Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I could not agree with my colleague more. In fact, what is going on right now often reminds me of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s where the duly elected and recognized government of Spain, the republican government of Spain, was under threat from the nationalists, from a civil war and a coup d'état that had erupted, led by Spanish generals. Spanish republicans pleaded to western demo…
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Mr. Chair, I just have a comment for the member, whom I have known for a number of years now. Russia's military is not the only hard power tool that it has to intimidate Europe and Ukraine. It can also use energy as a weapon. It supplies 40% of Europe's natural gas, and if it cuts off natural gas supplies to Europe, people will freeze, industries will shut down and European GDP will plummet. The B…
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Mr. Speaker, last week, the government sent a strongly worded letter to U.S. senators about the electric vehicle tax credit and its devastating impact on the Ontario auto industry, but the same government has not contacted Democratic Senator Joe Manchin who, three weeks ago, called on President Biden to approve Keystone XL even though the Canadian oil and gas industry contributes six times more to…
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Mr. Speaker, this government says that it stands up for all sectors, it says that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian, but it acts like a government of the Laurentians not a government of Canada. When Ontario's auto industry is threatened, it stands to attention, but the softwood lumber and Keystone XL issues languish for years. When is this government going to stand up for all Canadians and al…
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Madam Speaker, the government's failure to properly oversee and regulate Canada's banking system and its failure to properly manage fiscal policy are the two reasons Canadian families are struggling with skyrocketing housing prices and why Canadian families are burdened with record high levels of household indebtedness. The government is also putting the stability of our financial system at risk. …
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Madam Speaker, we are proposing constructive solutions to the housing crisis we are facing. The government is not coming forward with anything constructive to deal with what is a real crisis. The government has overseen a regulatory system in our financial sector that is putting households at risk, which is leading to skyrocketing housing prices, and it is also overseeing fiscal policies that have…
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Madam Speaker, quite simply, here is the problem: The government's affordable housing measures are a drop in the bucket given the challenge that Canadian households are facing. Household debt in this country, largely made up of mortgage credit debt, has skyrocketed from about $1.9 trillion the first year the government was in office to $2.6 trillion in the most current year. That is a $700-billion…
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Madam Speaker, I agree. We need more affordable housing in this country. However, no matter how much money the government puts into affordable housing programs in this country, it is not going to address the underlying problem, which is our skyrocketing levels of household indebtedness and skyrocketing housing prices. Governors of the Bank of Canada only have one or two tools at their disposal to …
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Madam Speaker, the motion calls on the government to look at freeing up 15% of federal real estate. The member opposite keeps talking about parks. We are not referring to parks in our country, which all Canadians treasure and want to protect. We are talking about real estate like the federal government building at Front and Bay Street in downtown Toronto. It is a five-story building right next to …
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Madam Speaker, the way the western alliance left Afghanistan this past summer is a betrayal of the legacy of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the NATO alliance who fought in the war in Afghanistan for freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Some 3,500 men and women from NATO coalition forces paid the ultimate sacrifice and died, including 158 Canadian men and women in uniform and one diplo…
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Madam Speaker, I believe the government should focus on practical measures it can take to evacuate Afghans from Afghanistan. One I mentioned to my colleague from the Bloc is for the Government of Canada to démarche with the Government of Qatar in order to impress on the Government of Qatar the need for the Taliban to release some of these persecuted minorities and to release Afghan allies who assi…
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Madam Speaker, I will respond to the second part of the hon. member's question first. The motion is reasonable in calling for the government to hand over to the law clerk unredacted documents, because the motion, in one of the earlier clauses, specifies the government is also to hand over the proposed redactions it believes to be injurious to national security so the law clerk knows what the gover…
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Madam Speaker, to help Afghan refugees, the government could approach the Government of Qatar, which has diplomatic relations with the Taliban. The Government of Canada could ask the Qatar government to insist that the Taliban protect refugees and allow them to leave Afghanistan to come to Canada. This is just one diplomatic tool the government could use to improve the situation.
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Madam Chair, I will move to questions on China. The government has started to use the term “Indo-Pacific” recently. It is reported that the government is coming forward with a new policy on China. Could the minister tell the House when that new policy will be forthcoming?
