Parliamentary Speeches
611 speeches by Michelle Rempel Garner — Page 10 of 13
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague is right. Members in this place, including her, know that we had been raising this issue well before the 2021 election when Kabul fell. Members of this place will have the opportunity to talk to their caucuses about a motion in front of the citizenship and immigration committee that would summon these people so they can come to be questioned and held to account by Parli…
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Madam Speaker, can my colleague expand on why the enforcement piece is so important in a bill like this and how this bill is lacking that? In his speech, he also outlined many instances where the government has enforcement tools at its disposal right now but seems to be very reluctant to use them, particularly when it comes to sanctions. What could the government be doing within its existing purvi…
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Madam Speaker, we are not talking about an industry in the case I raised. We are talking about a member of the other place, a sitting parliamentarian; a consultant who was paid for by tax dollars through that parliamentarian's office, as far as I can tell on her expense disclosures; and the former chief of staff to the defence minister. There is also a litany of associates of the government who we…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona raises a good point that the government is woefully lacking an enforcement regime for some of the measures that are undertaken with regard to sanctions. This bill, Bill S-8, would put in place a framework to be able to reject permanent residence, citizenship or refugee applications on the basis of those who are on a sanctions list. I am wonderin…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague opposite, if I understood correctly, just confirmed that there are individuals or extended family members in Canada who perhaps might be on the sanctions regime. How many people does that apply to? How many people who are sanctioned by Canada, that sanctions would apply to, have been allowed into Canada by the government through our current immigration policies?
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, last week, I found out that the government spent $6.7 million in fiscal year 2022 to house 10 people at a Calgary area quarantine hotel, which works out to about $670,000 per person. I asked a very simple question in the House: Was anyone fired for this? The government did not even acknowledge that this was a problem. I want to say why this is a problem, just so that, before I ask t…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, that $670,000 a person on 10 people, that happened after restrictions had been lifted, long after restrictions had been lifted. This program should have been cancelled. The government should have phoned the hotels and said that we cannot afford to waste the same amount of money it would cost to gift a family who is struggling with a house. Nobody did that. It cost our country millio…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, today I am pleased to rise and present petition e-4122, which has received a whopping 20,000-plus signatures from Canadians. That is a significant number of signatures. The petition refers to the government's dog rescue importation ban. It asks the government to work with affected dog rescues and animal rights advocates to ensure that government policy on dog importation keeps Canad…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, we often hear things like “one person cannot make a difference”, but today I would like to share a story about someone who proves otherwise. Yvonne Hazeldean, an immigrant to Canada who ran analytical labs by day and raced cars by night, is a trailblazer who is quietly one of the most influential women in Calgary. Yvonne's persistence has elected dozens of candidates, and then that …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I believe it is imperative for our country that every person in this place agree on one thing: We have to equitably value the labour of child care in all its forms. It is through that principle that I believe people in this place should be considering amendments to this bill. I want to speak about why this bill gets us part of the way but does not talk about the equitable value of the…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order to draw your attention to a procedural matter relating to Question No. 974, which I submitted on November 4, 2022. For the sake of time, I will spare reading the text of the question into the record, but my point of order relates to a passage found on page 523 of Bosc and Gagnon, which states: While oral questions are posed without notice on matters consider…
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Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the paragraph my colleague just alluded to would benefit centres that currently operate on a regular nine-to-five schedule. That is just the reality. If we look to where most of the funding would go, it would be to those centres. If my colleague is concerned and actually wants to address this concern with members of the House, he should suggest an amendment at comm…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, in the last nine months the Liberals spent $6.7 million for just 10 people to stay at a Calgary airport hotel. That is $670,000 per person. There is no justification for this. COVID quarantine restrictions were eased long before this time. That $670,000 could have bought a beautiful home in Calgary, a dream that, after eight years, is out of reach for so many people precisely because …
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Mr. Speaker, I absolutely agree that women should have more opportunity and that overcoming barriers for women to participate in society, writ large, is something this place should be urgently seized with. However, I take issue with the characterization of this bill as providing universal access to child care, because it does not. Not every Canadian who wants to get a spot would get a spot under t…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the list of 70 mining projects provided to U.S. counterparts that Canadian officials believe could warrant U.S. funding that was mentioned in the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) article entitled "U.S. military weighs funding mining projects in Canada amid rivalry with China": (a) what criteria was used to determine which projects were selected for the list; (b) what are the deta…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to hotels contracted to house asylum seekers or refugees in Canada since November 4, 2015: (a) how many hotels has the government contracted for housing asylum seekers or refugees; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by city or municipality; (c) what are the details of all contracts, including, for each, the (i) hotel name, (ii) vendor, if different than hotel name, (iii) amount, (iv) sta…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to federal officials publicly communicating on the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020: (a) broken down by year, how much money was spent on external media training, image