Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the eMental Health International Collaborative is bringing the world to Canada for the 10th Digital Mental Health Global Congress in Toronto. Under the leadership of Professor Anil Thapliyal, hundreds of experts from dozens of countries will gather to build the future of mental health care. Worldwide, the need for mental health supports outstrips our ability to provide help the tradit…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Prime Minister’s announcement that Mark Carney would chair the Prime Minister’s task force on economic growth, has the government: (a) received a list of who are the other members of the task force, and, if so, who are they; (b) been made aware of the dates the task force met, and, if so, on what dates; and (c) been provided with recommendations that the task force made related …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to contracts and agreements that the government has with Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions, or any subsidiary of Brookfield, since November 4, 2015, and broken down by department, agency, or Crown corporation: what are the details of all contracts or agreements, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) vendor, (iii) original amount of the contract, (iv)…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Elections Canada (EC) and Communications Security Establishment Canada's reports on "Cyber threats to Canada's democratic process - 2023 update" and "Cyber security guidance for elections authorities (ITSM.10.020)": (a) what measures has EC taken since the last general election to safeguard the integrity of elections, candidates and campaigns against cyber threats, including (i) dee…
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With regard to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), broken down by year since January 1, 2019: (a) how many cases of (i) gender discrimination, (ii) disability discrimination, were filed against the CPPIB; (b) of the cases in (a), how many were settled without formal litigation; (c) how many nondisclosure agreements were signed by former employees related to the cases in (a); (d) wha…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise with a heavy heart to announce the passing of a dear friend, Werner Schmidt. Werner was a distinguished educator, a former member of Parliament, an Alberta politician and, most importantly, a beloved man of faith and family. In his 92 years, Werner was a man with abiding values of integrity and honesty. He was committed to leading by example and inspired many of us around him. …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Department of Employment and Social Development (ESDC) access to information requests A‑2019‑01074 and A‑2020‑01070: (a) on what date did ESDC receive each request; (b) to what date did ESDC extend the deadline for responding to each request; (c) on what date did ESDC receive the Information Commissioner's orders to respond to each request; (d) on what date was ESDC required, by the…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to government-owned land or buildings being considered for sale for the purpose of housing: what are the details of each building or piece of land, including the (i) address and location, (ii) size of the land, (iii) square footage, (iv) current state of the building or land, including the type of current occupants, if applicable, (v) current state of sale or disposal, (vi) expected da…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister found over $60 million for his arrive scam app, but he continues to want to increase the carbon tax by 23% on April 1. Now, we have heard the far left NDP Alberta leadership candidate weigh in: “Nobody is on board with what [the Prime Minister] did with the federal carbon tax. He absolutely broke trust and broke confidence”. After eight years of failure, how can he …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I have more. An Alberta leadership candidate said, “There's no way people can be on board with the federal plan when even the prime minister isn’t on board, when he’s playing games with it” and that the federal carbon levy is “dead”. Another candidate said we must move away from a consumer carbon tax. When he loses the support of the far left Alberta NDP, the minister must know he has…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Health Canada's (HC) July 18, 2023, approval of Zonnic flavoured nicotine pouches: (a) did the Minister of Health or anyone in the minister's office sign-off on the product's approval, and, if not, what was the highest level official at HC who signed-off on the product's approval; (b) what are the details of all memorandums or briefing notes sent or received since January 1, 2023, w…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Alberta and Canada lost a giant recently, a man who was known around these halls, during his time as a member of Parliament for 12 years, and certainly around the Alberta legislature, as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1986 to 1993 and then chief of staff to former premier Ralph Klein. Although Peter Elzinga has left us in person, many of us are certainly better off for havi…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, after eight years, everything just keeps getting more expensive. Take the average rent in this country. Just one year ago, the average rent eclipsed the $2,000 mark, but now, a year later, the average rent in Canada is $2,149 a month. That is an 11% increase and the highest that rent has ever been in this country. Toronto and Vancouver still have the highest average rent, but other ci…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today in the House of Commons to recognize a tremendous accomplishment by an organization that is dear to my heart. Alberta-based APPLE Schools has once again been recognized as one of the top 100 global education innovations by HundrED, a Helsinki-based organization dedicated to identifying transformative and scalable education innovations worldwide. APPLE Sch…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to once again rise in this place to speak to the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement. When we talk about the importance of the Canada-Ukraine relationship, we have to talk about the 1.3 million Canadians of Ukrainian origin who live here in Canada. Many of them were integral to the development of western Canada. They are an incredible and important part of the socia…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni could not have brought up an issue closer to my heart as the unfortunate issue facing British pensioners. As the UK-Canada free trade agreement goes forward further, it is certainly something that we have been pushing for to make sure that the U.K. government understands the severe impact it is having on U.K. pensioners living right here in Cana…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my good friend from the Bloc Québécois highlighted a really important point about what we are going through right now. Again, the bill is 700 pages, in addition to what happened in 2017 when the initial agreement was signed. Depending on what happens here in the House, this will hopefully come before the international trade committee, which I sit on. I am looking forward to going th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the trade agreement that he speaks of is 700 pages long. It likely will come before the international trade committee soon. I look forward to going through it line by line. If the member wants to talk about the future agenda of the House, he