Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my learned colleague is a lawyer. He understands the balance. His whole work has been in the tension in this balance, and I respect very much what he has to say about it. It is a centuries-old problem, the tension between rights and security, and we have centuries-old solutions to the problem. We have solutions like warrants, judicial review, open trial, open evidence and the right to…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my learned friend from Haldimand—Norfolk's speech was terrific. She is a very tough act to follow. When I read the bill for the first time, my jaw hit the floor. As I have previously discussed in the House, my motivation for signing up to become a politician was the violation of basic charter rights that the Liberals perpetrated in the last Parliament. Even with that background in min…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I wish this were a conspiracy. I wish the Liberals had the shame to keep it secret. It is open and it is in the bill. Multiple civil society groups have written letters asking them to change this. They are sounding the alarm. The member said I think it is a conspiracy that the Liberals might freeze bank accounts. They already did that; the federal court said it was a violation of char…
Read full speech →Government Orders
I am serious. I do not know why you are laughing.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, first, as a preamble that really should go without saying, there is no disagreement in any corner of the House about the values that should underlie this legislation. We all value a safe Canada where every single human is free to live their lives as their fullest selves irrespective of their race, religion, ethnicity, language, physical or mental disability, etc. There is no member in…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member. I thank him for the point. Hate cannot be tolerated, no matter what justification is given by the former prime minister's former principal secretary. I hope that we all keep that in mind as we approach commentary around the present legislation. I myself was distressed when the Conservative justice shadow critic brought up this problem of church burnings and wa…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I fear it is not a simple question. It goes to the heart of what I was talking about in the John Stuart Mill quote and philosophical liberalism. What one person means when they say something from a different culture or a different religion can be taken differently. That is why we have to have a bias toward philosophical liberalism that I fear the government is abandoning with the pres…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, yes, that is exactly what I am driving at. We want concrete measures to enforce the laws that already exist. When I was listening to the member's question, I had to wonder if it is his belief that it is provincial attorneys general who are stopping violent criminals from going to jail right now. I do not think it is, and I do not think the member would dare mention a provincial attorn…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, let me congratulate and express deep gratitude to the hon. member for that excellent speech. I too am terribly concerned by the civil liberties restrictions that this bill would impose. I note that when this bill was in the last Parliament, several civil society organizations, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, pe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I note that in 2021, the Liberal Party said it was going to combat authoritarianism worldwide. I remark, with horror, I suppose, on the authoritarianism that I detect in this document that they are proposing to get through the House, after the strenuous objections of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Does the member have any reflections on either the authoritarianism in the …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to inform my colleague opposite that I was not in the last Parliament. I would have had a lot to say about the legislation if I had been. The members on the other side and the deputy government House leader say they want the bill to go to committee so it can be made better. The bill already went to committee. Multiple experts from the Canadian Civil Liberties Associatio…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I come to the House as a physician. In medicine, if we refuse to treat the underlying cause of a problem, I promise it will get worse. It sounds to me, in the House, that the Liberals want to forever invent new and more complicated programs to treat the symptoms of this problem. The cause of this problem is a matter of first-year economics. To quote a first-year economics textbook, “P…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals put $50 million away to support those who were legitimately injured by COVID vaccines. That money is all spent. The only problem is that 70% of it went to consultants rather than the people who were legitimately injured. What is worse, 1,700 people have not even had their claims processed and have not even heard back. Why is it that every time the Liberals say they are go…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that the member for London West gave a speech entirely focused on abstracts. On this side of the House, we are concerned with concrete occurrences. My wife and I have been totally under siege with terrible emotions concerning what happened in Welland, with the rape of a toddler. I tear up to think about it. Let us make things concrete. Would the member agree with me tha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that the Liberals, for 10 years, have been obsessed with firearm-related violent crimes. I just looked up a Statistics Canada report from 2023. The minority of homicides in our country and the vast minority of violent crimes in our country are associated with firearms. We have seen the terrible events associated with vehicular homicide. If the Liberals' approach to viol…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is the honour of my life to present my thoughts in representing the people of Kitchener South—Hespeler in this chamber. I have no interest in obstructing any legislation. It seems to me that the Liberals want the Conservatives to give them a pass on not having done their homework. They had all summer. I understand 200 people work in the Prime Minister's Office. They could have cons…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I can merely go off the PBO report. That 115,000 people seems like quite a bolus to try to accommodate in one day with the stroke of a pen, when the government itself realizes that total immigration numbers have to go down for the sake of our housing system and our health care system. We do not even know what the deficit is in this country. We are starting to suspect that it is massiv…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my speech today is not merely about Bill C-3, an act to amend the Citizenship Act. It is, like my last speech, about Canadian values, and more particularly the Canadian value that I fear this bill undermines, the value of Canadian citizenship. I have previously described to this House that my mother came to Canada as a refugee from Yugoslavia. The freedom and opportunity that this cou…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I think members on this side, back in Stephen Harper's time, indeed recognized Quebec as a nation. I do as well. I think I did in my speech. I thank the member for the consideration in that question.