Government Orders
Madam Chair, if the government was against it, it would listen to me and the companies that I have noted. BYD received a quarter-million dollar contract from the government. Its supplier uses Uighur forced labour transferred forcibly from south Xinjiang, where mandatory unpaid labour follows years of educational transformation in concentration camps. Why?
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Madam Chair, I have been sharing it this evening and the minister has refused to rule out buying from these companies. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has identified dozens of companies that have knowingly used forced labour goods in their supply chains. These companies, according to the government's own Buyandsell website, have received hundreds of millions in contracts from the Liberal…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I rise to present a petition from many people in my riding of Edmonton West and across Canada who are concerned about the Liberal platform promise to use the CRA as a political weapon against charitable groups or religious groups that do not share the Liberal dogma. Specifically, the petition asks the House of Commons to protect and preserve the application of charitable status role…
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With regard to the public service pension plan: (a) what is the total value of the payments made to deceased pensioners, broken down by year since 2016; (b) of the payments in (a), what is the value of the amounts recovered to date from the estates of the deceased; (c) what is the percentage and value of the amounts not yet recovered in (a) which are expected to be (i) recovered, (ii) written-off;…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, government documents have revealed the Liberals paid out tens and tens of millions in bonuses to public service executives last year: 89% of executives got bonuses, despite the departmental result report showing overall departments missed over half of their targets. There is no clean drinking water on reserves: bonus. There is no fix to the Phoenix pay system: bonus. Vital PPE is thro…
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Mr. Speaker, guess what? The same government documents show that only 5% of regular public servants, non-executives, got bonuses despite being the ones who are doing all the work. The Liberals paid out millions in bonuses to the government executives who failed to meet over half their goals. The only other place we could find people getting rewarded so well for such failure is in the Liberal cabin…
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Mr. Speaker, in response to the passport delay crisis at Service Canada, Liberal after Liberal has stated it was “all hands on deck” and Service Canada was working 24-7 to address the issue to help Canadians, yet at a Service Canada office in Edmonton, there is a poster at the door that says they will only help people if they are travelling within five days due to reduced capability. Only with the…
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Madam Speaker, misuse of taxpayers' money, sexual harassment and special treatment for wealthy tax dodgers. No, this is not a Liberal cabinet meeting but rather misdeeds at the CRA that were exposed by whistle-blowers, whistle-blowers who have been public exposed by the very person in government who is meant to protect them. Will the President of the Treasury Board do the right thing and commit to…
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Madam Speaker, the PBO has exposed $15 billion in unexplained defence spending in the budget. Now, in a briefing with the PBO, we were told it asked finance but that finance said it did not know and to go ask DND. It asked DND, but DND said that it did not know and to ask finance. It went back to finance and finance said, “Well, we don't know the details. Maybe it's just a forecast.” Maybe someone…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a second point of order concerning the parliamentary secretary for defence's answer. I would like to retable the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report on, “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, which was done at the same time as the budget, where defence actually noted that they do not have that added $15 billion either.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The parliamentary secretary to the Treasury Board's response regarding whistle-blowers from the CRA who, right now, are being harassed and forced out of their work, is that, as he says, they are going to continue with a review lasting five years. With the House's permission, I would like to table the 2017 OGGO report listing every item needed for whistle-…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to join the debate on budget 2022. I think it is the fifth budget I have been able to debate since arriving at this place. This seems to be another case with the Liberal government of “if at first you don't succeed, try and try again”, duplicating past budgets with lots of spending and lots of added debt, but with a poor outcome. I think in the case of the gover…
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague fails to mention something, and this is what the Liberals do. They will make a statement, knowingly twisting reality. They say we have the lowest unemployment we have had, but our unemployment is about 60% higher than in the United States. The U.S. has all these demographic and racial issues; it has all these problems, yet our unemployment here, despite massive spe…
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Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague, and it has been disinformation from the government. We heard the housing minister in February talk about 1.2 million Canadians housed by his government. Two months later, it is two million Canadians. One moment it is $32 billion spent, and the next moment it is $70 billion. The reality is that we have a housing shortage. We built fewer houses in the last s…
