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…
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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.
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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 →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…
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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 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 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…
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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 →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 …
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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…
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Mr. Chair, I enjoyed listening to my hon. colleague's speech. He began his remarks with a comment on Russia's civilization and rich culture. Canada is a western country, a country that, like all democracies, is founded on the principles of the Enlightenment. I believe that the three most important principles of the Enlightenment are democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Can my colleague comment …
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Madam Chair, my hon. colleague mentioned in his speech how Ukraine and Canada share many similarities, in particular, a shared geography with Russia: Ukraine borders Russia, and Canada shares an Arctic border region with Russia. In light of the fact that Sweden and Finland have recently joined NATO and that NORAD modernization is going on, as the defence minister has indicated, could he tell the H…
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Madam Chair, I want to commend the government for concluding this agreement with Ukraine. My question is on reconstruction. The former secretary of the treasury Larry Summers, along with others, has advocated for the repurposing of some $300 billion U.S. in seized Russian assets, which are mostly being held in democracies in North America and Europe to be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine in …
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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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Madam Chair, I have a comment and a question for my hon. colleague. First, I said something earlier that I want to correct. I said earlier that Don Mazankowski was a Ukrainian Canadian. What I should have said is that he was married to a Ukrainian Canadian and that he represented the most Ukrainian Canadian riding in Canada, which at the time was Vegreville. I just wanted to make sure the record w…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to remark on the life of the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney, in the hope of looking at his life as a way for us to look toward the future. I was a young, grade 11, student at Centre Wellington District High School in Wellington County in 1988 when I joined the Conservative Party. There was an election that would take place later that fall. That spring I joined the party to campaign …
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Mr. Speaker, what I will say is that Conservatives have supported Canada's long-standing position on the State of Israel. That position calls for a negotiated settlement between the two parties, the State of Israel and the Palestinian people, that would arrive at a two-state solution. Conservatives also support a long-standing position that was held by the previous Liberal government and the previ…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs speaks for Canada, but I did not hear the minister clearly state the Government of Canada's position on this motion. I think the Government of Canada has often, in the last several months, been unclear about its position on the conflict that has emerged between Israel and Hamas, so I will give the Minister of Foreign Affairs an opportunity to clearly st…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Thornhill. Today I speak on behalf of Conservatives. Conservatives, like everyone in this chamber, want to see an end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. We are concerned about the loss of civilian life in Gaza, the loss of children, women and other civilians. We are equally concerned about the humanitarian crisis, the humanitarian…
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Mr. Speaker, international humanitarian law, in other words the law of armed conflict, makes it clear that what Hamas did on October 7, 2023, was war crimes. The taking of hostages is a war crime. I think we all acknowledge that hostages were taken. The raping, murdering and targeting, deliberately, of civilians is a war crime. This has been assessed by reputable organizations. What I am not aware…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the government neglected national security. It hid things. On top of that, it is still not taking responsibility. Yesterday, the Minister of Health said that none of the senior officials involved in supervising the scientists who were fired would be held accountable. If none of the senior officials are responsible, who in cabinet will be?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Canada-China committee, in 2019, could have done exactly the same job as the ad hoc committee did. We could have had the documents three years ago. The CSIS assessments released yesterday make it clear that the PRC is and was actively recruiting top Canadian scientists to plunder Canada's research and intellectual property. The assessments also make clear that the PRC wants to wea…
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Mr. Speaker, the documents reveal a shocking disregard for Canada's national security. They reveal a government that is completely asleep at the switch on national security and the machinery of government. They reveal government employees collaborating with Beijing's government and with the biological weapons unit of the People's Liberation Army. Equally shocking are the health minister's comments…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I have a very simple question. When will the government release the Winnipeg lab documents to the House?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the four MPs on the Winnipeg lab committee found that most of the information the government withheld from Parliament was withheld to shield the Prime Minister and ministers from embarrassment rather than to protect national security. These four MPs, including a Liberal member, recommended that the majority of the information withheld by the government be made public. Will the governm…
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Mr. Speaker, there has been a breakdown in law and order in this country. Over the last eight years, auto thefts are up 34% and violent crimes 39%. Canada has become a foreign interference playground for the PRC, Iran and Russia. Behind all of this is organized crime, money laundering and terrorist financing. In fact, in a U.S. indictment unsealed last week, Iran hired two Hell's Angels' members i…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-59 will do little to combat the problem of organized crime and money laundering in this country, which by the government's own estimate is $133 billion a year, equal to 5% of GDP. The government has ignored numerous reports and protected lawyers from money laundering and terrorist financing law and failed to crack down on Canada's big banks and their funnelling of money launder…
