Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is linked. Perhaps the member opposite could stop interfering. That gentleman has been here long enough and knows the rules of the House. I beg him to stop interfering and just allow me to give my speech, like an adult. As I mentioned, this is about blocking accountability. We saw it at the operations committee, where ministers could not log on. Even after a year of having a hybr…
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Madam Speaker, I will remind my hon. colleague from Kingston and the Islands that those votes were done on division. We also recognized at the time that urgent action was needed. Did the government provide urgent action? One of the problems was that it rolled out CERB, and the wage subsidy came later. It was so poorly put together, and there was no oversight. The government shovelled money out to …
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Madam Speaker, Bill C-2 is very much a missed opportunity. It does not provide the proper targeting we believe is necessary. There will be people in need who fall through the cracks. One of the issues we have been talking about for a year and a half now is with respect to the companies that opened just before COVID happened. It is by no fault of their own. Perhaps they started building a month bef…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from the Bloc talks about cultural and independent workers, but this also covers a lot of other workers who could fall through the cracks. The problem with this bill, and with the government, is that it lacks a plan to get us past this. I used to run a hotel that had one of the most successful dinner theatres in the country. These folks do not want to be on government a…
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Mr. Speaker, the member was speaking earlier about transitioning, but Bill C-2 does not have a transition for hotels, restaurants, or the arts and culture industries. It is just more subsidies. Where is the government plan to get tourism going again, to get people into our restaurants, to get people into our theatres and into our concert halls? These companies and organizations cannot just live on…
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations to my colleague on her 10th or 11th time here. She gave a wonderful, very heartfelt speech. I thank her for spending so much time at the beginning of her speech talking about her constituents and those in need. I compliment all my colleagues on both the Liberal side and this side for having the class to not interrupt her or call for a point of order on relevance. I wan…
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Madam Speaker, we have heard a lot from the Liberals asking us to hurry up and get the bill through. I would ask my colleague what he thinks about the pressure to push it through immediately after they waited two full months to bring Parliament back.
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your election as Deputy Speaker. I want to thank my colleague for Carleton for drawing the direct correlation between the massive spending and our out-of-control inflation. The government likes to pretend that it is a global issue, but I would point out that we have the second-highest inflation rate in the G7 and we are third highest for food inflation, so I do not …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I have had the pleasure of serving together on the government operations committee for six years. I hope to see both of us again on OGGO, despite what he may wish. My colleague probably knows that the last time around with the wage subsidy, we had a lot of criticism, as it was going to wealthy hedge fund managers, big corporations and Chinese communist state-owned com…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister knows that this is not true. The government knowingly installed security-compromised Nuctech equipment at our borders and airports. The operations committee's recommendations are clear: remove the Nuctech equipment from our airports and borders and ban the purchase of tech from Chinese state-owned companies. Will the government act on this report to protect Canadians or w…
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Mr. Speaker, the departmental plans, as described on the government's website, “describe departmental priorities”. These are priorities presented in the House, signed by the minister himself. Now, in the departmental plan for this year, there are two notable things. My colleague mentioned several, but there is also “Number of Canadian Armed Forces members who have attended a training session relat…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to have had the opportunity to hear the member for Kingston and the Islands straighten this issue out. We thought it was the Minister of National Defence who, for years, ignored evidence of sexual harassment, but all along it was Harper's fault. Now we know. Putting that aside, I appreciate everything the gentleman has to say to cover up for the horrible deeds and lack of d…
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Mr. Speaker, for four straight years, the minister of public works could only muster up a feeble “to be determined” when setting targets for government contracts for indigenous businesses, yet in the operations committee we heard evidence that public works invoked the national security exemption in order to sole-source a contract for PPE from China instead of from a qualified indigenous business. …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses under the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Businesses, signed since January 1, 2016, and broken down by department, agency, Crown corporation or other government agency: (a) how many have been awarded by the mandatory set aside; (b) how many have been awarded under the voluntary set aside; (c) what is the total value of each contract; (d…
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With regard to foreign aid provided to entities outside of North America since January 1, 2016, broken down by year: (a) what is the total amount of funding provided to entities outside of North America; (b) what is the total amount of funding provided to entities either based in or operating in Africa; (c) what are the details of all foreign aid funding provided to entities in Africa, including t…
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With regard to Development Finance Institute Canada (FinDev) and their funding of Kenyan company M-KOPA, since January 1, 2018: (a) what is the total amount of funding provided to M-KOPA, broken down by type of funding (equity investment, grant, repayable loan, etc.); (b) how many jobs were projected to be created from the funding; (c) how many jobs were actually created; (d) on what date were Fin…
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With regard to Official Languages Impact Analysis (OLIA), since January 1, 2016: (a) how many initiatives funded by the government had an OLIA conducted; (b) how many initiatives funded by the government did not have an OLIA conducted; and (c) what are the details of all initiatives funded by the government with total expenditures exceeding $1 million that were not subject to an OLIA, including th…
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Madam Speaker, I wish I could take more than just a few minutes to refute all the misinformation the member put over. However, I will start with his comment about the four members abstaining. Maybe the member could tell us how many members of the Liberal cabinet abstained on voting to declare as genocide what the Chinese government is doing to a million Uighurs. He does not have to answer, because…
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Madam Chair, the minister does not have an answer. How does the government determine the merits of spending taxpayer dollars without knowing what the planned return is?
