Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I greatly appreciate the collaboration in the House right now, especially when it comes to e-petition 5166, which is a privilege for me to table today. The petition has been signed by over 500 people from across Canada and was initiated by Jade Dulle, a mental health advocate who biked across Canada this summer to hear from people who have lived experiences with mental health challeng…
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With regard to federal funding for environmental projects within the federal electoral district of Courtenay—Alberni, since the 2005-06 fiscal year: broken down by fiscal year, recipient, project, total contribution, funding program, and type of funding, what have been the federal investments in (i) terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity, (ii) ecosystem and habitat protection, conservation, and rest…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, in 1992, the Liberals pulled out of the national housing strategy at a time when we were building 25,000 non-market housing units a year.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I grew up in co-op housing, to answer my colleague who just heckled me. Thirty-two years without building those 25,000 units has obviously left us in a huge deficit. In fact, right now we are the lowest in the OECD in non-market housing, at 3.5%. We can look to the Netherlands, where it is at 34%; Denmark, where it is at 21%; or France, where it is at 17% and its goal is 20%. Does m…
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With regard to federal funding and reserves and treaty settlement lands within the federal electoral district of Courtenay—Alberni, between the 2005-06 fiscal year and the current fiscal year: what are the federal capital investments and funding contributions for infrastructure projects, including, but not limited to, projects related to water and wastewater facilities, solid waste management, roa…
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With regard to the communities which comprise the federal electoral district of Courtenay—Alberni, since the 2005-06 fiscal year: (a) what have been the federal investments and funding contributions for housing projects, including loans and direct transfers provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), invested in or transferred to the municipalities of (i) Tofino, (ii) Ucluelet,…
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With regard to national parks, national urban parks, and national marine conservation areas in Canada, broken down by fiscal year and park or area since 2005-06: (a) how many visitors accessed each national park, national urban park, and national marine conservation area; and (b) how much funding did each national park, national urban park, and national marine conservation area receive for (i) ope…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that is not all Canadians. Seniors and students in Courtenay—Alberni are being left high and dry with the high cost of living. They are living on tight budgets and deserve a helping hand. Instead of helping, the Liberals decided to exclude seniors and students from their $250 rebate. They are letting people down again. Conservatives want tax breaks only for their rich CEO donors and b…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague outlining, through this motion, that the government “prohibit any government employee from simultaneously working as an external contractor.” That completely makes sense. It is logical. This should have been happening years ago. It should have been happening under the Harper government. My concerns around outsourcing are serious, and I have raised them many t…
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Mr. Speaker, the whole thing has been a gravy train for Liberal and Conservatives insiders, and not just insiders. I highlighted earlier that Peter MacKay, a former Conservative cabinet minister, and Pierre Pettigrew, a former Liberal cabinet minister, are sitting as managing directors at Deloitte, which has gotten over $1.2 billion from the government. The issue skyrocketed under the Conservative…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about how this is normal procurement and every government does it. Under the Conservatives, we saw procurement to highly paid external consulting companies double. We have now seen it quadruple under the Liberals. This is the new normal: the rush to the trough by Liberal and Conservative insiders. In this case, for ArriveCAN, we saw current public servants gettin…
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Madam Speaker, I enjoyed working with my colleague on the government operations committee. We saw so much, along with so much dysfunction. However, we also know that the outsourcing to external consultants at highly paid consulting firms, which doubled under the Conservatives, has quadrupled. It has run away out of control under the Liberals. We also know up here that there has been a culture inst…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague and I worked very closely together in covering a lot of different holes in what was going on in terms of this contract with ArriveCAN. We saw so many problems with this one that we should examine the bigger companies and the massive contracts that they are getting, like Deloitte, which has gone up 20-fold, in terms of outsourcing since the Conservatives took government …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I was talking about the Leader of the Opposition's $250,000—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, people who live near Union Bay on Vancouver Island have been telling the government for years to stop allowing the unsafe ship-breaking of massive ships. Now there is a hydraulic oil spill. What did the Liberals do? They issued a warning that does not stop anything. This jeopardizes this sensitive ecosystem, which includes half of all of B.C.'s shellfish. The Liberals have let people …
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Mr. Speaker, I think that this is an important issue to all of us. This is something that was unanimously supported at committee and in the House. As well, we have not seen the government take action when it comes to modern-day slavery in Canadian supply chains. Will my colleague stand today to make a commitment that Conservatives will hold big corporations to account to ensure that those companie…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that we have this time today to remind the government of the promise it made in the budget this year to table legislation to eliminate forced labour from Canadian supply chains. However, when I asked the member for Bay of Quinte about whether his party would prioritize taking action on this, he said that we needed more competition. More competition is not going to solve g…
