Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present petitions signed by hundreds of citizens across Canada who continue to call on Parliament to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals from coercion or intimidation to provide or refer patients for assisted suicide or euthanasia. Freedom of conscience is a fundamental right, clearly articulated in section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedom…
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Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of the member's speech, he acknowledged and actually waxed eloquent on the member for Humber River—Black Creek's ability to reflect and look back on decisions made. I want to provide this member with the opportunity to correct the record when he stated that the former Conservative government made the decision not to act on the truth and reconciliation report, given th…
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Mr. Speaker, absolutely not. I hear from constituents every day who are deeply alarmed about the direction in which this country is going under the Liberal government.
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Mr. Speaker, I have to say that it has been entertaining to watch New Democrats, since March 22, contort themselves into a pretzel to support whatever the government introduces and to continue to import American politics into everything that is happening. When someone commits a crime and is subsequently convicted of it, there is always a victim. I do not understand why the NDP claims to support vi…
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask the member if she supports mandatory minimum sentences that remain for crimes such as murder, high treason and other violent crimes. If she does not, then we should do away with those mandatory minimums as well. Victims of crime deserve better from the government and this Parliament, and I would encourage all members to reject this bill.
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Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak to Bill C-5, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, at third and final reading. I will be splitting my time with the amazing member for Lakeland, who served our caucus very well in a previous Parliament as the shadow minister for public safety. This is yet another bill brought back from the previous Par…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his observation. My answer will be to the point, as was his question. It is up to Parliament to decide what the minimum and maximum sentences for an offence should be and it is a judge's duty to decide how he or she will apply those maximums and minimums based on the circumstances in each case.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, the history of the bison is woven into the fabric of our nation, but this year, the Canadian Bison Association is aiming to remind Canadians of the present and future of these great prairie animals. At its international convention in Saskatoon next month, the CBA will be proclaiming an annual national bison week. This event brings together a diverse range of participants, from first n…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of presenting two petitions this morning. The first petition is calling on members of Parliament to do all they can to prevent the current government from revoking the charitable status of pro-life organizations in Canada. The petitioners are concerned that this policy, outlined in the Liberal Party's election platform, will eventually be extended to other entitie…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' high taxes and high inflation policies are hurting Canadians. Shaughn, a veteran and a constituent in my riding, recently emailed me to say that as a result of the carbon tax and the impact of inflation, he has had to sell his home in order to get by. Shaughn’s home was his nest egg and safety net for the future, but thanks to the Prime Minister's policies, it is gone. W…
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Mr. Speaker, freedom of conscience is a fundamental right, clearly articulated in section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I have the honour to present a petition signed by hundreds of citizens from across Canada calling on Parliament to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals from coercion or intimidation to provide or refer patients for assisted suicide or euthanasia. I th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the simple answer is no, I do not agree with that member. I believe that we should be developing our resources here in Canada to meet the needs of not only our country but the world, when it comes to ethically produced and developed oil. From the beginning, the Liberal government has been anti-energy. Its policies have been destructive to the energy sector in my home province of Sas…
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Madam Speaker, what I will say is that the budget makes it very clear that the NDP-Liberal government has no plan to increase defence spending to reach the target of 2% of GDP, which Canada committed to as a NATO member. Despite promising to invest $6 billion in the Canadian Armed Forces, there is no plan to ensure that the NDP-Liberal government will follow through on any of its commitments.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to rise and speak this afternoon to the budget implementation bill at report stage. The bill seeks to implement certain measures found in budget 2022. It was encouraging to see the opposition parties work together to improve this bill at committee. However, I believe that more amendments are needed. I also want to recognize the hard work of my co…
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Madam Speaker, one of the important things to note in this debate is that after two years, the Liberal government has still not demonstrated any national leadership. This has caused provincial governments to have to spend more on health care. I truly do believe that, with the dental care program that the Liberals negotiated with their NDP counterparts to put into the budget, they are attempting to…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, the irrational stubbornness of the government when it comes to vaccine mandates is frustrating to a broad range of Canadians. Whether it is federal public sector unions, the tourism and travel industry, military and RCMP members or Canadians who just want to travel, they want the government to end the mandates. Continuing to impose mandates is causing stress and hardship. Businesses…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government’s procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters: (a) how many doses has the government procured, broken down by the year the doses are, or were, scheduled to be delivered, from 2020 through 2028; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by manufacturer and specific vaccine; and (c) what is the breakdown of (a) by the number of doses intended for (i) domestic use, (ii) …