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Madam Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Calgary Forest Lawn. My first question is on Afghanistan. Many Afghans are trying to flee the country. The state of Qatar has a unique and special relationship with the Taliban. Has the government had a démarche with the state of Qatar to request that it intervene with the Taliban to allow persecuted minorities and Afghans who assisted C…
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Madam Chair, I have a question on Ukraine. Russia has amassed some 90,000 troops at the Ukraine border. Bloomberg News reported today that President Biden will call the leaders of France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany to talk about the situation in Ukraine. Bloomberg News also reports that the president is going to call Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Canada has troops in Ukraine under Oper…
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Madam Chair, I have a couple of questions on our bilateral relationship with the United States. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission issue has been unresolved for six years. Thirteen U.S. senators and members of the House of Representatives have written twice to the Canadian government on this issue. The finance committee, under former MP Wayne Easter, issued two reports two years in a row recommend…
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Madam Chair, President Biden has said in recent weeks that the U.S. needs more oil. In fact, he has called on OPEC on several occasions to pump more oil, even threatening consequences if it does not. He has recently authorized the release of 50 million barrels from the strategic reserves in the United States, and has coordinated with Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, India and even China to …
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Madam Chair, I believe two weeks ago today, the most powerful senator, in my view, in Washington, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, called on the President to reverse his decision on Keystone XL in light of the President's desire to see more oil enter the United States. Has any member of the government contacted Senator Manchin to discuss his statement on this issue two weeks ago an…
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Madam Chair, on the Olympics, last week, the U.K. government indicated no ministers would be attending the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. Yesterday, President Biden indicated that the administration would be implementing a diplomatic boycott of the games. Is the government going to do the same? When will it make a decision?
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Madam Chair, the government joined the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2018 and it is now a member. Last June, the bank left the door open to funding the military junta in Myanmar. As a member of the bank, has the government voiced its opposition to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to funding the military junta in Myanmar?
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Mr. Speaker, the United States is short on oil. President Biden has said he wants oil production increased. He has called on OPEC to pump more. He has released the petroleum reserve, and he has coordinated with other countries, but not Canada, to release their reserves. Last week, the most powerful senator in Washington, Democrat Joe Manchin, called on President Biden to approve Keystone XL. Did t…
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Mr. Speaker, under the government, our relationship with Washington has declined. Our closest trading partner and ally needs more oil. How did we get into the ridiculous situation where the President is pleading with OPEC to pump more oil, where the President has ordered 50 million barrels to be released from the strategic petroleum reserve, and where the President is coordinating with countries s…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, Canadian doctor David Card was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics last month for his pioneering empirical approach. He shares the prize with two other economists. David, the son of Yvonne and the late Ted Card, grew up on a dairy farm in Wellington County, just down the road from where I grew up. In fact, we both worked at different times for the same farmers long ago. He is now a p…
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that Canada’s standing in Washington has declined. The Prime Minister committed to a renewed relationship with the Biden administration. Instead, we got electric vehicle tax credits that threaten our auto jobs, stringent buy American policies, measures targeting our dairy farmers, actions against pipelines that have contributed to skyrocketing energy prices and now a doubl…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister could not get a phone call with the President to informally resolve Line 5. Instead, he had to formally invoke a treaty to get a meeting with the White House. The Prime Minister visited Washington last week, and instead of coming home with some issues resolved, he came home with a doubling of the softwood lumber tariffs. It is clear the Prime Minister does not have …
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Mr. Speaker, I have a very short intervention on this point. I believe that the issue in front of us regarding privilege and regarding your ruling earlier this week in finding a prima facie case of privilege with respect to the government's failure to obey the June 2 order of the House as well as the new information that has come to light today that the federal government has gone to court to seal…
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Mr. Speaker, the pandemic has laid bare the state of our institutions. There is no governor general because of scandal. Eight senior leaders of the Canadian Armed Forces have resigned or have been forced out. We have military procurement systems that cannot procure, and we have payroll systems that cannot pay. We have a government that thought it appropriate a year ago to introduce legislation tha…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is disobeying four binding orders of the House and its committee. The situation is getting worse by the day. Through its disobedience, the government is verging on defying the rule of law. What hope do we have as a democracy to counter the rise of authoritarianism if our own government undermines our democracy and the rule of law?
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Mr. Speaker, why do Canadians send 338 of their fellow citizens to this chamber if its decisions are ignored? Why do we spend $400 million a year on Parliament if our votes do not mean anything? Why are we spending billions of dollars on the buildings in this precinct if the processes and procedures here do not amount to anything? Why do we vote to adopt orders if the government is going to ignore…
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Mr. Speaker, I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move: That Mr. Iain Stewart be dismissed from the bar of the House.
