Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the budget last fall had many things in it that lowered costs for our constituents. The Conservatives always and every day talk about food costs. We have come up with this plan to help all Canadians, and we would really like the Conservatives to help us pass this bill so we can help all Canadians.
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Mr. Speaker, what is important about the bill right now? The bill is timely, to put money back in the pockets of people for them to use right now. It is true that we have to tackle the root causes of food insecurity, and we are developing a national food security strategy. Strategies like that take time in terms of domestic food production and improved access to affordable, nutritious food. In the…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in today's debate on Bill C-19, the Canada groceries and essentials benefit act. We are at a pivotal moment in Canadian history. We are all bearing witness to a rapid change in the global landscape. Trade shocks are hitting countries around the world, and geopolitical threats are intensifying. This transformation is thrusting workers, busine…
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Mr. Speaker, in Pickering—Brooklin, a large number of constituents are seniors. I got a lot of calls from members of my riding, thanking the government for such a program, because even getting $100 extra means a lot to seniors at this time. The government is doing an excellent job. Seniors whose yearly incomes are lower than $25,000 would definitely benefit from this program.
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Mr. Speaker, all programs cost money, and this program, at this time, is timely and needed. We need to do what we can for all Canadians, and that is what the government is doing.
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Mr. Speaker, in January we celebrate Tamil Heritage Month. Earlier this month in India, I saw first-hand the global strength of the Tamil spirit when I spoke at the World Tamil Diaspora Day in Chennai. Tamil is the oldest spoken classical language in existence and is spoken by over 75 million people globally. Canada is now home to the largest Tamil diaspora outside of Asia. It is a community that …
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect jail time for the most serious crimes, especially those involving children.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians also expect laws that will withstand court scrutiny and respect the charter. Can the Minister of Justice please inform the House about what the government is doing to preserve strong mandatory minimum penalties for imprisonment while ensuring laws remain constitutional and enforceable?
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect jail time for the most serious crimes, especially those involving children.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, the proposed reverse onus recognizes that those accused of such offending may present heightened safety risks to their victims if released on bail. The bill currently going through Parliament would also significantly strengthen sentencing, including for sexual offending. It is proposed that conditional sentence orders, also known as house arrest, be unavailable for serious sexual offe…
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Mr. Speaker, cyclone Ditwah has devastated communities across Sri Lanka, causing severe flooding and landslides that have claimed over 465 lives and left hundreds more missing. Homes, infrastructure and local economies have suffered serious damage, and communities across the country are struggling to deal with the aftermath, especially in the northeast hill regions, which are already struggling du…
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Mr. Speaker, I am speaking in response to Bill C-246, an act to amend the Criminal Code. It is private member's bill introduced by the hon. member for Lethbridge. The bill would change the Criminal Code so that, when someone is convicted of two or more sexual offences at the same time, their sentences would have to be served one after the other. If that person was later convicted of another sexual…
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Mr. Speaker, definitely, the economy does impact crime in general, and youth are no different. The budget that is coming in is an austerity budget that is supposed to create a lot of jobs, and youth jobs are included in that. I hope the member opposite will vote yes for our budget this time to help alleviate crime as well.