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Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded division.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I do appreciate the question from my colleague. As I said, Conservatives support the idea that large international corporations like Netflix, Disney+ and others must pay their fair share in Canada and invest in Canadian content. I would remind the members in this place that this was in our election platform. However, where we have concerns and where we differ drastically from the ND…
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Madam Speaker, I support creating a level playing field between large foreign streaming services and Canadian broadcasters, while protecting the individual rights and freedoms of Canadians. I said at the beginning of my remarks that there are parts of this bill that we do agree with. We know that Canada is home to many world-class writers, actors, composers, musicians, artists and creators. Creato…
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Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, to me what was the most troubling part of the debate which occurred over the predecessor bill to the proposed legislation is what we have now before us. Time and time again we have seen the government's overreach into the lives of Canadians, whether it is through its values test in the Canada summer jobs attestation, its subtle willingness to undermine C…
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Madam Speaker, my apologies. “Weeks ago, the Liberals secretly withdrew the section of their own bill that protects individual users' content, resulting in Canadians being subject to broad government powers to regulate their use of social media. The government went even further when it used extreme tactics that have not been used in decades to silence the opposition, keeping Canadians in the dark …
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise to speak to this bill, the online streaming act, which we know amends the Broadcasting Act and makes consequential amendments to other acts. At the outset, I want to state, as my colleague, the member for Perth—Wellington, did in his excellent remarks on this bill, my support for those sections of it that would see major international companies p…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, stakeholders are calling out the Liberals on their failure to ensure adequate and reliable rail service for western agriculture products destined for markets around the world. According to the executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association, “We're right back to the same quagmire we were in before Bill C-49 was passed.” Instead of wasting his energy maintaining vindictive…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that the NDP leader and members of the NDP elite were given insight into the upcoming budget. Meanwhile, this information was not even provided to Liberal members of Parliament. Did the Minister of Finance provide the debt management plan of the Government of Canada or fiscal tables during her budget briefing with the NDP?
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that the NDP leader and members of the NDP elite were given insight into the upcoming budget. Meanwhile—
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, freedom of conscience is a fundamental right clearly articulated in section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I have the honour to table petitions signed by hundreds of citizens across Canada calling on Parliament to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals from coercion or intimidation to provide or refer patients for assisted suicide or euthanasia. I thank these…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, one of the most common threads we heard throughout the testimony from experts on Bill C-7 was that there was a need for national conscience rights. The committee heard from patients rights groups, lawyers, disabilities rights experts, medical ethicists, indigenous leaders, imams, rabbis and priests, as well as individuals who provided testimony of their own personal experiences, whi…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
moved that Bill C-230, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (intimidation of health care professionals), be read the second time and referred to a committee. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise today to begin the debate on my private member's bill, Bill C-230, the protection of freedom of conscience act. This bill revives my private member's bill, which died on the Order Paper, from the last Parli…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I reject the premise that Canadians' access to MAID is at stake. I just made the case that there is access to MAID in many circumstances in every province. I am a strong believer in the distinct jurisdictions of the federal and provincial government in Canada. That is why the bill that I have introduced respects the role of the provinces in the provision of health care and does not …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, obviously support for legislated conscience rights protection varies between associations and colleges, as well as from province to province. I would just point out that paragraph 42 found that there was no direct evidence that access to health care was a problem caused by physicians' religious objections to providing MAID.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, while countries around the world and provinces across Canada are removing vaccine mandates, a closer look at labour regulations reveals that last December the government quietly included making mandatory vaccines permanent in its forward regulatory plan. The Liberals claim this policy will reduce transmissibility, but we know that is not the case. Will the NDP-Liberal government drop …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the 34,000 unprocessed applications at Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC): (a) will the 560 temporary staff hired to deal with the backlog have their contracts renewed, and, if so, until when; and (b) does VAC have projections on how large the backlog will be in the future if the contracts are (i) renewed, (ii) not renewed, and, if so, what are the projections, broken down by quarter for…
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Mr. Speaker, Putin's war machine is funded by Russian oil and gas production and exports. Ukrainians are suffering as a result. The NDP-Liberal agreement includes an ominous line about phasing out public financing for Canada's energy sector. This is music to Putin's ears. Will the NDP-Liberal government support the expansion of Canada's ethical and environmentally responsible energy so it can repl…
