Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Speaker bears responsibility, but so too does the Prime Minister. It was the Prime Minister and his office who made a decision on short notice to request a joint address for President Zelenskyy on the floor of the House. That decision came with consequences. That decision came with responsibilities. We are witnessing some of these around the world today. Again, when will the Prime…
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Mr. Speaker, I think what is happening right now in Nagorno-Karabakh is extremely serious. The matter is urgent, and I think we do have to discuss it in the House of Commons. I think it is a grave enough issue to bring to the attention of the world through the floor of the House of Commons, which is why I support moving concurrence in this report. The crisis that has unfolded began late last year,…
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Mr. Speaker, I will just briefly say that Canada has to balance our approach with upholding our commitments to the NATO alliance, particularly in joint operations that involve NATO allies that may not be a signatory to that particular treaty.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Lethbridge. What is going on in the Caucasus today is of grave and deep concern. Just over a century after a horrific genocide, the Armenian genocide of 1915-16, the world still has not learned from the lessons of the past. Just over a century later, we are witnessing a major humanitarian crisis unfold in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the western…
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Mr. Speaker, the committee has been seized with the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh for some time, but the crisis has accelerated in intensity in the last several weeks as a result of an ever-tighter blockade of the Lachin corridor. This is a mountainous region of the world where there are not a lot of supply routes from the outside world into the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. One of the few supply routes…
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Mr. Speaker, it has been 31 weeks, more than seven months, since the news that the government knew about the PRC's interference in our democracy came to light. Since then, we have asked hundreds of questions in this House and in its committees, but we have gotten very few answers. The only thing we have gotten are a few answers here and there, heavily redacted documents and a mountain of process w…
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Mr. Speaker, on a related national security matter concerning the Winnipeg lab breaches, it was two and a half years ago that the House of Commons ordered the production of documents. The government refused to comply with the order. Then it hid behind NSICOP. Now, finally, two and a half years later, the committee that is looking at these documents has just been stood up. We cannot wait two and a …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured today to rise to speak to the motion on the floor of the House, a motion that touches so many Canadians across the coast, myself included, Canadians who trace their roots back to Asia. If we are going toward a future free of anti-Asian racism and discrimination, we need to learn from the past. One in five Canadians, 20%, including my family and many members of the House,…
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Mr. Speaker, the special rapporteur's mandate is all about Beijing's interference in our electoral process. In Canada, we have only one federal electoral process; we have only one democratic institution, and that is the election of members to this House of Commons. Three times in the past three months, this House has voted for an independent public inquiry, yet the special rapporteur and the Prime…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, a great Canadian has died at age 100. George MacDonell survived the Battle of Hong Kong where 2,000 Canadians fought bravely to defend Hong Kongers, including my father and his family. Half of them were casualties. The survivors were taken to be prisoners of war. By war's end, George had dropped to 110 pounds, although he was 6'4". That was just the beginning of his remarkable story…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this May, Canadians celebrated Asian Heritage Month. One in five Canadians, including my family and many members of the House, traces their roots back to Asia. Asian Canadians have made significant contributions going back to Confederation. In fact, Confederation would not have happened if it were not for the back-breaking labour of Chinese railway workers, who built the railway that …
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Mr. Speaker, the World Health Assembly will be meeting next week in Geneva. Taiwan had an exemplary response to the recent global COVID-19 pandemic and has much to contribute to pandemic preparedness and global health initiatives. Does Canada support Taiwan's participation at next week's World Health Assembly?
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Mr. Speaker, G7 leaders will meet this weekend in Hiroshima, Japan, where the nuclear bomb was first used. They are expected to meet survivors of that bomb. They are also expected to issue a joint statement on the use of nuclear weapons, in light of Russia's threats against Ukraine and the west. Will the government take this opportunity at the G7 to urge our closest ally, the United States, to res…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, we support the report of the committee. We have submitted a supplementary report, along with the main report, that makes three supplementary additions that buttress and support the report. The three recommendations are in respect of Confucius Institutes, the critical election incident public protocol and the new federal beneficial ownership registry.
