Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling relates to the Liberal government's feminist international assistance policy. The petitioners highlight the Auditor General's report, which shows that the Liberal approach to international development for women and girls has been criticized by the Auditor General for failing to measure results. The petitioners further note that this policy has shown a …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, next, I am tabling a petition regarding cuts the government has made to women's shelters. Women's shelters are sadly seeing an increase in demand. The petitioners note that the high cost of living and the housing crisis have made it harder for women and children fleeing a violent home to find a safe place to live. Further, the petitioners say that, at a time when the government is d…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I do have many more, but I will limit myself to one additional petition. This petition, which I am tabling today, raises concern about the politicization of charitable status determinations by the government. In particular, the petitioners are concerned about a 2021 platform commitment that the Liberals made to deny the charitable status of organizations that have opinions about abo…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the House can vote on this question of privilege, but the government still can refuse to hand over the documents. I would argue it cannot legally or constitutionally, but what we have seen in every other case is that it will still refuse to hand over the documents. This is why it is critically important for us to take this stand and tell the government that, at this c…
Read full speech →Concurrence in Committee Reports
Madam Speaker, with respect to homelessness, I want to ask the NDP member about Conservative Bill C-356, the building homes not bureaucracy act. I suspect that the NDP would propose other measures that are not in this bill, but it is odd to me that the NDP voted against it because it contains some very obvious common-sense measures, such as requiring municipalities to set targets for the construct…
Read full speech →Concurrence in Committee Reports
Madam Speaker, even in opposition, Conservatives have put solutions before the House to address the housing crisis. One of them is Bill C-356, the building homes, not bureaucracy act. I am perplexed by the fact that all other parties voted against this common-sense piece of legislation. I asked the New Democrats tonight why they had opposed this bill and they said they had certain objections to th…
Read full speech →Concurrence in Committee Reports
Madam Speaker, of course, the House has been seized with debate over another scandal in the NDP-Liberal government for a number of days now. It has been seized with a question of privilege because the government is refusing to hand over documents that the House has ordered it to hand over. Tonight, we are proceeding with concurrence debate; this is debate on whether the House should agree with the…
Read full speech →Concurrence in Committee Reports
Madam Speaker, the hon. member is right to situate what we are talking about in the context of this report within the larger context of a government that does not care about results. It seems to believe it ought to be judged on its intentions instead of on the results it produces. However, Canadians are struggling and suffering, and they are not comforted by the fact that the government purports t…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, today is the first anniversary of the horrible October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. One year later, we continue to grieve with the families who lost loved ones and with the survivors of sexual and other forms of violence who carry the scars of that terrible day. We continue to demand the release of the many hostages who remain captive. We need to bring them home. My grandmother was…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I would also like to comment on the Iranian regime's role in fomenting violence in Sudan. Sudan is in the midst of the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation, and the Iranian regime's support for one of the belligerents fighting in that terrible civil war is contributing to the crisis. Estimates are that over 2.5 million people will die in Sudan this year. To put that in perspect…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to present a number of petitions to the House today. In the first petition, the petitioners, of their own accord, have noted that after nine years, it is clear that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, the crime or the corruption. The petitioners further note that the failed Prime Minister and his failed NDP-Liberal government have increased th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I do understand this is a sensitive matter for members of the government. Just to summarize, this petition is asking the House to axe the tax, build the homes, fix—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
That is what it says, Madam Speaker: axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. It further calls for an immediate vote of non-confidence in the government and for a carbon tax election. I will commend the petition to the House for consideration. I assure members it was a non-partisan association of citizens in my riding that put the petition together.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, my next petition is in support of an excellent private member's bill that I put forward, Bill C-257. The petitioners ask the House to recognize that political discrimination is a serious problem in this country, and that our human rights legislation provides protection for people from various kinds of discrimination but does not protect people from discrimination on the basis of pol…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling in the House deals with policies of the government with respect to natural health products. The petitioners are opposed to changes that have been made by the government. They are supportive of a private member's bill by my colleague from Red Deer—Lacombe that would seek to restore the freedoms that existed previously. The petitioners note that Liberals…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am tabling a petition in support of Bill S-210, the protecting young persons from exposure to pornography act. The petitioners note that sexually explicit material, including demeaning and violent sexual material, can be easily accessed on the Internet by young persons. A significant portion of the sexually explicit material accessed online is made available for commercial purpose…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the next petition deals with proposals we have seen for the legalization of euthanasia for children in Canada. In particular, petitioners note a proposal from Louis Roy of the Quebec college of physicians and surgeons. It is a recommendation to allow euthanasia for “babies from birth to one year of age”. Obviously, this would take place without