Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the government defending its use of something that Liberals previously said was an absolute affront to democracy: time allocation. It is incumbent upon us to talk about the fact that the bill has been debated for three hours and 20-odd minutes. This is not a bill that has been “filibustered”; this is a bill that has barely received scrutiny. There are valid questions th…
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Madam Speaker, I would request a recorded division.
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Madam Speaker, it is awfully condescending of the member opposite. Despite the fact that there are many members in this chamber on his side, he constantly asks questions. He monopolizes the floor in here on so many occasions. For whatever reason, there are a number of members in here who are not allowed to speak. They are not allowed to ask questions, and so here we are. We are debating. We are tr…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I think that 142 amendments were proposed for this bill. There may have been even more than that. I do not remember the details of every single amendment, but I think it would have been worthwhile to debate them. However, we were simply told which amendment number would be voted on, starting at 9 p.m. That was not okay. That is not how things s…
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Madam Speaker, yes, there are many stakeholders who are in favour of seeing this bill pass, but there are at least as many, if not more, who are very concerned about the speed at which this piece of legislation is going through, the secrecy and the lack of accountability. Honestly, we were debating amendments with no content until after midnight. Not even a phrase could be said about why we were v…
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Perth—Wellington. As members have heard through our debates over the last few weeks, Bill C-11 will set the stage for the federal government to have unfettered control in regulating what Canadians see on the Internet. This expansion of the regulatory authority of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, better k…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are being told to go in person to a passport office if they have to travel within 45 days. Tia took time off work and made a five-hour drive to get to Service Canada’s passport office in Edmonton. She lined up at 4:30 in the morning with proof of imminent travel, but was triaged out of the line because she was not deemed urgent enough. In total, after 10 hours of driving, a …
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Madam Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of the chamber the lack of quorum in this place. I understand a motion was passed on this, but it is really sad that we are discussing such an important piece of legislation and there is no quorum.
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Madam Speaker, I would like you to check online again, as I believe we continue to have an issue when it comes to quorum, and also confirm whether someone having their camera on but not being visible in the shot actually constitutes quorum. I believe that has already been ruled on.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his speech despite my point of order. It had nothing to do with the content of his speech. It was more about the process in the chamber. My question is specifically around how the bill was sped through committee with the amendments. I sat late into the night last week as we were voting on amendment after amendment with no discussion and not even…
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With regard to Service Canada Centres: (a) what is the current processing time for each service provided to Canadians (Social Insurance Number, Employment Insurance, Apprenticeship Completion Grant applications, etc.); (b) for each service in (a), what was the processing time as of January 1, 2020; (c) how many Service Canada employees are currently (i) on leave in relation to the vaccine attestat…
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Mr. Speaker, after more than two years, the pandemic is no longer an acceptable excuse for poor service. Canadians are being forced to line up for hours outside Service Canada centres in order to simply get a passport on time. Meanwhile, it has been reported that 70% of Service Canada employees are working from home. When will the minister show leadership and bring these employees back to work?
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There is clearly an issue with quorum.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River recently said, “I would suggest that the vaccine requirements for being on planes and at workplaces at the moment, I don’t think the benefits of that mandate warrant the cost.” He is also a medical doctor and a member of our health committee. In fact, it has been reported that a “massive majority” of the Liberal caucus wants to see an end…
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Mr. Speaker, the Cold Lake Air Show is a not-to-be-missed event of the summer. It brings together the best of civilian aviation, a spectacular show of the Royal Canadian Air Force and of course our warm northeastern Alberta hospitality. Over the weekend, people will have the chance to watch the Canadian Forces Snowbirds dance across the sky and the Canadian Armed Forces SkyHawks parachute team per…
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Mr. Speaker, what Canadians just witnessed was spin-doctoring and political science, not medical science. It has been reported that a massive majority of the Liberal caucus want to see an end to these mandates. This week the member for Milton asked my colleague, a medical doctor who ran a COVID‑19 ward in Nova Scotia, to stop asking and talking about mandates. On this side of the House, the Conser…
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Mr. Speaker, Passport Canada's website was recently updated, doubling the normal processing times for passports to over two months, plus time for mail. My question for the minister is very simple: Is nine weeks-plus an acceptable timeline for this most basic of government services?
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, Canadians need answers, not talking points. People in my riding and in northern and rural communities all across Canada have to drive just about everywhere. Fuel prices are at record highs, which is making life harder for all Canadians. When will the government drop the talking points, do the right thing, drop the GST on fuel and make life more affordable for Canadians?