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Mr. Speaker, on October 23, 2025, following extensive consultation, the Government of Canada introduced legislation with more than 80 provisions to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the National Defence Act. I am pleased to rise today to speak in support of Bill C-14. I would like to take some time to more specifically outline the proposed changes to the Youth Criminal Ju…
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Mr. Speaker, during the time of the election, at every home we went to, this is what we heard. Our Prime Minister, Mark Carney, promised, at that time, that we would invest into the criminal system. That is throughout the country. Quebec is also included in that. Provinces will get their share. The implementation of these changes relies on the provinces. They will have to come up with, within thei…
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Mr. Speaker, like I said, I was a youth worker for 20 years in the city of Toronto, day in and day out, dealing with youth offenders and trying to put them into programs that would rehabilitate them. Most times, we look at why they turned to crime and what is needed in the community for these rehabilitation purposes. As we see auto thefts, home invasions and jewellery heists increase and youth are…
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Mr. Speaker, on July 30, 1975, an amendment to the National Defence Act extended full membership in the royal Canadian sea, army and air cadets to girls, changing “boys” to “persons”. This year marks 50 years of female inclusion in the Canadian cadet program. Today, more than 60,000 cadets across 1,100 communities benefit from this program, which builds citizenship, leadership and fitness. Female …
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Mr. Speaker, definitely. The 1,000 RCMP officers are an important piece in this big puzzle that we are trying to solve as we mitigate our border security. The dog teams are a very important part. The reason I am saying this is that even if 1% of fentanyl is crossing Canadian borders, it is still a big deal for Canadians. Even though we are 10% of the U.S. population, that 1% represents a huge prob…
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Mr. Speaker, this is why we introduce a bill. It goes through first and second readings, and then it goes to committee, which debates it and adds or takes away whatever is needed so that all Canadians can be protected. It is important to note why Bill C-12 is even here. All of this was actually part of Bill C-2. I want to ask my hon. colleague whether Conservatives will be supporting making the bi…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague said, immigration is an integral part of our system. We have all been immigrants at some point in time, and Pickering—Brooklin is vastly made up of immigrants from all countries across the world. It is important that we get this right, and we have to spend time and debate the bill. I am hoping that all members of the House will understand how important it is for asylum…
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Mr. Speaker, today the House is debating important legislation: Bill C-12, the strengthening Canada's immigration system and borders act. Bill C-12 would strengthen our country's security by proposing changes to support border security and immigration, to fight transnational organized crime and to disrupt illicit financing. We urgently need to update many of our laws if we want to be able to addre…
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Mr. Speaker, it is true that programs and services are the responsibility of the provincial government, and at this time, if they are able to do what they are supposed to do, they will be able to put programs in for everyday Canadians who are going to be affected by the tariffs. I urge the provincial governments to look deep and to serve Canadians well.
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Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in today's opposition motion debate. I will be sharing my time with the member for London West. The global economy has changed, and Canada must change too. We need to build more housing and infrastructure and support industries that are essential to our economic growth. This spring, Canadians called for a serious and ambitious plan, and…
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Mr. Speaker, as the member said, this is a new technology and it is the first time they are trying it. Anything that would give Canadians work is worth trying.
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Mr. Speaker, the operating budget cuts will be for services or programs that are not relevant and are not maintained by the framework of the federal government. Each department is scrutinizing its budget and carefully making these cuts so that essential services and programs are not affected by them.
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Mr. Speaker, climate change is an important topic, and the Liberal government is very serious about it. Budget 2025 will seize the generational opportunity to transform our economy through ambitious investment and rigorous discipline, ensuring that every dollar goes further to help build the strongest economy in the G7.
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Mr. Speaker, there are over 30 organizations in support of this commissioner. Over 150 groups and communities have come together to support it. This is being done in partnership with any and all indigenous communities. I am sure this is the right step forward. Treaties strengthen and reinforce self-determination by ensuring that indigenous people lead decisions that affect them in areas like land …
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Mr. Speaker, kwe kwe, taanshi. Hello. Before we proceed, let us take a moment to recognize the gratitude we have for being gathered here on the traditional, unceded and unsurrendered lands of the Algonquin Anishinabe people, whose connection to this land continues to this day. I am thankful for the time to speak today to the proposed legislation to establish a commissioner for modern treaty implem…
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Mr. Speaker, I welcome the modern treaties that were introduced by Paul Martin and signed by Stephen Harper. Today, there are up to 27 modern treaties covering over 40% of Canada's land mass. Major development infrastructure projects depend on partnerships with indigenous modern treaty partners in—
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Mr. Speaker, I will continue where I left off. The draft legislation proposal for the commissioner was shared with over 130 modern treaty partners for their awareness, review and feedback. The partners consulted included groups negotiating a modern treaty, self-governing indigenous governments, sectoral agreement holders, national indigenous organizations and key partners, and provincial and terri…
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Mr. Speaker, the commissioner's job would be to check if the federal government is fulfilling its promises under modern treaties, working in good faith with indigenous partners and upholding the honour of the Crown. The commissioner would do reviews, audits and briefings to see how government programs are working and would share what they find with the minister, indigenous partners and Parliament.…