is in a position, as the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, to have those conversations. I encourage him to have those con…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if members know this, but monthly mortgage payments on a typical family home are now a crushing $3,500 per month. When the leader of the official opposition was the housing minister, homes were attainable and affordable. Now it takes 25 years to save up for a down payment in a city like Toronto. Some families have even had to stretch the terms of their mortgages to a sho…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, there was a lot of anticipation with the bill from a many stakeholders in the community. I agree with my colleague from the New Democratic Party that there was a missed opportunity on many fronts. The Chamber of Shipping said that this legislation missed out on addressing the root causes of supply chain congestion and that the additional powers only addressed symptoms of congestion …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to projects funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) in the Asia-Pacific region for human rights or humanitarian issues, since 2016: (a) what are the details of all such projects, including the (i) location, (ii) funding recipient, (iii) detailed project description, (iv) organization overseeing the project, (v) amount of funding provided by GAC, (vi) start date, (vii) end date?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Minister of Veterans Affairs: (a) when did the minister become aware of the government's plan to remove the images of the Vimy Ridge Memorial and Billy Bishop from the Canadian passport; and (b) did the minister do anything to stop the removal of these images, and, if so, what specific action did the minister take?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, it is an exciting time in oil country, as our hometown Oilers are second round bound. Round two starts tonight in Las Vegas, but I know that ICE District Plaza and Joey Moss pit will be packed with fans in Edmonton. This is a big deal. The Oilers, rather fittingly, during the week of His Majesty's coronation, have first knocked off the Kings and now are going after all his Knights. We…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I listened intently to the speech by the member for Kings—Hants and he talked a lot about cake. He talked a lot about how he would reference cake—
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, Edmonton's violent crime rate has increased 16.5% in just 12 months. 2022 represented the highest number of violent criminal incidents ever reported in a single year. The even scarier part is that this trend has carried into 2023, with violent criminal occurrences increasing by 6% in the first quarter of this year. In fact, we are seeing that 68% of violent offenders who are arrested …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am presenting one petition today from 136 esteemed Canadians who have recognized there are a number of issues when Ukrainians come to Canada. They are calling on the federal government to do the four following things: develop a federal program to bring Ukrainian children to Canada for temporary shelter; ensure they have access to the necessary medical services via provincial insuran…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the pensions of approximately 125,000 U.K. expats currently living in Canada are still frozen. These pensions are frozen because the U.K. government and Canada do not have a reciprocal social security agreement. As a result, British pensioners living in Canada are being punished, such as 83-year-old Peter Sanguinetti, who served in the Dorset Regiment and was stationed in the West Ind…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, even future Liberal leader Mark Carney has confirmed that inflation is homegrown. Why will the minister not? Inflation has reached the highest rate in four decades, and now Bank of Canada governor, Tiff Macklem, has stated that increasingly the inflation we are seeing in Canada reflects what is going on in Canada. Canadians cannot continue to afford this NDP and Liberal coalition. Wil…
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Mr. Speaker, grocery prices continue to soar, and gas prices are hitting a record high. That means parents cannot afford to pay their bills and feed their kids, and they are terrified where the next paycheque will come from. The Liberals' answer to this is “Just cancel your $13-a-month Disney+ subscription.” That is how out of touch the Prime Minister truly is. Will the Prime Minister stop his inf…
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Mr. Speaker, I cannot repeat in the House what my constituents have said about that guy. These families are in their darkest hour, and now even future Liberal leader Mark Carney has stated, “[I]t's not all imported inflation. In fact, most of it is now domestically generated inflation.” That is how out of touch the Prime Minister is. Therefore, will he stop his inflationary spending and stop raisi…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a new poll is out that suggests one in five Canadians are out of money, due to inflation. This means parents cannot afford to feed their kids and pay their bills, and they are terrified about where their next paycheque will come from. The Prime Minister just keeps making it worse. Canadians cannot afford this costly coalition. Will the Prime Minister stop his inflationary spending and…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the winter months are coming across the country and Canadians are hesitating to turn on the heat. Why? Because they are already paying more for gas. They are already paying more for groceries, Now, thanks to the Prime Minister, they are paying more for home heating, in fact, in some cases, 300% more. Will the Prime Minister cancel his plans to triple the taxes on gas, groceries and ho…
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Mr. Speaker, under the Prime Minister, people cannot afford to heat, eat and live. Does he not realize almost half of Canadians are $200 away from insolvency? A recent report now indicates that families spend more on income taxes, at 43%, than they do on basic commodities, at 35.7%. That means that the young couple that emailed me from my riding, James and Debbie, cannot afford to put their little…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the price of everything has gone up, and now almost half of Canadians are $200 away from insolvency. Jennifer and Kristen are two moms in my riding who recently reached out to me to stress that they cannot afford to pay one dollar more. Will the Prime Minister cancel his plans to triple the taxes on gas, groceries and home heating?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, what Canadians want is more money in their pockets. Canadians are actually choosing between affording housing and food. They are people like Michelle and Steven in my riding, who are struggling to put food on the table for their three kids. They do not want more government hand outs. They simply want to be able to afford to pay their bills and buy their groceries. In fact, one in five…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the price of food, gas and housing continues to go up, yet the government wants to brag about a one-time $500 rent cheque, which will almost certainly be vaporized by inflation, and we now know that on January 1 next year, the Liberals will increase paycheque taxes on anyone making $60,000 by over $1,000. Will the government cancel its planned paycheque tax increases?
