Parliamentary Speeches

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is always surprising to listen to Bloc members get up and rail against Canada's oil and gas sector, when their own province is completely dependent on imported oil and gas coming from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other places with totalitarian regimes. It is unfortunate that they cannot see the value in producing ethical, environmentally friendly oil and gas right here in Canada, …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the official leader of our opposition for not only winning our Conservative leadership race recently, but also for laying out a clear vision as to how we can actually fix all of the problems created by the Liberal government. It seems like we have seen this movie before. I look back to when Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the prime minister of Canada and we saw inflation …

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2021: what are the details of all communication between Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the Taliban since October 2021, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) titles of GAC officials involved, (iii) titles of Taliban officials, (iv) method of communication (email, in-person meeting, etc.), (v) summary of contents, including the topics?

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the government's inventory of armoured vehicles and donation to Ukraine: (a) how many armoured vehicles, broken down by model, does the Department of National Defence (DND) currently hold of the (i) LAV II Coyote, (ii) M-113 or T-LAV, (iii) LAV II Bison; (b) how many armoured vehicles, broken down by model, does the DND currently hold that are surplus to Canadian Armed Forces immedi…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the initial statement released by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) on June 10, 2022, to the Globe and Mail defending the presence of government officials at Russia Day festivities: (a) did the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs become aware of the statement that GAC gave to the Globe and Mail; (b) did the minister or her exempt staff approve the statement, or similar media lines, …

Routine Proceedings

With regard to relocation applications from Afghan nationals who assisted the Canadian government, as of June 20, 2022: (a) how many applications has the government (i) received, (ii) approved, (iii) rejected; (b) what is the reason for any rejections in (a)(iii); (c) of the applicants in (a), how many (i) remain in Afghanistan, (ii) are waiting in a third-country, (iii) are in Canada; and (d) how…

Madam Speaker, I am honoured today to be able to rise and join with all my parliamentary colleagues in paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth. On behalf of the constituents of Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, I want to offer all of our heartfelt condolences to the royal family and to all of the Queen's loyal subjects. A lot of us have been talking about how the monarchy touches our ridings. I can tell member…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Emergency Preparedness politically interfered in a mass murder investigation to advance his own party's political agenda. RCMP Superintendent Darren Campbell witnessed this interference first-hand, but the minister is claiming he made this all up. Former RCMP commissioner Paulson said Superintendent Darren Campbell “is one of the best investigators in the force and a h…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it is no surprise to hear that the minister and the Prime Minister pressured the RCMP commissioner into doing their bidding. Let us remember that the Ethics Commissioner found the Prime Minister guilty of political interference when he pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to do his bidding, but she got fired because she said no. Now the minister is accusing Superinte…

Routine Proceedings

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-296, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (increasing parole ineligibility). Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for Lakeland for seconding this private member's bill. This is the third Parliament that I have introduced this legislation in, and I hope to see it make it through all stages this time. I have been lucky to get it to committee and through committee in the…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary made his speech and said that ending the sale of legal handguns, handguns that are bought by individuals who have already gone through the clearance of getting a restricted possession and acquisition licence, is somehow going to take illegal guns off the street. He made the outrageous statement that this would hypothetically put a stop on how many handgun…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present a petition on behalf of 535 Canadians who are petitioning the House of Commons to remind us that we passed the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, the Sergei Magnitsky Law, which I sponsored in 2018 in this chamber. It has been 21 years since Falun Gong practitioners started to get targeted by the Communist regime in Beijing, and…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the Prime Minister's trip to Bell Island in the Bahamas: (a) did the Prime Minister sign any document that gave him permission to accept the trip, and, if so, what are the details of the document, including the date on which it was signed; and (b) if the response to (a) is affirmative, on what date did the Clerk of the Privy Council become aware that the Prime Minister signed the do…

