Parliamentary Speeches

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the weather is getting cool and people are starting to turn on the heat. Millions of Canadians rely on oil and propane to heat their homes. The costs of those fuels, however, have skyrocketed. It now costs upwards of $5,000, $6,000 or even $7,000 a winter to heat their home. The government has now put on top of that a carbon tax that will cost upwards of $400 to $500 a winter. People …

Madam Speaker, it is with great sadness that I rise today to reflect, on my part and on behalf of the constituents of Wellington—Halton Hills, on the passing of Her Majesty the Queen. While Queen Elizabeth was our queen and our head of state, she was also a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. My thoughts are with King Charles and with the royal family. During my time as a member of Parl…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I request that it be adopted on division. (Motion agreed to)

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I present a petition signed by 26 constituents in my riding of Wellington—Halton Hills. My presentation of this petition is no reflection of my support or opposition to the petition, but it simply reflects the ancient duty of members of the House to present petitions on behalf of constituents. The petitioners call on Parliament to take action with respect to a statue on Parliament Hil…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, the little guy is losing his shirt. Where are the regulators? House prices doubled in six years, and now they are crashing. Why did regulators not slow the out-of-control growth in mortgage credit? Why did they not stop banks from mortgaging 95% of the value of an asset that had doubled or tripled? Last year, the New York state attorney general banned Bitfinex and Tether from New York…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the public safety minister has said repeatedly that law enforcement recommended that the government invoke the Emergencies Act, but yesterday the emergency preparedness minister said at committee, “I am not aware of any recommendation from law enforcement.” Suspending civil liberties is serious; so is misleading the House. I have a simple question for the Prime Minister: Does he belie…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the public safety minister is putting the government in a very difficult position. He has said the police requested the invocation of the act. Clearly, that is not the case. None of his cabinet colleagues concur with him. Neither does his deputy minister. The minister needs to take some time to reflect on the principle of ministerial accountability and on the integrity of our parliame…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, normally the Department of Foreign Affairs has a list of countries whose national days Canadian officials are not to attend. The list is compiled by departmental officials, but the final decision rests with the minister. Last week, Friday, a Canadian official attended the Russian embassy's celebration. On Friday night, the minister's office concurred with the department, but yesterday…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the Emergencies Act can only be invoked when there is no other law to deal with the situation. It is not clear that this threshold was met. Members of the law enforcement community have said that the threshold was not met, including Chris Lewis, former commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, Ontario's largest police force. When the public safety minister says that an unnamed po…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the minister did not answer the question. Suspending civil liberties is serious. That is why the act can only be invoked when there is no law in Canada to deal with the situation. That is why a committee of Parliament and a public inquiry must be established to determine whether or not the threshold for invocation was met. For the committee and the inquiry to do its work, the governme…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, last week the minister announced yet another delay in the government's Indo-Pacific strategy, announcing the committee to craft this strategy and bypassing the department. Clearly, the government does not think officials are capable of doing this work. Since the department has been cut out of crafting this strategy, which is now in the hands of the government's hand-picked committee, …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, section 48 of the Constitution Act, 1867, requires the presence of 20 members in this House, including the Speaker, in order for business to be conducted.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I am not making a quorum call. I am just making the point that the Constitution Act, 1867, section 48, requires the presence of 20 members. I count the presence, including yourself, of 17 members. Surely, the government would want to ensure that if the process by which this bill were to be adopted in this House were ever to be challenged in court, it would be upheld. That is the sim…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I would like to comment on the supplement to the report of the Special Committee on Afghanistan. Our supplementary report adds the following evidence and observations not included in the main report. While all NATO allies scrambled in the withdrawal and evacuation last August from Afghanistan, Canada performed particularly poorly. The war in Afghanistan was Canada's longest war. Canad…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, on June 18, the Wellington-Halton District Women's Institute will be joining other women's institutes across Ontario to celebrate 125 years. Established in 1897 in Stoney Creek, Ontario, the Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario offers inclusive and supportive social networking for women, community action and the personal growth of women. Women's institutes offer educational program…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, currently, the Prime Minister appoints the Clerk and the Sergeant‑at‑Arms of the House of Commons. Clearly, the Prime Minister is more partisan than the Speaker of the House of Commons. If the Speaker of the House were granted this power, then I am sure that it would enhance the neutrality of these two roles on Parliament Hill.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I am open to eliminating Friday sittings. There are approximately 27 Friday sittings, so if we were to add five or six weeks to the parliamentary calendar to sit until the end of July or even the middle of August, I would very supportive of that. If we sit Monday to Thursday for, let us say, 32 or 33 weeks of the year, I would be very supportive of it. Whatever changes we make, we hav…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, on the first part of the question, which had to do with a secondary chamber, I support the idea of the creation of a secondary chamber. I know in the Palace of Westminster they have Westminster Hall, which is often used for parallel debates that cannot take place in the main chamber. With respect to the House schedule over the year, I do not support reducing the number of days this pl…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, there are three reforms to the Standing Orders and procedure of the House and its committees that the House should consider. First, the Speaker's right of recognition should be restored. The Speaker has effectively lost the right of recognition during many proceedings of this House: during debate, during Oral Questions and during other proceedings of the House. That right of recogni…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles. I am in support of concurring in the fourth report of the Standing Committee of the Public Safety and National Security, which expresses its strong support for Finland's accession and Sweden's accession to the NATO alliance, and which calls on all NATO members to approve their application for NATO member…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, Russia's war in Ukraine has actualized something that was once only theoretical. An authoritarian state led by an autocrat has attacked a democracy: It has demonstrated that it is willing and able to attack a democracy. It has made clear that democracies that stand alone and are not part of military alliances are most vulnerable. That is why it has become necessary to bring both Swe…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I would point out that I have been quite critical in recent years of the government's spending on official development assistance. I noted that in the period from 2016 to 2021, the Government of Canada actually reduced official development assistance by 10% compared with the previous government. Ambassador Bob Rae noted that in the report he did for the government that was posted in…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I think the government needs to manage Canada's relationship with Turkey better than it has been. This government has made a lot of mistakes in managing our relationship with Turkey. It made mistakes with export permits for drone technology, for example. I think it needs to improve its relationship with Turkey. It needs to make it clear to Turkey that we are interested in bringing F…

