Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, as a principled opposition, we agree with the government when we agree with the government, and we criticize them when we think it is on the wrong path. It has made some decisions on Ukraine that have been good decisions. It has also made some decisions that have not been good. In particular, it is important for us to critique the decision to waive sanctions on Gazprom turbines. In th…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member that there is so much more we need to be doing here in Canada on cybersecurity. There is more that we need to be doing to combat efforts by various foreign states that interfere in Canadian affairs. We see these efforts take various forms, with cybersecurity, hacking and other kinds of infiltration. The Russian government is doing this. We know there are other …
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Mr. Speaker, I agree there is so much more work that needs to continue to be done to stand with Ukraine, address this invasion and combat this unprecedented aggression. We will continue to call on the government to step up further and, in particular, condemn these referenda and cancel the sanctions waiver that was granted to the Gazprom turbines.
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Mr. Speaker, I share the aspirations of the parliamentary secretary for unity in support of Ukraine. Of course, in pursuit of that end, the official opposition will continue to challenge the government in areas where it is falling short with respect to providing the necessary supports for Ukraine. It is not just the official opposition that has raised these concerns; other long-time allies of the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
I wish her members were in the House.
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the hon. member has entirely missed the point. Higher taxes are not an environmental plan. They have not worked, and the government members think that even further increasing taxes is going to somehow achieve a different result. It will not. Let me put to the member something that is very obvious. Even proponents of carbon taxes generally admit it, and that is that the very purpose …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I would like you to review the fact that previously in this session the Speaker has ruled that if there are noes, there is no right to complete a presumption of unanimous consent when members have already made clear that there is none. The Speaker—
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, today in the House, the Conservatives put forward a motion with a simple ask of the government: to recognize the harm being done to Canadians by the government's high tax, high borrowing, high spending, high inflation agenda, and to stop the damage by committing to reverse planned tax hikes, which are scheduled to take effect automatically next year. We have been very clear. The Con…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to table three petitions before the House. The first petition deals with the issue of forced organ harvesting and trafficking. The petitioners have submitted this petition in support of Bill S-223, a bill that would make it a criminal offence for a person to go abroad to receive an organ taken without consent. This bill has passed in the Senate three time…
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am tabling deals with the issue of a commitment that was made in the Liberal election platform on page 4. The commitment was to revoke charitable status from organizations that take a particular position on a contentious social issue. The petitioners are concerned that this proposal would have broad implications, such as removing the charitable status of schools,…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am rising on a point of order. I want to, respectfully, just draw your attention to an exchange that I had with the Speaker on June 9 of this year. The context was that the member for Kildonan—St. Paul sought unanimous consent for a motion and was cut off in the middle by the Speaker because of a number of nays. I asked the Speaker, “Mr. Speaker, I wonder if you could clarify the …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the third petition I am tabling is with respect to the persecution of Falun Gong. The petitioners are highlighting the persecution of Falun Gong in the petition I am tabling. They are deeply concerned about it. They want to see the government take measures on it, which include combatting forced organ harvesting and trafficking and using the Magnitsky act to target individuals who have…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, of course it makes sense to have resilient infrastructure, infrastructure that is fit for purpose and that can respond to these things as much as possible. I am not an engineer. There are probably limits to one's ability to build for all possible events, but I would assent in principle to the idea that we should as much as possible, in the process of rebuilding and in the process of b…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we are here in Parliament today talking about the affordability crisis that so many Canadians are dealing with, and in a way it feels like progress that we are even talking about this, because most of the debates that happen in Parliament are scheduled by the government, and for two years the government has been ignoring the problem of “Justinflation” that so many Canadians have bee…
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Madam Speaker, I know the member for Timmins—James Bay is excited to hear the rest of my remarks and it sounds like he is chomping at the bit for the privilege of debate that may be coming. I look forward to his remarks. I would encourage him to make sure he has consulted with the rest of his party around the position he takes on that, because there may be some differences of opinion around that i…
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Madam Speaker, I will be very clear. I am proposing, fundamentally, as a first step, that the government commit to reversing planned automatic tax increases for next year. The member thinks that this is not going to matter to Canadians for a long time. It will matter to Canadians right away. Canadians who are struggling to pay for gas, groceries and home heating will immediately be affected by the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would be happy to have that debate in detail at another time. I think that, in front of us, we are discussing the issue of affordability for Canadians. There is a lot of work to be done on the health care front. There is no doubt about that. There have been many challenges that have been exposed through the COVID pandemic that require significant work. I look forward to further an…
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Madam Speaker, respectfully to my colleague, I have a number of points on this. Number one is that we have major challenges in our existing health care system. Rather than address those challenges, the parties of the left—
