Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Natural Resources promised that Canada would “do its part” to help release oil reserves in order to stabilize the market, but Canada does not have a strategic oil reserve, in part because of Liberal energy policies that have kept Canadian oil and gas in the ground. Conservatives have proposed a strategic oil stockpile that would allow us to fuel our friends abroad, pow…
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Mr. Speaker, we should be extracting those reserves out of the ground and exporting them to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the Liberals have killed the northern gateway pipeline, the Keystone XL pipeline, the energy east pipeline, all of which could be exporting Canadian oil at $100 a barrel to the rest of the world. How much higher does the price have to go before the Liberals flip-flop ag…
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Mr. Speaker, last month during the Prime Minister's visit to Beijing, he announced that he finally had a deal to roll back that country's tariffs on Canadian canola. He even had a grandiose signing ceremony with Xi Jinping in front of Canadian and Chinese flags. Yesterday, however, the Chinese announced that they were postponing their decision until March 9. Is Beijing backing out of the deal, or …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have said many times now that the Canada groceries and essentials benefit would help 12 million Canadians, but what about the other 28 million Canadians who are struggling with rising grocery prices? Why not adopt policies that will bring down the cost of groceries for all Canadians, such as cancelling the industrial carbon tax, the federal fuel standard or unnecessary fo…
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Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada has confirmed what Canadians already know: Food inflation is up 6.2%, and it is getting harder and harder for people to fill their shopping carts with groceries. The Liberal fuel standard adds 7¢ to every litre of gas. That is going up to 17¢ by 2030, and this drives up higher prices at the grocery store. Conservatives would be more than happy to work with the Libera…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, last year I met with Holly Laird, executive director of the Regina Farmers' Market, whose organization had developed a program that was both inspiring and depressing. The Regina Farmers' Market had partnered with the YWCA to hand out food coupons so that families could afford to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. While it is inspiring to see neighbours helping neighbours, it is depressi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to present a petition today on behalf of members of the Saskatchewan Brain Injury Association. Approximately 2,200 people suffer a new acquired brain injury every year in Saskatchewan, with about 150 of those requiring significant long-term support. The most common causes of acquired brain injuries include strokes, falls and motor vehicle accidents…
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Mr. Speaker, in last month's budget, the finance minister said he made tough decisions to find savings, so I was surprised and disappointed to learn that the CEO of Farm Credit Canada racked up $300,000 in travel expenses this year and last year. Furthermore, almost all of those expenses were within Canada, to talk with FCC employees at their offices. Why can the FCC not spend $20 on a Zoom subscr…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to present a petition here today on behalf of concerned residents of Regina and southern Saskatchewan. The petitioners are concerned about the Liberal government's plan to ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. They say the plan is unrealistic due to the lack of capacity in this country's electricity grid, and the result wil…
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Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, the Prime Minister said he would be elbows up when dealing with the existential crisis of Trump's tariffs. Now months after failing to negotiate a win, he is saying, “Who cares?” Well, I will tell members who cares. Conservatives care, and so do the 1,200 steelworkers at Interpro Pipe and Steel in Regina, whose jobs are under threat because of this trade …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I agree with a lot of what the member had to say about the need to diversify our export markets and increase non-U.S. exports. For many years, Conservatives have been saying that the northern gateway pipeline project would be a welcomed way to increase our non-U.S. exports. In order for that project to move forward, the Liberals would have to repeal Bill C-48, the west coast tanker ba…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, from 1932 to 1933, millions of Ukrainians perished in the Holodomor, a man-made famine deliberately engineered by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. For many years, Saskatchewan's Holodomor memorial stood in Regina's Wascana Park, with the reproduction of the iconic Bitter Memories of Childhood statue as its centrepiece. Unfortunately, over time, the Saskatchewan winters took their toll a…
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Mr. Speaker, the Northern Gateway pipeline was going to diversify Canada's export markets by selling Canadian oil and gas to the world, but the Liberals killed that project with Bill C-48, the west coast tanker ban, which keeps Canadian oil and gas landlocked. Worse still, the Liberals' tanker ban applies to Canadian ships only, not American ones. If American ships can export American oil through …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to present a petition today on behalf of members of Regina's Jamaican community who are concerned about the devastating effects of hurricane Melissa, which recently struck that island. Of particular concern is the major damage the hurricane caused to hospitals in Jamaica. The petitioners have come up with a very innovative suggestion, which is to s…
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Mr. Speaker, the benefits to society from our natural resource sector far outweigh the costs. I would like to point out that the Government of Saskatchewan's annual budget gets 10% to 15% of its revenues every year from natural resource royalties. If my hon. colleague is suggesting the federal Liberal government should have less to do with oil and gas companies and should get out of the way, I wou…
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, we are seeing more of the same from the Liberals on this budget, which is the continuation of 10 years of poor leadership. This is, of course, going to lead to higher costs at the grocery store and higher costs for Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet. I would like to quote our former prime minister, Justin Trudeau, if I may, from just five years ago. He said,…
