Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today as the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes to speak to Bill S-223, an act respecting Kindness Week. Bill S-223 was originally introduced in the other place by Senator Munson. As the saying goes, “if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.” Try the senator did and he was successful. This bill was introduced each of those tim…
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, seconded by the member for Saint-Laurent, moved that Bill S-223, An Act respecting Kindness Week, be read the second time and referred to a committee of the whole.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
seconded by the member for Saint-Laurent, moved for leave to introduce Bill S-223, An Act respecting Kindness Week. He said: Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to speak today and introduce Bill S-223, an act respecting kindness week. The pandemic has reminded us of the need for kindness in our society, and when passed, this bill would designate that throughout Canada, each and every year the third week of…
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Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister and his heritage minister are engaged in an offensive against their critics. Yesterday the heritage minister, quoting an article, accused his critics of “a deliberate campaign of misinformation by commercial interests that would prefer to avoid the same regulatory oversight applied to broadcast media.” While the heritage minister is quoting individuals who are par…
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Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary said that this was not designed to target individual Canadians. However, the protection that would have protected Canadians was stripped out by Liberal members at the committee. Amendments that were proposed by the opposition that would have enshrined protections and would have done what the parliamentary secretary purported to be the intention were rejec…
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Mr. Speaker, in a riding that has been decided by fewer than 50 votes in recent years, the member for Winnipeg North was found guilty of breaking elections law for running illegal ads on election day, influencing the vote of some 35,000 people on their way to the polls. It is completely inappropriate for this same member to be the parliamentary secretary in charge of changing Canada's election law…
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Mr. Speaker, is the root of the problem with Bill C-10 that the Prime Minister cannot show leadership on questions of ethics? He could not deal with sexual misconduct allegations against the former chief of the defence staff because he was dealing with the revelations of assaults he had committed. He fired his attorney general when she tried to stop him from interfering in the prosecution of his f…
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Mr. Speaker, anytime anyone asks a tough question of the Prime Minister, he says it is a personal attack. That is why when the questions got really tough and heated for the Prime Minister, when he was trying to cover up his conflict of interest in the WE scandal, he shut down Parliament during a pandemic. Now his attacks on democracy have gotten more brazen. That is what the Prime Minister is tryi…
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Mr. Speaker, just like we heard from the Prime Minister that the story in the Globe and Mail was false, he cannot be believed. Let us listen to Michael Geist, Canada research chair in Internet law at the University of Ottawa. He said, “[The Prime Minister] keeps saying in the House of Commons that Bill C-10 only covers professional, for-profit content. Simply false. The word “professional” doesn't…
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Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I will be splitting my time with the member for Elgin—Middlesex—London. This subject we are discussing today is of tremendous importance. We are talking of course about the situation arising from an epidemic of sexual misconduct in the Canadian Forces and a failure of government to address it. We know in 2015 the Deschamps report was released, and after taking governmen…
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Mr. Speaker, I absolutely believe we should take immediate action. The recommendations made in the report that was completed in 2015 by retired justice Deschamps are in the immediate arsenal of recommendations that can be acted on by the government. It absolutely can do that. That is a concrete step and an evidence-based approach that the government can take to address sexual misconduct in the Can…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for her advocacy for the women and men in the Canadian Forces and for veterans. Step one is to implement the recommendations from the 2015 Deschamps report. The next step is absolutely to look at the powers and the reporting structure for the ombudsperson for the Canadian Forces and make sure we do not have a situation where we have to have the minister, th…
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Mr. Speaker, it is vital that we hold people accountable for failures of this nature. This is the most grievous situation: The top soldier in the chain of command is alleged to have perpetrated sexual misconduct on one of his subordinates. That is the greatest example of a power imbalance in this type of situation that one could imagine, so we must hold all of those accountable who covered it up. …
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the spirited response from the parliamentary secretary. It was creative, and I am sure it would be a good bedtime story for some. I also wish more time was spent on vaccines in the summer by the government, instead of partnering with the Communist China-owned CanSino. Instead, it could have developed domestic vaccine production capacity, like our friends in the UK. What…
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Madam Speaker, we find ourselves here following from the questions I posed to the Prime Minister with respect to the ongoing cover-up we have seen the government undertake, which came out of the very early days of the pandemic. Early on we saw all parties profess to want to take a team Canada approach and to really want to make sure helping Canadians was the first thing we did, but the first thing…
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Mr. Speaker, we have seen the Prime Minister try to dodge answering questions today. That is pretty consistent, because we have heard from him that he does not like the facts, and when he hears the facts on CNN or sees them in The Globe and Mail, Postmedia or in Global News reporting, he calls it fake news. If Canadians are expected to believe the Prime Minister that he did not actually know, here…
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Mr. Speaker, the ombudsman was crystal clear with the defence minister that the allegations were about sexual misconduct perpetrated by the chief of the defence staff on one of his subordinates. That information was given to the Prime Minister's Office and he failed to act. We hear a lot about ministerial accountability from the government. Now we are hearing about systems that it might implement …
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Mr. Speaker, there was a process and it was exercised by the victim. She brought her complaints forward and the Prime Minister failed her. He failed to act. His office was made aware exactly of these allegations, that they were sexual in nature, and then he promoted the perpetrator, he extended his contract, he gave him a raise and no action was taken. If the Prime Minister is to be believed and t…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about leadership. Prime Minister Harper heard a rumour, had the head of CSIS investigate it and then had the courage to sit down, look the general in the eye and ask him questions about it. What did the Prime Minister do? He hid behind his chief of staff and the Minister of National Defence. He did nothing. The difference between Prime Minister Harper and the current Prime…
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Madam Speaker, I wonder if my colleague from Lakeland could tell the House about the negative impacts this legislation would have on people who have decided to become law-abiding firearms owners, and if she would like to contrast that against the lack of a positive outcome for those folks as a result of the legislation.