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Madam Speaker, I do not mind the heckling from the government minister over here. I know he has strong views in support of the Liberal agenda, and he is using his voice in the House to defend Liberal policies. Many Canadians are disappointed by the fact that the NDP have really sold out. They have sold out on principles they used to articulate. I look at the bill before us, and regardless of what …
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Madam Speaker, I have already identified a number of areas of spending that I think are not only not necessary but actually make Canadians worse off. It is a reasonable principle to have dollar for dollar to be able to identify those areas while talking about spending increases. Just to zero in specifically on the Green Party's emphasis on defence spending, it kind of misses the reality of what is…
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Madam Speaker, that is the best question I have received all day. I did not live during the tenure of the previous Trudeau government, but I can say that my grandfather made sure that I knew about what happened. My grandfather was working as an engineer in Alberta during the national energy program, which was the last time we had a prime minister named Trudeau, and the last time we saw those kinds…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this important debate tonight about the impacts of hurricane Fiona on eastern Canada. As members know, I represent a riding in Alberta. We live in a big country, where a natural disaster could affect one part of the country and not another. I also know we are a community of solidarity, where people in Alberta follow events in other parts …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I want to underline that nothing in my speech was to take away from the great work that the Red Cross is doing in eastern Canada or in other parts of the world. Of course, it does have partnerships with local organizations, and I hope it will do its best to engage some of those local organizations. However, fundamentally, it does not change the point that there are many other worthy o…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I think a really simple thing for the government to do would be to say, as a policy statement, that it will work to identify all of the dollars that have been donated for this purpose and match those dollars insofar as it will set aside, in a fund for relief, the number of dollars equivalent to the amount it estimates has been contributed. That formal calculation does not have to all …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question for the government member who just spoke. The government talks often about how much money it is giving to people, saying that it is going to give them more money here and more money there. Does the government appreciate that it does not generate its own money? The money it gives away, it takes from either present people or from future generations. In fact, the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am sorry to have to interrupt today's debate, but this is an important question of privilege. I will be as brief as possible. I rise on a question of privilege regarding threatening comments made by Mr. Dale Smith, an accredited member of the parliamentary press gallery, following a question I raised in the House yesterday. I am raising this issue as soon as possible after having …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, respectfully to my hon. friend, there seems to be a bit of a confused sense of who is responsible for what. He says the federal government does not impact the price of gas or groceries and does not prepare cakes; it is not the one making and setting the price for this. This seems to ignore the fact that the federal government is responsible for fiscal policies and, indirectly, for mon…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to be able to resume the remarks I was making previously on this bill to create Hindu heritage month, a bill recognizing the immense contributions of the Hindu community to Canada's national life in so many different areas. The last time this motion came up, I was also speaking about the way we have moved from using heritage months to recognize ethnocultural co…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the third petition that I am tabling highlights the ongoing detention of Mr. Huseyin Celil, who is a Canadian citizen in China. The petitioners note that they are pleased to see the release of the two Michaels, but they want to see this government advocate for Mr. Celil and other detained Canadian citizens with the same level of intensity that was applied in terms of advocacy for the …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the government's tax increases are causing a national unity crisis, and those tax hikes will target those who can least afford to pay. The Prime Minister knows that more carbon tax increases will divide our country further and make life even less affordable, but the Prime Minister has taken the same approach all along: to raise taxes on working people, put basic necessities like trans…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, is this real life? I ask because that answer was pure fantasy. We have inflation landslides and no escape from poverty. When will the Prime Minister open up his eyes and see? He is not a poor boy, but he should have some sympathy. For too many Canadians, opportunity had just begun and now the government is going to throw it all away. Money is not easy come, easy go in this economy, so…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions to table today. First of all, I stand in solidarity with my many colleagues who are tabling petitions in support of Bill S-223. For those who do not know, this is a bill that seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. This bill has actually passed the Senate twice and the House once in its current form, but it is currently stalled before the …
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition that I am tabling has a number of asks with respect to the ongoing, illegal, genocidal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The petitioners begin by noting the various facts surrounding the invasion, including the fact that Ukraine was initially invaded by Russia back in 2014 and that what we have seen this year is a further invasion that really builds on and is consiste…
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The last petition that I will table today then relates to an Order Paper question that I put on notice yesterday about the situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Some of the specific acts in this petition are somewhat dated, although we have seen the resumption of conflict, so it is relevant again. Petitioners want to see and are calling for an immediate end to violence and for restraint on a…
