Kevin Waugh

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member from Skeena—Bulkley Valley made a number of great points this morning. I was talking with a staffer. They had a five-year mortgage term ending at 1.92%, but unfortunately, five years later, now it is over 4%, so we are talking affordability. The Liberals continue to borrow at record rates. There has been a doubling of the interest rate, and a staffer was discussing, in her conversation, the affordability issue. The legislation would help. There is no question that Bill C-38 would help with the affordability of gas. I hear it in my province, because farmers are dealing with diesel and its record prices. However, I just want to talk about the hon. member's experience with young people and the affordability issue.

Mr. Speaker, I had two or three years as Saskatchewan caucus chair, and we moved our summer meetings around. I remember saying to this member that we were coming to Yorkton—Melville. What a delightful two days we had in Yorkton—Melville because of her. She brought the community together. We had a sensational meeting with the indigenous leaders. We had tours of Yorkton. I also remember one thing about her. As a caucus chair, when I said we were going to come, she was up to the task. It was fabulous. I also remember that community had the best Ukrainian food in this country. I just want to wish the hon. member a happy retirement for her and her husband, Marty. Our caucus is really indebted to her for the 10 and a half years she served.

Madam Speaker, one year in, the member for Oshawa has done a lot of work on the public safety committee. I just want to state again, on our amendment, that we agree with the government on part 1, which would be Bill C-22A. We have also heard from police all over this country that they need the tools. However, the privacy issue is what we are debating here tonight. Bill C-22B would be on the privacy issue. I sit on the heritage committee, and we had the same thing with the government this week when it threw up Bill C-34. That is also a privacy issue we are going to have to deal with when it comes back in the fall. To the hon. member for Oshawa, let us talk about part 2, because that is the hill we are going to die on. We need this amendment tonight for Bill C-22B.

Mr. Speaker, under this Liberal Prime Minister, Canada is the only G20 country in recession. The economy has shrunk three of the last four quarters. The Liberals are already borrowing over their projected $65 billion. The Parliamentary Budget Officer projects borrowing now to climb to $72 billion. Will the Prime Minister tell Canadians if they are in a recession or are they only technically doing worse after a decade of Liberal rule?

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition signed by Canadians from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. They call upon the House of Commons to develop and make available a framework for national urban parks to ensure the governance of all national urban parks includes meaningful participation from indigenous nations, rights holders and community representatives.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure this afternoon to rise and present a petition signed by Canadians from across my province of Saskatchewan, and actually many from my riding of Saskatoon South, who strongly oppose Bill C-9 for its infringement upon the fundamental right of free speech. Many of the people who signed the petition in Saskatchewan in the last couple of months came to Saskatoon as we held a round table, and many of these people are upset with Bill C-9 and what the current government is doing with the infringement of their rights.

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague had an extensive career in corporate and real estate law. His speech was interesting, because we talk about homeowners, but the member talked about warehouses, golf courses and investments. Is the member as worried as homeowners in the B.C. region are with this decision coming up?

Mr. Speaker, SOS: Save our Snowbirds. The Snowbirds are a proud Canadian institution based in the land of the living skies, Saskatchewan. We now hear that the Liberals are going to cancel the Snowbird program. It is unthinkable that we could see the end of this precision squadron that proudly represents this country at home and abroad. Will the Liberals reverse this mistake and keep our Snowbirds in the sky?

Mr. Speaker, maxing one's credit card only adds to the financial pain. The government has proposed yet another credit card budget. That means more costs, more spending, more taxes and more of the same. Nothing has changed. The Prime Minister is just another costly Liberal who has doubled Trudeau's massive deficit. Will the Prime Minister admit that this is more of the same from the past 10 years, and that, now, Canadians are paying the price at the grocery stores?