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Madam Chair, what income does a person have to have in Canada to be considered one of the 1%?
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Mr. Chair, on a point of order. I am sorry to interrupt my colleague from Abbotsford, but I find I have to do this at each of the committees of the whole. I wish to remind the Chair and colleagues across the way that the time for answers has to be the same as the time for questions. I have recorded five questions and five answers, and all five answers have been considerably over the time given for…
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Madam Chair, I think I can say, for the City of Edmonton, that it would rather see some of that $88 million the current government paid to the top 1% earners than the paltry $17 million the government decided was a priority. Does the minister know how much Elon Musk is worth?
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Madam Chair, I will be using my time for questions. Through you to the minister, what was the discount rate used in the assessment of the financial support for Air Canada?
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Madam Chair, as the minister will not answer, I will tell her that it is about $300,000. The government has amended the Income Tax Act to allow Canadians earning up to $308,000 to get the tax-free child benefit top-up. How many Liberal ministers would be eligible for that tax-free gift under the changes they made?
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Madam Chair, I will answer for the minister: all 37. How many of these top-percentile income earners received this tax-free Liberal bonus for the child benefit under their changes to bring it up to $308,000 earned?
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Madam Chair, I will answer for her: Two hundred and sixty-five thousand wealthy Canadians got the extra money. Who in the House said this just on Monday: “The Canada child benefit puts more money in pockets of Canadians by not sending cheques to millionaire families”?
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Madam Chair, I will answer for the finance minister: It was the Prime Minister who said that. How much was paid out in taxpayer dollars to the top 1%, tax free, by the current government?
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Madam Chair, I will happily answer for the minister again: it was $88 million. The federal government only offered the City of Edmonton $17 million for supportive housing. Does the minister think $88 million for the top 1% is more important than housing for the homeless in Edmonton?
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Madam Chair, I can assure Canadians and the people of Edmonton that the minister does not speak for them, nor does she hold them in high regard if she is offering more money to the wealthy 1% than to Edmonton homeless people. To answer the question, Elon Musk is worth about $175 billion. Taxpayers, under the current government, have given Elon Musk $100 million in subsidies to the wealthy to buy T…
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Madam Chair, I am surprised that the government, which is constantly talking about sending cheques to millionaires, places a higher priority on sending cheques to millionaires and billionaires than on helping the City of Edmonton house the homeless. The ultra-exclusive Royal Ottawa Golf Club received $1 million in the wage subsidy program into the 2020 year, with a surplus 19 times more than it re…
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Madam Chair, I will forgive the finance minister for answering the wrong question because of the delay. I was asking about the minister justifying a handout to an exclusive golf club. The President of the Treasury Board was not able to confirm that the $100 billion wage subsidy program went through the required regular Treasury Board scrutiny. Is this the reason why billions were paid out to wealt…
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Madam Chair, good Lord, this is embarrassing: $100 billion did not go through the Treasury Board process for approval. Now we see the government paying out wealthy hedge fund managers, and the minister makes a joke about it. Other G7 countries had wage subsidy provisions to protect taxpayers. Why did the government not put protections on the wage subsidy through the required Treasury Board approva…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments about Jaime Sommers. I had forgotten about her, so I thank him. The member brought up some good points about priorities. The government seems to be prioritizing wage subsidies for hedge fund billionaires and companies that are growing exponentially. They do not need the money. At the same time, it is ignoring the provinces. I agree 100% with my …
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak today to the budget implementation act. It is a budget I would name after the Rick Moranis film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but I am going to call it “Honey, I Sunk the Kids”. I would have used a different word for “sunk”, but that would have been unparliamentary language. Why would I call it that? It is because of the massive intergenerational debt that …
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Madam Speaker, I have not got my calculator in front of me, so I will trust my colleague's numbers. Yes, it shows a hypocrisy. The government talks so much about the environment. The number one job creator in Canada, which led us out of the 2008-09 recession and which will lead us to grow out of this difficult time, is the energy industry. Alberta and the energy industry have done an amazing job r…
