Routine Proceedings
With regard to the development of Snapchat filters by or for the government, including agencies, Crown corporations, and other government entities, since January 1, 2018: (a) what amount has been spent developing the filters; (b) what is the description or purpose of each filter; and (c) for each filter developed, what are the details, including the (i) amount spent on development, (ii) date of la…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Governor in Council appointments and the appointment of the Clerk of the House of Commons: (a) is the clerk, as a Governor in Council appointee, subject to the Privy Council Office's Ethical and Political Activity Guidelines for Public Office Holders, and, if so, (i) is the position considered, for the purposes of the guidelines, to be a quasi-judicial one which is subject to a …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Calgary Shepard. The ask in Bill C-2 is $7.4 billion, and the bill is being rushed through the House, with little time at committee to deal with another $7.4 billion expenditure. A lot of these types of situations have happened over the last couple of years, since the pandemic started. I recall that back in early 2021, there was a $…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I want to pick up on something the parliamentary secretary just said. He talked about this piece of legislation and its intent, in his words, to create “disposable income” for people. We have gone from providing supports to people to protect their lives and livelihoods to now providing them with disposable income. I guess the new Liberal economic recovery plan is to use government m…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, that is an interesting point, although I am not fully aware of the details of that particular case. More broadly, the government, in its haste to get this money out the door, should have been considering oversight. It should have been considering accountability and transparency as well. It should have been putting in place measures allowing investigative bodies and jurisdictions tha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, certainly affordability is a critical issue, and nowhere more than in my riding of Barrie—Innisfil, where young people and seniors are being priced out of the housing market. There is definitely a need to look into this. In fact, several of our proposals in the latest election campaign addressed the issue of affordability so we could look at foreign ownership and make sure we are do…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I spent a lot of my time talking about independent travel advisers and there is a reason for that. I spent a tremendous amount of time dealing with the national organization and local travel advisers. They do feel left out and they have been left out. Many of them have not been able to access some of the benefits. This is a $2.4-billion industry and 12,000 people are independent tra…
Read full speech →Government Orders
That was another Bill C-2.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in the chamber to thank those in Barrie—Innisfil who do so much to help others in our community. This Christmas season, I want to thank the many individuals, charities and community organizations that help those in need. It has been a tough year on local charities, so please consider them when gift-giving. Many business owners and their families in Barri…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, in Quebec that is called graisser la patte. It has been an “all you can eat” buffet for connected Liberal insiders and cronies during the pandemic, who lined up to gorge on half a billion dollars in COVID spending, much of it untendered and sole source. With WE, Frank Baylis and SNC, the list is long, and here we have another example. The sponsorship scandal will look like a speck o…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a sole-source contract to rent property as a welcoming centre at the illegal border crossing at Roxham Road was handed out to a Quebec businessman by the Liberals. The lucrative sole-source deal comes after $23,000 in donations was given to the Liberal Party. Now, before the Liberals stand up and say, “Yes, but he donated to the Conservative Party," I note the Conservative Party never…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would not expect anything less from the Liberals. Last week, I asked the CRA to investigate a claim that the Liberal member for Calgary Skyview was directing people on how to fraudulently claim the CERB in his riding before he was elected as an MP. According to The Canadian Press, seven in 10 people over 15 in the riding received the CERB, one of the highest percentages in the count…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I ask members to imagine a member of the Liberal caucus being accused of directing his constituents on how to fraudulently claim the CERB. According to a caller on a talk radio show the day after the election, the member had encouraged numerous people to claim CERB when they did not qualify by splitting self-employment income with family members. In fact, in one area of the member's r…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. In relation to the question I asked in question period, I would like to table two documents. One is a transcript from News Talk 770 CHQR's Shaye Ganam's show on September 21, and it is in relation to a discussion the host had about the fraudulent claims of CERB. The second is a letter that I wrote yesterday to the National Leads Centre of the Canada Revenue…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am awfully glad to hear the minister say that there is no tolerance for fraud. The caller also stated that he had, for that savvy advice, given the member of Calgary Skyview his vote, and he was telling everyone to do the same. Asked by the host what he would do if the CRA came knocking, he said that he would send them straight to his office because it was all his idea, and everybod…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, do members know where I get the sense of urgency the member speaks about? It is from those who previously escaped Taliban rule. They know how difficult this is going to be for young girls. They know how difficult this is going to be for vulnerable communities and ethnic minorities. They know their lives are at risk. That is what makes this