Mr. Speaker, there was an instance in our party, in Markham—Unionville. The candidate won in 2015 and again in 2019. Then there was foreign interference in 2021. Months before, he was told by an outside agency that he would not win the election in 2021. This was a concern. I subbed in one day to talk about this situation. I wonder if this bill would help solve all the issues we had in Markham—Unionville in 2021.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand in the House today to speak to Bill S-211, an act respecting a national framework on sports betting advertising. This Senate bill, as we all know, seeks to develop a framework to regulate sports betting advertising in this country and set national standards for the prevention of risk for persons negatively impacted. It also provides for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, better known as the CRTC, to review its regulations and policies to reduce the incidence of harms resulting from sports betting advertising. Let me speak to the heart of the matter. I spoke in the House in November 2020 in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-218, an act to amend the Criminal Code, single game sports betting. In that speech, I addressed the elephant in the room, which was problem gambling and addictions. As it stood at that time, there was absolutely no consumer protection or support built into the illegal sports betting systems for those struggling with gambling addictions resulting from illegal or offshore markets. I want to remind everyone that the bill simply removed the federal restrictions, allowing provinces and territories the right to take over the single sports betting market, stemming the illegal offshore market, and to collect the tax, the profits, to use provincially instead of letting the money go to the offshore conglomerates. In my province of Saskatchewan, I think the province has done a good job. It has shared the money with sports, recreation and culture. Alberta has done the same. Now, they are going to set up a heritage fund. Each province and territory makes its own decisions. The bill provided provinces and territories with the ability to regulate and collect revenue, which could be used to fund mental health programs, research and addiction treatment, and it had widespread support from the provinces and territories. I should add that in the House the day we voted, the vote was 303 to 15. All parties were involved. As members know, the regulation and administration of gambling has fallen directly in the purview of the provinces and territories since the 1985 federal agreement that transferred the rights to gaming to the provinces and territories. However, that does not preclude us from considering a federal framework in the interest of protecting vulnerable Canadians. I am of an age to remember gambling in the shadows. It was the Irish Sweepstakes tickets. They were sold illegally in this country. I remember going into a room and someone would say to me, “Come here, I have these Irish Sweepstakes tickets.” That was back in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, we cannot walk a block without seeing a Lotto 649 or Lotto Max sign lit up in neon. Confectioneries, gas stations, drugstores and grocery stores all have a huge variety of scratch tickets to choose from that are shiny and colourful, right in front of our eyes. If someone wins a free play, they are rewarded with flashing lights and called a winner. Everybody in the store can hear it. Do members remember the five-minute television segments where the lottery numbers were drawn live while millions sat watching with their ticket or tickets in hand? These forms of advertising and promotion have been unchecked for decades. The television commercials, in my opinion, preyed upon vulnerable and desperate people. Anyone can buy a ticket today for a hospital home lottery, potentially winning a home, but what are the odds? The commercials seen today show a beautiful landscape and a lifestyle that most can only imagine. In my estimation, fifty-fifty draws are the new fundraising technique. Young people are now coming door to door selling fifty-fifty tickets. We can scan the code, select how many tickets we want and then pay. We have seen the Toronto Blue Jays, especially this past year with their