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Madam Speaker, that is a great comment from my colleague from Battle River—Crowfoot. We talked about accountability. It has been in the papers a lot concerning the Canadian emergency wage subsidy. It is the largest support program of the COVID crisis and totals $100 billion. We have heard money has gone to wealthy hedge fund managers and to multinational corporations. We even heard we were giving …
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the community work of Rosy Borkowski in my riding of Edmonton West. At the start of COVID, with the help of local volunteers she calls her angels, Rosy formed the Hamptons and surrounding areas COVID-19 support group. Rosy and her angels support isolated and quarantined seniors and families in need with care packages of food, cleaning supplies, pet care and m…
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Mr. Speaker, I apologize. I have been having trouble with my technology. My Wickr Pro showed both votes being accepted as yes, but I understand that only one was accepted and shown in the House. I would appreciate it if the House would accept my second vote as yes.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Vegreville had commented earlier today about the Liberals' propensity for announcements instead of actual action, and I want her to reference this. She talked about the need to promote entrepreneurship among women. I will note that three or four years ago the operations committee tabled in the House a report on helping women entrepreneurs with government procuremen…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During question period, the member for Repentigny referred to Alberta oil as dirty oil. With the House's permission, I would like to table a report from the Canadian Energy Centre showing that Alberta oil actually has lower flaring and lower venting, and is cleaner oil than the oil that is imported into Quebec from the States and Algeria. I suggest that per…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, whom I serve with on the OGGO committee, for his speech today. He mentioned it is Earth Day, and quite a few people have mentioned that. I also want to mention, and it has been overlooked, that today is the 70th anniversary of the famous battle at Kapyong in the Korean War, which, of course, many young Canadians fought in with the Princess Pats. The…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague has brought up a lot of great points, especially around the issue of Huawei. The House passed a motion requiring action from the government on Huawei, yet we have seen nothing. At the same time, it is bringing in Bill C-11, which has some laudable points in it, but does not address one of the biggest elephants in the room, which is Huawei. The government has refused to ba…
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With regard to Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) hearings since January 1, 2016: (a) how many times has the government hired external legal representation for CITT hearings, broken down by case (or by department represented if there's an issue of confidentiality) and date of hire; (b) what is the cost associated with the hiring of external legal representation, broken down by case (or b…
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With regard to public service and Crown corporation pensions: (a) what is the current account status on each pension; and (b) what is the discount rate used for each?
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With regard to free credit protection in relation to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB): (a) how many CERB recipients are currently under investigation; (b) of the number in (a), how many are under investigation for fraudulent claims; (c) of the number in (a), how many are seniors; and (d) how many CERB recipients had no income for the previous tax year?
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With regard to the Canada Lands Company Limited (CLC), since 2016: (a) how many acres of land has the CLC turned over to municipalities or other jurisdictions for the development of low-income housing, broken down by municipality; (b) how many houses have been developed by CLC or in partnership with CLC; and (c) of those units in (b), how many are classified as low-income or low-cost housing?
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Mr. Speaker, I normally start my speeches by saying that I am pleased to be joining in the debate, which I normally am. However, although I support this motion 100%, I am not pleased that we are one full year into the pandemic and we require a motion such as this to get the Liberal government to act to support small businesses in tour and travel business. A year ago this week, we suspended Parliam…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from Saskatoon West reminding me that I am splitting my time with the member for Cloverdale—Langley City. Guess who also did not have to wait for handouts from the Liberal government. Former Liberal member of Parliament Frank Baylis received about a third of a billion dollars for ventilators not even approved anywhere in the country. We have small businesses,…
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Mr. Speaker, if my colleague looked back at press releases and other things, she would see that the Conservative Party from day one was advocating for a faster and higher wage subsidy, well before the Bloc Québécois did. As for the wage subsidy for the parties, we made it clear that when the other parties step up to return theirs, we will return ours as well.
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry for bringing up WE. I am sure it sends shivers through his spine, like early PTSD. If he wants to talk about Mr. Baylis, I will bring up another issue. When he was on the industry committee, that same Liberal MP lobbied a bit on a government contract. He lobbied the committee for more money for research. He ended up getting that contract about two months after he left. Sure…
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