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Mr. Speaker, it does not matter what the government thinks about Bill C-234. It does not matter what the Senate thinks about the bill, because taxation and spending are the exclusive right of this House, not the Senate. In our system, there is no taxation without representation. Section 53 of the Constitution says that all financial legislation must originate in this House. Standing Order 80 says …
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Mr. Speaker, we used to live in a country where the governor regularly ignored bills passed by the elected legislative assembly. We used to live in a country where the appointed upper chamber used to regularly ignore bills passed by the elected lower chamber. That was a country long, long ago whose institutions where abolished after the rebellions of 1837. Now the unelected Senate thinks it is som…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, as we head toward Remembrance Day, I rise to pay tribute to a great Canadian. Russel William Woods died during the pandemic, on December 18, 2020, at the age of 96. Russel served in Bomber Command during the Second World War in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Lancaster tail gunner. Of the 20,000 Canadian airmen in Bomber Command, half were killed in action. After the war, Russel ret…
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Liberal government's record on climate change is in. The opening sentence of the Environment Commissioner's report says it all: “The federal government is not on track to meet the 2030 target”. It is now clear that the government's environment plan is a mishmash of regulations and taxes that are not working. It is clear not just to the commission; it was clear a…
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Mr. Speaker, I campaigned on a revenue-negative carbon tax. The Liberal government's environmental plan is revenue-positive, with a mishmash of taxes and regulations that are dragging the Canadian economy down. Emissions still have not risen to prepandemic highs. That is because the economy still has not recovered. Per capita GDP and productivity are lower this year than in 2017. After eight years…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada's closest intelligence allies have already clarified the record. The government has not, so I am going to give the government an opportunity to correct and clarify the record. Will the government clearly state that the Israel Defence Forces and the State of Israel were not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza on Tuesday?
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the State Department updated their travel advisory to Lebanon to the highest level, advising all U.S. citizens of the following: “Do Not travel to Lebanon.” However, the Liberal government's overall travel advisory for Lebanon advises Canadian citizens to “Avoid non-essential travel”, which is not the highest level. Why is the Liberal government always a dollar short and a …
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Mr. Speaker, the government has been late. It was late in the fall of Kabul in August 2021. Has the government not learned the lessons of 2006 and 2021 of Beirut and Kabul? Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, there has been an outbreak of protests and violence targeting western interests and western missions. Will the government clearly communicate to Canadians the information necessary t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we agree that innocent civilian lives need to be protected, and that is why we have called for three things. First, we have called for the establishment of a safe zone in the southern part of the Gaza Strip to allow Gazans who are fleeing from the north, where a lot of the IDF is targeting Hamas infrastructure, to get to the south of the Gaza Strip in safety. Second, we are calling for …
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows that the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre of the Government of Canada has a national terrorism threat level. When Parliament Hill was attacked In October 2014, which was the last terrorist attack here on Canadian soil, it was set to medium, which is that a terrorist attack could occur. Does the hon. member not think it is a good idea for the Government of…
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Mr. Chair, I am not going to speculate on what Hamas might or might not do. What I will say is that Hamas must release the some 199 hostages they are currently holding, three of whom may be Canadian citizens. We will be watching very carefully to see what Hamas does with these three missing Canadians. I would further add that Hamas is a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada. As…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the member, since he is part of the ministerial party, about a question I asked one of my colleagues earlier. There is a lot of fear, as he has mentioned, in both the Jewish and Muslim communities across Canada, that they may be attacked individually or that their cultural, religious or educational institutions may be attacked. The government's integrated terrorism asses…
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Mr. Chair, Canada must stand with the state of Israel. The events of October 7 were the biggest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. On that day, Hamas launched a terrorist attack and invaded Israel. Some two and a half thousand Hamas terrorists broke through the border, attacking Israeli military bases and massacring Israeli citizens. The latest count indicates that 289 IDF soldiers were kill…
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Mr. Chair, I agree with my hon. colleague that we should not conflate the terrorist group Hamas with the Palestinian people. We support the aspirations of the Palestinian people who aspire to an independent sovereign state, a two-state solution in the Middle East. We believe in the aspirations of the Palestinian people to live in peace and security in their own country, with their own self-determi…
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Mr. Speaker, I keep raising this issue in the hope that the government will respond. We know, as the member mentioned in his remarks, that both the Jewish and Muslim communities in Canada are living in fear of an attack. The government's integrated threat assessment centre has assessed Canada's national terrorism threat level at medium, where it has been since October 2014. Does he think that it w…
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Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully yesterday to the Prime Minister's apology in the House. He did not apologize on behalf of the government or on behalf of Canada. He apologized on behalf of the House. However, a prime minister does not speak for the House; a prime minister speaks for the government or for Canada. Yesterday in the House, he did not apologize on behalf of either for the embarrassmen…
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Mr. Speaker, for five days, the Prime Minister let Canada's reputation whither. For five days, the Prime Minister did not apologize, and when he did, it was not on behalf of the government or on behalf of Canada. It was on behalf of Parliament, for whom he does not speak. Why did he avoid speaking on behalf of himself, the government or Canada?
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