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Mr. Speaker, military personnel sacrifice to serve our country. They knew they would be moved, but they did not expect that they would not be able to afford to live because the government would let them down. There should be some expectation of a similar cost of living when military personnel are posted from base to base. However, that is not the case with the rates of military housing varying wid…
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Madam Speaker, my question is quite simple. Does the member believe that the most qualified people should be the ones receiving grants, or does he believe that positive discrimination is the best way forward?
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With regard to Service Canada centres located in flood plains or flood zones: (a) how many Service Canada centres are located in a flood plain or flood zone; (b) what is the location of all such centres, including the street address; (c) for each location in (b), is there a contingency plan to be used during a flood, and, if so, what is the plan; and (d) for each location in (b), has an alternate …
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With regard to the Royal Canadian Air Force's CF-188 Hornet or CF-18 aircraft: (a) what have been the total costs related to aircraft maintenance on the CF-18 since 2016, broken down by (i) year, (ii) type of expense; (b) what are the projected costs to maintain the CF-18 aircraft, broken down by fiscal year from present until 2032-33; (c) how much has been spent on improvements, either directly f…
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Mr. Speaker, Fort City Church is working to bring a family of Ukrainians to Fort McMurray. There is good news: The parents and grandma have now received their travel documents from immigration, but the family still cannot come to Canada because six-month-old Joseph's paperwork is still being processed. My question is simple. What is it about a six-month-old baby that scares the minister?
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Mr. Speaker, we have all heard the Liberal talking points about hiring additional employees, but clearly, this has not come anywhere close to resolving the never-ending wait times at Service Canada. Time is ticking and Canadians' stress and frustration continues to grow. This is a process that the government is fully responsible for and a problem only a minister can fix. The process is clearly bro…
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Mr. Speaker, Jonathan applied for his daughter Victoria's passport at the Service Canada centre in Fort McMurray in March. The passport still has not been processed, and he does not have the luxury to drive five hours each way to the passport office in Edmonton and camp out overnight to hopefully get a walk-in appointment. They want to travel to see Victoria's dying great-grandmother. This is hurt…
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Mr. Speaker, most parents want to leave a legacy for their children. I know so many parents who save and go without luxuries so they can pass something on to their kids. However, under the current government runaway inflation is making saving nearly impossible, and out-of-control spending is saddling our children, like my seven-month-old son Eoghan, with debt they will never be able to pay off. Wi…
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Mr. Speaker, the fact is, we have francophones outside Quebec who have been francophones for centuries. The first European language spoken in Alberta was French. It is not only people like me who choose to speak French; our francophone heritage is very strong. My colleague emphasized that education and immersion schools are important. That being the case, why does Bill C‑13 not include support for…
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Mr. Speaker, to continue the tradition, it is with great pleasure that I address the House in French today to speak to Bill C-13, which seeks to modernize the Official Languages Act. I think it is important to explain how an anglophone like me is now able to deliver her speech in French in the House of Commons. I was really lucky. When I was young, my parents, who do not speak a word of French, de…
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Madam Speaker, I did not really hear a question, so I will take this opportunity to share some facts about Alberta's francophonie. Alberta has over 268,000 French-speaking Albertans. Since 1996, enrolment in French schools has risen by more than 270%. That is a significant increase and significant growth. We need a modernized act that will support francophones in minority settings, but this bill d…
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Madam Speaker, frankly, without bilingualism, I would not be here addressing the House in French. I believe that it is truly an asset for Alberta's francophonie to have francophones who are bilingual. It is an asset to have people like me who are anglophones who learned French at school. I believe that the Official Languages Act needs to recognize the fact that people who chose to learn French, do…
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Madam Speaker, I mentioned in my speech how Alberta attracts immigrants. I believe it is very important that we do more to encourage francophone immigration. It could be a solution to the French teacher shortage in our country. I do not believe that the federal government is doing enough to support francophone immigration and to encourage francophone immigrants to move to Canada.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising that issue. She highlights the fact that a huge disparity exists between rural and urban Canada, in this and so many other ways. One of the things we have not seen from the Liberal government to date is that recognition and understanding that rural Canadians have a host of different challenges. Rural Canadians need to be supported because rural Canad…
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Madam Speaker, it is an absolutely wonderful opportunity to be able to rise today and deliver some remarks on Bill C-8, the economic and fiscal update implementation act, 2021. It is kind of ironic, as I was reflecting on this over the weekend, that I am delivering remarks on the fall economic statement in the spring, but calendars are clearly difficult, and perhaps calendars are hard for the gove…
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Madam Speaker, I believe my colleague pointed out one of the problems that we have here in Canada, specifically the fact that we do not have enough affordable housing. However, we cannot build more affordable housing when it is more expensive to build. Inflation is having a real impact on people who are already struggling to make ends meet. We need to work together and really figure out what is im…
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Madam Speaker, effectively, on this side of the House, we believe that Canadians need to be able to afford to make ends meet. Right now, with inflation at a generational high, families are having a hard time making ends meet. We have asked, time and again, for simple solutions to help families make ends meet, whether reducing the GST on gasoline, removing the carbon tax increase or doing other sim…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague pointed out that this bill really needs to be scrutinized from top to bottom in order to ensure that it promotes the French language. There are francophones outside Quebec, living in every part of Canada, including my riding of Fort McMurray—Cold Lake. Could my colleague give examples of improvements to the bill that would help promote French outside Quebec?