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Madam Speaker, I respect the question and where my colleague is going. The reality is that Canada has a shortage, and that is not going to be fixed with taxes. It is not going to be fixed with the home equity tax the Liberals seem to keep funding studies of, but by addressing the supply issue. We need to get government out of the way. We need more supply built. We see it in our G7 peer countries t…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am very happy to rise and join the debate on Motion No. 47. First off, I want to thank someone. She is a lady who was very instrumental, not only in my decision to go into politics, but also in being a mentor for me. When getting into this position or other jobs, we often talk about our past lives in previous jobs. In a past life, I was honoured to be the president of the Greater …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the distribution of rapid tests for COVID-19 to the provinces and territories: (a) how many rapid tests were distributed to each province or territory, broken down by month since March 2020; (b) what is the total number of rapid tests distributed; (c) what is the breakdown of the number of rapid tests distributed that were (i) manufactured in Canada, (ii) imported from outside of Ca…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the charitable work of the Saints Church in my riding of Edmonton West. Led by the dynamic duo of Lisa Ross and Linda Lo, a great team of volunteers created and run a bread ministry to distribute bread to those in need. Every week the team picks up bread donated by the incredibly generous Cobs Bread on Winterburn Road to distribute to local families. The program st…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, apparently to the government 1.5% is the new 2%. Despite supporting the Conservative motion to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP to meet our NATO obligations, newly announced spending only brings us to 1.5%, and 1.5% after a lengthy, drawn-out comprehensive review. Stop the political meddling and buy equipment. There, I just performed the government's comprehensive review for it.…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this appears, like all the other budgets so far from the government, to be one with lots of spending and good intentions but no results. The Parliamentary Budget Officer states that there are as many Canadians living in vulnerable homes now as there were when the government started, despite billions spent. Despite billions spent, the Library of Parliament says GHG emissions are going …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his well-thought-out and politely delivered speech. I have a simple question for him. It is not really a partisan one. It is about following the rules, which he mentioned throughout his speech, especially with respect to the Treasury Board. When the Treasury Board requirements on Treasury Board submissions affect people in Canada of both language…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Twice today we heard different ministers claim Canada has the best debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. With the House's permission, I would like to table a report from the Library of Parliament showing we are actually third and have the 29th best in the OECD.
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Mr. Speaker, replacement fighter jets are delayed. Replacement pistols for the army are delayed. Polar icebreakers are delayed. Fixed-wing search and rescue are delayed. Arctic offshore patrol ships are delayed. Surface combatants are delayed. Joint supply ships are delayed. Rusted out, second-hand jets from Australia are on time. When did the Liberals decide to go from strong, secure and engaged …
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Madam Speaker, it is no surprise that it is bloody cold in Edmonton in the winter, except to Service Canada, which is making seniors and the vulnerable wait outside the office for up to an hour before being let inside because the government says it is unsafe for them to be inside because of COVID. We have mask mandates in federal buildings and we have high rates of vaccination, yet the government …
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order arising out of question period. We heard the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance repeat the myth of the neutral carbon tax. I would like to table page 18 of volume I of the most recent public accounts, which shows a quarter of a billion dollars that was raised through the GST on the carbon tax was not given back, and also that proceeds from …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, would the President of the Treasury Board please assure the House that the bill is in its usual form.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, would the President of the Treasury Board assure the House that this bill as well is in its usual form?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in the operations committee, Public Works admitted that the government might delay the selection of a replacement fighter jet for an additional 12 months, because apparently six years' delay is not enough. When we asked Public Works if it had received any direction from the Liberal-NDP government to speed up the process in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the answer was a sim…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the estimated $1,235.4 million in overpayments of income benefit payments by the government listed on page 147 of the 2021 Public Accounts of Canada, Volume I: (a) how many Canadians received such overpayments; (b) what is the value of the overpayments which (i) has been forgiven, (ii) has been recovered, (iii) has not yet been recovered, but is expected to be recovered, by the gove…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to overpayments made by the Phoenix pay system: (a) what was the total amount of overpayments made by the system; (b) of the amount in (a), how much (i) has been recovered, (ii) has not yet been recovered; and (c) of the amount not yet recovered, how much has been written off by the government due to (i) the six-year limitation period, (ii) other reasons, broken down by reason?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the budgetary loan provided to China in the amount of $365,714,786, listed on page 307 of the 2021 Public Accounts of Canada, Volume I: (a) what interest rate is China paying on the loan; and (b) what are the terms and length of repayment agreed to by China in relation to the loan?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate you on your role. It is wonderful to see you take part in a fine Canadian federal institution such as the Speaker. I am pleased to rise again to talk about Bill C-8. It is another massive Liberal spending bill, with little oversight and probably little chance of delivering on what they have talked about. It is almost a Liberal pre-engagement gift to our colleagu…
