Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are shamefully increasing rent and other charges for our soldiers, sailors and air crew. With one hand they promised a pay raise, but with the other they are clawing it back with rent hikes and a new post-living differential. Often our troops are ending up with less take-home pay than they made before. The defence committee recommended the rent increase be reversed, but t…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North is always up on his feet in the chamber. He speaks the most words in Parliament but never says anything. All we ever hear is Liberal propaganda and misinformation that really does undermine the seriousness of debate on the motions before us. During his entire speech, the member refused to recognize that over the 10 previous years of the Liberal governme…
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Mr. Speaker, every drop of Canada's iconic award-winning Crown Royal whisky is proudly made in Gimli, Manitoba, using Manitoba grains and pure Interlake water. Unfortunately, Manitoba employees and farmers are worried because the Government of Ontario is threatening to pull Crown Royal off the shelves of its liquor stores. The Prime Minister incorrectly claimed he has torn down interprovincial tra…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to drill down on my colleague's comments on the Canadian Coast Guard. In Bill C-12, part 4 talks about making the Canadian Coast Guard the responsibility of another minister, but it never defines the minister as being the Minister of National Defence. The member referred to it as an “accounting trick” and talked about how the Canadian Coast Guard does not have any armaments, we…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister let 100,000 Canadians slip through his fingers. The Auditor General also reported yesterday that the situation gets worse for our troops after they enlist. She said military housing is in “the kind of conditions you and I wouldn't want to live in” and that we should not expect our troops to live in either. The national defence committee came to the same conclusions in the…
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Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General concluded that the Canadian Armed Forces did not recruit and train the number of members it needs to meet operational requirements. She further said that our forces will struggle to respond to threats, emergencies and conflicts and to accomplish their missions. The report also revealed that on this trajectory, 13% of occupations are at risk of never being fully sla…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present a petition today on behalf of Canadians who are asking the government to ease up on the restrictions under the customs tariff amendment made back in 1992, which restricted imports for personal use to $20, after which duties and taxes have to be paid. Over 200,000 Ukrainians who have come to call Canada home are in refuge because of Russia's illegal invasion of Uk…
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Madam Speaker, I want to follow up on some of the comments made. Bill C-12 has taken up the parts of Bill C-2 that we agree with and moved them over, but Bill C-2 is still sitting on the Order Paper. That bill, as my colleague mentioned, would give the power to Canada Post employees to do search and seizure, which is in complete violation of our charter rights. We know that through Bill C-2, the L…
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Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt in my mind that the Liberals are strictly making this change to the Oceans Act in Bill C-12 to make sure they have the ability to declare that they have now given the security and border control mandate to the Coast Guard, which should be counted toward the 2% and now the 5%. They will not fool anyone at NATO with this trickery, as my colleague said. At the end of th…
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Madam Speaker, I have gone through Bill C-12. I appreciate the fact that the minister took the Conservatives' advice, listened to Canadians and took out the sections of Bill C-2 that were egregious and violated the charter rights and civil liberties of Canadians right across this country. The government is talking about moving the Coast Guard to the Department of National Defence. However, part 4 …
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Mr. Speaker, in Bill C-2, giving the power to employees of Canada Post to seize and search mail without a warrant is a complete violation of our charter rights. Everybody is entitled to jurisprudence, and that was undermined by the Liberals. In Bill C-2, they were also going after the seizure of information through Internet service providers and telecom companies, which we know is also in violatio…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to stand in this place to speak on behalf of the great people of Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman. I also speak as the shadow minister of national defence to reflect the concerns of the defence community, including the brave women and men who serve in uniform. I want to speak about some of the changes taking place because of the Liberals, as well as the lack of interes…
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member for Winnipeg North, who has spoken the most words in the House but says the least in every intervention he makes, that it was the Conservative government that moved CBSA officers from being civilian agents to being paramilitary. We trained and armed them. The former deputy commissioner for operations of the Coast Guard, Chris Henderson, was at the defence com…
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Mr. Speaker, the member mentioned, just a couple of minutes ago in his speech, that Bill C-11 would provide officers to victims.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I first want to point out that the member erred in his speech. Conservatives supported the Deschamps report, and that was 10 years ago. It took 10 years since the Deschamps report, and the Jonathan Vance scandal, for the Liberals to finally bring this forward. He also erred in saying that the sexual misconduct support and resource centre was opening up a section to help victims naviga…
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The standing orders say that members cannot be informing the House of what is not in the bill. They are making stuff up, so—
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc for her work with veterans. When she is at the national defence committee, she always has a lot to contribute to the discussion. I would like to ask the member whether she has some of the concerns Conservatives have, which are that the civilian criminal justice system has been undermined by the Liberals, and because of Bill C-75 and Bill C-5, when so…