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Madam Speaker, here we are talking about forced labour and our supply chains. When we look at what is happening here in Canada, we had the report of the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery. She cited that modern-day slavery is happening today in our temporary foreign worker program. In my riding, there were some workers who were working for a local mill, and they were living in dep…
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Madam Speaker, while we are talking about forced labour in Canada's supply chains, I want to talk about what is happening here at home. We had the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery comment. She highlighted that the temporary foreign worker program in Canada is being used as modern-day slavery by some bad players. Now, in my hometown of Port Alberni, 15 temporary foreign worker…
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Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to table e-petition 5126, which has over a thousand signatures. It is particularly timely given that the Peace Train is arriving in Ottawa tomorrow, and many of its riders are signatories to this petition. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to establish and fund a centre of excellence for peace and justice focused on research, education and tra…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, November 20, is Universal Children's Day. This is a day we recognize annually to promote and celebrate children's rights in Canada and worldwide. On this day, we recognize the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These rights include the right to be protected from violence and discrimination and the right to life, health and e…
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Mr. Speaker, mental health care is health care, but the Canadian Mental Health Association tells us that over 2.5 million Canadians cannot get the help they need while others are forced to use their credit card to get it. The Liberals have let people and families struggling with mental health down, and the Conservatives will cut health care and mental health supports. Canadians will have to pay mo…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I am really grateful to my colleague for his speech, but also for talking about the importance of supporting veterans. Here we are, all of us MPs, coming back from our ridings where we went and paid respect to those who served in the military and RCMP, put their lives on the line to protect us and served our country. I am glad he talked about the amnesia down the bench on the Conserva…
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Mr. Speaker, INEO Employment Services in Port Alberni provides vital support to help people trying to find jobs. It offers necessary training and capacity building for employment readiness. It can do this because of B.C.'s community and employer partnerships program. However, it recently lost support due to federal funding cuts. The funding cuts are happening because the Liberals slashed B.C.'s fu…
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Mr. Speaker, I am really glad my colleague talked about outsourcing and highly paid consultants, something the NDP has been deeply concerned about dating back to the Harper government. Outsourcing doubled under the Harper government. It has actually quadrupled under the Liberal government. One thing we have been trying to do as New Democrats is take a real look at companies like Deloitte, for exam…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to give my colleague credit. His speech actually stayed on the motion today, unlike many of his colleagues who use this as a platform to clip and raise money. The Conservatives under the Harper government were embroiled in scandal after scandal: the ETS scandal of $400 million; $1 billion in the G8 scandal, including the gazebos we all know about; $2.2 billion for the Phoenix p…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I again rise on behalf of frustrated constituents of mine from Union Bay on Vancouver Island, who are trying to draw the House's attention and the government's attention to the fact that Canada does not have strong laws when it comes to shipbreaking and ship recycling. In fact, we have extremely weak ones, if anything. Petitioners are calling on the government to develop enforceable f…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, we know that with fraud, many people have not come forward because they felt the stigma, the shame and the embarrassment of dealing with fraud. It is like dealing with mental health. We need to do a better job to change the public's outlook when it comes to sharing about fraud because fraud is happening, and it is sophisticated. It is happening because of organized crime, which is usi…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, as of November 1, Canada introduced the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments, who is meant to help resolve scam issues with banks. That is a great start, but since the ombudsperson's recommendations are non-binding, it is only a half measure. We have a financial system that rewards criminals and costs Canadians. We need to hold big banks to account and make sure there is a c…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember Gerard Janssen, who we lost in July of this year. Gerard served with distinction as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for 13 years. For more than 20 years after, as a member of the Port Alberni Toy Run charity, he dressed as Santa and led a procession of motorcycles through the streets of Port Alberni that fundraised for many. For many, …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canada has the longest coastline in the world, but the Liberals have abandoned our coasts and coastal communities, just as the Conservatives did. Recently, the Liberals cut the ghost and derelict fishing gear cleanup fund, closed lighthouses, cut funding to deal with invasive green crab and are still allowing a massive ship to be dismantled in a sensitive ecosystem. This is only a sna…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of coastal people and Vancouver Islanders. The petitioners are concerned about migrating juvenile wild salmon stocks, which are under serious threat from pathogens, pollutants, and sea lice originating from open-net fish farms. This was highlighted in the Cohen commission. Petitioners cite that wild salmon support first nations cultural traditions and complex ecosyste…
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad we are all talking about the cost of living and the impact it is having on people across our country. However, we have yet to hear the Conservatives talk about corporate greed and excess profits, despite the fact that oil and gas, big grocery, the big banks and web giants are all having record profits. We saw grocery store margins go from 1.5% on average, pre-COVID, to 3.2% …
