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…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
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…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I have debated the merits of concurrence motions often with my friend and colleague. Concurrence motions are an opportunity to debate a matter that the majority of a parliamentary committee has brought to the attention of the House. I think the member misses the fact, in his discussion, that debate on concurrence motions can always be adjourned or superseded by a majority of the Hou…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I have some family members in town who were planning on skating on the Rideau Canal this afternoon, but when they heard we were debating the Standing Orders, they decided to cancel and come here instead. I want to welcome them. I want to start by talking about the use of unanimous consent in this chamber. This is an important aspect of our rules, but I think it is of profound import…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, personally I would say that there is a major difference between the use of the voting app and the use of some of the other applications of virtual Parliament. I think a great deal is lost when members try to give speeches remotely or participate in questions and comments from somewhere else. I think that is generally done less now, but I would like us to do away with virtual Parliam…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-260, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying — protection against coercion). Mr. Speaker, today I am tabling an act to prevent coercion of persons who are not seeking medical assistance in dying: to stand with people with disabilities, veterans, the elderly and all people who have faced or are at risk of facing pressure and coercion with r…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, over the last few months, I have been visiting university campuses and talking to young people across this country. I was at Carleton earlier this week. I spent some time there talking to students and debating against the member for Winnipeg North. We had a great time. I certainly did, anyway. The question I have been asking students is whether they are better or worse off than thei…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is completely wrong about the figures. He says that the youth unemployment rate is moving in a good direction, but actually in the previous month it was 12.8%. In the latest numbers we have up until today, it was 13.3%. There is an increase in the youth unemployment rate, which we have seen in the month-over-month numbers, and it is quite a significant in…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, last night I was out with the member for Winnipeg North at Carleton University. We were debating in front of some students at a great event. I know that many members probably watched it on livestream while it was happening. During that debate, my colleague across the way was so eager to tell the students about how many programs the government has put in place, yet what the students re…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, obviously, the price of groceries is very high because of Liberal policies. It is higher than in other countries. In our opinion, the industrial carbon tax has contributed significantly to the increase in grocery prices. I would like to hear my colleague's opinion on this tax. Does the Bloc Québécois support our position that this tax should be eliminated?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I continue to believe that the world faces a situation akin to a kind of second cold war, an intensifying conflict between the democratic world and the authoritarian revisionist world. In that context, our engagement with democracies in the global south and with other states that are sort of the swing states in this new cold war, which have legitimate strategic concerns with the actio…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague referenced some of the human rights violations committed by the CCP. I want to mention to the House that I had the honour this afternoon of meeting with members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, who are here in Canada. Part of what they are doing is highlighting the case of the 11th Panchen Lama, who was detained and disappeared by the CCP more than 30 years ago. His wh…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time. Today, the House is debating a trade deal between Canada and Indonesia. It is a deal that Conservatives support advancing to the next stage of consideration. In the context of this agreement, I would like to offer a few observations about the state of the world that have bearing on how and with whom we make international agreements. Over the course of my tim…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the government and the Prime Minister would like to create a false choice between our values and our interests. I would say this. When the Prime Minister ignores our fundamental values and fails to address critical issues of human rights, and when he allows strategic domination of key sectors by a strategic adversary, then we leave ourselves vulnerable in the long term. We undermine o…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I generally agree with the proposals of my Bloc Québécois colleague. As we said, we will support this bill so that it can be studied in committee. I hope the committee will be able to look at the important issues of human rights and forced labour. In general, the current government has not brought these issues to the forefront. We continue to have a huge problem with products coming i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I have been thinking a lot about this line from the Prime Minister when he was in China, when he said we should take the world as it is, not how we wish it would be. I think the problem with that line and aspects of his discourse is that it ignores the capacity that we have to create the world we want, the power that our government should have to imagine a world that is not one in w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I just want to pick up on one thing the member said about the most sensitive waters in the world in his defence of Liberal Bill C-48, which blocked energy pipelines to the west coast. Does the member acknowledge that foreign oil tankers are in the same ocean and in the same areas? Does he acknowledge that preventing exports from Canada does not prevent the presence of exactly the sa…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be back in the House. I missed all my colleagues. I trust that feeling is mutual. It is good to be back here to address the business of the nation. I want to offer my condolences to the family of Kirsty Duncan, with