consulting, public relations support services, communications professional services, or similar types of service for (i) the Prime Minister, (ii) the Deputy Prime Minister, (iii) the Parliamentary Secretary to the Min…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to government contracts with the Westin Calgary Airport hotel and the Acclaim Calgary airport hotel for the provision of quarantine facilities and accommodations during the COVID-19 pandemic, broken down by location: (a) on what dates were the contracts for each site signed; (b) what was the end date for each contract; (c) how much has the federal government paid to date for all servic…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, startling Environment Canada reports show that Canadian greenhouse gas emissions have dramatically increased under the Liberals. That is because they have failed to build public transit projects that would pull cars off the road. They have failed to provide non-emitting sources of electricity to places that really need it. They have crushed Canadian energy producers who are world lead…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals use the term “misinformation” to try to gaslight anyone who uses facts to counter their narrative, and that is wrong. There is one inconvenient truth that the Liberals want Canadians to forget when it comes to the fight against climate change, and that is that the only government under which Canadian greenhouse gas emissions decreased was the last Conservative government.…
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Mr. Speaker, as I start debate tonight, as other colleagues have done, I want to provide a bit of a warning at the top end of my speech, because what we are discussing here tonight is graphic and should not make anyone comfortable. It should make every person in this country deeply uncomfortable. What we are talking about tonight are the horrendous murders of four indigenous women and countless ot…
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Madam Chair, there is a report that is about three inches thick that was developed by the missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry and it has numerous calls for justice, including specific reforms around establishing trust with the police. Those are the words of first nations women who spent years putting those recommendations together, and the government has not moved on them. Similarly, on …
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Madam Chair, of course we should be providing closure for these families. I understand that there will be questions about logistics and this and that, but we have to understand how difficult it is for first nations and indigenous women in this country. Sometimes I think we prioritize our comfort over their discomfort, and that is why we are here. I know my colleague has spoken about the need for a…
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Madam Chair, I wanted to also raise an issue that I believe my colleague from Hamilton Centre raised. I am really haunted by the thought of the families of these women having to deal with the remains of their loved ones in a landfill. Words matter, and if my question or my comment to try to express that caused any harm, I unreservedly apologize and retract them. However, I think we should be haunt…
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Madam Chair, talk is cheap. We need action. For seven years, the government has talked, and it has spent but I am not sure on what. How many first nations persons across this country still do not have access to basic, clean drinking water? How many first nations persons have no hope of shelter? I feel the government has tokenized first nations and indigenous persons. I feel the lack of seriousness…
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Mr. Speaker, previous speakers have talked about the lack of efficacy in spending on this issue and have alluded to how the government uses spending as an outcome, when we are in here, once again, six months later, having a debate about a tragedy that we should have prevented. I am wondering if my colleague could comment on some of the ideas that have been raised about having independent review bo…
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Mr. Speaker, there are indeed many accomplishments of which first nations and indigenous women in this country can be proud, but that is not for the government to own. In fact, many times it is in spite of the government that these women succeed. Tonight we are here to talk about what the government will do to prevent further murder, further tragedy and further lack of opportunity for these women.…
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Mr. Speaker, the government has said a lot of words over the last seven years, and the government has spent, or claims to have spent, a lot of money, yet here we are. I appreciate the minister's willingness to be non-partisan, but at the end of the day, he is the one who writes the memorandums to cabinet. He is the one who has responsibility for oversight. It is actually his fiduciary responsibili…
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Madam Chair, no they are not, and the plan to make a plan resulted in these four women being in a landfill, in a dump. Are we are just going to sit here and do this again in six months? I hope the next time that people look in a garbage can they think of these women.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, absolutely. We need to stop white supremacy, we need to stop racism and we need to stop misogyny. Yes, of course. How we do that, though, is by not glossing over it when it happens and not turning a blind eye to it when it happens within our own tents. I see a Prime Minister who did not hold himself to the same account that he held others to when he faced allegations of sexual harassm…
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Mr. Speaker, when the government unveiled its housing strategy in 2017, there was $78.5 billion dedicated toward it. The goal was for homelessness to be reduced by half by 2027-28 and by a third within 18 months, so we are long past that. Recently the Auditor General discovered that billions of dollars has been spent and, as of today, the number of people living on the streets in Canada has actual…
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Mr. Speaker, the point I am trying to make is that every Canadian, regardless of age, gender, orientation or background, deserves stability, security and hope for the future. There is nothing in this budget, which the NDP is propping up in a supply development, that addresses long-term economic resiliency for this country. It would not audit spending. It would not look at the effectiveness of hous…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague opposite just talked about government spending. The Auditor General and the PBO have talked about a lot of areas where the government has been ineffective in spending. In fact, I believe there is an article that says: Ottawa spends billions yet the number of homeless in Canada may be rising. An Order Paper question that I had showed that the government spent $400 million …