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Mr. Speaker, we once lived in a country where the Governor in Council ignored the will of the elected legislature. We once lived in a country where the executive council ignored the will of the legislative assembly. We once lived in a country where the chief minister and the cabinet ignored Parliament. That was a country long ago. That was a country some 18 decades ago and it was that ignorance of…
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Mr. Speaker, orders of the House and its committees are binding and must be complied with, just like Canadians have had to comply with public health orders about quarantining. Your ruling yesterday made it clear the government was defying three orders of the House and its special committee. Will the government now comply with these orders and deliver the unredacted documents to the law clerk befor…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not playing games. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Minister of Health has been telling Canadians to do what public health tells them to do. However, she insists on not doing what the House is asking her to do, and that is to submit the documents regarding the Winnipeg lab. Does the government not understand that it is undermining the rule of law when it tells Canadians t…
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Mr. Speaker, the pandemic has laid bare the truth about our institutions; they are weak and mediocre. We have no Governor General because of scandal; the former clerk resigned in scandal; eight senior leaders of the Canadian Armed Forces have been forced out. We have a military procurement that cannot procure and payroll systems that cannot pay. Now we have a Parliament that cannot do its job, bec…
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Mr. Speaker, there is no reason the government cannot answer the following question. President Biden directed U.S. intelligence to determine whether the pandemic originated from human contact with an animal or from a lab accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Last weekend, the G7 discussed this issue, and the government pledged co-operation. Given that government scientists at the Canadian l…
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Mr. Speaker, we know from public documents and peer-reviewed academic papers that a Chinese military scientist, Feihu Yan, of the People's Liberation Army worked at the Winnipeg lab, a level 4 facility where the world's most dangerous viruses and pathogens are handled. Who approved this individual to work at the government's lab in Winnipeg?
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Mr. Speaker, the minister did not answer my question. I will try another. During this pandemic, the health minister has been telling Canadians to follow public health orders, yet the health minister continues to defy a House order to hand over documents about the Winnipeg lab. Does the minister not see how corrosive this is to the rule of law, when she tells Canadians to comply with public health …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, Conservative members on the committee are presenting a supplementary recommendation to the Subcommittee on International Human Rights' report on the Canadian ombudsman for responsible enterprise, CORE. The committee heard expert witnesses that expressed concerns about CORE, in particular its advisory capacity, its potential conflicts of interest and its effectiveness and jurisdictio…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, the motion on the floor of the House tonight asks the House to find the Public Health Agency of Canada to be in contempt for its failure to obey three orders, one being an order of the House and the other two being orders of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, and to order the president of the Public Health Agency of Canada to appear at the bar of the House to receive a…
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Madam Speaker, I think it is clear that the government is delaying and obfuscating. It is clear the government is trying to cover this entire matter up and I base it on the following evidence. Initially, as the member for St. John's East pointed out, the government hid behind the excuse of the Privacy Act and the protection of personal information. Then it shifted its argument and started to make …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my Bloc Québécois colleague for his question. He also attended the meeting on Monday night, and over three hours we did not get any answers to our questions. That we did not get any answers to our questions I think demonstrates a profound lack of respect for Parliament, a profound lack of respect for our parliamentary democracy. If we watch committees of other legislatures a…
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Madam Speaker, I am very worried about the future of our country. Our institutions have been weakened in recent years and all Canadians should be very alarmed at the state of these institutions. I have never seen institutions so weak in my lifetime and possibly never so weak in our history as they are now. We do not have a governor general because the previous governor general resigned due to scan…
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Madam Speaker, I do believe there is a pattern here, a pattern of contempt for Parliament from the Government of Canada. I am often shocked at the lack of knowledge the government has about Parliament and its function within our system. The member notes the government's failure to provide the documents ordered to be given to the health committee. We are now seized with the issue of the documents t…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is not answering my questions, so I will ask this again. We know from peer-reviewed academic papers, which are public documents, that a Chinese military scientist, Feihu Yan, of the People's Liberation Army, was granted access to work in the government's Winnipeg lab, a level 4 facility where the world's most dangerous viruses are handled. How did this individual gain a…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is still not answering the questions. I have another question. According to the WHO's director general, the G7 discussed the Wuhan lab leak theory last weekend. President Biden has directed U.S. intelligence agencies to report back in late August on whether the pandemic came from human contact with an animal or from a lab accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Giv…
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Mr. Speaker, Dr. Matthew Gilmour, head of the government's Winnipeg lab, raised serious concerns about the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He questioned the nature of its work, whether it could be trusted and why materials were being shipped from Winnipeg to Wuhan. He asked why they would work with the Wuhan lab in the first place. On May 15 last year, only eight weeks into the global pandemic, he su…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a PMO committee, not a parliamentary committee. Its members are hired and fired by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister can deny the committee information and order changes to reports. It is not the place to hold the government accountable; this place is. We do not know why Dr. Gilmour resigned. We do not know why Dr. Qiu and Dr. Cheng were fired. We do not know how a scient…
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Mr. Speaker, when I sat on the other side of the House, I stood up publicly on numerous occasions and called on the government to be accountable to the House of Commons and its committees. I did in government what I am doing in opposition, something the Prime Minister is not doing. I have a very simple but serious question for the Prime Minister. The government expects Canadians to uphold the rule…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, Conservative, Bloc Québécois and New Democratic members of the committee find ourselves in the unusual position of presenting the views of the majority of the committee members in a supplementary report. I note, in general terms, that committee rules allow any MP unlimited time to debate a draft report. The committee heard expert testimony on the government's failure to repatriate Can…
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