Government Orders
Mr. Chair, my colleague has put forward a bill in this House, Bill C-353, that deals specifically with this issue of hostages. Of course, many of us are seized with concern about the situation of these hostages, including Canadians. I wonder if the member can share a bit about the private member's bill she put forward before this situation happened, what the provisions of that bill are and the imp…
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Mr. Chair, I agree with my colleague about the importance of having a humanitarian corridor. I would add that the setting up of a humanitarian corridor will require the buy-in and collaboration of multiple parties, but it is certainly important for the international community to work on delivering that outcome. I wonder if he could share specifically what he thinks the response of Israel should be…
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Mr. Chair, it seems like the NDP leader has essentially offered a defence of complete pacifism. He has stated, as a principle, that he seems to believe that war is never the solution, that more war is never going to lead to peace. I want to just clarify his views on that. Does he believe that there is no case in which war is necessary or just? If there is any such case, it would seem to me that a …
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Mr. Chair, I want to ask my hon. friend about his views on the Iranian regime's role behind this attack. It is clear, I think, that the Iranian regime is seeking to support terrorist organizations throughout the region. If we look at Israel's borders, we see Iranian regime engagement with Hamas, with Hezbollah and with the Assad regime in Syria. We have called for the government to take additional…
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Mr. Chair, I am not sure if that was the member's first speech in this place, but we were actually at the same university together years ago. I did not expect to be agreeing with him when I asked him my first question in the House. I look forward to future opportunities no doubt to cross swords with the member with greater sharpness in the exchange. I do thank the member for what he shared in his …
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Mr. Speaker, I know my hon. colleague is very sincere in her convictions on these matters. I wanted to pick up on the issue of the importance of establishing a humanitarian corridor and safe zones for the distribution of essential humanitarian assistance. Our party supports that and has called for that. I want to note that the last time there was conflict between Gaza and Israel, there was one ins…
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Mr. Speaker, I just heard the leader of the Green Party propose that perhaps Hamas could be eliminated by another international force. I would speculate that, if other countries volunteered to do that, Israel would be happy to have that occur. However, in the absence of having other countries commit troops to defeat Hamas, Israel is obviously on the front line and committed to protecting itself. M…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for sharing some very important personal reflections that I think are very valuable for the House to consider. I want to ask a question on a somewhat different aspect of this debate. It is a question I have asked a few government members. It is about the role of the Iranian regime in supporting Hamas and supporting other terrorist organizations that threaten Israe…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time. I come to this debate tonight as a Christian, as the grandson of a Holocaust survivor and as someone with deep love for my many Muslim friends. The three great Abrahamic faiths have many points of unity. We share our commitment to the singular worship of one God, a belief in a moral framework that flows from the Ten Commandments, an appreciation for the role…
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Mr. Speaker, I think we all absolutely agree with the importance of having a humanitarian corridor. In terms of the logistics around it, all of us need to be working on that solution. In particular, the governments of the world need to be working on that solution. Of course, the different actors have a role to play, but it is not as simple as Israel deciding there is going to be a humanitarian cor…
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Mr. Speaker, Hamas, the perpetrator of this attack, is a listed terrorist organization here in Canada. However, Conservatives have been calling for the IRGC, affiliated with the Iranian regime, the enabler of so much terrorism in the region by Hamas, by Hezbollah and other actors, also be listed as a terrorist organization. This attack by Hamas terrorists is another crime that we can ultimately la…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to present a number of petitions to the House today. The first petition is in support of an excellent private member's bill, Bill C-257. This bill seeks to protect Canadians from discrimination on the basis of political views or activity. It would add political belief and activity as prohibited grounds of discrimination within the Canadian Human Rights Act. The bill rec…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I would like to present is regarding 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 teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, tolerance and compassion. The petitioners reflect on the horrific campaign of persecu…
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Madam Speaker, the third petition I am presenting deals with proposals for the politicization of charitable status determinations. The petitioners note a past Liberal Party platform commitment aimed at politicizing charitable status and denying charitable status to organizations that happen to reflect a set of values that is different from that of the Liberal Party. The petitioners note that this …
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate that the member for Winnipeg North is concerned about the politicization of the House of Commons. We certainly would not want to see that happening. The petitioners say that the government has previously used a values test to discriminate against worthy applicants to the Canada summer jobs program, denying funding to any organization that was not willing to check a box …
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Madam Speaker, the fourth and final petition I will table for today is from petitioners who are deeply concerned about proposals to legalize the killing of children under the rubric of so-called medical assistance in dying. The petitioners find these proposals deeply disturbing, and they call on the Government of Canada to block any attempt to allow the killing of children in Canada.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague made an important distinction in the Conservative approach to housing: We are not going to dictate municipal decisions around zoning and around the mechanics of where housing goes, but we are going to set targets and clear expectations. I think this is consistent with both the urgency of the housing crisis we see and the important principle of subsidiarity, which is tha…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to table a number of petitions in the House today. The first petition is in support of private member's bill, Bill C-257, a bill that I put forward, along with a parallel bill, Bill S-257, that has been presented in the Senate by Senator Ataullahjan. This bill would add political belief and activity as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian…