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Mr. Speaker, I believe that a public inquiry into the general problem of foreign interference is needed. However, I also know and believe one second thing, which is that we cannot allow the process, whether matters have been referred to NSIRA, NSICOP or a special rapporteur, which could lead to a public inquiry, to prevent us, prevent this chamber or its committee, the procedure and House affairs …
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Mr. Speaker, this is an important question. I am very concerned about the weakening of Canada's national security and intelligence system, the intelligence community, because of what has taken place over the last several months. I would add that it is not primarily the decision of CSIS whether or not to inform members of foreign interference threat activities. It is primarily the responsibility of…
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Mr. Speaker, my immediate family here in Canada is okay. We are fine, but, as I have said previously, I cut off communications with my family in the PRC out of an abundance of caution. Clearly, these events are very public. Like other cases involving Canadians who have family in the PRC, or Canadian consular cases in the PRC, these are difficult things to address and deal with. With that all said,…
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moved: That the prima facie contempt concerning the intimidation campaign orchestrated by Wei Zhao against the Member for Wellington—Halton Hills and other Members be referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your very detailed arguments and significant ruling. I am speaking entirely extemporaneously because I was not exactly certain how you wo…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have asked myself that question many times in recent weeks. The Prime Minister alone is responsible for the machinery of government, for the organizational structure of the Government of Canada. The Prime Minister is primarily responsible, among all the ministers of the Crown, for national security. The Prime Minister is also primarily responsible for the government's relationship t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, one of the immediate things that need to happen is that the government needs to immediately introduce a foreign agents registry so that we can debate it here in the House and get it adopted as quickly as possible. The government also needs to expel Mr. Wei Zhao, a diplomat located at the consulate on St. George Street in Toronto. Now that this information is public, the government, …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I have just been informed by the national security adviser that the CSIS intelligence assessment of July 20, 2021 was sent by CSIS to the relevant departments and to the national security adviser in the PCO. This report contained information that I and other MPs were being targeted by the PRC. This contradicts what the Prime Minister said yesterday. He said that “CSIS made the determi…
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Mr. Speaker, members of the government said, earlier today in the House, that I had known for two years about the specific threat that a PRC diplomat in Toronto was gathering information to target my family. That is false. I will categorically state again for the record that the briefing of two years ago, in June 2021, was general in nature. It did not contain any information about the specific th…
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Mr. Speaker, I have just been informed by the—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is not new information that the PRC is targeting the families of Canadians in the PRC to coerce and intimidate Canadians here on Canadian soil. That is not new information. We have known for years that the PRC uses these coercive tactics, in democracies like Canada, to intimidate citizens in these democracies into silence or into other actions in order to mould the debate in demo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his very important question. It is beyond belief that the Prime Minister would structure the government in a way that prevents the Prime Minister from knowing what is going on with national security. It is absolutely incredible that the Prime Minister set things up this way. It really shakes me to the core, and should shake Canadians to the core, that, …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister is responsible for ensuring that he sets up the machinery of government and the broad organizational structure of the government to ensure that he is informed about national security issues. The Prime Minister is responsible for the government's relationship to this place, Parliament. The fact that the Prime Minister set things up in such a way that he did not kno…
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Mr. Speaker, CSIS has been advising the government, the departments, the Privy Council Office, the national security adviser and deputy ministers that foreign agents in Canada, foreign diplomats in Canada, are presenting a threat to Canadian MPs in the House of Commons. In fact, the 2022 intelligence report from CSIS today says, “These threat actors must be held accountable for their clandestine a…
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Mr. Speaker, again, Dick Fadden said today the assessment would certainly have been sent to the departments of foreign affairs and public safety and to the Prime Minister's national security adviser. Cherie Henderson, a CSIS assistant director, recently testified, “I can say that we definitely have seen specific cases of hostile activities of states against politicians. In those specific cases, we…
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Mr. Speaker, in reference to the July 2021 intelligence assessment, this morning, the Prime Minister said, “CSIS made the determination that it wasn't something that needed be raised to a higher level”, but former CSIS director Dick Fadden said that the assessment would certainly have been sent to the Department of Public Safety, the Department Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister's national sec…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a question of privilege, further to the notice that I gave earlier today concerning revelations published in The Globe and Mail yesterday. These concern efforts by a diplomat of the People's Republic of China, accredited by the Government of Canada, to target me and my family as a consequence of my February 22, 2021 vote on the Conservative opposition day motion, which …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the government has had 24 hours to get some basic facts about PRC diplomats targeting of MPs, but here is my question. On September 10, 2019, the public safety minister issued a directive to CSIS ordering the service to inform the minister of any matter or action of interest to the minister. When was the public safety minister or his office first made aware that a PRC diplomat, Mr. We…
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Mr. Speaker, the directive of September 10, 2019, is clear. It says: The Service has a duty to inform the Minister of any such matter as is relevant to enable the Minister to fulfill the Minister’s accountabilities as outlined in the CSIS Act. In general terms, the Minister expects to be consulted or informed regarding any action on which a Deputy Head would normally involve his or her Minister. M…
