a long time and, frankly, she is normally a lot better than that. Maybe this illustrates the pitfalls of reading a speech written by political staff, because that speech contained a litany of false personal attacks and no engagement with the substance of the bill. Here is the reality. Faith communities across this country have raised significant concerns a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we are debating Bill C-9, in particular Liberal efforts to shut down debate on Bill C-9, to prevent any further debate at committee, in particular to shut down consideration of a Liberal-Bloc proposal to remove the religious defence. If successfully passed, this bill would allow the prosecution of individuals under so-called hate speech if they read religious texts in what the governm…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, in listening to the debate today on Bill C-9, I have to call out the profound dishonesty of so much of the argumentation that we have heard from the government. We see many of their speeches relying on personal attacks, ignoring the substance of the legislation, not engaging with what is actually in the bill, and trying to make it all about claims about their motivations and false imp…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I always like questions from my Conservative colleagues. I do want to point out the general absence of Liberals from this conversation. I invite them to ask me questions to offer some explanation for why they introduced this provision to remove the religious defence. They have been keen to tell us what it would not do, but they have not offered any explanation of why they chose to pro…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the proposal to remove the religious defence was not studied at all at committee. Witnesses made passing reference to it, but that amendment was not proposed until after witness testimony was done. Unfortunately, the lack of study is demonstrated by the complete disinterest of Liberals, in particular, to engage with the substance of the bill and some of the misunderst…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, in the last Parliament, the Liberals put forward Bill C-47, a budget bill that had buried within it provisions that attacked access to natural health products and attacked the natural health product industry. This was not stand-alone legislation. There was no consultation with the people who were affected. It was simply an effort to sneak through legislative changes attacking natural …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear that the issue is not whether or not a person can foment hate. I do not think there are any religious communities in this country that want to foment hate. The issue is who gets to decide what is and is not acceptable speech, because I do not trust the minister of heritage to decide what clergy in my church can and cannot say. I believe these communities should…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, respectfully, it is quite extraordinary to hear the member say, with respect to the Muslim community, “I have talked to some people at the mosques in my riding, and everybody seems fine with it,” which was effectively what he said. We received a letter from over 350 different Muslim organizations in this country, expressing grave concern in line with the Canadian Conference of Catholi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, 354 different Muslim organizations have signed a letter underlining their opposition to Bill C-9. They note that Bill C-9, as currently drafted, would present serious harms to the civil liberties of Canadian Muslims and Canadians who are raising their voices about human rights. As I table this petition highlighting the opposition of petitioners to Bill C-9, it is important for the gov…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, that is such a nonsense question that is objectively false. The member just said the religious defence has been protected. It has not been protected. This circular “for greater certainty” clause that says that something is not a hate crime if it is not a hate crime means nothing. Moreover, the fact that it does not reassure me is not the point. It has not reassured any individual or g…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, my colleague's excellent speech highlighted the gross inconsistencies in the government's position. On a debate so important, I would think that more members of the government would actually be willing to show up, listen and participate in this conversation. I ask the member to comment on the use of Shahed drones as part of the invasion of Ukraine and the close relationship between the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I think one of the things we are trying to do on this side of the House is make sense of what the Liberals are saying and doing about this issue. To give it the most charitable reading, they are still saying two contradictory things. On the one hand, they do not like this regime. They do not like that it is slaughtering its own people. They would like if it were not there. On the other …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I have a very simple question, but the parliamentary secretary does not seem to be able to answer it. I will ask the same question a second time. Does she want to see the regime in Iran removed from power, yes or no?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, it has been my experience in this place that when we hear a member of the government say that their position is clear, it signals a case in which their position is not clear. I have a very simple question for the member. I hope she will answer it. I would like to know if she wants to see the regime in Iran removed from power.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I have a follow-up to my previous question. The member's answer, as I understood it, was that we have to respect the existing recognition of sovereignty for an autocratic regime that is slaughtering its people, because apparently the UN charter says we have to. I disagree with that interpretation. There are plenty of legal bases for believing we can and should respond, including the f…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I come from the Edmonton region, where so many families continue to grieve the losses that came when the IRGC shot down flight PS752. Over 50 Canadian citizens were murdered that day, many with connections to my region. The regime promptly bulldozed the crash site and even harassed the relatives of victims who spoke out. When so many Canadians are murdered, this is an attack on us, on…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, it is important to correct the record in terms of what my Bloc colleague said. He can review the Hansard for at least my statements, going back to three parliaments ago. I was very clear about wanting to see and expressing hope for an end to the Iranian regime, expressing hope that the various protest movements that we have seen over the years would succeed in toppling the regime, givin…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for his excellent speech. He has been here for about a year and he has already made a real mark on this institution in so many different ways. I want to ask him about the issue of foreign interference because I know he has a large Iranian community in his riding. I am sure there are concerns about how the regime seeks to project power beyond its borders, eve…
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Mr. Chair, I respectfully disagree with my colleague on the issue of international law. I would put to her three points. First, the right of sovereignty is properly understood to be invested in the Iranian people, not in their oppressors and occupiers, the Iranian people who have taken to the streets, demanded change, been brutally slaughtered and are asking for action to protect them. Second, we …
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Madam Chair, to respond to some of the points being made across the way, it seems bizarre to me to say that the lessons of history are that intervention in defence of people who are suffering and are seeking democracy can never succeed. There is Germany and Japan; there are many instances. Frankly, Afghanistan was stabilized and was democratic until an abrupt pullout. To suggest that somehow defen…