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, an alarming report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows that one in three Canadian children will be overweight or obese on their 18th birthday. This is not a cosmetic concern. Children who are obese on their 18th birthday are tragically three times less likely to live to see their 30th. Obviously, no child chooses to have this disease. Every case is a social and environme…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, contrary to that member's remarks, on my phone right now, I am reading Canada's electric vehicle availability standard, regulated targets for zero-emission vehicles. It is on the government's website. It is regulating and mandating this, while Canadians are not choosing to buy EVs. EV sales are down 45% in our country right now, and that is okay. Living in a liberal democracy means di…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for that overview of the bill. He mentioned several times health care workers such as myself and how this bill would allow them to go between provinces with greater ease. At other points in his speech, he talked about federally regulated workers. From my reading of this bill, this would not make it any easier for myself as a physician or for nurses to go and pract…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the arrive scam contractors made off with 64 million taxpayer dollars. Multiple software developers in Waterloo region have told me that a couple of them could have created the app over a weekend. The contractors did not write any code; their only job was to make sure the actual code writers had the proper security clearances, but today the Auditor General tells us that they did not m…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this is my first full day of House duty and listening to eight hours of similar talking points. I am so happy about the goal of making Canada the strongest economy in the G7. However, I am worried that it is a bit of a platitude. Could the member tell us what that actually means and by which date I may hold him to that definition?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, a news report today details how the residents of Chicopee Terrace, an apartment complex in Kitchener, are banding together to patrol their parking lot as the Liberal crime wave intensifies. Jason Sousa, the leader of the group, says that he and his neighbours have had the catalytic converters stolen out of their cars. Not only are car thefts up, but now thieves are stealing the parts …
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, absolutely, I heard such things. My best friend's dad is from Czechoslovakia. He escaped during the Prague Spring. He told us that he felt bad for us, that he never experienced anything under the Soviet Union like he did under the Liberal government during the pandemic. Those are his words, not mine. Likewise, while I was door knocking in my community, I met a Romanian woman who was l…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by assuring the member for Waterloo that I consider her a friend. She is my parents' representative in the House now, as they have moved up to Waterloo, and she does a good job at it. I listened to the throne speech. I read the throne speech. I found it platitudinous. The goals that are in there are great, but I saw no details on how to get there. Most of all, th…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, this would take more than 30 seconds to discuss. The worst health care system in the OECD is, in fact, the American health care system. I am sorry to say that the Canadian health care system is a close second. If we look at France, Germany, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand, all across the world other developed nations are able to blend the free market and public insurance, which I f…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, it is a common misapprehension that the federal government has no role to play in health care. Of course it does. The Canada Health Act is a federal document. The Public Health Agency of Canada is, of course, a federal agency. When we see similar problems from Victoria to St. John's, Newfoundland, it tends to be the case that there is a single explanation under it all, and in this cas…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to the people in my hometown of Kitchener South—Hespeler who gave me this opportunity to make a maiden speech today in Canada's House of Commons. May I never forget that this is their seat, and may I faithfully serve them so long as they see fit to keep me in it. There is no chance I could stand before you today without the love and support of my wife, Simone. She is a b…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I welcome back the member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill. It is nice to see him. I note with pleasure that the member for Winnipeg North is also reminiscing about his time served in the House during the Harper government. I recognize that the member who just gave his speech also served during that time. Could he share with us some of his fond reminiscences from that time?
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, it is my great pleasure to welcome the member opposite to this chamber. He gave a terrific speech. I am so excited that the member is also excited about tax cuts. My major question for the member is this: If going from 15% to 14%, a 1% reduction, is so great, why do the Liberals not double it?
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member from Cariboo—Prince George for putting more light on this horrendous situation, which is only getting worse. Every member of the House sees it in the downtown of the communities they come from. I have not heard anyone on the other side actually defend any of these problems. When Liberals do rise to speak, they speak about change. Does the member take this as a tacit…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the constituents of my hometown in Kitchener South—Hespeler, and I am grateful to them. Let me tell members something about the folks in Kitchener South—Hespeler. They are honest, hard-working people who do not like a tax cheat. They remember how, back in 2016, Donald Trump shockingly refused to release his tax returns to the public. Thousands of news stories…
Read full speech →