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Mr. Speaker, what I have found so troubling about the Liberals over the years is they constantly want to play a shell game when it comes to the budget. It used to be that they were going to balance the budget come hell or high water, when Paul Martin was prime minister, and then they changed their tune to say that it was not going to be balanced but was going to be a portion of the debt-to-GDP rat…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and a privilege to rise today, but before I get too far into the details of the budget implementation act, I would be remiss if I did not provide the House with at least a bit of an update on the Saskatchewan Roughriders Grey Cup celebrations, which have been going on all week in Regina and right across Saskatchewan. Fans of the green and white poured into the streets …
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Madam Speaker, an agreement was finally reached last night at the APEC summit in South Korea. Unfortunately the agreement was between the United States and China, but not Canada, to reduce tariffs. The Prime Minister flew to Asia, met with the Chinese President and had a nice photo op, but there is still no deal. In this international game of Deal or No Deal, why is it always no deal for Canada fr…
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Madam Speaker, it is not just Chinese canola tariffs that are punishing Canadian farmers. India has slapped a 30% tariff on Canadian peas and a 10% tariff on lentils. Canada cannot export beef to the United Kingdom, but the U.K. can and does export beef to Canada. When will the Prime Minister finally stop with the photo ops and finally get a deal for Canadian producers?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to present a petition today on behalf of many Pakistani Canadians who are concerned about the arbitrary detention of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and the fate of his supporters. Signers of the petition believe that free and fair elections in Pakistan remain a distant hope after widespread reports of the massive rigging of last year'…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Remembrance Day is all about thanking Canada's war veterans and remembering those who never came home. Sadly, Canada's Second World War veterans are getting fewer and fewer in number. Recently, Regina lost its last remaining World War II veteran. “Ossie” Lakness enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1943, shortly after his 20th birthday. He went on to serve as a quartermaster on the …
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Mr. Speaker, before the election, the Prime Minister said he could solve Canada's economic woes because he has a plan. This week, he finally revealed that plan to a roomful of young people. It turns out that the plan is that young people have to make sacrifices by giving on the dream of home ownership, paying higher prices at the grocery store and spending all summer unemployed. If this was the Pr…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to present a petition today on behalf of concerned residents of Regina and southern Saskatchewan. The signatories of the petition are concerned about a recent finance committee recommendation to revoke the charitable status of religious organizations. They feel that faith-based charities do good work in our communities, as secular charities do, and…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, the Prime Minister promised to “Build, baby, build.” He promised to fast-track nation-building projects and that these projects would be built at a speed not seen in generations. He said he was committed to “building the strongest economy in the G7”. Unfortunately, most of us thought he was talking about the Canadian economy, not the United States'. When …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more frustrating than world leaders from Germany, Greece, Poland and other countries saying they would like to buy Canadian oil and gas so they can stop buying from Russia and dictators in the Middle East, and the response from the Liberals being that there is no business case for oil and gas exports to Europe or other allies around the world. There is nothing more fr…
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Mr. Speaker, it is interesting how the Liberals keep moving the goalposts. I remember when Paul Martin was prime minister. The goalposts were to balance the budget “come hell or high water”. A few years later, the Liberals said they were not going to balance the budget, but it would be a function of GDP. They would keep it under a certain percentage of GDP. Now they are talking about separating th…
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Mr. Speaker, this reminds me of the elementary school student who comes home with an F on his report card and says to his mom and dad that other kids flunked their report cards too. It does not mean someone is doing a good job just because they can point out someone who has a record that is just as bad. It is true that governments around the world have struggled with reining in unnecessary spendin…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin my speech this morning with a movie review, if I may. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, is widely considered to be James Cameron's masterpiece, won 11 Oscars and brought in $2 billion at the box office. Of course, I am talking about Titanic. One of the most memorable scenes from that movie is when the ship is first coming up on the iceberg and t…
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Mr. Speaker, Liberal bail has unleashed crime and chaos on our streets. The Liberals' law, Bill C-75, requires courts to release violent career criminals at the earliest opportunity under the least onerous conditions. Just two weeks ago in Regina, a man under a probation order terrorized a neighbourhood by chasing multiple people down the street with a machete. The Prime Minister promised to flip-…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised criminal justice reform, but half a year later he has broken that promise. Liberals are obstructing the jail not bail act from passing, keeping in place Liberal soft-on-crime, catch-and-release laws. Because of lax Liberal bail laws, homicides are up nearly 30%, auto theft is up 25% and sexual assaults are up 76%. Today, Conservatives are proposing to pass …
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Mr. Speaker, it is my deep honour today to welcome the Balfour family to Ottawa. James, Heather and Taylor are visiting us today all the way from Regina, Saskatchewan. Today is the birthday of their late daughter Rachel, who was killed when she was poisoned by fentanyl in 2019. Every year, the Balfour family tries to do something meaningful to remember and honour Rachel on her birthday. This year,…
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Mr. Speaker, in the not too distant past, the Liberal Party used to be the party of fiscal responsibility. I remember when former finance minister Paul Martin promised to balance the budget “come hell or high water”. Now Liberal deficits are causing inflation, and Canadians are paying the price. My question for the current finance minister is this: How much is this year's budget deficit, and will …
