Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms also includes sections 3, 4 and 5, which are about the democratic rights of Canadians. Canadians have the right to be democratically represented on the floor of this House. The majority of this House has demanded the production of documents related to the $400-million spending scandal. We did the same thing with the Winnipeg lab documents. Why does t…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the evidence is clear. Samidoun, also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, is knowingly acting on behalf of, at the direction of or in association with at least one terrorist entity listed under the Criminal Code: the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Samidoun is based in Canada and incorporated as a not-for-profit under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporat…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the bad news keeps rolling in from credible financial experts. This week's Economist says, “Were Canada's ten provinces and three territories an American state, they would have gone from being slightly richer than Montana, America's ninth-poorest state, to being a bit worse off than Alabama, the fourth poorest.” To fix a problem, one has to admit that it exists. Will the government ad…
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Mr. Speaker, the data, these statistics, are not coming from Conservatives. They are coming from credible financial experts at the Financial Times of London and The Economist, two organizations for which the finance minister once worked. Surely, the government is not suggesting these organizations are biased. Again, to fix a problem, one has to admit that it exists. Will the government admit that,…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Richard Blair Morrow, beloved husband of Sandy and devoted father to Tanya and Alana, passed away at the age of 84. He was elected to Halton Regional and Town of Halton Hills councils in 1974, the year they were formed. In fact, the name “Halton Hills”, which the municipality still has today, was Ric's suggestion. The name won in a resident vote for the newly merged municipality. Ric …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am going to quote one of the world's most credible news organizations on financial and economic matters. A headline from the Financial Times of London on May 10, 2024, reads: “'Breakdown nations' like Canada have a lesson for the world: Canada leads nations which have suffered a sharp decline in per-capita GDP”. I have a simple question: Does the government agree that Canada leads n…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Bank of Canada has become the first central bank to cut rates because Canada has become the first leading economy to go through an economic contraction. Again, the Financial Times, for which the finance minister once worked, said, “Canada’s GDP per capita has been [shrinking] 0.4 per cent a year since 2020, the worst rate” for any developed economy in the top 50. Does the governme…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I think the Government of Canada should immediately suspend all funding to UNRWA. It is clear that UNRWA has a problem with a certain number of employees who are supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah, and UNRWA has a problem with some of its facilities being used as staging grounds for terrorist activities, and that is why the Government of Canada should immediately suspend funding.
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, since the Peace of Westphalia was concluded in 1648, the international system has developed into modern nation states and international law. In the almost 400 years since those treaties were established, the world has created nation states that conduct relations based on international law. That international system further developed after 1945, a period during which Canada was instrum…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, the International Court of Justice did not find that Israel had committed genocide; it just asked the State of Israel to comply with the 1948 Genocide Convention, which Israel is in the process of and has been doing. With respect to Amnesty International's interpretation of international humanitarian law, I disagree with its interpretation of the facts on the ground. At the end of the…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, of course Canada is a democracy but, at the same time, we are not perfect. We have plenty of problems. The same can be said of other democracies around the world, like Israel; it is not a perfect democracy. There are internal problems there, but it is not for us to speak to the issues that exist in other democracies. There are problems in the great democracy of southern North America,…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, we have to do this because this is a major war between democracies and authoritarian states.
