Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, now we have just been treated to the great carbon tax fable: first, it was revenue neutral; second, we get more money than we pay into it; third, it fights climate change. It does none of those things. What it does, and what the Prime Minister has admitted by pausing the carbon tax, is that it makes it more expensive for everyone. The real tragedy is for Canadians outside Atlantic Can…
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Mr. Speaker, eight out of 10 people know one can make up statistics about anything. That is effectively what this member is doing in saying they have done the most. Anyone can make up statements about anything. It is great that they came to the trade party, but they came to the trade party late. I still recall their vehement opposition to free trade with the United States. I led in my speech with …
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Mr. Speaker, article 13.10 of the trade agreement, subsection 8(d) says, “promote the rapid transition from unabated coal power to clean energy sources.” We know that the Russian war machine has been powered by energy exports. This certainly seems to contemplate the transition from coal to other less-polluting fuels. To me, this is a massive opportunity for Canada to work on exporting LNG from Can…
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have a very long, storied and proud tradition of supporting free trade. We only have to look back to the negotiations of the original Canada-United States free trade agreement, which was, of course, something Conservatives were in favour of and that Liberals campaigned very hard against. I was a young lad back then, but I remember a commercial from the Liberal Party on t…
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Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more. In the particular circumstances of that remission order, I agree. I was certainly consulted on that. Chicken farmers were not against supporting Ukraine, but it looked like that was rushed and not all details were looked at. I did talk about that in my speech. I still remember my contracts professor in my first year of law school saying that the devil was alway…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know what the motives are. I do know that this agreement was signed much earlier. If it had been tabled in Parliament earlier, we would certainly have had more debate and more time to scrutinize this particular piece of legislation. The members of the Liberal Party were chirping when I was speaking about taking the time to study something. There is an old adage saying that a …
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Mr. Speaker, that was a great question, the best one so far. The issue the member raised with respect to the export of those turbines was a shameful affront to Ukraine. The Liberal government and Liberal members should be ashamed of that. If we look at LNG exports to the European market, the United States is at 26%, Qatar is at 24% and Russia is at 20%. Canada could absolutely fill that need if we…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to talk about this alleged just transition legislation brought forward by the Liberal government. Before we talk about this legislation, we should talk about the success of the Liberals with just transitions in the past, because they promised a just transition for coal workers. They said they were laser-focused on it and that anyone in the coal industry who was going to be …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are literally in housing hell. If a Canadian couple with a 6,300-square-foot mansion on 37 acres in France sold it, the couple could not afford to move back to Fergus, Ontario. The NDP-Liberal government is not worth the cost, and yet every day members stand, puff up their chests and tell Canadians what a great job they have d…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' answer to the housing crisis is that we should support more of their failed policies. That is their answer. It is a special kind of incompetence. If people do not have a house, they cannot afford it. If they have a house, they cannot afford to keep it because interest rates are so high from the Liberals' inflationary deficits, yet they keep spending and spending, interes…
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Mr. Speaker, I apologize for that. However, I think about what the Liberals did to those coal workers, that they did not get them jobs, that they did not bridge their pensions. These are people with families, they have children, they have mortgages and they have to buy food. The Liberals did all of that to them. I could say that they did it intentionally, because they did not run the programs, the…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, only a Liberal government could design an app for $54 million that some people could design in their homes on a weekend, because the Liberals are so incompetent. What makes it worse is that their incompetence also comes with an incredible amount of corruption. A common-sense Conservative government working for the people would never let that happen.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised that interest rates were going to remain low and Canadians believed him, so they went out, bought homes and took out mortgages, but after eight years of Liberal inflationary deficits, interest rates are at a 30-year high, and many Canadian families are now finding that they cannot pay their mortgage. In fact, the Business Council of Canada just said that go…
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Mr. Speaker, there is only one cut that we are going to make. We are going to cut about 80 members from that side of the House when we form a common sense Conservative government. When we do that, we would address the concerns, such as the ship-worker in Vancouver who is paying $7,500 a month for a mortgage. What do they say? They talk about an AAA credit rating. How out of touch are they? They ar…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I move that the sixth report of the Standing Committee on International Trade, presented on Monday, March 20, be concurred in. I will be splitting my time with the prosecutor, the member of Parliament for Brantford—Brant, who will probably do a much better job prosecuting this issue than I will. I want to start by talking about recommendation number 1 from the committee, with respect …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, this is what is important to look at: The arrive scam app was not just studied at the international trade committee, which is the subject of the report in the motion we are debating today. This was actually studied several times. It was studied at OGGO, which had a bunch of meetings, on October 20, November 14, November 17 and December 8, 2022. This is in addition to all the meeting…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, that is okay. I do not mind a little noise. I am going to talk about this question in a couple of parts. First of all, the government always thinks that debate is inconvenient, which is of no surprise because its leader said that he admired the basic dictatorship of China. Of course, in China, there would not be debate on a piece of legislation. Therefore, when the member gets up an…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, once again, for a Liberal government whose leader admires the basic dictatorship of China, debate is inconvenient, and when the opposition picks the debate it is even more inconvenient, because the Liberals want to run the country like a dictatorship. We are not going to let them.