Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today is World AIDS Day, a day to remember the 42 million people who have died: our neighbours, friends and relatives. AIDS is an ongoing pandemic. It used to be a death sentence, but the discovery of antiretrovirals has really changed everything, turning AIDS, when treated, into a chronic disease. Making these drugs affordable to millions of people worldwide has been one of the great…
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Mr. Speaker, many years of underinvestment in affordable housing for indigenous people and northerners has resulted in a serious gap in affordable housing for both of these groups. Can the Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs tell the House how the new government is working with indigenous leadership to close the infrastructure gap, and how Build Canada Homes is turning that partnership into ne…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition on behalf of the organization We the Nuclear Free North with 817 signatures. The signatories express their serious and heartfelt concerns regarding the safety of the transportation and storage of nuclear materials through and in their communities in northern Ontario. Although the decision has already been made, the signatories asked me to present thi…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, yesterday was World AIDS Day, a day to remember the 42 million people who have died from AIDS, to remember our relatives and our friends. I remember in 1982 as a medical student seeing a poster about a mysterious outbreak of a deadly pneumonia in the gay community of San Francisco. Four years later, we were seeing a lot of cases of AIDS in Toronto. In the late 1980s, when I was workin…
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Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise today to recognize and honour the life of a good Canadian, Michael Robert Ellchook, who everybody knew simply as “Hoss”. Like the Bonanza character, Hoss was a gentle giant of a man. A good Ukrainian boy, he grew up on a farm in Murillo. Hoss loved cooking. He worked as a chef in Europe and various places in Canada before returning home to open up his own restaura…
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Mr. Speaker, last Saturday night, Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk defeated much bigger fighter Tyson Fury to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the first in 24 years. Ironically, Fury himself first became a champion in beating another Ukrainian fighter, Wladimir Klitschko, the brother of the current mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine. As Ukraine continues to defend itself against a much l…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have been truly blessed in life to have been able to have six children. They are absolutely one of the best parts of my life, but unfortunately not all Canadians have the same good fortune. In fact, one in six Canadians, at some point in their lives, has some sort of fertility problem. I would like to present a petition on behalf of Fertility Matters Canada, with 5,300 signatures. T…
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Madam Speaker, every three minutes in Canada, someone is diagnosed with cancer, a diagnosis that will change their life and the lives of all their family members forever because, if one is diagnosed with cancer, pretty well everything else in life, including much of what we do here, seems pretty insignificant in comparison. The COVID pandemic showed us what the global scientific community can do w…
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Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with the Minister of International Trade. I think it is really unfortunate that I am here yet again to talk about Ukraine and the war and using those two words in the same sentence. I wish, when I thought about Ukraine, my thoughts would be limited to growing up with my baba in Fort William. We would sit on the front steps of her corner store. She would bribe…
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Madam Chair, to tell the truth, I went through the whole agreement, but I did not see anything on medical assistance. However, that is exceedingly important. In fact, I know that Canadian surgeons, as part of teams with American surgeons specializing in plastic surgery, orthopaedic surgery and neurosurgery, have gone to Ukraine to assist people who have been injured in the war. They try, as much a…
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for his compassion for the Ukrainian people. As to what Canada has to do at the moment, certainly, it has to hope for a good result in the upcoming election in the U.S. We certainly fear what is going to happen should Trump be re-elected. What the member said earlier about the effects on children was very apropos for me, because the harm caused by this…
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Mr. Speaker, I can understand the argument that the carbon tax would be inflationary. The problem is that the experts do not seem to think that. For example, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, in September, said that the carbon tax only contributed about 0.15 percentage points to inflation. A Policy Options review in 2023 estimated that carbon taxes increased consumer prices between 2018 to 2023 …
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Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the experts seem to think the carbon tax only minimally contributes to inflation. Let me quote a few of those experts. The Governor of the Bank of Canada in September came to the conclusion that the carbon tax only contributes 0.15% to the inflation rate. In a recent review in Policy Options, a couple of Alberta economists calculated that the carbon tax increased cons…
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Mr. Speaker, I can certainly comprehend this argument that the cost of the carbon tax is going to be passed on to consumers and this is inflationary. It is a good story that the opposition is trying to sell. The problem is that it does not seem to be true or, at least, a lot of experts seem to think that the carbon tax—
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Mr. Speaker, I would approve of that. However, as a medical practitioner, I would not volunteer to become a MAID practitioner. If this position is going to be created, the only people who are going to take on the job are people who believe in MAID, believe that it is all about personal autonomy and believe that it is not for others to question a person's suffering. Whatever they are going to be ta…
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Mr. Speaker, let me start by apologizing to the four or five people who might have listened to my last speech and who are here listening again today, because this is going to sound a little repetitive. I certainly support the legislation, and I know there are a lot of people out there who are really worried about allowing MAID for mental illness. There are people who are worried about their friend…
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Mr. Speaker, I absolutely support that. What a humane society does when someone who is suffering comes before it is that it tries to help them. Maybe that means better psychiatric care, but maybe it means addressing their socio-economic problems. Certainly I do not think that a humane society's first response to that person ought to be to offer them death. That is an absolute failure and a solutio…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not against MAID for physical illnesses. That is a totally different situation. The problem with MAID for mental illness is the inability to determine who is not going to get better. The unfortunate reality is that there are a lot of doctors who have a very cavalier attitude toward taking someone's life, and that there are people who could or would get better with a little time a…