Statements By Members

Mr. Speaker, I am sad to announce the passing on June 2 of Mr. Markus Hess. Markus is the founder of Black Ribbon Day, a global demonstration against human rights violations by the former Soviet Union. As a son of immigrant parents from Estonia and initially angered in the 1980s by Soviet occupation of his parents' homeland, Markus spent much of his life advocating for the rights and freedoms of i…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the public safety minister has been studying Vladimir Putin's theory of revisionist history. The public safety minister is misleading Canadians about why he took the unprecedented step of using the Emergencies Act to implement martial law. To quote the minister, he said, “we invoked the Emergencies Act on advice from the police.” Well, it turns out the Ottawa city polic…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, if the minister has to stand here and continue to deny that he is revising the history of the Emergencies Act, then he has to wear it. The minister is refusing to answer a simple question. Either the police asked for the Emergencies Act or they did not. Again, I will quote the minister's own words back to him: “At the recommendation of police, we invoked the Emergencies Act”. The mini…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my friend from Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke clearly outlined that what we have here is lazy Liberal legislation that again revictimizes people who have had to deal with criminal activity. It would allow more criminals to get out on the street more quickly. It would penalize legal firearms owners while giving illegal gun smugglers and people who use guns in illegal ways a “get out of j…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to ethics violations, the Liberal government has already reached the super-elite status. Whether it is a $1-billion sweetheart deal with WE Charity or SNC-Lavalin bullying, clam scam nepotism or the $200,000 illegal vacation by the Prime Minister, it is as though the Liberals are competing for who can be the most unethical. The Minister of International Trade knew Amanda…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the minister is being investigated by the Ethics Commissioner because she advanced the personal interests of her friend. Now we understand the Liberals need to pay a premium for spin doctors, given all their scandals. The Minister of International Trade is being investigated because she gave a $17,000 sole-sourced contract to a CBC pundit who is her dear personal friend and former cam…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the trade minister really needs to brush up on her ethics rules. I would like to remind her that ministers are forbidden from advancing the interests of their close personal friends. This contract is not in dispute. The problem is that the minister awarded $17,000 to Amanda Alvaro, who describes the minister as a “dear friend” and who also ran the minister's election campaign in 2017.…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of International Trade needs to explain how a close personal friend wound up $17,000 dollars richer after giving the minister a couple of days of media training. Documents tabled in the House show that in April 2020, the minister hired a PR firm run by Liberal insider and CBC pundit Amanda Alvaro just a month after the COVID-19 pandemic began, at a time when many Canadian…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, it is indeed an honour to join everyone tonight virtually to talk about NATO and the application for membership to NATO by Finland and Sweden. It is something I hope we can strongly support unanimously in this chamber to send a strong message to all allies in the NATO alliance and hopefully convince those who are somewhat hesitant to accept the membership applications from Finland a…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I believe I did mention that I was splitting my time. I am sorry about that. One of the other things we have been asking the government to do is supply our Harpoon maritime and coastal missiles. They would really strengthen Ukraine's ability to protect Odessa and other coastal cities. We asked for that and Canada did not do it; the U.K. did. We asked to send over our LAVs, like our …

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, we all know that NATO is by far not only the strongest defence alliance; it is also one of the most active political alliances in the world. Much can be done through deterrence measures because of the military strength that NATO possesses, and because of that it is able to come to the table as an organization and as a group of allies to talk about political realities, and it is able…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member's strong support for Ukraine as well. Canada needs to start planning ahead for a Marshall Plan to help rebuild all the infrastructure that has been destroyed by the Russian military in Ukraine. We know that there are a number of assets that have already been seized from Russian oligarchs and corrupt kleptocrats who have been hiding their wealth and own busine…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I know we are sending sniper rifles that were bought by the Ukrainian military from Canada that are very advanced and require training. I agree that if we are going to send more technologically advanced weapons, it means we have to be able to move personnel who built the equipment to train individuals on it. Not all of the equipment takes weeks and months to train on. It is not like…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Battle River—Crowfoot.

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, it is important that the committee is allowed to finish off its work and that anyone who obstructed those investigations in the past is allowed to appear now so we can get the truth for all Canadians on how the WE Charity scandal had played out.

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, this comes down to the very foundation of our democracy. If we cannot restore confidence and trust in our democratic institutions, including in the government itself, then chaos will prevail. We need to make sure that we do not fall into the practices of other failed states where kleptocracies rule and corruption is part of everyday business. We are better than that, and that is why…

Routine Proceedings

moved that the third report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics presented on Thursday, March 31, 2022 be concurred in. Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to join everyone in the House virtually today, as I am still back in Manitoba. I am going to splitting my time on our third attempt to move concurrence on this report with the member for Battle River—Crowfoot.…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I am disappointed with the member for Winnipeg North and his constant defence of the ethical behaviour and unethical consequences that have been caused by his government. I will say this. We know that parliamentary institutions are being questioned quite vigorously by Canadians when they see unethical behaviour and sanctions brought forward by the Ethics Commissioner against the Pri…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, we do have a practice in the House of Commons of making sure that there is ministerial accountability. It is in our rules and procedures. The minister was sworn in under oath, and recommendation 3 of the report said that given the failure of the minister to reveal her April 17, 2020, meeting with Mr. Craig Kielburger, a review of ministerial accountability in committees must be unde…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I will address the point of order. First, I would say it was in the committee report that was tabled that there was misleading evidence given or there was a failure to acknowledge that there were previous meetings between the minister and the Kielburgers that she had denied at her first—