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I agree with the member. A huge problem for the government has been its use of consultants. We only have to look at how it used McKinsey for all kinds of things. McKinsey was responsible for the opioid crisis. The Liberals keep giving McKinsey more and more money, and this is what they do. They do not use the public service to get things done; they hire these consultants, their frie…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for South Surrey—White Rock. As most of us in this chamber and around the world did, I woke up on October 7 to look through my phone on Twitter, which is now called X, at the unspeakable horror that was going on in Israel. It is hard to describe what happened and what transpired in Israel, with the brutality of Hamas members and how they did…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, they must have a very different definition of hard work than Conservatives, because after eight years of the Liberal government, we know that food prices are out of control. I went to the grocery store in Orangeville this past weekend for Thanksgiving. A loaf of Wonder bread was $4.40. That is the definition of Liberal hard work. How did we get there? It was with massive inflationary …
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Mr. Speaker, I agree 100%. It is something we all have a responsibility to do. It is why I have conversations with my friends in the Muslim community and have conversations with my friends in the Jewish community. We all need to work together toward that. However, there are some things the government can do. It could rapidly disburse funds to religious organizations to beef up their security, beca…
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Mr. Speaker, I suspect part of the reason there is not a humanitarian corridor is Hamas. It will do everything it can to prevent such a humanitarian corridor from functioning effectively. However, it is something we are absolutely calling for. We are on the same page on that.
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Mr. Speaker, it is not my position to tell a sovereign nation when its right to defend itself ends. What I do know is that Israel is attempting to minimize any civilian casualties. However, it does have a right to defend itself. We all agree in this chamber that Hamas needs to be eliminated, and that is what Israel is trying to do. We on this side support that effort.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not going to speculate on what she is suggesting. What we do know for sure is that Hamas committed despicable war crimes, and it livestreamed them. For that, Hamas needs to be eliminated.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that reminds me of when people say things like “the wheels are in motion”, “the cheque is in the mail” and those kinds of things. Canadians cannot eat a plan. Canadians cannot eat the photo op that the Prime Minister took with grocery CEOs. The facts are the facts. Grocery prices are way up, and they continue to go up, despite these alleged plans and photo ops. Onions are up 69%, pota…
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Mr. Speaker, that is entirely not accurate. None of the prices are going down. I just read an article from The Canadian Press. Canadians know that all the prices are going up. In fact, The Ottawa Mission is now asking for turkeys. Why? It is because the price of a turkey has gone up 67% as a result of eight years of the NDP-Liberal government. The Prime Minister made a promise three weeks ago, so …
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Mr. Speaker, three weeks ago, the Prime Minister made a promise that grocery prices would come down in time for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, an article just out from The Canadian Press today says, “Prices haven't went down, so you're going to continue to see to see fairly large sticker shock on items”. This is Canada after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, but it gets worse. The article g…
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Mr. Speaker, only a party whose leader said that he admires the basic dictatorship of China would say that legitimate debate about a government piece of legislation is so inconvenient and an obstruction. That is a disgraceful comment and opinion, but it is not a surprise coming from the Liberals, whose leader admires a basic dictatorship. Everything they have done has done nothing to improve food …
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Mr. Speaker, this will not be a happy Thanksgiving for many Canadian families because food prices are absolutely out of control, and the NDP leader just said that food inflation has outpaced inflation over the last 20 months, which is coincidentally the length of the Liberal-NDP coalition. What could be happening? The sad fact is this: Canadian families are having to make a hard choice between fee…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I just want to perhaps put the words the member said the last time we debated this directly to him. He said that farm fuels are mostly fossil fuels and they are exempt from the carbon price. He said, “The member opposite mentioned grain drying. The farm fuel exemption applies to the gas that people use for drying grain as well. The spread of misinformation on that side is rampant.” …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, on September 20, I rose to ask a question about how the carbon tax is impacting farmers. The minister responded by suggesting that somehow the carbon tax will stop natural disasters, which occur in this country and all around the world. The fact of the matter is this: The carbon tax has not done that, and that is because we live in a global environment where the carbon emissions fro…