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Mr. Speaker, in Greek mythology there was a woman called Cassandra, and Cassandra was doomed to know the future and have no one believe her. In fact, I think she met a fairly poor end during the fall of Troy. I am always worried about having Cassandra moments in here, and I hope this is not one of them. I am going to be fairly blunt in this speech. We are in for some dark times as a country. We ar…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pro-outcome for Canadians, and I am against spending that does not deliver those outcomes. For the last several years, we have been in this explicit debt crisis because the Liberal government has never had anyone say to it that it cannot say it spent this amount of money and then assume it fixed the problem. I do not trust the Liberals to spend money and get outcomes. If we just …
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Mr. Speaker, the current form of government is like presenting an eight-track tape player to somebody who wants to play an MP4. When we are looking at resiliency for employment on issues like AI, we have to say that it is already here and ask, “How do we become resilient for employment in that?” We should be focusing on things like training on ethics, training on how we input and use AI, how we ar…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I do have a degree in economics. I want to talk about why this bill is so important and ask the member to reconsider. When Bernie Madoff ran his Ponzi scheme, we did not seek to ban email or ban phones because he used those to lure victims, and we did not try to vilify the entire investment services industry because of one bad actor. What we did was seek to strengthen safeguards to …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Natural Resources Canada’s consultations on “Just Transition” and involving “15 roundtables with experts, unions and industry”, as mentioned on the department’s website: (a) how many stakeholders attended roundtables on these consultations, as of the end of August 2022; (b) what are the details of those who attended each roundtable, including, for each event, the (i) date, (ii) …
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Mr. Speaker, where is the money going to come from? We are broke. I appreciate my colleague's perspective. I agree we need to have good jobs for all Canadians and an innovative look at that, but we are not resilient, and it is because of the spending. We need to make sure we have a resilient economic plan. Money does not grow on trees. We cannot print money forever. Those are realities I would ask…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the mandatory random COVID-19 testing for air travellers arriving in Canada resuming on July 19, 2022: (a) what are the total costs of these services to the government; and (b) what are all the details regarding the contracts signed for these services, including, for each, (i) the name of the vendor, (ii) the value of the contract, (iii) the start and end dates, (iv) the description…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to use this opportunity today to address something that this bill does not look at whatsoever and something I do not think the House has addressed in any form of debate yet. I would encourage my colleagues to listen to me because what I am about to present is something this entire place will be seized with for many years to come. What I am worried about this bill failing …
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Mr. Speaker, I could not have asked for a greater proof point than what the leader of the Green Party of Canada just gave to my argument. Environmental policy is so out of touch; it is so far from being moored in the reality of actually achieving results while ensuring that western democratic values are protected that this is the type of comment we get. The fact that we are debating the bill today…
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Again, Mr. Speaker, that is the point. We are here spending time in debate on something that does not even come close to addressing the greatest environmental challenge and the greatest threat to the global geopolitical order in recent history. This is not a joke. This is not about points of order and whatever. This is about a call to action for every person in this place to understand that our fa…
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Mr. Speaker, it is not good enough. I get where my colleague is coming from, but she is a member of the governing party. As a member of the governing party, she has influence and stature within her caucus to say that the pressure the world is under right now because of our inability to have a stable source of carbon energy at this juncture in history could actually contribute to not just massive c…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, because she is laying out the problem here. Right now, the world does not have the tools it needs to address the issues of food insecurity due to a lack of carbon energy production, particularly in light of the situation in Europe right now as well as those long-term substitute goods. What the member is addressing is the issue of the price inelasticity of carbon.…
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Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleague to talk to the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Finance, who actually holds digital assets, as revealed in his ethics disclosure. I would also invite him to talk to the Minister of Finance, who approved tens of thousands of dollars for a crypto-trading platform in her home riding. The government has talked a big game on the digital economy and now, when…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Banff—Airdrie. It is really hard to talk to people in my community right now because they are really struggling. They are struggling so hard to make ends meet. I was at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago, and I watched a woman from my community in the bakery aisle take a loaf of bread, look at it, put it back on the shelf, take it a…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, 30 years ago the Constitution of the Slovak Republic was adopted. In three short decades Slovakia has emerged from the shadow of forced communism as a vibrant, thriving democracy with a strong economy and a very bright future. Slovakia also borders Ukraine and has recently provided tremendous support for refugees and taken a strong stand against tyranny and oppression. For these reaso…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, today, the Liberals have falsely claimed that the immigration system is both fair and delivering value for money. I think that the 2.4 million people languishing in the longest immigration backlog in Canadian history will be enraged by these talking points. This includes the family of Ayad, a 12-year-old torture survivor who is currently huddled alone in a refugee camp. Will the Liber…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), and its application to the House of Commons workplace: (a) what analysis or rationale has been conducted by or provided to the government with respect to the exclusion of member to member harassment (i.e. harassment and violence as opposed to solely sexual harassment) from the House of Commons harassment po…
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