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, let us make sure we cut the red tape. Vladimir Putin has been waging a brutal and illegal war in Ukraine for almost three months. Unfortunately, the Liberal government has been slow to act and even slower to send to Ukraine the lethal weapons it needs to survive. It has refused to send Ukraine our soon-to-be-retired light armoured vehicles, such as our Bisons, our Coyotes and our M113…

Statements By Members

Mr. Speaker, traditionally, Vyshyvanka Day is a time to celebrate Ukraine's rich culture and traditions and share them with the world, but this year it is a time to stand with Ukraine in solidarity. Today, while we enjoy our peace and security here at home, often taking them for granted, our beloved Ukraine suffers from the illegal and unjustified full-scale invasion by Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian s…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent. I am pleased to rise today to speak to Bill C-14, which talks about preserving provincial representation in our House of Commons. This is fundamental to who we are as Canada. It defines us as being equitable in how we treat Confederation. Ultimately, this is about ensuring that the overall basis of having equa…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, the member for Winnipeg North has been droning on for almost 20 minutes now and he has not been relevant to the motion at hand, which is a concurrence motion talking about health. The last five minutes—

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I want to draw something to your attention. I am sure you saw that the member for Waterloo was in violation of Standing Order 16(2) and Standing Order 16(3), which state: (2) When a member is speaking, no member shall pass between that member and the chair, nor interrupt him or her, except to raise a point of order. (3) No member may pass between the chair and the table, nor between t…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member for Nunavut. I have some familiarity with her riding. My mother was born in Chesterfield Inlet and spent a number of years up in Pangnirtung. It is a part of Canada that I really love. I have travelled around a bit in Nunavut, and I know how far apart places are and how expensive it is to get from one community to another. Their voices need to be heard just as …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member for Winnipeg North that back on March 2, the Conservatives brought forward a motion that was passed unanimously. The motion read, “That the House oppose any federal electoral redistribution scenario that would cause Quebec or any other province or territory to lose one or more electoral districts in the future, and that the House call on the government to act…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I think all of us, especially those who represent mixed areas of urban and rural, do not want to allow the urban area to become a louder voice than that of the rural population. For those of us who represent rural areas, our hearts and souls will always be with the farmers and remote northern communities. We have to make sure their voices are heard loud and clear.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, well, just to put it on the record, I am supporting the member for Carleton in this leadership race, and I do share some of the concerns that my friend from the Bloc just raised. Let us go back, again, to the issue of Huawei. We now know that, within the Five Eyes relationship we have with the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, all four of those countries …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is a sad state of affairs when my friend has to go back a decade to find any article that links our former government to Huawei. I will say this. Huawei was here for a while and it has been trying to break into the Canadian and American systems. It had access to 3G technology and was supplying 3G technology to Canada, to the United States and to European nations. Everybody, at th…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is indeed an honour to stand today to talk about the re-establishment of the Canada-China special committee and the work we need to undertake with respect to our relationship with China. I want to thank my colleague from Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley for his very strong intervention, and indeed all members of the House as we consider taking on this important work. T…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I would just say this to the Liberal-NDP backbencher. We know there was a time, 10 years ago, when we were trying to get China more integrated into the free market system, to work with capitalism-based nations and to work with democratic nations. We now know that this has all been in folly. I do have grave concerns over any of our natural resources being controlled by state-run Chin…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I am proud to present e-petition 3917, signed by over 2,000 Canadians, who are drawing the attention of the House to the unprovoked war in Ukraine by the Russian Federation, how war crimes have been committed in the region by the Russian Federation, and how Vladimir Putin, as President of Russia, has threatened Ukraine, Canada and our allies with retaliation, including using nuclear…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I am proud to present today e-petition 3917, signed by over 2,000 Canadians, who are drawing attention to the war in Ukraine by the Russian Federation. The war crimes that have been committed—

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, an avalanche of information came out today regarding the Liberal government's corrupt tax dealings with a huge multinational corporation. Documents reveal that the Minister of National Revenue gave a sweetheart tax deal to a corporation using Ireland as a tax haven, which is a breach of the CRA's own rules. Whistle-blowers in the minister's department raised alarm bells, saying the de…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, we are discussing a serious report right now from the fisheries committee. Unfortunately, the comments of the parliamentary secretary, the member for Winnipeg North, are neither relevant nor do they pertain to the report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, there have been conversations with my colleagues, and I think, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following motion, that this House affirm that the rule of law is one of the principles upon which Canada was founded and applies equally to everyone, that no one is above the law, and that the Criminal Code provides no statute of limitations for crimes such as fraud a…