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Mr. Speaker, this is not debate; this is fact. It is not in Bill C-11. Bill C-11 does not provide that support. The Canadian Armed Forces is doing that through the Department of National Defence through the sexual misconduct support and resource centre—
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and colleague, the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, for his excellent speech, for his service to Canada as a member of the Royal Canadian Navy and for being there to hear the stories and support those members who have been victims of military sexual trauma. He got quite emotional in that, when we hear these stories and hear how the chain of command did n…
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North is always up here defending the government, including its own failures, especially in dealing with sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces. The member was up here defending Minister Sajjan back when he was still the minister. I do not believe the member. The Conservative government signed on to reach that NATO promise in 2015. We had 10 years t…
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Mr. Speaker, as the shadow minister for national defence, I am always honoured to stand in this place to talk about the great work of the brave women and men who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces and how we can do more to support them, which is what Bill C-11 is trying to do. The first responsibility of the federal government is to protect Canada, protect our citizens, as well as to protect those…
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Mr. Speaker, it has been a problem. We know that those who brought complaints against Admiral Art McDonald were reprimanded by their superior officers. We know they were coerced. They were scared to come forward and it took, in some cases, years before they did. We created a safe space at committee, allowing them to speak and share their stories where there was no opportunity for retribution by th…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the minister for bringing the bill forward. It was Bill C-66 in the last Parliament, and we never got it completed at second reading. The minister talked about trust, and I want to ask him why Canadians and the people in the Canadian Armed Forces should trust him and trust the Liberals. We have to remember that one of his predecessors, Harjit Sajjan, was complici…
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Mr. Speaker, the first place to start is accepting all 10 recommendations from Madame Deschamps' report, which was completely ignored by the government. I think we would be a lot further ahead today in supporting victims and stomping out misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces had this been acted upon 10 years ago. The Liberals refused to do it. They still do not even mention the report in the…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her intervention. She had over two minutes left. She needs to talk to her staff or to the minister's staff, whoever wrote her speech for her. They could have filled it in a bit more. I wonder if the member wants to comment on the concerns we have on our side with the soft-on-crime policies the Liberals have brought forward, which are permeating our civilian cour…
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Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, Jon Vance was appointed in the end days of the Conservative government. I would also say that the Bloc helped the Liberals shut down the study, in 2021, into sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces. It was particularly Minister Sajjan's mismanagement and refusal to deal with the sexual misconduct of Jon Vance. I do not think the Bloc can take much high g…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his great speech today laying out all the problems and laying out why we do not trust the Liberal government and why Canadians do not trust it either to deliver for our Canadian Armed Forces. The member used to sit on the defence committee, and we sat there and watched the Liberals try not to let the committee study why Harjit Sajjan, Jonathan Vance, Justin Tr…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-75 reduced the conditions on the principle of restraint, allowing those who commit sexual offences to be released on bail very easily. It allows them to be repeat offenders. That will now permeate the Canadian Armed Forces, as well, because of the soft-on-crime approach taken by the Liberals. With Bill C-5, they got rid of a lot of the mandatory minimums so that repeat sexual o…
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Mr. Speaker, I said during my speech that victims deserve justice, and that military sexual trauma is one thing we have to eliminate. The support is needed. We support the sexual misconduct support and resource centre and the great work it is doing in providing counselling. As well, it is going to be providing some legal advice to those victims. Victims' rights have to be paramount. That is why we…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, senior Iranian government officials were banned from entering Canada in 2022 for gross human rights violations and state-sponsored terrorism. In June, border services still had 66 open cases into Iranian officials right here in Canada. We know the Minister of Public Safety has lost 600 foreign nationals with criminal records, and over 400 of those evading the government are convicted …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today is army day on the Hill, when we celebrate and honour the brave women and men in our Canadian Army. Their dedication and sacrifice for Canada is unquestionable. I want to recognize the over 2,000 members currently serving in the Canadian-led multinational brigade group in Latvia, as well as our troops training Ukrainian soldiers under Operation Unifier and those contributing to …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-219, An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act, the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law), the Special Economic Measures Act and the Broadcasting Act. Mr. Speaker, it is indeed an honour to table this bill. I want to thank the member for Northumberland—Clarke for seconding the bill. In the …
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Madam Speaker, if this is a filibuster, why is the member for Winnipeg North up talking? He always gets up in debate. This is actually my first chance to talk on Bill C-3, and we just got back. Let us try to work across the aisle here and see if we can make some headway. I want to read some quotes about Canadians living abroad. Sergio Karas, who is principal of Karas Immigration Law Professional C…