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Madam Speaker, the second petition notes the elevated risk of violence that pregnant women face, the absence of specific targeted protections for women in this situation and the fact that the current law does not recognize the impact if an active assault results in the death of the preborn child. Petitioners call on the House to legislate that the abuse of a pregnant woman or the infliction of har…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition deals with the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Petitioners note that Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that consists of meditation exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Petitioners describe the campaign of persecution that has been targeting Falun Gong practitioners …
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Madam Speaker, the final petition that I am tabling for today deals with the government's so-called feminist international policy. Petitioners note that the Muskoka Initiative, launched by the previous Conservative government, involved historic investments in the well-being of women and girls around the world. This initiative emphasized value for money but also ensured that investments were in mad…
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Madam Speaker, I have one petition to table, which is in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-257.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, on May 29, the Liberal-NDP coalition voted against a Conservative motion to sue the companies responsible for the opioid crisis for all damages and devote the money received to prevention, treatment and recovery. Liberals sided with McKinsey and big pharma against the victims of the opioid crisis. However, McKinsey just agreed to pay another $230 million in damages in the U.S. While A…
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Mr. Speaker, I move that the 11th report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, presented on Friday, February 17, be concurred in. I am grateful for this opportunity to address the House today on an urgent question of foreign policy. After people have enjoyed more than three decades of political independence with their own self-governing democratic institutions…
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Madam Speaker, going back to the last Parliament, we had very effective co-operation on the foreign affairs committee among Conservatives, the Bloc and New Democrats in trying to get to the bottom of why there was the export of this technology to Turkey that ended up going to Azerbaijan. That transfer could likely have been predicted. The effect of this was that this technology was used and deploy…
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Madam Speaker, I would be happy to, and we regularly do, address the affordability issues, the crisis in Canada that has been created by the policies of the Liberal government. However, I do think there is a place for the people's House to address critical foreign policy crises, including issues of peace, security and aggression around the world. It is disappointing to hear the member dismiss thos…
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Madam Speaker, the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, in the last Parliament, at the time following the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, studied the issue of arms exports, because in a very curious fashion, the Liberal government lifted the prohibition on arms exports to Turkey. There were the exports of some critical technology that was used as part of drones that man…
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Madam Speaker, I think members who follow this know that there is a lot of debate within Armenia about the approach that the Armenian government has taken. We hope for peace. We hope for negotiation. We hope for understanding, but that discussion needs to also include the people in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and it needs to include a human rights lens. Regardless of the political discussions tha…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Though broad, there still are parameters of relevance. I am sure there are members who want to speak—
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Madam Speaker, it is an absurd spectacle we have just seen, of a government member asking the permission of the House to table a document that has already been tabled in a desperate effort to fill 20 minutes on a subject he clearly knows absolutely nothing about. Of course, I read the government's response and, unfortunately, it suggested a weakening of the tone compared to the tone the minister h…
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Madam Speaker, I was not really expecting much in response, but it is good for him to hear and we will give this a shot. This is an extremely important issue. We are talking about the lives and security of people in a different part of the world, but a commitment to universal human solidarity and the international rules-based order should motivate us to be concerned about them. We have had extensi…
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Mr. Speaker, the member did not answer the last question that was asked. The fact is, during the second Nagorno-Karabakh war, drone technology was vital to enabling the Azerbaijani aggression. That drone technology came from Canada. At the time, concerns were dismissed by the then foreign affairs minister, who said, “we're [just] talking about a few cameras”. He said they were just a few old Polar…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister has asserted the importance of the principle of non-aggression. Of course, we have seen significant aggression from the Azerbaijani government. I wonder what the minister thinks the appropriate response to that aggression is from the international community. Of course, we need to talk about human rights protection and humanitarian issues, but in terms of how we respond to…
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Mr. Speaker, the procedural aspects of this debate are way at the bottom of the list, but I want to briefly mention them in the context of a comment. It is my understanding that other parties in this case were informed of our intention to move this concurrence debate. Respectfully, there have been instances in the past where other parties have been informed that there was a problem with the inform…
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Mr. Speaker, as we come to the end of the debate, it is important to underline the importance of this topic and the importance of responding to what various experts have called a genocide, according to the international definition, recognizing Canada's obligations to respond, and also the importance of not brushing off international aggression. I asked the foreign affairs minister earlier what Can…
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Mr. Speaker, we would like to have a recorded division on this.