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Mr. Speaker, our economy is stagnating, and that is not just in the last year or two, that has been going on for years. Let me explain. Average per capita gross domestic product is stagnating. In other words, average national income has not been growing. Per capita output has not increased in years. In fact, last year it was roughly the same as it was five years ago, in 2017. Flat per capita outpu…
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Mr. Speaker, not once in my speech did I mention government debt or deficits. I focused on our declining standard of living. In the five-year period from 2017 to 2021, economic output per capita was flat. We have not had any per capita growth, and that is why Canadians are struggling to pay the bills. The government has focused its economic agenda on consumption rather than investment. In the long…
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Mr. Speaker, I come from an agricultural riding that has many dairy and beef farms and farms that produce hay and other agricultural products. I really understand the importance of our agricultural sector and our farmers. Agriculture is one of the few sectors in the Canadian economy that is a free trade sector and not heavily regulated by government, like the banking and telecommunications sectors…
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Mr. Speaker, quite simply, the government is putting roadblocks in the way of constructing purpose-built apartments buildings in this country. It is almost impossible to build a purpose-built apartment building, which is why all the focus is on building owner-occupied dwellings. It is because the government has subsidies for owner-occupied dwellings through CMHC's mortgage insurance, OSFI's regula…
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Mr. Speaker, during the pandemic, Canadians had to wait hours in line to apply for passports. With the delays, it then took four or five months for Canadians to obtain those passports, and by last August, the backlog had reached 340,000 Canadians. The pandemic ended, and Canadians thought things would finally get back to normal. However, they failed to take into account the competence of the gover…
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Mr. Speaker, when the object over Canadian airspace was shot down by an American F-22 on February 11, the defence minister said at the time that the process was sound and that it was NORAD doing what it is supposed to do. Yesterday, The Washington Post reported that, according to the Pentagon's assessment, Canada's military response was delayed by one hour, necessitating U.S. assistance. How does …
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Mr. Speaker, according to The Washington Post, the Prime Minister privately told NATO officials that Canada will never meet the military alliance's defence-spending target. However, that is not what the Prime Minister is telling Canadians publicly. Instead, he is saying that Canada is a reliable partner to NATO and a reliable partner around the world. How does the Prime Minister square his private…
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All that has happened, Mr. Speaker, to this point is that the RCMP has parked police cars at these illegal stations, and that is not good enough. The government has had years to counter what CSIS has called a serious national threat to the security of Canada, but nothing has happened: no prosecution of anyone involved with these illegal foreign interference activities; no prosecution of anyone for…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the FBI arrested two individuals connected to the PRC's foreign interference threat activities. The FBI said that one of the individuals was connected to the illegal police stations that the PRC established in Canada. Why does it take the FBI to take action to protect Canadian sovereignty on Canadian soil?
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Madam Speaker, in the year before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Canada was spending 1.28% of GDP on defence. According to NATO last week, in the year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Canada has spent 1.29% of GDP. I read the budget document, but I could not find any information about defence expenditure as a per cent of GDP over the next five years. Will the government commit to providing this …
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Madam Speaker, members of this House have worked for years on funding and governance for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. As a result, the budget last year promised $44.9 million to DFO for the commission. However, every step of the way it seems like DFO is obstructing the will of Parliament. Last year, it dragged its heels in transferring that money to the commission. When will the President o…
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Mr. Speaker, again, for the 11th time, on what date did the Prime Minister first learn about the allegation that a Liberal MP suggested to Han Tao, the PRC's consul general in Toronto, that the PRC delay the release of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, on November 7, the first report appeared about the PRC's interference in our elections. Since then, 19 weeks have passed. Since then, hundreds of questions have been asked in question period, in debate and in committee. Despite these hundreds of questions, despite 19 weeks having passed, the Prime Minister has not told us much of anything. The government has responded with non-answers…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I believe that the government needs to provide us with more information. I believe that is a problem here in Ottawa. We could even say that this place is information-free compared to the capitals of other G7 countries. It is a huge problem with the lack of transparency and information. It is very difficult to find out from the government whether or…
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Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. According to reports in The Globe and Mail around the time of the 2021 federal election, CSIS outlined a sophisticated strategy to disrupt our democracy and back the re-election of the Liberal Party and the Liberal government. Has the Prime Minister ever been briefed on the activities of Beijing or its affiliates in support of the Liberal Party i…
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Mr. Speaker, these are serious questions that I think the public deserves real answers to, so I will ask another question I hope the government can answer. CSIS documents obtained by The Globe and Mail suggest that Beijing's consulate in Vancouver took credit for the defeat of at least two Conservative candidates in the 2021 election. Was the Prime Minister or any other member of the government ev…
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Mr. Speaker, the government can introduce all the legislation it wants and Parliament can adopt all the legislation the government presents. The government can introduce all the regulation it wants and it can sign all the treaties it wants. However, if it does not operationalize that legislation, does not operationalize those regulations and does not put into effect those treaties, it is all for n…
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Mr. Speaker, the government does not need new legislation. It has immense powers under existing framework legislation. It has immense powers under the Customs Tariff Act and its regulations. The government needs to get its hands dirty and figure out exactly what it needs to do to empower the Canada Border Services Agency officers to interdict these shipments. It needs to sit down with frontline of…
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