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With regard to the federal government’s actions to increase hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) capacity across Canada since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic or March 2020: (a) what is the total amount of all federal government funding provided to provinces or territories meant to increase the permanent hospital and ICU capacity; (b) broken down by province or territory and by month, how …
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With regard to the mandate letter of the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the commitment in the letter to create 3,300 new child care spaces for Indigenous children: (a) how many new child care spaces have been created for Indigenous children since the letter was received by the minister on December 16, 2021, broken down by province or territory; and (b) how many new space…
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Mr. Speaker, Khrystyna was nine months pregnant when this war broke out and she had her baby in an underground bomb shelter. She now needs to make her way through a war zone to get biometrics in Poland, with a brand new baby and a toddler in tow. Liberal red tape is delaying people fleeing war. Liberal red tape is keeping people in conflict zones. When will the government show compassion and allow…
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Mr. Speaker, the last thing Canadians can afford right now is anything that will make life less affordable, yet the Liberal government wants to raise the carbon tax by $10 a tonne on April 1. Not only will this cost Canadians an extra 11¢ a litre at the pumps, but it will also have an inflationary impact on the cost of living by raising the prices of groceries, energy bills and everything else. Ho…
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Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of representing the fine women and men of 4 Wing stationed in Cold Lake. The Prime Minister has delayed selecting future fighter jets for over six years, and Conservatives have been pushing to select the F-35s to replace the old F-18s. In fact, we need to increase our defence spending to 2% of the GDP to meet our NATO commitments and support our armed forces. We h…
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Mr. Speaker, on Monday in the health committee, the Minister of Health said, “We want to apply the least disruptive measures in order to protect the health and safety of Canadians, and the conversation will evolve as the situation evolves.” The situation has evolved. We are asking the federal government to follow the science and remove federal mandates, as has been done throughout Canada in our pr…
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately that was a complete non-answer. The risks have changed as this pandemic has evolved. Canada has the most restrictive domestic travel mandates in the world. This is having a very real impact on families. I have been contacted by families in my riding who want to visit relatives who are in palliative care and who want to attend funerals. Vaccine mandates on travel have lim…
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Madam Speaker, I just want to start by letting you know that I will be sharing my time with the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent. Vaccine mandates have had a very real impact on the lives of Canadians. As the situation has evolved, governments have had to change. We have seen that as the case for governments across Canada, as well as governments all across the world. Sadly, what we have seen from th…
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Madam Speaker, I think my colleague raised some important points. We do not know everything about the pandemic and do not know what will happen tomorrow. That is true of life in general. I do not think that there is any real justification for federal restrictions and mandates right now. These mandates should be lifted today.
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Madam Speaker, I am not a scientist. I am not a doctor, but I do follow the advice of doctors and I think that the countries around the world that have been dropping their mandates and restrictions when it comes to travel cannot all be wrong. I asked the Minister of Health today if he thought that all the chief medical officers of health across the country were wrong, as they have been ending mand…
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Madam Speaker, one of the things we saw early in this pandemic was that rather than having domestic production of vaccines, the Liberal-NDP coalition decided to raid the COVAX group and take away from countries that desperately needed it. What I would like to see, and what members on this side of the House would like to see, is an improvement in being able to produce more vaccines domestically so …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I think she highlighted some important points since she and I both represent large, rural ridings. I believe it is very important to do what we can to ensure that we are working with all the provinces to get help and reduce the cost of gas across Canada.
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Madam Speaker, on this side of the House, we understand that budgets simply do not balance themselves. It does not matter whether it is a government budget or a household budget, it is worth mentioning that we understand that budgets do not balance themselves. It takes work and effort. Right now Canadian families and individuals across this country are having a hard time making ends meet. I have h…
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