the consent of the individuals being k…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling deals with the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. The petitioners note that Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that consists of meditation exercises and moral teaching based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. The petition outlines the history of persecution against Falun Gong practi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the next petition responds to a proposal from the last Liberal platform to apply political criteria, ideological criteria, to the charitable status determination process. In particular, the Liberal platform in the last election proposed to deny charitable status to organizations that have convictions about abortion that the Liberal Party views as dishonest. Petitioners note that thi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling deals with the human rights situation in Eritrea, as well as political interference in Canadian affairs that petitioners say is the result of actions and decisions by the Eritrean government. This is a lengthy petition, but I will summarize it. Petitioners note that Eritrea has been ruled by an authoritarian, brutal dictator under a totalitarian system…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be able to address the House today, as always, on behalf of the people I respect in Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, and to do my best to advance the common good for Canada. We are here in the House of Commons, which is appropriately named because we are here to represent the common people and advance the common good, which is the history and the mission of this …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, just parenthetically, I would say to the member, if he is going to make things up, to at least get the names of the people he is making things up about correct. To his ridiculous allegations, I would simply say this: The member understands that the exercise of executive power by the government requires certain particular conflict of interest protections because, in the exercise of e…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, should the rules be revised to triple emphasize that there should not be these kinds of conflict of interest? If there were ambiguity before, should additional measures be taken? I think probably, yes, there should be. I would also say that someone once told me when I was younger that the primary function of a lock is to keep an honest man honest. What was meant by that is that, if …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I am sorry to say there is more nonsense in that question than I think I have time to wade through. Let me try to go in order and see how far I get. He said “contempt of Parliament”, right? This was a motion from the opposition that the opposition parties voted in favour of that criticized the government. This was not a finding by some objective body. This was opposition parties vot…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, this is indeed the application of the kind of McKinsey model to Mark Carney. This is the model where we have very close relationships between elite insiders and the government. Those relationships may not be defined in traditional ways that trigger traditional conflict of interest mechanisms; nonetheless, they are close relationships that allow these insiders to have access to power…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I make no apologies for engaging in debate about how powerful people who are not accountable influence government. However, if the member's concern is that Mark Carney is not able to be in the House to defend himself, I have a great idea: How about he run in a by-election? Given that he is effectively the finance minister anyway, he would be here on the floor to actually answer ques…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, this is the time of the parliamentary day when we change agenda items. We go from discussing one Liberal corruption scandal to discussing a different corruption scandal, so it is a completely different mind frame. Previously, we were talking about the Liberal green slush fund scandal. Now I am going to follow up on a question I had asked about the arrive scam scandal. There is an ex…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary read from a prepared legalese attempt to deflect all responsibility for the government's failures. Here are the facts we know them. A former minister, according to testimony at the government operations committee, said that he wanted someone's head on a plate, wanted someone to blame within the public service. This spawned intensifying conflict between se…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, the member who spoke is a parliamentary secretary. Can we assume the positions she took in her speech are positions of the Government of Canada, or are the positions she took in her speech different from the positions of the Government of Canada?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for raising this important question of privilege. An important context beyond the particulars of this case is that, in 2021, we had someone brought before the bar under this—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, out of deference to the authority of the Chair, I withdraw the remarks. I appreciate how the Chair acknowledged that I did nothing wrong and there was no ill intention, but the Chair invited me to withdraw my remarks; out of deference to the Chair, I have done so. Mr. Speaker, may I now proceed to pose my question—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, since the Speaker affirmed that no rules have been broken, I am happy to continue with my statement. We are dealing with potentially the third time in the life of the current government when an official could be brought before the bar. Before 2021, that had not happened since 1913. Twice, since then, during the life of the current government, emerging from scandals, lack of disclosure…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we are dealing with many different Liberal scandals right now, but this is, in many ways, the most ridiculous. We have a person testifying before committee with text messages that suggest a minister of the Crown was actually involved in the operation of a company he was not supposed to be involved in. The defence of that apparent involvement of the minister of Crown in the operation o…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I have a sincere question for the member. She said in her speech, “Hezbollah and its leaders should be brought to justice”, and that is good. I agree that Hezbollah and its leaders should be brought to justice. However, how would she propose that we go about achieving that objective? What process would she suggest be followed that would be effective in bringing Hezbollah and its leade…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, the aspersions the member just cast are clearly inaccurate and unparliamentary. I ask that the Speaker call her to order on that.