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, in just a few days, we are going to gather here on Parliament Hill in person for our fifth annual Father’s Day on Parliament Hill event. Our event has raised awareness and helps stimulate a conversation with some of the most important men in our lives ahead of this Sunday’s Father’s Day. It also presents an opportunity to discuss a topic that often gets ignored: men’s mental health. M…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to fraud or attempted fraud being committed against the government by individuals or entities that are employed by or provide goods or services to the government, since 2017, broken down by year and department or agency, and excluding tax fraud: (a) how many instances of fraud or attempted fraud occurred; (b) what is the total financial value of the fraud; (c) what is the breakdown of …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, my office has been inundated with emails from constituents feeling frustrated by passport delays. Now we are hearing countless stories about missed trips, extra costs and hour-long wait times. Passport Canada’s website still says that it only takes two weeks to process an application, but we know countless numbers of people who applied back in March who are still being told not to boo…
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Mr. Speaker, two years ago, Iran show down flight PS752. Many Iranian Canadians in my community continue to grieve. In the midst of their grief, the Iranian football federation has been invited to a friendly match in Vancouver. It is no secret the Iranian football federation has heavy political connections to the Iranian revolutionary guard. They are the same people who shot down this plane and ki…
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Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago, if people worked hard and saved some money, they would probably be able to afford a single-family home, but today so many young Canadians are being squeezed out of the housing market, barely able to afford rent, let alone a down payment. Not everyone has access to the bank of mom and dad. The Minister of Housing is failing young Canadians. Should they just simply give up…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have had six years to fix the housing market. Instead, under their policies, house prices have doubled under their watch. Let us go back and take a look at some of their programs. The first-time homebuyers program failed; the shared equity mortgage program failed; the housing co-investment fund failed. With new programs announced in the budget, Canadians are asking how th…
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Mr. Speaker, “crushing”, “stunning” and “frenzy” are words the Royal Bank is using to describe the housing crisis in Canada. The Bank of Montreal is calling it a full-scale attack. Housing experts are calling the minister's programs absolute failures. When will the minister listen to the experts and stop blaming others for his failures?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this minister continues to be obsessed by speeches given by my colleagues on this side of the House, so let me offer him another quote. Last week, Mortgage Professionals Canada said, “The government's well-intended...First-Time Home Buyers...program...is simply failing”. It does not get clearer than that. Canadians do not want to co-own their home with the government, so when will the…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Bank of Montreal is now saying there is a full-scale attack on Canadian home prices. Banks are raising interest rates and housing inventory is at an all-time low. The budget is next week and the average Canadian home price is a staggering $868,000. To the minister, how much of this budget will Canadians actually be able to afford?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have started a housing task force. Does anyone want to know why? It is because the government continues to fail Canadians when it comes to the price of homes. Here is one example. When it comes to the first-time homebuyer program, the Liberals have changed the criteria three times in the last two years. Does anyone want another example? On the shared equity mortgage prog…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the environment minister released a new greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan, which is being called “insane” by some in Alberta. This new plan is a direct attack on the energy sector, on Alberta and on Canada. Even the far left-leaning opposition party from Alberta has called the Liberal-NDP government's emissions goals a fantasy. The energy policies introduced by the gov…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, all the programs the minister just spoke of fall under the CMHC. The CMHC is a government agency that, according to its website, is driven by one goal, housing affordability for all, yet newly revealed documents show that CMHC employees received $48 million in bonuses in the last year. The average home price went up 21% in the last year. How can the minister award the CMHC bonuses, wh…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a few weeks back I alerted the House that the average home price in Canada had hit $720,000. Do members know what it is today? It is $868,000. I want to remind members what a house's price was when the Prime Minister came into office: $434,000. The Liberals officially did it. It took them six years, but they have doubled the average home price here in Canada. How can the minister cont…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I will not be ceding any time back to that member. It is an honour to stand in this place. I do not believe I have to split my time, but perhaps somebody could confirm that. I will continue on. It is an honour to speak to the Speech from the Throne and to also spend some time sharing the election, sharing the number of volunteer hours and taking that opportunity to thank so many. I …
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