urgent, and that is what makes this committ…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, if people listened to the member's speech, they will excuse me for saying that he painted a rosy picture of what was going on at the Kabul airport. In fact, having dealt with this situation for the better part of a month and a half, some of the correspondence I was getting said that it was literally a “Walking Dead situation” at the airport, thousands trying to get through the gate,…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, one thing haunts me the most, and still does every single day: How many of those names I gave belong to people who are no longer alive? I do not know. I am not in the government and I was not in the government. All I can do is pass those names on to the minister and his staff. I acknowledge that they were well received, but I just do not know. The challenge right now in Afghanistan …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, given the context of the motion, it speaks to exactly the issue the member is concerned about. There is the potential to redact documents. In fact, the parliamentary law clerk would review all of the documents before this committee. I do question why the hon. member is concerned. Why is there concern from the government over getting to the bottom of what happened? Why are they conce…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, on July 14, I sat on a Zoom call with a former Canadian interpreter from Helmand Province. On that call were several of my colleagues, including the hon. members for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound and York—Simcoe. It was an emotional call. It was an interpreter who was pleading for his life. The Taliban were 500 metres away, and they were hunting those who had help…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, there has been growth in the ways in which medical assistance has been provided. We have certainly seen that through COVID, where we have seen more online or phone call assessments. Those things have played a very important role throughout COVID.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I made it very clear in my speech this afternoon just how important vaccines are. It was important for me in terms of my community and my family. I believe in the efficacy of vaccines, but the difficulty lies in the fact that there are still people who are unconvinced. I do not know what their reasons are. I use Scott as an example. His whole family is vaccinated and yet he is still…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, to my point about this divisive rhetoric, there is no greater example than what we just saw. I will go ever further. The Prime Minister has fed into this divisiveness. Members may recall when earlier this year the Prime Minister said that there would be no requirement for mandatory vaccines. Then, the day before he called an unnecessary election, he said there would be a requirement…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise on Bill C-3 this evening. It is a very important piece of legislation that requires not just the attention of Parliament, but also committee scrutiny. Let me begin by saying that I believe that Bill C-3 should have been split into two separate bills. We are dealing with two separate issues here, one as it relates to health care workers and protests outside …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to hear my hon. colleague stand up in this House. There was an interesting point that he did bring up and that was the issue of false information. During the election campaign, the finance minister and deputy leader of the Liberal Party was found to have engaged in false information on Twitter. In fact, she was marked as having manipulated the media for sprea…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, nobody understands the issue of long-term care facilities more than I do. We went through the situation at Roberta Place. That is in my riding. All levels of government have a role to play, understanding that this is a provincial responsibility. However, we can work with the provincial governments to make sure that we have the type of standards that look after seniors in long-term car…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, that is an important question, because we have seen asset valuations increase directly as a result of governments and banks printing money. It is indisputable at this point. I have spoken to local realtors, the Ontario Real Estate Association and the Canadian Construction Association. All of them say to organizations that we need to move to increase the supply. We need to make sure th…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today. I will be sharing my time with the member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington. We are very excited to be here in the House. If you will indulge me for a couple of minutes, there are a couple of people I need to thank, but first let me recognize that the member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington is the cousin of the mayor of the town of Innisfil…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I was born in Montreal, and I am from a francophone family. My father, Jean‑Guy Brassard, is a real francophone. Montreal is where all my relatives live, on the French side. It is a tough question. The issue of guns and gangs is an issue of guns and gangs. It is not an issue of law-abiding firearms owners. They are not running around the streets of Montreal, Vancouver or Toronto shoot…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, as a product of Quebec myself, that was beautiful. I know, as we have stood in this House over the last several days, one of the things this member in particular has been talking about is the issue of guns and gangs, which is enveloping major cities across this country, including the city of Montreal. The throne speech did not speak that much about the issue of guns and gangs, and I…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it is really a simple answer, and that answer should be “yes”. Again we see the hypocrisy of the Prime Minister operating on a different set of rules. Jody Wilson-Raybould was booted from caucus for not wanting to interfere in a criminal prosecution, yet by his own admission and compelling video evidence showing the member for Calgary Skyview stealing campaign material and replacing