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's talking about the cost of living, but right now, for the first time ever, we are seeing corporatization and corporate ownership exceed over 30% of residential housing. We have seen record profits for the big banks and big grocery. We are seeing it with the big web giants, yet we have never heard a Conservative get up in the House to call out the corporate g…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is a huge privilege today to table petition e-5144, which was signed by 3,444 people from across Canada. These petitioners cite that Canadians care deeply about the health of the ocean and depend on thriving ocean ecosystems. They say that the cruise ship industry, which we know is important to the economy, is growing quickly and setting new records, year over year, for passenger…
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Madam Speaker, the petitioners are calling on the government to require cruise ships to have holding tanks of sufficient size to store all sewage and grey water produced during their voyages; remove the exemption that allows cruise ships to discharge sewage and grey water close to shore; extend the application of cruise ship discharge regulations to the entirety of Canada's internal waters and ter…
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Madam Speaker, we know that the Conservatives put forward this motion, and the NDP supports ending bonuses to CEOs. We opposed bonuses when the Harper government was doing the same thing at the CBC. At a time when workers were losing their jobs, the Conservatives had an opportunity to put forward a motion to return those bonuses to workers instead. However, we know that their goal is not to defund…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table e-petition 5109, which has 1,239 signatories from the west coast. The petitioners highlight that there are significant risks to hikers, aviators, and mariners in the Juan de Fuca Strait, British Columbia. They also note that the discretion and interventions of the lighthouse keepers along the coastline have resulted in the rescue of many stranded and injured i…
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Mr. Speaker, following up on the comment by my Conservative colleague, we have heard from experts who have said that it will not prohibit the leader from speaking on this issue. The member says that his leader would be gagged. If that is the case, why has the leader been silent? If the Conservative leader has all this freedom that he supposedly requires to hold government to account, why is he not…
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Madam Speaker, it is a huge honour today to table this petition calling on the government to take urgent issue impacting the health and safety of firefighters across our country. I want to thank my colleague, the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, for pulling together this petition, which is so important. It calls for immediate action to ban pre- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-414, An Act to amend the Canada Health Act (mental, addictions and substance use health services). Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to rise today to table this landmark legislation, the mental health and substance use parity act, on World Mental Health Day. If passed, the bill will amend the Canada Health Act to expand the definition of insured service…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, here I am again at the end of the night, the last person here, fighting again for coastal people. Well, it is me, you and the parliamentary secretary, but I would rather be doing other work. For three years, the Liberal government has allowed a company in Union Bay to break apart not a boat but a massive ship that is extended into the water, over the high tide line, and onto land. Thi…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the oceans protection plan they are talking about sure is not protecting Union Bay or Baynes Sound, which produces 50% of B.C.'s shellfish. It is like some kind of bad joke. This is not about abandoned and derelict vessels. This is a massive ship being broken apart in the water, on the high tide line, on the shore. This is a massive boat without a self-contained floating dry dock. Thi…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, for three years the Liberals have allowed a company in Union Bay to break apart a massive ship in the high tide zone without its being in a self-contained floating dry dock. This is despite objections of the province, local communities and first nations. Nowhere else in the world would this unregulated chaos be allowed to take place. A recent provincial inspection found that the opera…
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Mr. Speaker, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council has declared a state of emergency in every single one of its 14 nations' territories. The lack of mental health support, treatment, recovery and harm reduction services is causing irreparable harm. The Liberal government has failed to deliver the urgently needed supports, and young and older people are paying the price. Indigenous people continue to d…
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Mr. Speaker, young Canadians are in survival mode and rates of anxiety and depression have gone through the roof with the high cost of living and youth unemployment. Many are struggling just to meet their basic needs, like food and shelter, making paying for therapy out of pocket seem like a luxury. The Liberals promised to ensure that mental health is treated as a full and equal part of Canada's …
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Madam Speaker, actually, the minister has a point. My colleague simply asked the member a question in relation to what he said on the floor of the House of Commons, and he took the time to insult her. That is totally unacceptable. He should be apologizing to the House.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about the by-election in Elmwood—Transcona. He talked about small business people. For seven years, the NDP led the charge to cap credit card merchant fees and forced the government to do something. The Conservatives sat silent for seven years while small business people paid some of the highest credit card fees in the world. Leila Dance, who won in Elmwood—Trans…
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Madam Speaker, just so the folks at home completely understand, we are doing this concurrence debate on a finance committee report, a pre-budget report, for a budget that has already been passed. If people at home are wondering what is going on, we are spending approximately $70,000 an hour because the Conservatives have decided to block debating legislation that would help people and block debate…
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Madam Speaker, I have worked with my colleague for many years. I really appreciate him. He always comes to the House trying to bring forward ideas on tax fairness. He is doing that again today. We know seniors are feeling the pinch when it comes to the housing crisis and inflation. What is being proposed, and what he is talking about in his speech, is about making sure that those who are 65 to 74 …
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