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Madam Speaker, at long last, two years after the last budget presented by the Liberals, it is a pleasure to rise today to speak to their latest proposal to Canadians. We remember that the budget at that time was very much crafted and timed to distract attention away from what we all now remember as the SNC-Lavalin scandal. That budget was tabled when the Prime Minister was avoiding questions and w…
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Mr. Speaker, when confronted with facts, the Prime Minister screams out that it is fake news, but he justifies Canada going off label on the vaccines with a four-month dosing by saying that the Brits did the same, when in fact they used a three-month dosing interval. Instead of spreading misinformation, can the Prime Minister stand up and admit that Canada is in its third wave of lockdowns because…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a real shame that the Prime Minister says that with only 2.5% of Canadians fully vaccinated we are on track. This third wave is his failure. Residents in my riding can look across the border and see Americans in New York state who can get vaccinated at 16 years of age, at their will, because they have availability of supply. This is the third wave of COVID and the third wave of …
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Mr. Speaker, I guess the Prime Minister hopes that Canadians will accept that he will under-promise and over-deliver up to 2.5% of Canadians being fully vaccinated. I can tell the Prime Minister that is not good enough. The Prime Minister shut down Parliament during a pandemic and had his members filibuster the health committee, the defence committee, the ethics committee and the procedure and Hou…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Malpeque mentioned 90¢. I will give another number: 100% came from taxpayers. There was talk about debt. He said that I did not talk about the budget. I talked about what was missing from the budget. Health care transfers are desperately needed by the provinces. That is missing from the budget. While there are a lot of aspirations in the budget and a lot of future deb…
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to tell the member opposite that, in 2021, these Conservatives are looking for increased spending on health care for all the reasons she listed. It will create a delayed public health crisis when we have not had all the diagnostic testing done, which is normally done when hospitals have been shut. Certainly this will have a negative effect on people's mental health, but a…
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Madam Speaker, what we want to see from the government and what it will need to explain is why it made the decisions with respect to age cut-offs. It is important that we provide help for seniors who have been affected in a terrible way. Many of them have paid with their lives during this global pandemic. We to need to ensure the country is there to support them, seniors of all ages, and that the …
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. In the past, members have sought your intervention to guide members to speak relevantly. I have laid out very clearly the connection between the point I am making and the legislation before us. I am very aware of the rules of relevance and I am sure you will find the member opposite is very aware that those rules are very loosely enforced in this pla…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to join the debate on Bill C-11. It is important to start with the conversation that has been had around where this legislation is going to be debated. The legislation belongs to the industry minister, so we would expect the industry committee would deal with it. In spite of an offer from the opposition by way of unanimous consent to have this sent to the industry com…
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Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the concern the government has with the content of the testimony of those individuals who were ordered to appear is so great that ministers of the Crown ordered individuals not to appear at committee, in contravention of an order of this House. We have seen the lengths to which the government is prepared to go to avoid talking about issues that are embarrassing to it …
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Mr. Speaker, while I am thrilled that members are listening so intently, I do think it is a bit telling that they cannot even get through a 10-minute speech without their tactics. It is disappointing, to say the least. However, I left off speaking about the report that bears the Prime Minister's name. Now, the member opposite heckled when I said that, saying that if the member for Saanich—Gulf Isl…
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Mr. Speaker, the agenda of the member opposite seems to be obfuscation. While I was interrupted multiple times because the member did not want to hear the case, hear the facts that the scheduling of the bill, the placement of the bill, is being used to hopefully disrupt a committee, he used the time to make a comment about the schedule of the House. Obviously, these are legitimate points of debate…
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Mr. Speaker, it is important, of course, that we protect the privacy rights of individuals. One's data or presence online has incredible value to private business, and we need to be cognizant of that. Of course, a regulation to make sure that the biggest tech giants are respectful of that and that they are protecting individuals' information is key. We have also heard in testimony from organizatio…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, I am honoured to inform the House of some of the life-saving first responders we are blessed to have in Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. Paramedics Colin Anderson, Scott Speer, Hailey Ireland, Ted Maika, Dan Freeman, Stefan Marquis, Michelle Brown, Chris Scott, Tanya Sinclair and Sandra Ladd all received awards for resuscitating patients. Their coolness under press…
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Madam Speaker, former Liberal Party national director Ian McKay was found guilty of breaking ethics laws when he hid investments in his cannabis company, which was in breach of federal law. What did he earn for his troubles? We would think sanctions or other penalties. No, he was named Canada's ambassador to Japan by the Liberal government. We have another unscrupulous Liberal representing Canada …