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comparison, but I did not hear an answer in all of that. In last year's fall economic statement, the budget deficit was $62 billion. A deficit of $62 billion was so embarrassing that the finance minister had to resign that morning rather than deliver the bad news. I will ask the current finance minister again, how much is this year's budget deficit, and how high does …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to processing times for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: what is the current average processing time for (i) temporary residence - Seasonal Agricultural Worker, (ii) temporary residence - International Experience Canada, (iii) economic immigration (all subcategories), (iv) family sponsorship (all sub-categories), (v) refugees - dependents of Protected Persons, (vi) humani…
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With regard to the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Investment Tax Credit and the requirement to submit a project plan to Natural Resources Canada and be issued an initial project evaluation for each qualified Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage project: (a) how many project plans have been submitted to Natural Resources Canada to date regarding the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and St…
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Mr. Speaker, last week alone, the Regina Police Service responded to 54 suspected overdoses, including four fatalities. According to multiple news reports, fentanyl is suspected in most if not all of these cases. The crisis has gotten so bad that the provincial Ministry of Health has issued an overdose alert for Regina. When will the Liberals finally crack down on organized crime and mass fentanyl…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, many Canadians are struggling with the ever-increasing cost of groceries, record food bank use and rising unemployment. However, one group of Canadians is not struggling at all, namely the Liberal-friendly insiders at GC Strategies. This two-person company billed taxpayers for $64 million over 106 contracts, often for work that was never done. However, GC Strategies did not act alone.…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, let me say congratulations on your new role in the Speaker's chair. I know that is something you have been wanting to do for quite some time, and I am very confident that you will do very well in your new role. As this is my first speech in the 45th Parliament, I would like to take a minute to thank the voters of Regina—Wascana for electing me for a third time to represent their inter…
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Mr. Speaker, over the last 10 years, the Liberal government's debt and deficits have been out of control. The Prime Minister said that his government had a plan to cap its spending increase at 2% and to cut expensive government consultants, but now the Liberals want to quadruple that spending increase and spend 36% more on consultants, all without any accountability. Why are the Liberals spending …
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Madam Speaker, the leader of the party that used to represent workers now props up a government that raises the carbon tax, makes homes unaffordable, has lost control of the deficit and lets crime run loose on our streets. On Monday's vote, will the Prime Minister continue to hide behind the NDP or will he finally call a carbon tax election?
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Madam Speaker, the fact is “the Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people”. Those are the words of the NDP leader, who continues to betray Canadians by propping up the failed Liberal government. The leader of the party that used to represent workers now props up a government that raises the carbon tax, makes homes unaffordable—
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, when a child becomes sick, it takes a terrible toll on the entire family. This burden becomes so much greater by the fact that hospitals with pediatric services are often located a significant distance from the family's home. This is where Ronald McDonald House Charities steps in to provide accommodations, meals, peer support and other services to the entire family while their child i…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I take considerable exception to the hon. member's statement that I never stand up for or speak about Regina—Wascana. During the pandemic, Nav Canada was planning to shut down the air traffic control tower at Regina International Airport. I advocated to keep it open. During the RCMP mass casualty—
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Madam Speaker, where do I begin? I would say that the voters of Regina—Wascana do not like it when $400 million of taxpayer money disappears. I do not know why the hon. member from Edmonton would think that would possibly be okay. As for the biography he obviously read about my parents on my website, yes, my parents are retired teachers. If the hon. member is interested in schools and education po…
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Madam Speaker, I have never had that conversation with my leader, but if the hon. member or members of the government feel strongly about this issue, they can make it part of their legislative agenda. If they have ideas about enhanced security clearances that should be in place for any member of Parliament, they can table a bill to that effect. In the meantime, we must deal with the situation that…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for all the good advocacy she does on behalf of her constituents. It really is reminiscent of the Watergate scandal of the 1970s in the sense that there always seems to be more to this story and this scandal. As I mentioned in my speech, it is not just $400 million. That was just the sample the Auditor General audited, so it is highly probable t…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, what I am hearing from my constituents is that they have had enough of all of the Liberal scandals. I enumerated quite a few of them during my speech, whether it was SNC-Lavalin, the “other Randy” scandal or the ArriveCAN app. They all just blur together, and people say they have lost confidence in the government and in the Liberals. It is time to call an election, send the Liberals…
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Madam Speaker, Canada's economy grew at a rate nearly 10 times slower than the economy of the United States in the last quarter. This week, U.S. President-elect Trump announced that he was considering a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada. This would be devastating to our economy because we export more goods and services to the United States than to the rest of the world combined. What is the go…
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Madam Speaker, it sounds like the government has no plan to deal with the United States, and Canadians continue to get poorer. Today, Statistics Canada reported that Canada's GDP per capita has declined for six quarters in a row. The situation will only get worse if the U.S. follows through on its threat to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada. Since the Prime Minister has no plan to dea…
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