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I disagree with the premise of my hon. colleague's question. I have seen no credible reports that indicate the State of Israel has contravened international humanitarian law. I have also seen no credible reports that the State of Israel has violated customary international law—
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I have seen no credible reports of the State of Israel's violating either international humanitarian law or customary international law. The number of civilians who have been, unfortunately, killed in this conflict is not an arbitrary determinant as to whether a state is complying with international law. I remind this House that the Allies during the Second World War killed 400,000 Ge…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, the federal government should show leadership in tackling the heinous rise in anti-Semitism in our country, in tackling the disorder in our public spaces and our streets that is targeting Jews, synagogues and Jewish institutions such as schools. I believe the public safety minister should convene a federal-provincial Solicitors General meeting in order to come to agreement among the 1…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I would like to quote article 51 of the United Nations charter, which states, “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations”. I am wondering whether the member would comment on the state of Israel's right to defend itself under article 51 of the UN Charter.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, nine years ago, we warned the government about joining the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and so did the Obama-Biden administration. Last year, news about the Chinese Communist Party's infiltration of the bank forced the government to initiate a boycott and to begin a review. The boycott has now been 15 months. Canada still has its shares and Beijing still has the n…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Canada's sanctions against the Russian Federation: (a) on what date was Airbus Canada granted a waiver to import titanium from the VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation; (b) which minister approved the waiver; (c) what was the rationale for the waiver; (d) who was consulted before the waiver was granted; (e) was the Ukrainian government informed before the waiver was granted, and, if so, when; (…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, now that Bill C-70 is back in the House for third reading, I would like to take this opportunity to outline the long journey it took to get to this point. In 2018, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, David Vigneault, advised the government about threats presented by the People's Republic of China. That year, he warned the Prime Minister that PRC activities re…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the hon. member points out amendments that were made to the bill that would see the commissioner appointed not only after consultations with the leaders in the House of Commons and Senate, but also after resolutions are adopted by the House and the Senate. I think that would strengthen the independence of the commissioner while also ensuring that the commissioner is situated within …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, first of all, we disagree with the amendments regarding a three-year ban. This bill applies to every country in the world. There could be consequences for elected representatives who leave the House and go to work for organizations among our allies that were created to promote democracy or to protect Canada. Second, according to the report, PRC officials engaged in foreign interfere…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it would require people who are conducting legitimate influence activities on behalf of a foreign government or an entity associated with that foreign government to register. It provides a deterrent for those who would not register and who would conduct illegitimate, coercive, clandestine and corrupt foreign interference activities in Canada, and so I think it strikes a balance. It …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, according to the report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, the budget of the United Front Work Department, which engages in foreign interference, is $2.6 billion U.S. per year. Furthermore, 23% of that budget is allocated to foreign interference targeting every country of the world, including Canada. What does my colleague think about the fact t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, one week ago, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians released a report containing its findings. The report came after more than a year of work by the committee. The committee reviewed some 33,000 pages from 4,000 classified documents. The committee members were briefed, and they interviewed dozens of top intelligence and government officials, including …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I remember well the foreign interference threat activities that were revealed by Dick Fadden in the public realm in 2013. They were directed at provincial governments and municipal politicians. I would note that the then Liberal government at Queen's Park in Toronto discounted that intelligence advice, dismissed it and said that it was not sufficient to take action. Here we are, som…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member has done a lot of very good work on the issue and at the public inquiry, and she rightfully points out something, which is that it has been reported that up to 10% or so of the documents the government has submitted for the second phase of the inquiry have been redacted and that other documents have been withheld from the public inquiry. After reading the NSICOP report of…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the NSICOP report makes it clear that the Prime Minister was advised, back in 2018, of the national security threats against Parliament from hostile foreign states. He was advised that measures in place at the time were not sufficient. He was advised to take further action. Three times, the senior civil service asked for his approval for action to protect Parliament: in December 2019,…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the report reveals that parliamentarians, including members of the House, knowingly and wittingly assisted a hostile foreign state in Parliament and in our elections to the detriment of the people of Canada. This is shocking. I cannot believe the following needs to be said. Parliamentarians' duty is not to a foreign state, but to the people of Canada. My question is simple. Will the P…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there are measures in this bill that will give CSIS the power to disclose classified information to universities, municipalities and provinces to ensure that they have the information they need to protect their interests. We support this measure. We think it is very important to give our national security agencies the power to do that.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, part 2 of the bill would amend the Criminal Code to broaden the scope of the sabotage offence to include essential infrastructure such as transportation, information and telecommunication technology, water and waste water, energy, utilities, health care, food supply, government operations and financial infrastructure. My simple question for the minister is this: Does the definition of…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for me to split my time with the member for St. Albert—Edmonton.