i…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in a radio interview with CBC Calgary on Friday morning, the member for Calgary Skyview suggested he and his team are under investigation by the Commissioner of Canada Elections for stealing campaign literature from Conservative candidate Jag Sahota. His reference to the team being investigated is new information that suggests there was an organized effort on the part of his campaign …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I am sad to inform the House, and indeed all Canadians, that Elmore Cudanin, a patriarch and leader of the Filipino community in central Ontario, passed away earlier this month. Elmore lived in Barrie since 1973 and founded the Bayanihan Club of Simcoe County. He was a well respected and inspirational leader in our growing Filipino community, and they are saddened by the loss of this …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, if we look at our hybrid Parliament, we can see that those MPs whose ridings are close by have many opportunities to speak. We are in a minority government and the other members from Quebec, the NDP and the Liberal Party have many opportunities to work in their ridings while the House is sitting and we are here, which gives them an electoral advantage. Can you comment on the opportu…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, during the election, the member for Calgary Skyview was caught on a doorbell camera and has been accused of not just removing campaign literature for Conservative candidate Jag Sahota, but replacing it with his own piece that provided wrong information about a polling location. The member is facing a $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail during an investigation that is continuing f…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, one of the things we dealt with at PROC, when we dealt with a virtual Parliament, was the prospect of exactly what is happening here, and that is the Liberal Party colluding with the NDP to expand the hybrid Parliament beyond what is normal. Some of the reasons that were given was the potential in those swing ridings for electioneering to occur. Would my colleague comment on that pa…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I will refer you to the two-hour presentation from the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. I will also, with respect, sum up what the prima facie case is here. It is my respectful submission that seven prima facie contempts have been made here: One concerns each of the three witnesses who failed to appear before the ethics committee, one concerns the governme…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, as I stated at the outset, the allegations are extremely disturbing and troubling. If we are going to go back and forth on this, I think—
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, the arguments that have been made are profound on the part of the privilege and the rights of members. The Speaker will recall that some very serious allegations have been made that I believe breach the rights and privileges of members, not the least of which is a table officer acting in a partisan manner. I am not attempting to bring those issues in a manner that exacerbates the kind…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, before I continue, I would like to ask for unanimous consent to table copies of the relevant PCO documents that were disclosed through access to information. I would like unanimous consent for that.
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, without laying out properly the facts of this case as we know them, it is awfully difficult to present a prima facie case, but regrettably a cloud has been placed upon the House administration, and it certainly has given Conservatives cause to reflect on what extent to which we can collaborate. In fact, the same paranoia is, as we have seen, among House officials themselves. In my vie…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, it is clear by the discussions today that there was a lot of unfinished business in Parliament as a result of the election and clearly there is new business as well. When the House began its summer adjournment, the Chair had before it a question—
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is in relation to a letter and a question of privilege related to the 43rd Parliament, which I wrote to you about, and I rise today just to be perfectly clear. When the House began its summer adjournment, the Chair had before it a question of privilege, which the hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes had raised on June 10, with respect to th…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, again, I would refer you, in keeping with the spirit of your ruling from last autumn, with respect to these issues. In any event, members can be reassured that my comments will be much shorter than the two hours or so of submissions that were made back in June. On March 25, this House adopted an order requiring the attendance of three witnesses before the ethics committee: Rick Theis,…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, as I said at the onset, there was an opportunity for the government House leader to respond. He had indicated to Parliament that he would respond within a week of the question of privilege being presented by the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. The government House leader did not respond, and in the spirit of a ruling that you made last autumn, it was sugg…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, let me begin by congratulating you on your election as Speaker. As we all know, it comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility to conduct oneself in an impartial manner, and I have the utmost confidence in your ability to do that. Congratulations once again. I am rising on a question of privilege today concerning the very troubling allegations published this month respecting the …
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, respectfully, it is difficult to sum up this question of privilege if the facts are not laid out and if the Chair is not reminded of some of the points that were brought up. In the first intervention on this question of privilege as it related to the previous Parliament, the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes went on for two hours about this, laying out found…
Read full speech →