Routine Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I think that democracies need to work more closely together not just on diplomacy or the military, but also on economic issues. An example of that is precisely in Sweden and Finland. Finland is a global leader in telecommunications technologies. The Scandinavian countries have long produced telecommunications giants, such as Nokia and others, that could help us develop 5G and 6G tec…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, I have two quick questions for the Prime Minister. First, the World Health Assembly will be meeting next week. Does Canada support Taiwan's participation at next week's meeting? Second, the International Civil Aviation Organization's upcoming triennial assembly will be taking place in September. Does Canada support Taiwan's inclusion at that upcoming triennial assembly?

Statements By Members

Mr. Speaker, the past few years have been difficult for many organizations in Wellington—Halton Hills, especially ones that organize local events and fairs. The goods news is that festivals and fairs, markets and shows are coming back this summer, events like the Georgetown Highland Games, which is taking place on June 11. It was established in 1975 and is one of the largest, single-day Highland g…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. The Canada-China relationship is a broad one. There are many issues between our two countries, particularly with respect to economic matters. There is no question that we must pressure the government to develop a policy on companies such as Huawei. For four years now, the government has been saying it will present a policy on Huaw…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs is an appropriate place to study Canada-China relations. The challenge is that that committee is seized with so many other issues. It is seized with the issue of the COVAX facility, for vaccines for developing countries. It is seized with the issue of Ukraine. It is seized with so many other issues. This is the reason why we established the …

Government Orders

moved: That, given that the House recognize that (i) Canadians of Chinese descent have made immeasurable contributions to Canada, (ii) the people of China are part of an ancient civilization that has contributed much to humanity, (iii) the distinction between the people of China and the Chinese state, as embodied by the Communist Party of China and the government of the People's Republic of China,…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. However, I want to clarify one thing: I always intended to move this motion. I am moving it now because the House of Commons Administration did not have the resources to add another special committee until now. However, since the Special Committee on Afghanistan will be completing its work on June 8, there is now an opportunity to create a new co…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the issue of Huawei is one that needs attention. Then public safety minister Ralph Goodale, in May 2019, said that the government would be delivering a decision on Huawei before the 2019 election. Then the government changed its mind on it. Several months later, it said the decision would be coming after the 2019 election. We still have no decision. Last September, the Prime Ministe…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, as vice-chair of the committee, I will respond. Parliament—