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Mr. Speaker, I am in support of this commissioner because the legislation marks an important step in advancing reconciliation by promoting transparency, fairness and the implementation of modern treaties. If the bill were able to move to committee, where it could be hashed out and finalized, we would see a step forward in the right direction.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that some Conservative members in the past have delayed indigenous legislation. Seeing that there are certain modern treaty partners in Conservative ridings, like the Manitoulin Island first nations, the Tsawwassen First Nation and the Whitecap Dakota Nation, can the member opposite confirm that the relevant members have talked to or will talk to the modern tre…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an extraordinary achievement from my riding of Pickering—Brooklin. Joel Toscano from the community of Whitevale and his team have won the 2025 TIFF 48-hour film challenge, a prestigious national competition where filmmakers are given only two days to write, film and edit a short film. Out of many talented participants across the country, Joel's creativity and…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to draw attention to a deeply troubling development. The second phase of excavation at the Chemmani mass graves in Sri Lanka concluded on September 6, uncovering the remains of 240 men, women and mostly children. According to Amnesty International, Sri Lanka has one of the highest numbers of enforced disappearances in the world, with estimates of up to 100,000 over the decade. …
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Mr. Speaker, I feel that food security and the role of the agriculture sector will have the biggest impact on my neighbourhood in Pickering—Brooklin. Half of my community is rural. In the coming days and months, I am waiting to see what the government will do to strengthen Canada's food security by investing in greenhouses, hydroponics and controlled-environment agriculture that would allow us to …
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Mr. Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with what my colleague opposite is saying about women who are in abusive situations. As a former abuse counsellor, I completely understood what she is talking about. I am, as is the government, determined to protect, in the upcoming budget, funding for women, women's sectors and organizations that are supporting women. We will wait to see that in the budget comi…
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Mr. Speaker, we need to wait and see. We have gotten about $60 billion in investments so far. Budget 2025 will build on these actions by seizing a generational opportunity to transform the Canadian economy through ambitious—
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians provided the government with a clear mandate to provide a stronger and more resilient economy. While the opposition keeps talking about the Prime Minister's globe-trotting, he is going around the world trying to get more investment into the country.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to participate in the debate on the Conservative motion in relation to the action the government is taking to address food affordability and ensure that all Canadians have access to affordable food and other daily essential goods. Our government believes that food affordability is a serious issue facing all Canadians today. Canadians are not experiencing inflation as a stat…
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Mr. Speaker, heinous crimes need to be punished, and we recognize that. This fall, our government will introduce legislation to strengthen Canada's bail system so things like that will not repeat themselves and to make it harder for repeat violent offenders to be released on bail. It would also increase sentences for the most serious repeat violent crimes, particularly those linked to organized cr…
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Mr. Speaker, as the parliamentary secretary said, we will take this under advisement. We will always make sure that people's voices are heard. The justice system will always prioritize community safety, respect victims and ensure that dangerous repeat violent offenders are kept off the streets, without sacrificing fairness, charter protections or the effective administration of justice. While the …
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Mr. Speaker, everyone deserves to be safe in Canada. That was definitely reflected when I was at people's doors in April. Community safety is not a talking point; it is a responsibility, and we understand that. Everyone needs to feel safe in their home. This summer, I met with police chiefs as well as provincial and municipal leaders across Canada to ensure that—
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak about the important issue of bail and the role of the criminal justice system in keeping our communities safe. This is an important opportunity to reaffirm the government's commitment to public safety and to highlight the critical role provinces and territories play in the administration of Canada's bail system. Canada's criminal justice system is a shared respon…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House for the first time in debate. I am filled with a profound sense of gratitude and humility to represent the constituents of Pickering—Brooklin, a diverse and thriving community encompassing the entirety of the city of Pickering, as well as the northern region of Ajax and Whitby, including the vibrant community of Brooklin. I am deeply honoured by the trust the peopl…
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Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending the Seniors Month celebration in my riding of Pickering—Brooklin. This event brought together dozens of local seniors for an afternoon filled with live music, dancing, light refreshments and the presentation of the Senior of the Year award. It was a vibrant testament to the vital role that seniors play in enriching our community. Sen…
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Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Canada Post Corporation Act, the bill would remove barriers that prevent police from searching the mail where authorized to do so. Where authorized to do so, it would be with a warrant. I would like the member to let her constituents know to rest assured that a warrant would still be needed.
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Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we are doing here. Canadians sent us here to deliver meaningful legislation that protects our families, our communities and our future. In Pickering—Brooklin, residents are deeply concerned about rising crimes, car thefts and the exploitation of young children through human trafficking. That is why the Liberals are supporting the bill, and we are hoping the opposi…
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Mr. Speaker, like I said, the bill is here to protect us in three different ways. It is here to secure our borders so any trafficking, car theft and border security issues can be combatted; to combat transnational organized crimes and fentanyl coming in and out of the country; and to disrupt illicit financing. This is what we have heard about at the doors, and our government is acting swiftly. I a…
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Mr. Speaker, bail reform is very important, and it is one of our election commitments as well. When we sit again in the fall, I would assure my colleague, they will see the bail reform come through.
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