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Madam Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to be back after our summer in our ridings. I know that all of us worked really hard seeing our constituents. Throughout the summer, on top of meeting with constituents at the office and across the riding, I attended multiple fairs, festivals, parades and rodeos every weekend. It was just great to get out there and to see as many people as we did. I spent the…
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Madam Speaker, I agree completely with my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. Again, here we have the member for Winnipeg North, who has been here forever—
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Madam Speaker, I do not think we know what that number is at this point in time. However, we do know that with Bill C-3, people could qualify for Canadian citizenship without ever going through a criminal record background check or without anyone ever looking at whether they appear on anything such as a terrorist list. Under the legislation, they could be two or three generations removed from bein…
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With regard to the Royal Canadian Air Force: (a) how many filled fighter pilot positions were there in each year from 2020 to 2025; (b) how many fighter pilot positions in total were available to fill in each year from 2020 to 2025; (c) how many combat ready CF-18 flying positions were available to fill in each year from 2020 to 2025; (d) how many flying positions were available that were not comb…
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With regard to national defence for the fiscal year 2025-26 and the Prime Minister's announcement on June 9, 2025, that stated that "This plan includes a cash increase of over $9 billion ($8.3 billion on an accrual basis) in defence investment this fiscal year (2025-26), bringing Canada's defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product": (a) how much total government spending is required to be de…
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With regard to the Prime Minister's announcement on June 9, 2025, that the government intends to expand "the reach, security mandate, and abilities of the Canadian Coast Guard" and the statement appearing in the National Post from the Prime Minister's Office spokesperson Emily Williams which stated that "the Prime Minister will soon initiate the process of moving the Canadian Coast Guard to the le…
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Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Coast Guard does play an important role. If the Liberals were going to move it over to National Defence and start transitioning it to be a paramilitary organization to actually be able to do interdictions and border security, I would be very supportive of that. However, right now, I just want to know if this is anything that means anything in National Defence, or is this …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, throwing money at the problem does not fix the problem. The facts show that the lost Liberal decade has reduced the capabilities needed by the armed forces to protect Canada today. Last year, the department said it would meet its targets this year, but now the Liberals have kicked the can down the road for another seven years before the operations of the armed forces will be up to sta…
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Mr. Speaker, it is indeed an honour to rise in this place, thanks to the support of the great people of Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, many of whom I have been hearing from on Bill C-2. I will be splitting my time with the member for Edmonton Griesbach. Conservatives have always supported toughening up our borders, and making sure that we are not just securing our borders, but protecting communities a…
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Mr. Speaker, new reports from the Department of National Defence confirmed today that less than 50% of the equipment used by our armed forces is operational. Only 46% of our navy ships are seaworthy, and fewer than half of the land vehicles and aircraft needed by our army and air force are even serviceable. While the Prime Minister makes grandiose claims of fixing the armed forces, the actual numb…
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Mr. Speaker, what I am commenting on is that the government plans on moving the Coast Guard under the direction of the Minister of National Defence without actually talking about how they are going to make it a security agency, which it is not; it is a civilian organization. This is something that needs to be clearly identified. It needs to describe how this would count towards the NATO 2%, when t…
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Mr. Speaker, I welcome the member to the national defence committee with me. We are both serving as vice-chairs on the national defence committee. I know there has been much debate about how the Liberals have failed on the border, how they ignored illegal migration, like we saw at Roxham Road and Emerson, Manitoba. They welcomed everybody with open arms rather than actually trying to fix the third…
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Mr. Speaker, nobody believes them. After 10 years of the Liberals, our warships are rusting out, our fighter jets are worn out, and our troops are burnt out. Today, the Canadian Armed Forces is short 13,000 troops, due to the Liberals' recruitment and retention crisis. An additional 10,000 personnel are under-trained and non-deployable. Over the past decade, the Liberals lapsed $12 billion in defe…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister is not new to this place, and he should know that he cannot use proper names of those who are currently sitting in the House. I think he should retract that he mentioned the Prime Minister's name. He should also resign.
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Mr. Speaker, after the lost Liberal decade of Justin Trudeau and company, our military is gutted, and Canada has been left weaker, poorer and defenceless. For 10 years, the Liberals failed to take our national defence and security seriously, instead relying on our allies to defend Canada's sovereignty. The Canadian Armed Forces is facing a devastating recruitment crisis and does not have enough so…
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Madam Speaker, the intervention by my friend and colleague was great, and I want to thank him for the expertise he brings to the chamber on the issues of public safety and criminal justice. One of the reasons I got involved in politics in 2003 and was elected in 2004 was that I opposed the Liberals' long-gun registry. Over the past 10 years, the Liberals have continued to vilify law-abiding long-g…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the tone of the member for Kingston and the Islands as he is quoting scripture is nothing more than anti-Christian bigotry—
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