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
It is not debate at all.
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, as leaders in this Parliament, it is critically important that we speak for universal human solidarity and empathy. Clearly, we believe that the dignity of the human person is universal and not dependent on any factor, such as citizenship, national origin place, age, degree of vulnerability, etc. From that basic moral ground, we have to think about policy actions that will concretely …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, immediately prior to coming to this debate, I was at the Subcommittee on International Human Rights, where we are having hearings on the terrible situation in Sudan. The connection between those events and these events, and frankly much of the violence we see around the world, is the role being played by the Iranian regime, which is seeking to expand its control. It is now terrorizing…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, a few months ago, I had the opportunity to connect with people representing the “we want to live” movement. This is a movement that should have gotten, and should still get, more attention and publicity. They are Palestinians living in Gaza who are opposing Hamas. In the summer leading up to October 7, there were significant protests of Palestinians speaking out against Hamas as part …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the member about the role the Iranian regime is playing in instigating violence against Israel, against peoples throughout the Middle East and, of course, against the people of Iran itself. Six years ago, the House passed a motion calling on the government to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization. In fact, members of the government present that day voted in favour of…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, following up on the question of my friend from Winnipeg, one thing I have noticed in the debate tonight is that there is a certain lack of specificity in responses or explanations from some members. I understand the desire of people to express a hope for peace and a desire for greater collaboration and goodwill, but the way we operationalize that is through specific suggestions. Membe…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, my colleague made one observation that I want to take particular note of, and that is about the constant mixed messages we get from the government. She spoke about different members bringing different messages to different communities. It is worse than that. We have ministers and parliamentary secretaries giving contradictory explanations of the conflict here in the House, even toni…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I just want to say briefly that the NDP whip, in particular, has a history of making false and defamatory comments about me, and this is no exception. Members know this. It is very clear—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, there was an exchange yesterday in question period about extravagant spending by the government, with $9 million spent on a luxury condo on Billionaires' Row. Now, the Leader of the Opposition asked a question—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, false or defamatory comments have been made about me. If members want to hear a response, I will provide one. The Leader of the Opposition pointed out that $9 million was spent on this extravagant condo and identified a number of luxury features associated with that condo, including an extremely luxurious bathtub. Following that, the Prime Minister made no comment whatsoever about tho…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, false and defamatory comments have been made about me. I am providing a response, and I hope members will benefit from reviewing the context of what happened. There was $9 million spent on a luxury condo on Billionaires' Row in New York. In a question from the Leader of the Opposition, various luxury—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we have heard a few words said in the House about bullying. I am trying to provide an explanation with context and to answer false allegations that have been made against me. I will persist in doing that. The Leader of the Opposition asked questions about a $9-million luxury condo purchased by the government, identifying a luxury bathtub as one of its particular features. In what foll…
Read full speech →Private Members’ Business
Madam Speaker, we have just finished debate in the House on a Conservative motion of non-confidence in the government. After nine years, so many Canadians are suffering as a result of the failures and frankly, in many cases the malicious failures, of the government that have undermined our national well-being and our social cohesion, as well as had a devastating impact on our economy. I am looking…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, on a point of order, this member is going off on all kinds of tangents. He is bringing in things that really have nothing to do with the business of the House, and I would—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the member is being both irrelevant and unparliamentary in the insinuation—
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