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Madam Speaker, the member mentioned people in the disabilities community. I too have heard from the disabilities community about its opposition to MAID within that community. I wonder whether she could comment on what she has heard from people with disabilities regarding MAID and whether she thinks perhaps we need to have more safeguards for MAID for people with other forms of physical disabilitie…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his excellent speech and hard work on the MAID committee. He talked about the problem of irremediability. I think it would be an absolute tragedy if legislation we pass led to a situation where a MAID practitioner took the life of someone who would have actually gotten better had we given them some more time. How are we going to know? The person …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Ukraine is running out of ammunition. President Zelenskyy was in the United States this past week, pleading for more military assistance. However, he was blocked by politicians on the American far right. It is important to realize that Russia did not just attack another country; it launched a full-scale assault on the international legal order. That is because the heart of that order …
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Madam Speaker, the member spoke of the principled approach of the Conservative Party to the agreement, so let us talk about principles. This is not about the carbon tax, but today the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition. Today, President Zelenskyy is in Washington, D.C., desperate to get military support from the United States that is being blocked by the American far right. Today, more than …
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Madam Speaker, we all remember, in the spring, when the smoke was so thick in Ottawa that we could not see more than a couple of blocks away. In other areas, flooding is a problem. Flooding has been a problem in B.C. West of my riding, we had record flooding at the Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake areas last year. The list goes on. The polar ice caps are melting. Permafrost is melting. Island stat…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for pointing out the very disturbing fact that so many people in society seem to be willing to question the scientific empirical method that basically has led, in many ways, to the advancement of society. I am not going to point the finger at anyone here, but the fact that so many people are willing to subscribe to conspiracy theories rather than follow science,…
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Madam Speaker, I am assuming that he is asking me to interpret the motivation of the Conservative Party in bringing forward this motion. I cannot really comment on their motivation. As to removing the carbon tax on the GST, I do not really have much comment on that. As for who is going to benefit from this, and why we removed the carbon tax on oil, we clearly did it because the people who pay the …
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Madam Speaker, I agree with my friend in the opposition on a lot of things, but I do disagree on this point. In terms of talking points, I refuse to use the party's talking points. I write all my speeches myself. I do believe in the carbon tax. I believe that by not continuing this carbon tax, which has been shown to be one of the most effective ways of dealing with climate change, the Canadian pe…
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Mr. Speaker, I was interested to hear the member say that heat pumps do not work when it is -25°C. I just came back from the western part of my riding, including Emo, which is in northwestern Ontario, where it quite commonly gets much below -25°C, and half the town uses heat pumps. The member is from Peterborough. Even in Peterborough, it gets below -25°C. Does nobody north of Peterborough use hea…
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Madam Speaker, I am from a different part of Ontario, northern Ontario, where I think the carbon tax is very different. Can the member tell us what the carbon tax exemptions coming out of the Atlantic mean to people in Toronto, and how they see this?
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Madam Speaker, the CPC motion is to drop the carbon tax not only on oil temporarily but also on all heating fuels temporarily. Believe it or not, I actually have friends in the Conservative Party, who I think like me through my sometimes philandering political ways. My friends in the Conservative Party may be surprised to hear I actually approve of the carbon tax, and I am in favour of the announc…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, I am sad to be standing and acknowledging the passing of my friend Stan “Staush” Dromisky. He grew up in the east end of what was then Fort William. He first became an elementary school teacher and then went back and got his Ph.D. and ended up teaching at Lakehead University in education. In 1992, he was elected to Parliament, where he served until 2004. He loved this place. He was …
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Madam Speaker, the previous speaker mentioned that no other parliament in the world continued to allow a hybrid parliament, and the member himself mentioned that no other government in Canada was doing it. However, and perhaps I am wrong in this, my understanding is that the Scottish Parliament has decided to continue to allow a hybrid parliament, as has the Welsh Parliament. In addition, the Esto…
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the member. Ultimately, we are all accountable to our electorate. I think those of us who decide not to come to Ottawa or are seen always up in their bedroom on a Zoom call, participating virtually in Parliament, perhaps will suffer as a result at the ballot box. There is a certain element of accountability there that will keep us honest and keep us from abusing that—
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Madam Speaker, I want to speak to this issue for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons I am here, the reason we are all here, is to represent our constituents, and I really think the measure of a hybrid Parliament does further the interests of our constituents. I also think it furthers the interests of democracy as a whole. The other reason I wanted to talk about this is that it is a measure tha…
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the member opposite, and I wrestle with this every week when it is a choice of whether I should stay at home with my family and my kids and participate virtually or come to Ottawa. I decide to come to Ottawa because I think I can do a better job here. On the other hand, we have to balance that desirability of having close proximity to and being able to talk to people wi…
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Madam Speaker, as much as it is desirable to have unanimity, the democratic process does not generally require unanimity, because it is that difficult. Maybe this is wrong, but I understand that in Poland there was an absolute democracy that required unanimity in every decision, but that is practically impossible. Therefore, I would suggest that in an example like this, where we are trying to prot…
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Madam Speaker, I am glad to hear that the member and I share an interest in early childhood learning, but I have a question for her. Together we visited a number of remote communities in Nunavut, places with only a few hundred people. How do we make early childhood learning work in those kinds of small communities, which abound all across this country?