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Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to table. Freedom of conscience is a fundamental right clearly articulated in section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I have the honour to table a petition, signed by hundreds of citizens across Canada, calling on Parliament to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals from coercion or intimidation to provide or refer patients for assisted su…
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Mr. Speaker, I also have the honour of tabling a petition calling on the government to protect and preserve the application of charitable status rules on a politically and ideologically neutral basis, without discrimination on the basis of political or religious values and without the imposition of another values test, and to affirm the right of Canadians to freedom of expression. I thank these Ca…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the Putin regime's unprovoked and unjust invasion of Ukraine has shocked millions of Canadians, including thousands in my riding who are of Ukrainian descent. Canadians now understand that the threat from Russia is no longer theoretical. They are resolute in their support for Ukraine and want Canada to do all we can to stop the Russian aggression and restore Ukraine's territorial inte…
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Mr. Speaker, that is an example of a failure of leadership. Legal experts, civil liberties organizations and many others are sounding the alarm, stating that emergency legislation should not be normalized, that it threatens our democracy and charter liberties. With the support of the NDP, the federal government is ordering financial institutions to freeze the bank accounts of Canadians who do not …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, while it is a privilege to have the opportunity to rise and speak in this place to the motion put forward by the government, the absolute seriousness of these days and how we chart a path forward as a nation cannot be overstated. There is so much at stake. I am grateful for the insightful interventions that have already been put forward by my caucus colleagues. From the outset, I wa…
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Madam Speaker, I think I made it pretty clear why I am deeply concerned about the measures that are in this act that are going to seize and freeze the bank accounts of individuals who do not agree with the government, but to be equally clear, there is only one person who I believe bears the responsibility for what is happening in Ottawa, and that is the Prime Minister. What should we expect, when …
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Madam Speaker, I would have to say that I believe this is exactly what the Prime Minister would like parliamentarians to be doing here in the House. Instead of focusing on the overreach of invoking the Emergencies Act, he wants us to be arguing about whose fault it is that the protests lasted for as long as they did in the city of Ottawa. To be very clear, I firmly support the right to peaceful pr…
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Madam Speaker, I would tell my hon. colleague that I absolutely disagree with the premise of that question. First we had a leader who resigned back in 2019, and in this most recent case we had adopted the Reform Act, which is a law of Parliament that provides members of Parliament with the tools they need to hold their leader accountable, so that is exactly what happened within the Conservative ca…
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Mr. Speaker, the only thing this Prime Minister has made sure of is that he has politicized this pandemic and divided Canadians at a time when we should be working together and supporting one another. His lack of leadership has divided, stigmatized and traumatized Canadians. Provincial premiers are leading the way, giving hope and confidence and rebuilding trust in leadership. When will the Prime …
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Premier Scott Moe for being the first Canadian leader to announce the end of vaccine mandates. Today in Saskatchewan, anyone who wants to will be able to go to a restaurant and celebrate Valentine's Day with their loved ones, with no proof of vaccination required. When making the announcement, Premier Moe stated, “The benefits no longer outweigh the costs.…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and I understand. I did make the statement that since the creation of the Province of Saskatchewan, the company has paid applicable taxes to the Government of Saskatchewan. I will say that I stayed away from commenting on the case that is before the court. I do not want to comment on that since it is before the courts, but I thank him for his qu…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, freedom of conscience is a fundamental right clearly articulated in section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I have the honour to table several petitions signed by hundreds of citizens across Canada who call upon Parliament to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals from coercion or intimidation to provide, or refer patients for, assisted suicide or euthanasia. …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague, the member for Regina—Lewvan, for his excellent and informative speech on this important and historic opposition day motion calling on the House to amend the Constitution of Canada. The passage of the Saskatchewan Act, which created the Province of Saskatchewan in 1905, became part of the Canadian Constitution and came into force on September…
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Madam Speaker, the member and his party have been very clear about what they think about the Constitution and their place in this federation. In fact, it was not so long ago that we were here in the last Parliament, toward the end of Parliament, entertaining an opposition day motion where they were flexing their right as a province to amend the Constitution. I appreciate his question on this issue…
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Madam Speaker, I absolutely believe that corporations should pay their fair share of taxes. I would suggest that what we have seen over the last two years during the pandemic, which I believe has been greatly mismanaged by the current government, was the spending of tax dollars to grant sole-source contracts to Liberal insiders and their friends to line the pockets of those individuals. They reall…
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Madam Speaker, I am glad to hear that the Liberals have taken the time to have discussions with their colleagues over on the other side of the House to ensure that there is a good understanding about what the provincial legislature in Saskatchewan was requiring and asking for. Would the member agree with Saskatchewan's Minister of Justice that repealing section 24 in the Saskatchewan Act would cem…
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