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Mr. Chair, I know my colleague is very close to the Iranian-Canadian community in her riding. She knows that this is a community with thousands of years of history. It is a history of religious tolerance and of good relations with other faith communities, including the Jewish and Christian communities, as well as a history of intellectual inquiry, creativity, art, beauty and so much more. The hope…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, following up on my question, the member spoke about the sense that this is a final battle. I know I have heard similar language being used by the community in my region of Edmonton. There are members across the way who say that they do not like the regime but that we should still advocate for countries to sit on the sidelines and wait for things to unfold. I know that the communities in…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the first petition I am presenting to the House today is with respect to the urgent need to implement a foreign influence registry. The petitioners highlight concerns about foreign interference in Canada, which are broadly shared, especially within certain diaspora communities that have been targeted through foreign interference. They highlight the need to defend our country, our sove…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling highlights concerns with an amendment to a Liberal bill, Bill C-9, that would criminalize situations in which an individual might read a passage of a sacred text such as the Bible, the Quran, the Torah, etc. The petitioners are saying that the state has no place regulating the reading of a religious text or the teaching of a faith community. They highlig…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the final petition I will table today deals with medically facilitated death and the impact of the current regime on Canadians with disabilities. The petitioners are concerned with the frequent offers of facilitated death by those in authority, including in cases where people are not seeking information on it. There have been instances where people with disabilities are seeking access…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition highlights specifically the impact of the carbon tax and the continuing impact of the industrial carbon tax on farmers. They highlight the costs associated with the carbon tax and, importantly, that its impacts are still being felt because the government continues to believe in this tool and apply it through the industrial carbon tax. Therefore, petitioners are calli…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the government is always keen to blame events beyond their control and say, “Well, bad things keep happening to us. That is why we cannot control these outcomes.” Of course, Canada, like other countries, is subject to events beyond our control, but there are many things we can control. During our study on youth unemployment, we heard many concerns about the business environment, taxat…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, young people in Canada today are worse off than their parents' generation. They cannot find jobs, and they cannot afford homes. The pain that young people face is leading to delayed family formation and to increasing hopelessness. An RBC poll out today shows that two-thirds of millennials are anxious about their financial future, and more than half are concerned about current cash flo…
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Mr. Speaker, actually, at that committee, Liberals are opposing our efforts to study food inflation, which is more than double what it is in other jurisdictions, and their budget is weakening training by defunding career colleges. We have put constructive proposals on the table to unleash the economy, to fix immigration, to fix training and to build homes where the jobs are. Liberals could simply …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, we are discussing this important piece of human rights legislation on the fourth anniversary of the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Four years ago at this time, in my household, we were celebrating the arrival of my now four-year-old son, Augustine. Three days after his birth, we began to see the terrible images and hear stories of carnage, death and widespread d…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, before I get into my remarks about youth unemployment, the subject of my question, I want to share with members of the House that I am dressed for our victory at Adwa celebrations happening right now on the Hill. I invite all members from all parties, including the Speaker, to come join us for some great Ethiopian food and community spirit after the House adjourns. The Adwa Victory Da…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I can confirm that housing affordability is a major concern for young people. I have spent a lot of time over the last eight months speaking to young people on university campuses, many of whom fear that their life will be worse than that of their parents, owing largely to concerns about accessing homes and jobs. One of the big issues, we know, in housing construction over the last …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his excellent work on this important issue. I will go to the people affected by these policies. I speak often to young people, and I know the member does as well. Comparing their concerns today with where we were 10 years ago, many young people fear they will be worse off than their parents, and their top concerns are access to jobs and access to homes. Those …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have been disappointed to see that the Prime Minister is not delivering on his promises. He promised the strongest economy in the G7, but we lost 52,000 private sector jobs last month. He promised to build at speeds unseen in generations. We are actually losing jobs at speeds unseen in generations. Conservatives have offered solutions like the Canadian sovereignty act and th…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I truly have no idea what that member is focused on, but my question was about the results of their policies. Now, let us talk about the results: 52,000 private sector job losses, 28,000 in manufacturing alone. That is just in the last month. He talked about the price of food. We have food inflation in this country that is more than double the food inflation in the United States. If t…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, St. Thomas More was the Lord Chancellor of England, and he was imprisoned and executed because he refused to violate his conscience. Today, watching the sentencing of Jimmy Lai, it is impossible not to see the parallels between More and this modern champion of truth and justice. Jimmy Lai fled mainland China and arrived in Hong Kong as a penniless refugee at the age of 12. He went on …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it is indeed a serious problem for our democracy when private members' bills that are sometimes passed unanimously by this House have been held up indefinitely in the Senate. The Senate is supposed to provide that sober second thought, not sit on bills without providing any thought to them just to prevent them from passing. In the last Parliament, we had the international human righ…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister promised the fastest-growing economy in the G7. He promised to build this country, but today we are seeing that those policies are just not working. January saw a major drop in private sector employment of over 50,000 workers, a drop of 28,000 in the manufacturing sector alone. The government is presiding over a deepening employment crisis as more people are dropp…
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Madam Speaker, we will work to advance solutions that work, and we will oppose what is not working. I am looking at the employment numbers. Private sector employment fell by over 50,000 in the last month. Young people overwhelmingly report that they are worse off than their parents' generation because they cannot find jobs and they cannot afford homes. Canadians are looking for hope. They are look…
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