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Madam Speaker, it is amazing that all of this was predicted. The affordability crisis we find ourselves in, runaway inflation and high interest rates were all predicted by the Conservative leader. It is actually a shocking amount of spending. The federal government, under this NDP-Liberal coalition, now spends $176 billion per year every year more than in 2015. I hear from constituents when they r…
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Liberal government, the average house price has doubled. The Prime Minister said, “it wasn't me”. After eight years of this Liberal government, the cost of rent has doubled. This Liberal Prime Minister said, "it wasn't me”. After eight years of this Liberal government, it now takes 25 years to save for a down payment for a home. This Liberal Prime Minister sa…
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Mr. Speaker, it is amazing, with a government that has accomplished so little, for the minister to be so proud. What he talks about is 5,000 units that are going to be built. CMHC says we need to build three million more units than we normally build. That 5,000 works out to 0.0016%, and he stands here bragging like he has accomplished something. The Liberals' lack of action has consequences and th…
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk today about Bill C-56, which is the Liberal-NDP government's attempt at dealing with the affordability issue. To talk about the legislation itself, we first need to look at where we are in this country, and it is not a very pretty picture. If we look at where we are right now, mortgage payments over the last eight years have virtually doubled in this country from co…
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Madam Speaker, when members cannot debate the ideas that are put forward, members go to where that member went. I know the member is new, but there is a difference between the provincial government, which he referenced, and the federal government and federal Parliament, which we are actually sitting in right now. The member might want to take some time to read up on the functions of a member of Pa…
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Madam Speaker, I am in agreement that we have to do more to get more houses built, but I think our plan is better. There is a great number of federal buildings that are underutilized. We should convert those units. I think our plan says we are going to allow 15% to be converted into housing, which is better than coming up with some random number and having the government build it. Let us remove th…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, when I asked my question last week, it was as a result of being at the International Plowing Match, which was a fantastic event in my riding. Most members of Parliament should take the time to speak with the people who produce our food. I did that, and the message I got back from them was loud and clear: The carbon tax is making their lives a whole lot more difficult because it makes …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I will say a couple of things. Number one, I won that election in 2019 by nine points. After that member came to canvass in my riding, I won by 19 points. I hope he will come to canvass in my riding again in the next election. It will go up by another nine or 10 points. It is always disappointing for a member who was a former symbol of this country to take his commentary in a debate d…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was at the International Plowing Match, which was in my riding, and I spoke with farmers from all across Canada. What is their number one concern? It is the carbon tax. Whether it is drying grain or driving their combine, the carbon tax is crushing Canadian farmers. When farmers pay more, Canadians pay more at the grocery store. After eight years of paying more, Canadians …
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member says the government is investing in climate change. What they have are investments in a tax plan. If it was a climate plan that was going to fix climate change, carbon tax 1 and carbon tax 2 would have actually done something. All of these things he talked about are still happening. Why? It is because it is a tax; it is not an environment plan. What this tax does …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) project: (a) what assessments has CBSA made in relation to delays and disruptions that may be caused while implementing CARM; (b) what specific measures, if any, is CBSA taking to ensure that the implementation of CARM does not cause any delays or disruptions; (c) has the government analyzed the impact…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Liberal inflation is crushing Canadians. One in five Canadians is skipping meals, and food bank usage is skyrocketing. What is the Liberal government's response? It is a massive $60-billion inflationary budget deficit and carbon tax 2. We all know the sequel is way worse than the original. Carbon tax 2 will add 61¢ a litre in tax to gas, making everything more expensive. Even Liberals…
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Madam Chair, does the finance minister know what the cost will be for an Ontario family as a result of carbon tax 2 in the fourth quintile?
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Madam Chair, what Canadians know is that they are going to food banks in record numbers. In my town of Orangeville, there has been a 65% increase in seniors accessing food banks since 2015. This is a result of the carbon tax increasing the cost of food and everything else. Will the finance minister finally admit that the carbon tax is costing Canadians and driving inflation?
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Madam Chair, how can Canadians take the finance minister seriously? She has been sitting here all night and has not had a number in response to a single financial question that is asked by Canadians. How can any Canadian have faith in what she does?
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Madam Chair, it is incredibly distressing that I have asked five questions today, but the finance minister cannot answer a single one. She is supposed to be responsible for the finances of this nation. Instead, we get bromides about how great things are. It will cost the average Canadian family $611 as a result of carbon tax 2. What is the cost the average Ontario family is going to pay as a resul…
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Madam Chair, does she know the thanks they got for taking their tractors to do that? They had to pay a carbon tax on the fuel to cut those fire lines. They would not have gotten a single penny back from the government. The answer to my first question is $8 billion. Small business in this country is going to pay $8 billion in carbon taxes in 2023. How much money are they going to get back? Zero. Is…
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