Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the member knows the national housing strategy is a major piece of legislation and is a key policy piece of great importance to our federal government. It will continue to be a priority for our government to invest in moving forward, not only from a social housing and affordable housing perspective, but also from a housing affordability perspective. It is one of the key things we hear…
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Mr. Speaker, we are all worried about small businesses in Canada. They are the heart and soul and the foundation of our economy in this country. We will continue to provide supports, including what is included in Bill C-8, for small businesses. There is quite a bit of investment in the bill that would allow small businesses to be able to upgrade their ventilation systems, with up to $10,000 for th…
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Mr. Speaker, we have, over the last almost two years, experienced an unprecedented pandemic. In order to make sure that we stabilize our economy, in order to protect Canadians and in order to ensure a solid economic foundation from which our businesses can pivot into a post-COVID economy, we had to spend a significant amount of money. Over time, we have actually adjusted and targeted more of our i…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise in the House today on an issue that is important to the residents of my riding of Davenport: child care. Located in the downtown west part of Toronto, Davenport is still largely a working-class to middle-class riding with many households struggling to make ends meet. Since the Government of Canada announced its ambition for a $10-a-day early learning and chil…
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Mr. Chair, I want to wish you and all colleagues in the House a very happy New Year. I know it is the end of January, but this is my first chance to stand in the House virtually to speak and send those wishes. I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak during this take-note debate on Ukraine and the buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border. It is important for us to have this conv…
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for his excellent comment and question. I do believe that we recognize the importance of energy. If the member is suggesting that we should be looking at energy as one of the ways that we might actually want to support Ukraine in the future, I think the Prime Minister, all of the ministers who have spoken today and many of my colleagues who have spoken to…
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Mr. Chair, since we were first elected in late 2015, our government has very much put an emphasis on diplomacy and on strengthening diplomacy. Throughout this whole situation with the buildup of Russian aggression at the Ukrainian borders, we have had excellent diplomatic efforts from our Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of National Defence and from a number of my coll…
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Mr. Chair, I absolutely agree with the hon. member. I believe we are absolutely open to all questions we are looking for. As I said, I am an eternal optimist. I absolutely believe there is still a way for us to find a peaceful and diplomatic solution, and I think we have had the right approach here in Canada. I am proud of our leadership, and I am hopeful that we will find a solution moving forwar…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise in the House today to highlight the incredible work being done by COSTI Immigrant Services in my riding of Davenport. Over the past few months, it has been helping to settle 1,600 Afghan refugees. In addition to helping them find housing, employment, language training and mental health supports, COSTI has been matching Afghan families with Canadian Afghan war…
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Mr. Chair, I would like to believe that on this issue we are all on the same team. I think that we all have the same outcome in mind when we say we want this issue resolved. We are very disappointed by the results of the administrative review. We are very disappointed that the softwood duties have increased. We know that in a relationship that is as large as the one between Canada and the U.S. the…
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Mr. Chair, as I mentioned earlier, in a relationship that is as large as the one between Canada and the U.S. there are bound to be issues. Given the fact that we have $614.9 billion in two-way trade between our two nations, largely things are going really well between our two countries. This is one of the irritants that we have had, and it has been in place since 1982. It has escalated in recent w…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, since the recent election just over two months ago, community leaders, residents and groups such as Pride Toronto in my riding of Davenport have been writing to me and encouraging our federal government to rapidly reintroduce a bill that would implement a ban on the harmful practice of conversion therapy. Can the Prime Minister update this House on Bill C-4 and the importance of banni…
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Mr. Chair, I want to wish the hon. member a very happy birthday. I also want to assure him and everyone else in the House that we are interested in finding an outcome and a solution that is acceptable for industry and workers. We have consistently said that these tariffs are unfair and unwarranted, whether at the CUSMA panel or at the WTO, and we are going to continue to stand up for workers and t…
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Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill. I want to thank all hon. members gathered here this evening to discuss yet another unfair trade action against an industry that deserves much better from our American neighbours. The softwood lumber industry is one of Canada's largest employers and has been throughout our history. It is woven in the sinews of…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, whether we mentioned it once or 10 times in the Speech from the Throne, I can assure the member, as well as everyone in the House, that implementing every single one of the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a top priority for our government, as well as implementing all of the calls for justice in the report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murder…
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Mr. Speaker, gun violence impacts us all and there are a number of steps that we need to take in order to aggressively combat gun violence in our country. It is not just a ban on handguns, it is also ensuring that there are enough resources and attacking the root causes of gun violence in our society. It is also ensuring that our border officers have enough resources and technologies to be able to…
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Mr. Speaker, I too worry about the pace of our infrastructure progressing in our country. We work very closely with the different levels of government, the provinces and municipalities, and often it gets caught up in some of the bureaucracies and red tape. It is something that concerns all of us. The commitment to great infrastructure investment is a solid one, a real one. We do want to move forwa…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Mississauga—Malton. It is a true honour and pleasure for me to rise for my first time in this 44th Parliament to respond to the Speech from the Throne on behalf of the residents of my downtown Toronto riding of Davenport. It is the honour and privilege of my life to be serving Davenport for a third time, and I want to thank the voters…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am so proud. In this Parliament alone, we have brought forward legislation to end the harmful practice of anti-LGBTQ2 conversion therapy, reach net-zero emissions by 2050, support Canadian content creators, address systemic racism in our justice system and provide Canadians record supports during the pandemic. Time and time again, the Conservative Party has shown its true colours an…
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