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Madam Speaker, the second petition I am tabling is similar to that tabled by a number of colleagues. It is to support Bill S-223, a bill to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. This bill has passed the Senate twice and the House once in its current form. It is now stalled at the foreign affairs committee, and petitioners want to see this bill passed as soon as possible. Families of vict…
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Madam Speaker, the first petition I am tabling today is with respect to violent clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is timely in light of recent further aggression across the border from the Azeri side. Petitioners want to see peace, and they want to see a negotiated settlement. Petitioners are calling on the government to act specifically around the issue of the continuing detention of Arm…
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Madam Speaker, finally, I am tabling a petition that raises the concern of citizens about a Liberal plan to apply a political values test to charitable status determination. It is raising significant concern throughout the charitable sector that the Liberal plan to politicize charitable status will jeopardize the status of hospitals, houses of worship, schools, homeless shelters and other charitab…
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With regard to the government’s position related to allegations of genocide as defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide being committed: is it the position of the government that (i) Canada or actors in Canada are currently committing genocide against any group, (ii) the Government of Sri Lanka has committed genocide against Tamils, (iii) the Government o…
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With regard to Canada’s international development assistance since 2016: (a) has the government funded the provision of any healthcare services in a country or place where those services are illegal, and, if so, what are the details, including what services were funded, broken down by country; (b) has the government funded any organizations that provide healthcare services in violation of local la…
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With regard to COVID-19 transmission within Canada: (a) how many Canadians are known to have contracted COVID-19 while on a domestic flight (i) between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, (ii) between July 1, 2021, and October 29, 2021, (iii) between October 30, 2021, and November 29, 2021, (iv) since November 30, 2021; (b) how many Canadians are known to have contracted COVID-19 while in an airport (…
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With regard to engagement with the Russia embassy in Ottawa, since February 23, 2022: (a) how many meetings, phone calls, or email exchanges have occurred between ministers, ministerial staff, parliamentary secretaries, or public servants, and representatives of the Russian embassy; (b) what were the (i) dates, (ii) times, (iii) details, (iv) objectives, (v) outcomes, of the meetings or exchanges …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here tonight. Objective International analysis shows that Canada faces democratic decline. Our democracy in Canada is not about to cease to exist, but it is weakening under pressure from the Prime Minister. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, or IDEA, in Stockholm is the global authority on democracy evaluation. Its data underli…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, respectfully, that was a particularly insubstantive response to some very serious and legitimate concerns. What I said in my introductory comments was that international monitors have identified democratic decline, particularly around the ability of institutions to check the power of the executive, as being a key concern in Canada. The parliamentary secretary made no mention of the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, in terms of companies that are continuing to do business with Russia, there are two possible circumstances. We could speak about those that may be violating sanctions, and we could also speak about cases where the sanctions are not preventing them from doing that. We need to continue to push for tougher sanctions, and we also need strengthened sanctions enforcement. The member has tal…
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to table some petitions. The first petition I want to table is on a very serious human rights issue. It is on the situation in Pakistan, particularly Pakistan's blasphemy law. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom notes that the blasphemy law has “contributed to egregious human rights abuses and fostered an overall atmosphere of…
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Madam Speaker, the second petition is about a 2021 commitment in the Liberal election platform to politicize charitable status determinations and to strip charitable status from organizations that take positions on abortion that the Liberals do not agree with. This is similar to the values test the Liberals previously imposed on the Canada summer jobs program, which would deny funding to worthy or…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition that I am tabling speaks to the carbon tax, particularly the cost that the carbon tax imposes on farmers and ranchers. This is particularly evident in light of increasing fuel prices. The cost is impinging very significantly on farmers. There are a number of asks that are highlighted in this petition, such as immediately exempting all direct and indirect input cost…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition is returning to the subject of international human rights. This petition is about the situation in Afghanistan. This petition came in prior to the Taliban takeover, at a time when there were significant concerns about human rights challenges facing the Hazara community in Afghanistan, and sadly, the situation has gotten so much worse following the Taliban takeover.…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition that I am tabling highlights ongoing concerns about human rights abuses taking place in Ethiopia. Some of the particular asks are dated, but there continue to be concerns about humanitarian conditions, as well as political violence, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Petitioners want to see the government increase its engagement with the country of Ethiopia to suppo…
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling is in support of a private member's bill on organ harvesting and trafficking. It is a bill that has passed in the Senate and is currently before the foreign affairs committee. The bill would make it a criminal offence for a person to go abroad and receive an organ taken without the consent of the person who the organ is coming from. The petitioners wan…
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