Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her intervention in the House today. I am sorry, but I am not going to speak in French. It is a very late night and the topic is very difficult for me. One of the things that I have been thinking about is that today we have been talking about how Hamas needs to be defeated. I know that the member is on the defence committee. We have babies in inc…
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the leader of the New Democratic Party for the love he has shown for both Israelis and Palestinians. Right now, we know that the hostages who have been taken by the terrorist organization Hamas are likely in Gaza. We know there are 150 Canadians, at least, who are in Gaza. We know that more than 50% of the population in Gaza is in fact children. The New Democrats h…
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Mr. Speaker, we are all shocked by the brutality, the kidnappings and the targeting of civilians, including the elderly and children, by Hamas militants. Now the region is spiralling. Thousands of innocent Palestinians and Israelis have been killed in a conflict that they are not responsible for. Today, we learned that a fifth Canadian was murdered, and we know more Canadians are among the captive…
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Mr. Chair, I have a great deal of respect for that member, and I am deeply disappointed by that intervention. He spoke about the need to eliminate Hamas. The children who are being bombed in Gaza today are not Hamas. The children who are dying every 16 minutes, right now, in Palestine are not Hamas. Would the member agree that collective punishment is against international law, and that that is wh…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague works with me on the Canada-China committee, and I actually was in his riding recently. He spoke a bit about international law and the right of Israel to defend itself. We know that former International Criminal Court prosecutor Ocampo has said that there is potential for what is happening in Gaza to be a humanitarian genocide. Would the member be open to having all crime…
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague for her intervention. We have spoken before in this place about the impact that anti-Semitism has had on the member, her family and her community, and I know that we are seeing a rise in that across the country. I also know that we are seeing anti-Palestinian hate happening across this country. I spoke to a colleague today who said that she is worried …
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Mr. Speaker, I think everyone in this House recognizes that adherence to international law is key and that international law needs to be applied equally. Would the member agree that collective punishment is an example of being against international law?
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are profoundly alarmed by what we are witnessing in Gaza. The UN has said that nearly half of Gaza's people have been forced to flee from their homes and that morgues are overflowing. This is a humanitarian crisis of extreme proportions. It took almost a week for the minister to start paying attention to the impact of this war on Palestinians, even though thousands of people…
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Mr. Speaker, I know my colleague cares deeply about his constituents and the community. Like him, I have been hearing horrific tales and stories about people. The mother of one of my colleagues was speaking Urdu, and my colleague had to tell her mom to stop speaking that and to go home, because she was so worried there would be violence perpetrated against her. The entire Jewish community is afrai…
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Mr. Speaker, we have heard that there are about 150 Canadians in Gaza right now. We also know that the hostages who have been seized by the terrorist organization Hamas are in Gaza right now. We also know that 50% of the population in Gaza are children, who have had nothing whatsoever to do with the horrific crimes committed by Hamas. Does this member believe that those people, those Canadian citi…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I think we all agree on in this place is that Hamas has done something unspeakably horrific to Israel and the Palestinian people. I think we can all agree that the Palestinian people are not Hamas. That is not who they are. I would ask whether the member, who has a great deal of experience in public safety, agrees with the statement that all crimes committed aga…
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Mr. Speaker, I work with my colleague on the foreign affairs committee. On October 14, the president of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, said, “The situation for children in Gaza is catastrophic, with hundreds of children reportedly killed. UNICEF calls for an immediate ceasefire, compliance with the rules of war and humanitarian access. All children, everywhere, must be protected at all times.” Would t…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister started off talking about something we should all know in this House, and that is that climate change is real. Last week in this House, somebody from the Maritimes, from South Shore—St. Margarets, said that wildfires across this country were manmade and that the hurricanes affecting his own region have happened for hundreds of years. I am not from Newfoundland; I am from …
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Mr. Speaker, last Thursday we were in the House, and the member brought up the fact that wildfires in Canada were man-made and that storms have been hitting his region for hundreds of years, and I was shocked. The next day I was in Montreal at a climate march with young people who were asking for real action on climate change in this country. The member just double downed on that in his response t…
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Madam Speaker, in the member's intervention today, he spoke a lot about how seniors are impacted. I 100% agree with him. I spoke to one of my constituents, Laura, who is really struggling to make ends meet. Would the member not agree that increasing OAS for seniors across the country, making sure that seniors 65 to 75 get the same amount as seniors over 75 and making sure that, particularly in Alb…
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Mr. Speaker, this summer, 11 emergency rooms in Alberta closed due to the shortage of health care workers, and today we learned that some Canadians are being forced to leave overcrowded emergency rooms without treatment due to no staff. The Liberals and the Conservatives have failed to protect Canadians from Conservative leaders like Danielle Smith and Scott Moe, who want U.S.-style health care th…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to follow up on the question that was just asked by my colleague from the Bloc. We had the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery in Canada, and he spoke specifically about the commodification of housing, where investments concentrate on private housing for wealthy individuals, but similar investments for social housing are non-existent. The member talke…