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, one of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional relationship between Canada and China is justice. One of the things that this special committee could study, if it were to be established, is the issue of justice between Canada and China. Just yesterday, Canadian Denise Ho was arrested in Hong Kong. On the court of appeal of the high court of Hong Kong sit a number of Canadian, Austral…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the government's lawyers are stuck in Afghanistan. There are 28 of them. They worked for the Canadian embassy, and they are being hunted by the Taliban because they worked for Canada. The foreign affairs department passed along their names to the immigration department so they could escape to freedom and to Canada, but the immigration department has yet to process their applications. …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Canada's mortality rate is not the best in class. Japan, Finland, Australia and many other OECD countries have much lower death rates from COVID. Canada is one of the few remaining countries with domestic air travel restrictions in place. Canadians have endured the isolation of the pandemic and separation from loved ones. We live in a vast country where air travel is often the only wa…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, in March 2020, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions reduced the domestic stability barrier to 1%, thus freeing up an additional $300 billion in capital. The government at the time said that it expected the banks to lend it out, and the banks did loan it out. Mortgage credit has exploded over the last two years of the pandemic, from $1.7 trillion to $2 trillion …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. I think we need to invest more in equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces. It is clear that we have a problem because, after sending only $100 million worth of equipment to Ukraine, the government said it could not give any more, because we have no more equipment to give. It is therefore clear that spending on the Canadian Forces must be i…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague's question highlights an important debt of gratitude and an important debt we all owe, as Canadians, to the veterans who have served this country, both in current and past conflicts. I know that my wife has many members of her family who have contributed to Canada's armed forces and served in uniform in both of the great wars of the 20th century. I would not be her…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, there are no contradictions at all. In fact, when the current government took office on November 5, 2015, it inherited a budget surplus. The previous government had balanced the budget by the time the current government took office. In fact, it then spent an inordinate amount of money until the fiscal year end of March 31, 2016, that actually pushed the country back into deficit. It…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Niagara West. I would like to quote a fiscal Conservative, who stated: Canadians want to know that the principles guiding government are ones that they share. Here are our principles. First, governments created the deficit burden. And so governments must resolve it—by focusing first in their own backyards—by getting spending down, not …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Line 5 is being threatened yet again with another shutdown through an application filed in U.S. federal court. This would cut off gasoline, diesel, propane and jet fuel supplies to Ontario and Quebec. Has the Prime Minister picked up the phone and talked to President Biden to get this matter resolved, or will he have to invoke the 1977 treaty just to talk to the White House about this…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the government says Line 5 is important to the government. It supplies almost half of Ontario and Quebec's energy needs. If it is so important, why is the government not opposing the application made in the U.S. federal court to shut down this pipeline?

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the Emergencies Act is only supposed to be used when there is no other law in Canada able to deal with the situation. It is not clear that threshold was met. When emergency powers are used in a democracy, the question that must be answered is this: “Did the government act lawfully in the invocation of those powers?” To answer that question, Justice Rouleau needs cabinet documents. For…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Canadians need answers about the government's invocation of the Emergencies Act. The key question is whether the invocation of these extraordinary powers met the legal requirements of the act, a question Justice Rouleau and the public inquiry need to answer. In order to do that, Justice Rouleau needs access to documents covered by cabinet confidence. Will the Prime Minister, and will …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, there are reports that some 300 civilian men were massacred last week in Mali by Malian and Russian forces. Only a few short years ago, for a brief moment in time, the government sent hundreds of Canadian troops to Mali and over a hundred million dollars in aid, and then it lost interest. Does the government have any plans to stop future atrocities in Mali seeing that it was once the …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Russia is committing war crimes. Reports from Bucha of civilians shot with hands tied behind their backs and of others dumped in makeshift pits have shocked the world. In response, allies have expelled some 400 Russian diplomats, and President Zelenskyy has pleaded with the Prime Minister for Harpoon systems so that Ukraine can defend itself in the future against these types of massac…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for me to speak to this motion, seeing that I moved the motion but did not speak to it when it was initially moved in the House.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent. President Putin and the Russian Federation are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Reports from Bucha last weekend of dead Ukrainian civilians with their hands bound behind their backs and others buried in makeshift pits have shocked the world, and these war crimes in Bucha are not all …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I think the world before February 2014 was a very different one. We had the peace dividend as a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and many NATO members significantly reduced their defence budgets in the view that Russia no longer presented a threat to the safety and security of Europe. That changed after the Sochi winter Olympics, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Prime Minister Har…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question. She is right. The Canadian Armed Forces has problem with recruitment and needs to recruit more people. That said, according to the NATO report, we also need to increase our military equipment budgets to make sure our military has the tools it needs to do its work here and in Europe.