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Madam Speaker, it is clear that to be a Canadian ambassador under the Liberal government, one better be a Liberal insider. Ethical breaches and connections to human rights abusers go a long way. This must be why Dominic Barton, with his deep connections to Communist China, was named Canada's ambassador to China, an ambassador to China who participated in meetings down the road from concentration c…
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Mr. Speaker, was the Prime Minister looking in the mirror when he said, “It’s hard not to feel disappointed in your government when every day there is a new scandal”? That is the MO of this Prime Minister. He breaks the law, he gets caught, he deflects and then he covers it up, time and again. Canadians deserve good, ethical governance, but that will not stop this Prime Minister from doing whateve…
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There we have it, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister has no intention of cleaning up his act. He is fine with being a global laughingstock and punching bag. He blocked investigations by law enforcement, by officers of Parliament and by parliamentary committees. Whether it is at the ethics committee or the defence committee, once the opposition starts asking tough questions he denies and deflects. Whe…
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Mr. Speaker, the House of Commons directed key players in the Prime Minister's WE scandal to testify at the ethics committee. Instead of obeying the will of Canadians, the Prime Minister blocked those witnesses from testifying. Canadians deserve answers. Is the problem that the Prime Minister does not understand the rules, or that he believes the rules do not apply to him?
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Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the government House leader does not understand the question. It is very straightforward. The House ordered witnesses to appear, and the Prime Minister and the Liberal government blocked those witnesses from appearing. Will the Prime Minister apologize for defying an order of the House? Will he agree to testify at committee, or do we need to build back with a better Pri…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the Liberal government has completely defied an order of this House, and yet again, disregarded the will of Canadians. The House of Commons directed key players in the Prime Minister's WE scandal to testify before committee and help complete the picture as to how an organization that paid members of the Prime Minister's family half a million dollars ended up receiving half a billion…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, if the parliamentary secretary took a look at those Hansard excerpts he is reading, he would also find comments from the member for Papineau saying that the political staff need to testify or the member for Malpeque saying the same. In 2015, we were promised by the Liberal government openness by default, transparency and sunlight being the best disinfectant. Never have Canadians see…
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moved: That, with a view to support the authority of committees in their important inquiries of public interest: (a) regarding the study on questions of conflict of interest and lobbying in relation to pandemic spending by the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, (i) an order of the House do issue for due diligence reports, in the care, custody or control of the Privy C…
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Mr. Speaker, we are here today to move along business that we started last summer. It was last summer that Canadians first learned about the WE scandal involving the Liberal government. This is the scandal of the WE organization paying members of the Prime Minister's family half a million dollars and then being awarded, in an untendered agreement, half a billion dollars of taxpayer funds as part o…
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Mr. Speaker, I find myself agreeing with the member opposite. Stephen Harper had it right about a lot of things, and when it comes to this matter, if the ministers came to committee and provided forthright answers to the members who are asking them questions, it would be a different story. A minister of the current government, under questioning at committee by me, provided a misleading answer. Whe…
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Mr. Speaker, the manner in which that letter was received via Twitter is extraordinary. The government said that this organization was the only one in Canada that could administer $912 million—or, later, half a billion dollars—in taxpayer funds, so the claim that it does not even keep a list of the projects that it has built is extraordinary. If this individual, as stated in this public letter, is…
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Mr. Speaker, there has been evidence across multiple committees of the lengths to which Liberal members will go, under instruction from the Prime Minister's Office, to prevent accountability and to prevent the truth from coming to light. We were told, in 2015 and earlier, by the Prime Minister that sunlight was the best disinfectant. Let us let the sunlight shine on the testimony of these witnesse…
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Madam Speaker, while we are supportive of the concept, at this time we will not be able to support the amendment.
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Madam Speaker, with a hat tip to the member for Timmins—James Bay and thanks to the member for Red Deer—Lacombe, I consent.
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Madam Speaker, I am looking to find out from the member for Carleton a little about the culture of the Liberal government. We heard of course that it wants to point the guns or the bus at the civil service as responsible for it, but one of the witnesses we are looking to have testify is Ben Chin, who was implicated in the destruction of documents with the B.C. government, the destruction of docume…
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