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Mr. Speaker, Monday was the fifth anniversary of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials, yet Liberals stayed silent, and it is no wonder. Under the current government, arms have continued to flow to Saudi Arabia despite the war in Yemen, despite serious human rights violations, and despite the murders of hundreds of Ethiopian migrants. Canadians need to know that their government …
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Madam Speaker, on that speech, this entire day of debate and this motion: honestly, if that member was a kid in a playground, he would be the kid kicking sand in everyone's eyes. It is not exactly a good look. It does not look like someone who is working with others. I will say one thing. This is the same party that voted against an excise profit tax for the oil and gas industries that were making…
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Madam Speaker, I find it interesting that a member for Calgary is complaining and whining about the fact that $1.5 billion was spent on the Calgary Green Line. These are interesting times. Would the government look at Rachel Notley's carbon tax and perhaps manage the federal carbon tax in a way that would—
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Madam Speaker, I apologize in advance, but I am going to try to speak French today. I would like to thank my colleague for his important speech. I feel compelled to tell him that, while the Conservatives deny climate change and do everything they can to divide the House and prevent Parliament from fighting climate change, most Albertans want the federal government to act. Albertans want a clean, h…
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Madam Speaker, as the critic for labour for the NDP, my hon. colleague has done so much to put in place things like anti-scab legislation. I know that he cares about workers. One thing I know about the Conservatives is that they do not. When Suncor, a week after the provincial election, laid off 1,500 workers, the Conservatives said nothing about it. When Rich Kruger says that he will burn this pl…
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Madam Speaker, ultimately, the carbon tax is about a climate change measure. It is part of a climate change plan. What I dislike is that this is not enough of a conversation about how we deal with the climate crisis. We need to be dealing with it in multiple ways. I am sure the member will agree with me when I say that the Liberals have met none of their targets with the plan, so there needs to be…
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Madam Speaker, this debate today has been a bit absurd. The Conservatives have once again brought up this debate because, frankly, they are fundraising off it. They need to make some mailers, and they all want their clips on this particular issue. It is not in any way meaningfully looking at ways that we can deal with the climate crisis or the cost of living crisis. I am not even going to deal wit…
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Madam Speaker, I said this earlier today, as I have been in this chamber all day today, and I think that the motion that has been put forward is frankly a fundraising opportunity for the Conservatives. They are not treating this seriously. They are not interested in engaging seriously in debate on how to make this program work for Canadians and how to actually meaningfully address climate change. …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke a lot about costs. In Alberta, workers are losing their jobs because the oil and gas sector is no longer able to keep them employed. We just lost 1,500 from Suncor just recently. The fact of the matter is in 2016, the wildfires in northern Alberta cost almost $10 billion. With the wildfires in British Columbia, we have spent $357 million fighting those wildfires t…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, this is a very important debate that we are undertaking here today. A very serious situation is unfolding in the region. I am happy to speak in this debate today, but I want to start by taking a moment to say that, as many have said before me in this place, this is not how we should be engaging with this topic. I was informed about an hour ago that this debate was going to be happen…
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, we have not yet heard back from the government. I would be very interested in hearing from the minister or the government as to whether they will be supporting the NDP's calls for sanctions on the Azerbaijani officials who are responsible for this recent aggression.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague. I know him as someone who deeply cares about the Armenian people and the conflict in the region. He has brought this forward at the foreign affairs committee many times. Like him, I am disappointed in how this concurrence debate has come forward. I find it very interesting, because we had a debate just last week on interference and the Indian gove…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague as well. We do work very well together on the foreign affairs committee, and I know he recognizes the vital importance of international development and Canada's role in that. As I mentioned earlier in my speech, the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie and I wrote to the Minister of Foreign Affairs last week when this humanitarian crisis began to u…
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Madam Speaker, all the decisions we make regarding foreign policy need to be seen through that feminist lens. It is very important because we know the best thing we can do to alleviate the climate crisis is to educate women and girls. The best thing we can do to ensure a healthy environment and healthy community is to make sure that women and girls have what they need. All of our foreign affairs d…
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Mr. Speaker, in Edmonton, I and the member for Edmonton Griesbach have been meeting with Mayor Sohi regularly to talk about housing, because we are so deeply worried about the housing crisis in Edmonton. One of the things Mayor Sohi has asked is that this rebate on the GST also include those properties that are currently being built. However, there are restrictions being added to this by the Liber…
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Mr. Speaker, Danielle Smith and her Conservative government are threatening to take Albertans out of the Canada pension plan. This is a page that comes directly from the Leader of the Conservative Party when he said he would cut the CPP. People need to know that their futures are secure. Of course, we have heard nothing from the Conservative Leader of the Opposition. Canadians do not want Conserva…
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Madam Speaker, that question is absurd. I would follow it up with this. How many people in the member's riding are getting dental care?