remarkable playoff run, reaching unheard of payouts with their fifty-fifty. Tens of millions of dollars have been raised. It is the same thing in Western Canada with the Edmonton Oilers. They have a very successful fifty-fifty, as do a lot of teams in this country. I noticed that the Vancouver Canucks had a front page ad for a guaranteed super jackpot of $1 million in this Saturday's Vancouver Sun newspaper. We have all seen the advertising during a live game. It is non-stop, with networks even promoting the sale of tickets several times during a game. Gaming has been around forever. This did not just start with my bill, Bill C-218. Gaming has been present for decades in this country, sometimes disguised as entertainment or as charity. Sports betting advertising, though, took the promotion to an all-time extreme. I feel that some provinces have dealt correctly with advertising, provinces such as B.C., Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I have talked to them about their concerns and about a framework. They all agree they would listen to a framework. Others, like Ontario and Alberta, want to see it wide, wide open. I have also talked to them about what they would like to see if a framework is in the offering. We have seen advertising on NHL jerseys. We have seen professional players doing advertising about responsible gaming. There is no national consensus about how to manage the national advertising on sports. As a former sports broadcaster, I have to admit I was surprised at the barrage of ads that were running during the sporting events since the passage of Bill C-218 in 2020. The networks, which were starved for a new source of advertising revenue, in my opinion, exploited this golden opportunity to flood the airwaves with ads. What was always an accepted practice prior to the passage of Bill C-218 quickly became an avalanche of targeted, even predatory, and excessive advertising. It came at us from all sides, and I think the public was simply blindsided. This has put the spotlight, unfortunately, on sports betting advertising, which we are here today to talk about with Bill S-211. I am supportive of putting a spotlight on addictions. I am very supportive of putting guardrails in place to protect the most vulnerable among us. However, let us not be short-sighted. This issue did not begin with sports betting ads, and it goes way beyond the sports betting ads. If we are going to take an honest look at the harms caused by gambling advertising, we must, I believe, consider all forms, like the lottos, the fifty-fifty, the hospital home lotteries and many more. It has been five years since my bill, Bill C-218, passed, and every province and territorial jurisdiction is renewing their agreements this year with their gaming companies. I have spoken to a number of provincial counterparts about sports betting and their vision going forward. First off, I want to give a shout-out to the many provincial governments that did an exceptional job in writing their legislation for advertising. I have looked over their legislation, and for the most part, I think they got it right. They are dealing with advertising around school zones and dealing with minors, event hosting agreements, etc. It is very thoughtful and insightful legislation. The issue of sports betting advertising lies with the rights holders of the broadcasting companies. It is expensive now when they buy the properties of the NHL, baseball, NFL and so on. It is tough to recoup their investment, so when the gaming companies saw this opportunity to exploit the market to the broadcasting companies, they were in desperate need of revenue. Let us be honest. This is why the Senate has targeted sports betting advertising. We are not the only jurisdiction in the world rethinking new ways to improve safety. It has been 40-plus years since the federal government handed over gaming authority to the provinces. Therefore, it is time that we sit down and have a discussion about the framework.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Conservatives who sit on the Canadian heritage committee, I would like to offer a dissenting report that we did in heritage on AI. I offer that to us today. We had an extensive meeting but, over the course of weeks, we had some concerns with the report that is coming out.