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Madam Speaker, the member says, “scrap the carbon tax”, but she also talked about the importance of the free market. It seems to me there are numerous groups that believe in the free market and support the carbon tax and carbon pricing. For example, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Mining Association of Canada, the Business Council of Canada and the Fraser Institute, which is hardly a Liberal…
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Mr. Speaker, guns and gangs are a real problem in Thunder Bay. The other day, there was a shootout in a housing complex. People are genuinely worried about the problem in Thunder Bay. Could the minister please talk about his announcement this morning about giving more money to police forces to deal with guns and gangs, and how this may help us in Thunder Bay to deal with this problem of guns?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, indigenous people in Canada often face challenges in accessing health care, particularly finding a doctor or finding nurses in rural and remote areas. In addition, first nations, Inuit and Métis should, like all Canadians, be able to receive health care without encountering prejudice or racism. Can the Minister of Indigenous Services update the House on what our government is doing …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is coming up to one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Tens of thousands of soldiers have died and Ukrainian civilians have been targeted, left in the cold, tortured and murdered. The big question is, “Why?” Russian leaders like Putin and Lavrov, standing on marble floors, wearing their ties and their shiny shoes, spout endless lies in an attempt to legi…
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Madam Speaker, I have not in fact read the report. At the moment, the problem is that we have 10 provinces and three territories that are all expected to come up with the appropriate safeguards, and I do not think any of them have actually publicly come forward with those safeguards. I would further suggest that it ought not be the colleges of physicians and surgeons that are put in the position t…
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Madam Speaker, I have read the recommendations of the committee of the Quebec National Assembly. I am interested in this, as the member is a Quebecker who seems to be opposed to it. The perception of a lot of us outside of Quebec is that the greatest support for more liberal approaches to medical assistance in dying is from Quebec. Is this not the case? Would she like to comment on that?
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Madam Speaker, the question before us now is really the coming date for implementation, which is mid-March. The intention of the legislation right now is to give us more time, and that is entirely appropriate. We pride ourselves on making our decisions based on evidence. If we are going to make decisions based on evidence, then this certainly has to be given more time, which means that there has t…
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Madam Speaker, my guess is that if this were to go to the Supreme Court, it might well say that this kind of difficult decision, which involves balancing competing ethical values, is best left to the elected representatives, who are accountable to the people. We are the elected representatives, not the Senate. I have a lot of sympathy with what my colleague has to say.
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Madam Speaker, I support this legislation putting a one-year hold on allowing MAID for mental illness. We need to hold off on this until we have a broader consensus as to if and how we are going to do this. We need more safeguards in place. If we are going to do this, we need to make sure that we do it right. I do not think that we ought to have an automatic start date in one year as is planned. T…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, we here in Ontario had our municipal elections. I rise today in order to thank all of the outgoing but also the incoming municipal leaders. In my riding, I have 11 municipalities and 11 first nations, so I cannot name them all, but I would like to mention a few people who have decided not to run after years of service to their community, namely Dennis Brown, who serve…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I recently visited the area around Fort Frances, which is experiencing flooding. In fact, Rainy Lake water levels are currently half a metre higher than they were during the 2014 flood. There are many houses and cottages on Rainy Lake or adjacent waterways, like the Seine River. Many people have spent the last month either sandbagging or pumping in order to try to save their homes, bu…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am honoured to speak to Bill S-211 and be part of this in-person and virtual love-in, although I have to say that my good colleagues, and they are good colleagues, from the NDP and the Bloc have been a bit stingy with giving us their love. As some in the House will know, I forwarded a similar bill to this a few months ago. As luck would have it, this bill by Senator Julie Miville-…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
The grandfather. Madam Speaker, I thank the member for that comment. This bill is obviously about trying to ensure that companies’ supply chains are void of forced labour or child labour. I do not think it is at all surprising that we need such laws given the nature of capitalism, given the global nature of business and given the fact that the rule of law in many countries is rather weak. The natu…
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Mr. Speaker, we all agree that things are getting better with COVID, and everyone is justifiably relaxing the mandates, but the question is at what rate. Some provinces have been more cautious from the beginning; some have been less cautious. If we look at the numbers, we see that the provinces that have been more cautious have done better. Globally as well, if we compare countries, we see that so…
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