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Madam Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with the member that foreign affairs is one of the committees we should try to work well with together. One thing that I think is important to mention is that the committee has brought up the conflict we are seeing between Azerbaijan and Armenia several times. We will continue to look at this issue at the foreign affairs committee. We put a proposal forward to…
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Mr. Speaker, I and the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie wrote to the minister last week when the escalation by the Azerbaijani government began. We asked her to sanction Azerbaijani officials who were responsible for tens of thousands of Armenians' fleeing their homes, fleeing for their safety, and who were responsible for the deaths of over 200 Armenian civilians and the escalation in violenc…
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley has spoken to the New Democratic caucus about this legislation and has raised some serious concerns. The legislation was drafted completely ignoring the recommendations that were brought forward by the national supply chain task force and the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. In its report on railway safety, there wer…
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Mr. Speaker, today, on the International Day of Peace, New Democrats are taking real action to promote peace and justice. This week I brought forward Motion No. 95, calling on the government to finally commit to nuclear disarmament. As Ukraine valiantly fights for its freedom and for a more peaceful and just world for all of us, nuclear disarmament is needed more than ever. It is clear that we mus…
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Mr. Chair, that is a very important question. I am a member of the Canada-China committee as well, and at that committee we have also heard members of the diaspora telling us time and time again that they are afraid, that they need more action by the government and that they need more steps taken to protect them. This is not something that is new. In fact, one of the things that I mentioned in my …
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Honestly, Mr. Chair, I wish I could answer that question. The people of Edmonton, the people of Calgary, the people of Alberta deserve to have their representatives engage in this debate, and that is not happening. I expect that it has to do with the fact that, as I mentioned earlier, Stephen Harper has said that Modi is a great leader. He is a good friend of Stephen Harper, and he was the prime m…
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Mr. Chair, this is an incredibly serious issue we are discussing tonight in the House of Commons. My colleague has brought forward some very compelling arguments and some very compelling facts. One of the things I find interesting is that the official opposition is not participating in the debate today. I have to ask why that is the case. I wonder whether it is because Stephen Harper in fact calle…
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Mr. Chair, as this is the first time I am speaking in the House of Commons since this session started, I want to take a moment to say that it is always a great honour to stand up and represent the smart, caring and kind people of Edmonton Strathcona. I also want to take a moment to express my deepest sympathy to the family of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. It is incredible to have to have a debate like thi…
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Mr. Chair, it has been a belief of mine for a very long time that Canada has moved too far away from our core values when it comes to our role in the world. We cannot put trade in front of human rights. Trade cannot be the priority instead of human rights. We are looking at the Indo-Pacific strategy, which is a strategy that the current government has brought forward. Making sure we are not engagi…
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Madam Speaker, it is my first time standing in the House this session, so I just want to welcome you back and welcome all of my colleagues back. My colleague's speech was entertaining. I have to say that he spoke more about goats than he did about climate change, so I have a bit of concern about the priorities there. He did talk about reducing red tape and about costly delays, and he did talk abou…
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Mr. Chair, the reason we are here today is that Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered. We have now heard that CSIS knew there were threats against his life for some time. I wonder what next step we need to take as parliamentarians. What does the government need to do to make sure that this same incident and horrific tragedy does not happen to other members of the Sikh community and other members o…
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Mr. Chair, I would like to first congratulate my colleague on his new appointment as parliamentary secretary. I also want to thank him for bringing forward a more personal story and perspective on Mr. Nijjar. That is very important. Tonight we have talked a lot about how shocking it is that a Canadian citizen was killed on Canadian soil. I know that the member has been on the foreign affairs commi…
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Mr. Chair, we are hearing from diaspora communities that they are afraid. They are afraid of violence being perpetrated against them and their loved ones. The threat against this particular individual was known, yet this individual still lost his life, was still murdered. I am just wondering what the government can do to reassure members of the diaspora community. What can the government do to mak…
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With regard to funding from FinDev Canada for CASEIF IV, a regional private equity fund managed by LaFise Group in Central America and the Caribbean: (a) how does FinDev track the specific companies and projects that CASEIF IV and similar financial intermediaries fund with FinDev’s contribution; (b) how do CASEIF IV and similar financial intermediaries report to FinDev about the results of the end…
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With regard to Development Finance Institute Canada (FinDev Canada): (a) broken down by fiscal year, starting with fiscal year 2018-19 to the present, what is the total amount of funds that the government, through all departments and agencies and available funding streams, provided to FinDev Canada; (b) were fund transfers publicly reported; (c) how would a member of the public find such public re…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I found it very interesting. While Alberta's oil and gas companies were making record profits, workers were being laid off. This year alone, 14,000 workers in Alberta have been let go. Does my colleague think that one way to balance the budget would be to stop subsidizing highly profitable companies and to introduce a windfall tax?
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