whom many of us served. I also want to take this opportunity to express my solidarity with the brave people of Iran, who have endured unspeakable viole…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, there are many different parts of that response that I could pick up on, but let us talk about what is in the budget, very concretely. Page 217 of the budget states: Budget 2025 announces the government’s intention to propose legislative and regulatory amendments to address integrity issues related to private educational institutions by generally limiting access to the Canada Student …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I will present a number of petitions today. The first petition draws the attention of the House to the worsening situation of human rights in North Korea, as documented by various commissions. These violations of human rights include prioritization of food distribution to those considered useful to the survival of the current political system; a vast security apparatus that suppresses…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I would like to present to the House deals with the issue of MAID or euthanasia. The petitioners are concerned, in particular, about so-called track 2 MAID that makes people living with disabilities the only group eligible for medical assistance in dying when they are not dying. The petitioners argue that allowing so-called MAID for those with disabilities or chronic…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I will table today highlights the condition of the Hazara people in Afghanistan. The Hazaras are an ethnic minority, indigenous people of Afghanistan, generally also a religious minority. They come from the Shia Muslim community. They faced significant challenges even prior to the Taliban takeover, but their situation is that much more dire now. The petitioners also …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling draws the attention of the House to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The petitioners highlight 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 describe, in some detail in this petition, the persecuti…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I will table draws the attention of the House to many Ukrainians who have come here under a CUAET visa and have questions about the government's policy with respect to next steps for them. They want to see the government provide Ukrainians who are currently in Canada temporary emergency measures with—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my friend from Kingston and the Islands has given me the opportunity to highlight the jobs numbers that came out this morning. Zeroing in on the province of Ontario, we saw the loss of about 7,000 full-time jobs. I certainly acknowledge that there was a gain in part-time jobs, but there was a significant loss in full-time jobs and a response in part-time jobs.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the member for Kingston and the Islands should recognize the reality. Canadians are poorer, they are struggling, they are desperate for—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I, too, am shocked by the heckling by the member for Kingston and the Islands, and I hope his whip will bring him into line. I wonder if the member can say what he identifies in the fact that full-time jobs are down across the country and, particularly, in Ontario.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, let us look at the actual job numbers the member was trying to reference: 9,400 full-time jobs were lost in the last month. The Liberals want to try to pretend that they are doing better by adding part-time numbers in, but the fact that Canadians are desperate and are turning to part-time work because full-time jobs are not available and they desperately need that part-time work to fe…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in that member's province, Quebec, 35,000 full-time jobs were lost. More than 35,000 full-time jobs were lost in Quebec. The minister says that this is an improvement, that this is good news. It is shocking that the government would celebrate a significant decline in full-time work. Canadians are looking for full-time jobs, so that they can provide for their families. When will they s…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to present a number of petitions to the House today. The first petition draws the attention of the House to the ongoing illegal occupation of Cyprus by the Turkish military. Petitioners highlight that the Turkish military invasion in 1974 was illegal and brutal, resulting in the ongoing occupation of 37% of the island and 57% of its coastline; that the occ…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I would like to table draws the attention of the House to a quite extreme proposal on euthanasia, or MAID, put forward by Mr. Louis Roy of the Quebec college of physicians. It recommended expanding euthanasia to “babies from birth to one year of age”. This is deeply troubling, but sadly he is not the only person; members of the government have advocated for so-called…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling is in support of Bill S-209, although it says Bill S-210 because that was the number used in the last Parliament. Petitioners support this bill to protect young people, children, from accessing explicit sexual material online. Showing sexually explicit material to children is a form of child abuse, yet it happens regularly online. Many children are acces…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The comments made were clearly unparliamentary. I do not think I need to explain why.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, we obviously disagree with the Bloc Québécois in this regard, but I would like to ask a question about the Liberal Party's position and the discussions that have taken place between the Bloc Québécois and the Liberal Party. We learned through the media on Monday, and this was confirmed by a Liberal spokesperson, that the government came to an agreement with the Bloc Québécois to move …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the civil war in Sudan has been devastating, and Canadians have been shocked to learn that weapons made in this country have been used in the conflict by the RSF, the same organization responsible for genocide. This is not the first time a diversion has put weapons in the hands of genocidal actors. Canadian-made weapons have also been used by Russia against Ukraine. At a time when our…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I just want to remind the member that we are dealing with a particular topic, Bill C-246, which deals with consecutive sentencing. I wonder if you could call on the member to follow the rules and discuss the provisions of the bill that is currently before the House. It is a very important one.