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Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to present a number of petitions to the House today on behalf of my constituents. The first is in support of an excellent private member's bill, Bill C-257, which I have proposed. The bill would seek to add political belief and activity as prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Petitioners note the ongoing and growin…
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am tabling deals with immigration from Hong Kong. In particular, it concerns people who have offences against them in association with their work for the democracy movement, who essentially have been charged by Hong Kong's politicized judiciary simply as a political tool for silencing them. Those charges could lead to their ability to immigrate or otherwise come …
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Mr. Speaker, the third petition I am tabling raises concern about proposals the government has put forward to apply a values test to charitable status determination, another prospective instance of political discrimination. The petitioners want to see the government protect and preserve the application of charitable status rules on a politically and ideologically neutral basis, without discriminat…
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Mr. Speaker, the fourth petition I will table today is about proposals for the legalization of euthanasia for children. The petitioners find these proposals deeply disturbing and call on the Government of Canada to block and oppose any attempt to legalize the killing of children in such cases in Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, the fifth and final petition I will be tabling today is on the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the PRC. Petitioners explain that Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that consists of meditation exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. They note that since 1999, the Communist Party has launch…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, we see clearly how, across the board, the government fails to take responsibility for its failures. When things go wrong, it is always somebody else who is responsible. It is always somebody else's fault. We could talk, for example, about inflation, about grocery prices, about how everything is more expensive under the government, especially so many household essentials that people re…
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Mr. Speaker, the member said that, in my comments, I am throwing all these things out there and really trying to connect the dots to establish that there is corruption in the government. It is actually not very difficult to establish that there is corruption in the government. The youngest of my children could connect that dots that are available. The fact is that all one has to do is consult with…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be brief this morning. I have only three petitions to share with the House today. I would say to my colleagues that I will do better in the future. The first petition is from petitioners who are very fond of a particular private member's bill, which happens to be one that I have put forward in this House. Bill C-257 is aimed at combatting the growing problem of political discri…
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition is from those who are concerned about proposals to legalize euthanasia, or MAID, for children. The petitioners are asking the House to oppose any attempts to legalize the killing of children in Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, the final petition highlights the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. It lays out the history of that persecution; the nature of the Falun Gong movement as a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that consists of meditation, exercise and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance; and the ongoing issue of forced organ har…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address the House today on Bill C-33. I hope members had productive summers in their ridings. It is good to be back to reconnect with my colleagues on all sides of the House. Bill C-33, on the face of it, deals with the technical subject matter of port and railway systems in Canada, but I think this bill also exposes a philosophical gulf that exists b…
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Mr. Speaker, that question was a target-rich environment, so I will try to get through it as much as I can. The member began by saying that the bill is about looking at having local committees providing input. No, it is not. The bill is about mandating particular structures around consultation committees, structures that may well be appropriate in many cases, but not in every case. The member says…
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Mr. Speaker, the government right now, through this bill, is asking for more power. It is saying it wants to be able to exercise greater influence over ports, and particularly over the process of appointments. It wants to take over what has historically been the role of the board itself, to select its chair. The government wants to appoint that chair itself. The government is coming to Parliament …
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague and look forward to working with him on the government operations committee with the revisions that have been made to committee memberships. When it comes to indigenous engagement, I think it is important for that engagement to happen and for it to be driven by the particulars of the circumstances in terms of where the port is. Just because …
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