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, Colette Bourgonje will be inducted into the Canada Games Hall of Honour as a builder. From 1992 to 2014, Bourgonje attended every winter Paralympic Games and three summer Paralympic Games, winning six medals. She is a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and even has a Saskatoon public school named after her in my riding in Rosewood. Bourgonje has coached many successful Paralympic athletes in Saskatchewan, like Brittany Hudak, who just won a bronze at this year's winter Paralympics, and Krystle Shewchuk, who was recruited by Bourgonje to compete in the 2019 and 2023 winter Canada Games. Colette Bourgonje will be recognized tomorrow in Quebec City for the 2026 class of the Canada Games Hall of Honour.

Mr. Speaker, after one year with the Prime Minister, things have only gotten worse for Canadians. Canada is now the food inflation capital of the G7, with food prices skyrocketing 7.3% and food bank lineups of 2 million visitors per month. At the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre, we serve 23,000 to 24,000 people a month. That is up 6,000 to 7,000 per month since 2019. Unemployment in this country has now hit 6.7%, with 84,000 more Canadians losing their full-time job last month. Youth unemployment is big now, skyrocketing to 14%, the worst level since the great recession. Canadians are increasingly reliant on part-time work to afford their basic necessities day to day. The federal deficit has doubled. Debt-to-GDP is now rising again. Families have to pay $3,300 a year of the interest just to service the national debt. The dream of home ownership has never been more out of reach in this country. CMHC is predicting housing construction to decline 18.1%, well below the 10-year average. The government's own housing agency has said it will add only 5,200 homes this year. It promised 500,000 new homes every year. At the same time, Canadians are carrying record household debt, $2.6 trillion, mostly from mortgages just to keep a roof over their head. The Prime Minister promised to build at a scale we had not seen in generations. He promised this less than a year ago, yet one year later, Canadians are now finding it even harder to make ends meet. Food inflation is now rising twice as fast as it was before the Prime Minister took office a year ago. Food prices, as I mentioned, have skyrocketed 7.3% year over year, leading to Canada having the worst food price increases in the G7. Canadian families are projected to pay nearly $1,000 more in food costs alone this year. Meanwhile, the cost of food purchase for restaurants alone was up 12.3% in the same period, and for takeout and fast food it was up 14%. That means it is no surprise that nearly half the restaurants are operating at a loss or are barely breaking even. With 7,000 closing last year, about 4,000 are projected to close this year. Canada, by the way, is the only country in the G7 with a shrinking economy, contracting 0.2% in the last quarter alone of 2025. That has a real impact on jobs, with over 100,000 full-time jobs lost in February alone, the largest single-month decline since the great recession, outside the pandemic. Canadians are really struggling, and all we hear from the government is how great we have it. It will be interesting to hear the response of the government with these dismal numbers we have received in the last 12 months.

Mr. Speaker, when Canadians thrive, they do not need to rely on government handouts. Our province is like that. It does not enjoy the fact that the government is handing out billions of dollars throughout the country just to help Canadians. I know what people in my province want. They want jobs, and unfortunately, this country lost 100,000 jobs in the first two months of 2026. Let us think about the 100,000 jobs that have been lost in the last 60 days. Canada has the only shrinking economy, the second-highest unemployment, the highest household debt and the highest food inflation in the entire G7. Let those numbers sink in. The Liberal Prime Minister cannot just blame global factors when the other members of the G7 are in fact dealing with the same issues. Canadians cannot afford this failure any longer.

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the University of Saskatchewan's Huskies women's basketball team. Just last Sunday, at the U Sports championship, the Huskies captured their second straight title with a 77-68 win over the University of New Brunswick Reds. Coming off the bench was Logan Reider. She scored a team-high 19 points and was named the player of the game. Ella Murphy Wiebe, who is in her fifth and final year, was named the tournament's most valuable player. The Huskies will now graduate five players, so winning the bronze baby for the second year in a row was certainly special. The Huskies reeled off 51 straight wins over two seasons, which I think is a tribute to their coaching staff, led by Lisa Thomaidis. The program has now won four championships since 2016. I congratulate all Huskies.

Mr. Speaker, Canada has the worst food inflation and the only shrinking economy in the G7, and rising unemployment rates now. Canadians are facing a serious cost of living crisis. Grocery prices are skyrocketing. Paycheques are spread so thin right now that they do not cover the cost of basic necessities. Canadians deserve an economy where hard work pays off. When will the Liberals take responsibility for their punishing taxes and their policies?

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague brought up a number of good points. Right now, in northwest Ontario, the mining companies desperately need people. Bill C-20 seems to be another bureaucracy by the Liberal Party and the government, and it is just going to hold that whole northwest part of Ontario back. How can we hire people when we do not have housing? I want to ask the hon. member about that. I have a similar situation in Saskatchewan. They have these big plans but no housing. When we do not have housing, we do not have companies willing to build.

Mr. Speaker, the people of Saskatchewan have shown the country what generosity truly looks like through the incredible tradition of the Kinsmen TeleMiracle telethon. TeleMiracle brings communities together to raise funds for life-changing medical equipment, mobility supports and specialized care in my province. Saskatchewan residents have helped to raise over $171 million since 1977. Starting tomorrow, the 22-hour telethon kicks off, marking half a century of entertainment and fundraising. Congratulations, TeleMiracle, on 50 years as a true Saskatchewan treasure. Where are we going? Higher. Saskatchewan, get ready to ring those phones.