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, Canada faces a continuing youth jobs crisis. The government has, unfortunately, with this budget, actually moved in the opposite direction from where we need to go. Before the budget, Conservatives helpfully laid out the Conservative youth jobs plan, which identifies the key things we need to do: unleash the economy, fix immigration, fix training and build homes where the jobs are. Ke…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot there, but I want to particularly zero in on one thing the member said, which is that he thinks things are generally going well. Fourteen-plus per cent youth unemployment is not things going well. Those are recession levels. This summer, one in five returning students, roughly, was not able to find a job. These are students who rely on the income they earn in the summer…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting. We have the opportunity, with slots for private members' bills, to put forward a bill or a motion. The member has chosen to put forward a motion, not a bill, and the motion is asking the government to consider amending the Income Tax Act. I just want to ask the member, if he has specific recommendations with respect to a program, why he did not just put forward …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, today is a very important day in the House. It happens to be my assistant Gelila's birthday, so I think all members would join me in wishing her a happy birthday. As we talk about Motion No. 15, which is not legislation, as I will note later, and which deals with environmental issues, I want to comment briefly on the so-called MOU signed between the Government of Alberta and the feder…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, respectfully, I have a follow-up to my previous question. What the member said about the rules of the House is not correct. Members are able to propose private members' bills that spend money; they simply need a royal recommendation, which is the support of cabinet, in order to proceed. The member could have proposed legislation to do this. It might have required a royal recommendatio…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions to present to the House today. The first petition deals with the issue of youth unemployment. I want to thank the petitioners for taking the initiative to get this important issue of youth unemployment before the House. The petitioners observe that youth unemployment is alarmingly high across Canada, leaving many young Canadians unable to secure stable, fu…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition that I would like to present to the House is in response to the ongoing illegal genocidal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the Putin regime. The petitioners highlight a number of aspects of this invasion. This petition was prepared a little while ago, so there have been further developments beyond what is in the petition, but the asks are very clear and very present…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling highlights concerns from the disability community about euthanasia, or medical assistance in dying. The petitioners raise concerns about how making euthanasia available to people with disabilities, the only group of people who can access medical assistance in dying when they are not dying, devalues their lives and negatively impacts their experiences in …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the final petition I am tabling today highlights challenges faced by Ukrainian refugees here in Canada who, overwhelmingly, are working, contributing to Canadian society and, as the war continues, face uncertainty around their status here. Petitioners from my province of Alberta are calling on the federal government to create a clear path to permanent residency for those who are here …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, tonight I am following up on a question I raised previously about the ongoing youth unemployment crisis in this country. Youth unemployment is persistently high, still well over 14%, more than a full percentage point higher than it was a year ago. Over 440,000 young Canadians between 15 and 25 are currently unemployed. In this context, Conservatives put forward our Conservative yout…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, my colleague spent a lot of time talking about the Canada summer jobs program. As she knows, this is not a new program. It has in fact existed in this country since I was a very small child, which was a long time ago. However, what is new with the program is that the Liberals have established a very short duration for the jobs; the average is eight weeks, so effectively there are no…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I wonder if you could clarify the rules around a question, 30 seconds in duration, that begins with a preamble that may seem unrelated to government business but that concludes on a matter that is related to government business. In the past, members have been able to finish—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. The member is conflating two very different cases. The Chairs have ruled in the past about equating members' positions with those of violent authoritarian regimes or suggesting they are acting as agents of violent authoritarian regimes. That is clearly very different from saying that something a member does not like may suggest other things about the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, when the budget was initially tabled, Canadians rightly were focused on the big picture: the fact that the government's fiscal plan fudges the numbers and still contains the largest deficit in this nation's history outside the COVID period. Taxpayers have spent more and gotten less in the last 10 years under the Liberals, and that is not changing under the Prime Minister, who is runni…
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