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect their institutions to protect them from the malign threat activities of authoritarian states. Canadians expect the whole of the Government of Canada, including its intelligence agencies and law enforcement, to protect our elections and democratic institutions from the coercive, clandestine and corrupt foreign interference threat activities of authoritarian states. Tha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I note that part 4 of the bill provides for the creation of a commissioner. That commissioner would be situated within the machinery of government, within the Department of Public Safety Canada, and would be appointed at the advice of the Prime Minister. An amendment that would perhaps strengthen the independence of that office would be to appoint the commissioner after the Prime Mini…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my father came here in 1952 from Hong Kong as a Chinese immigrant, several years after the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. However, even though that legislation had been repealed, the sentiments that underpinned it still remained in Canada. We have to be acutely sensitive to diaspora communities. I note that this bill is agnostic when it comes to foreign states and foreign governm…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I believe that Justice Hogue's initial report is a good start. She will present a second report in December of this year. I will continue working with the commission to ensure that the second report is very strong and contains solid recommendations for building a national security system that will protect our democratic institutions. I also agree that the government must act. The dire…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, what we do in this place matters. This place is the only place at the federal level that is a democratic institution. This is Canada's democratic institution. The other place is not; it is appointed. The Prime Minister and his cabinet are not; they are appointed. In Canada, we do not elect governments. We do not elect prime ministers. We elect a legislature, a single national legislat…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I think opposition parties in the House have been highly responsible in how we have handled the information on foreign interference threat activities that have come to our attention over the last two years. When these stories broke, they did not break because the government informed members of the House or the House's committees about these foreign interference threat activities. They…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for all the work she has done on countering PRC foreign interference. It has been very constructive. The member rightfully points out that Justice Hogue found that the PRC interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections. That is incontrovertible. That is a finding of fact by Justice Hogue. She also concluded that the intelligence relating to the member for …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I think that we need a full range of tools, which is what experts have been telling the government. The government needs to implement a full range of tools to counter these foreign interference threat operations, and one of the tools that it needs to start using, which it is not very good at, is sunlight and transparency. The government needs to tell us and the public about foreign in…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, on April 11, the Prime Minister said that “it wasn't simply, an overall the election was free and fair”, but that in “every single constituency election...election integrity held and it was free and fair.” Justice Hogue concluded otherwise. She concluded that well-grounded suspicions about PRC interference in Don Valley North “could...have impacted who was elected to Parliament. This …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I will tell the government what Justice Hogue concluded in Steveston—Richmond East. She found that “there are strong [indications] of PRC involvement and there is a reasonable possibility that these narratives could have impacted the result in this riding.” Again, the Prime Minister said, just several weeks ago, that in “every single constituency election...election integrity held and…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am rising to support concurrence in the 21st report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, a report that touches on the human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is a report that draws the attention of the government to these abuses in the hope that the government would act. We are having this debate here in the House on this very i…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to government information about the two Canadian Hells Angels named in an indictment in the United States: did the U.S. government notify the Canadian government of these two Canadians before the indictment was unsealed?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Global Affairs Canada's (GAC) reaction to two Canadian Hells Angels named in an indictment in the United States related to a plot to kill an Iranian defector: (a) did GAC request of Italy, which is Canada's protecting power in Iran, to make representations to Iran regarding this matter; (b) if the answer to (a) is affirmative, what specific message was delivered and on what date; an…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the data security breach at Global Affairs Canada (GAC) which was reported around the end of January 2024: (a) how many users' information was impacted, in total and broken down by (i) GAC employees, (ii) government employees outside of GAC, (iii) the general public, (iv) diplomats from other countries; (b) on what date did GAC become aware of the data breach; (c) on what date were …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I listened to my hon. colleague's speech and want to thank him for his support for Ukraine. We had the Ukrainian ambassador in front of the foreign affairs committee this afternoon. She gave us some very concerning statistics: Ukraine is facing six to seven times the number of shells daily from Russia that Ukraine is directing toward Russia. They have a dire need for 155-millimetre am…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, we are here this evening to take part in a debate on the Canada-Ukraine relationship and the new strategic partnership between Canada and Ukraine. I want to say clearly, at the beginning of this take-note debate, that Conservatives support the newly agreed to Canada-Ukraine strategic security partnership. We have long supported Ukraine. We did this well before the war in Ukraine began…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member opposite for highlighting the government's recent announcement on acquiring additional 155-millimetre shells. I believe that the government should also be building domestic capacity to produce shells here in Canada. It is clear in discussions I have had at NATO headquarters in Brussels last year and in talking to defence experts here in Canada that the…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, Canada has certainly given plenty of aid to Ukraine, but it has largely been humanitarian aid. That aid is obviously necessary, but right now, the issue is military assistance. Ukraine's security is seriously threatened by Russia. Ukraine needs more military aid, more ammunition and more military equipment. In my opinion, the Canadian government must take action now to give Ukraine he…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the member is right to note that Alberta has always been a proud part of our federation and home to millions of Ukrainian Canadians. In fact the deputy prime minister under Brian Mulroney, Don Mazankowski, whom I got to know a little bit, was a proud Ukrainian Canadian. I think many Ukrainians across the country burst with pride when he took on that role in the government of the late …
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