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Mr. Speaker, one thing we do not believe in is supporting the government and the massive corporate welfare that the NDP is backing. It was the Conservatives who pushed the government to allow people who were working and also on CERB to make up to $1,000 without getting their CERB clawed back, and we achieved that. It was the Conservatives who first asked for the increase in the wage subsidy from t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy the fantasy world put forward by the member for Kingston and the Islands. Of course, if he had bothered reading the public accounts, and I do not think anyone in the government has, he would see that his government gave $50,000 to a company to come up with an new flavour for an IPA. He talks about $15 orange juice. His government gave $50,000 to a brewery. I ask everyon…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is correct. It is a duplicated $4 billion, and that is my concern. We have only the word of the government that it is not going to get Parliament's approval twice and only spend it once. I do not trust that the government will do that. I would love to have a government member stand in the House today and say that yes, that $4 billion will lapse and will not be spent.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague to respond to something. The members opposite talked about having this great low debt-to-GDP ratio, but I have to note that they are including money that has been set aside for CPP assets. We are the only country in the OECD that tracks money that way. According to the IMF, when we take that money out and compare us on an apples-to-apples basis, we are the 22…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order arising our of question period, the parliamentary secretary for Global Affairs was misleading the House regarding cuts, going back 60 years, by the Conservative government. I would like to table a Library of Parliament report on operation expenditures and authorities covering 2000 to 2021. It shows that the highest amount spent, adjusted for inflation, was during t…
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Mr. Speaker, when asked in question period about the Russian navy's 40 armed nuclear-powered icebreakers roaming the Arctic, the defence minister said basically not to worry about Canadian sovereignty because here we “have the Coast Guard working for us.” Now, does the Minister of National Defence realize that our Coast Guard, as good as it is, is a civilian service and does not have armed naval v…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, my point of order arises out of question period. Repeatedly today we heard the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance state that the carbon tax is revenue neutral. With the House's permission, I would like to table pages 17 and 18 of the most recent “Public Accounts of Canada”, volume I, that showed GST collected under the carbon tax was almost a quarter of a billion dolla…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, three years ago, I rose in this place and wished my friend, World War II veteran Fred Russell, a happy 100th birthday. Fred passed this fall at the age of 103 years old. He served overseas for the entire length of World War II. He survived the Dieppe raid. Returning to France and Normandy in the Normandy landings, he marched into Dieppe with his fellow Canadians in the liberation of…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to join the debate on the Emergencies Act. I hate to spoil the surprise for those waiting until the end of my speech to understand how I will vote, but I am going to come out early now and spoil it by saying I do not support this overreach by the government. We have to ask how we got here today. I am sure the Liberals are saying “by Air Canada”, but I mean…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, it is great to see my colleague in the House. My answer is yes. As I said, this is a political emergency created by the government. It is not a national emergency. We have seen in bigger, more serious issues across the country, both in the past years and the past week. It can be solved with the current powers that the police have.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to get a question from my colleague. I appreciate the comment, and I do not want to be mean back, but I appreciate what he is saying. I am kind of stunned though. The U.S. treasury, its version of our Treasury Board, did an investigation on Tides. It found that money from Russia was being funnelled into Tides in the U.S.A. and that money was getting funnelled into Cana…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, the member should know that what is good for Alberta is good for the rest of the country, as he knows from the equalization payments we pay out. He should note this as well, and he should not mislead the House, that Coutts was settled without bringing in the draconian Emergencies Act. It was settled using existing police powers, just like in Surrey, Emerson and Windsor, and just like …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I have to say I am disappointed with the member's question. Clearly, she continues to politicize this issue. In no way and in no part of my speech was I ever dismissive of what was going on. We treat this issue very seriously. The reality is that the government bungled this situation. The government had ways to fix the situation, but it decided, with the help of its coalition colleagu…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, earlier, we heard from one of the member's colleagues that the government said that it knows what a lawful protest looks like. I wonder why, then, the government did not act when we had protesters blockading VIA Rail and CN Rail, blocking the Port of Vancouver, crippling our economy, and crippling pipelines and oil and gas trains to the point that Alberta companies were offering to …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his well toned speech. I appreciate it. What has changed? A couple of days ago, Windsor was cleared. Surrey is cleared. Coutts, Alberta, is cleared. Emerson is clearing. All those were cleared under existing laws and existing enforcement measures. Those main issues have cleared. Why bring in this sledgehammer now? I hear a gentleman across the way he…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. While we might have fun volleying back and forth with the member for Winnipeg North, his addressing my colleague as Mr. Trump was offensive. He knows full well that was not a mistake. He did it on purpose. I ask that he stand and apologize to the member and to the House.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, while I am engaged in the gentleman's screaming, I am trying to learn French. I have been trying to listen on the French channel, but I cannot hear the interpreter over the gentleman's screaming. I would ask you to advise the member opposite to tone it down a bit so we can hear the interpretation.
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