Parliamentary Speeches

Routine Proceedings

With regard to Canada’s smallpox vaccine supply: (a) how many doses of smallpox vaccine does Canada have in its federal stockpile as of May 25, 2022; (b) what is Canada’s capacity to domestically manufacture smallpox vaccines, and over what time period; and (c) how many doses of smallpox vaccine, within other sources, is the government aware of being available in Canada, broken down by source (e.g…

Mr. Speaker, in putting words to the legacy of the second Elizabethan age, most world leaders have noted that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was a constant during changing times, yet when she spoke to the purpose of life, the Queen quoted an Australian proverb that spoke to how change is fundamental to the human condition: “We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through.…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the reality is that if Bell Media, Rogers or whatever had the libraries that Disney+ and others have, we would not even be having this debate. If they had that library of content, they would be like, “Yes.” That is the reality. The reason the government has to put this bill forward is that Bell, Rogers, etcetera are not competitive with the streaming services because they do not hav…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, again, how do we do that? That is what needs to be asked. On what land do we do this and for how much? Who gets those units? There is a much greater supply issue than that. Will those units be allowed to be Airbnbs or sit vacant? Those are the fundamental questions that no one wants to talk about, of any political stripe. If we do not get to the heart of those questions, we are neve…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I think there are a lot of people in my riding who would get really mad at me if I started talking about private aircraft right now, because they can barely afford their cars. I would just say this. This aspect of the budget does not address the broader issue of income inequality, rising unaffordability in Canada and inflation. It is window dressing. The systemic issue of housing af…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I think my colleague misunderstood. I was eviscerating the government on the fact that there are no substitute goods for carbon energy, to a large extent, across Canada to ensure that the price on carbon makes carbon pricing elastic. It is inelastic right now. The second thing is what the government has done, and we have criticized the government for it. Canada still needs carbon en…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, the concern I have is that every initiative across this level of government right now that is focused on increasing housing supply has no details on how increasing housing supply is actually going to lower prices or make housing affordable for Canadians. This line of thinking and these concerns have been raised by economists and many other schools of thought over the past several week…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. I want to focus my remarks today on the acceptability of the government's budget and the budget implementation bill in two key areas. Number one is affordability as the larger issue, but specifically housing affordability as well as energy affordability. Number two is addressing climate change. In the…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I actually agree. I think that we do have to have a conversation in Parliament about the broader principle of algorithmic transparency. The mainstream media would love to get their hands on Netflix's algorithm, because that is a competitive advantage, but I think what my colleague is talking about is the sort of content that is being presented to an individual end-user on certain so…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I could not agree more with regard to local media coverage, particularly as a western Canadian. I know it is very important for Quebec to have coverage from a Quebec perspective and Quebec news. It is the same thing in western Canada. We actually do not have our voices covered in the same way either. Local media is important to me, but this bill does not do anything to support that.…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, one of my colleagues from the Liberal Party earlier talked about how times have changed in Canada and that we have all of these new technologies that, when we originally thought about looking at broadcasting in Canada or content creation in Canada, no one ever really could have thought about. He is right. The problem is that what Bill C-11 does is kind of like trying to play an MP4 …

Government Orders

Mr. Chair, yes, I agree.

Government Orders

Mr. Chair, I say yes to safe transportation and yes to all these things that make women safer, but to say this is the only industry where first nations and indigenous women experience violence is wrong. What about sex work, just to start? What about any downtown core? I grew up in Winnipeg. My family has lived in the member for Winnipeg Centre's riding. I think we can acknowledge that in some indu…

Government Orders

Mr. Chair, I am not here to make people comfortable. That is number one. When we speak truth about these experiences, our colleagues need to listen to them. It is a violent place here for women, and when we add the intersectional issues and lenses of racialized women and women from the LGBTQ+ community, I cannot even imagine what it is like. Every person in this place has tacitly stood by, watched…

Government Orders

Mr. Chair, in the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge that the people of Calgary Nose Hill live, work and play on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region, which includes the Blackfoot First Nation tribes of the Siksika, the Piikani and the Kainai; the Stoney Nakoda Nation tribes of Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley; and the Tsuut'ina Nation. I acknowledge that the city of C…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I think the last couple of years have been hard on Canadians across political stripes. Whenever I talk to somebody, there is something about the last two years that has caused them a trauma. I would argue that every person sitting in here right now has probably had a similar experience, but what worries me now is that after these two years I feel like we do not know how to talk to eac…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for her thoughtful and kind response. There will be people who watched that response and will disagree with some of the things that she said in terms of policy, but I would hope they would agree in terms of the approach: When we disagree, we are disagreeing on something and we are not hating someone, and we are actually trying to build consensus on issues th…

Statements By Members

Madam Speaker, on May 1, people around the world mark the beginning of the summer season, and across Canada we are all enjoying the greening of the earth and the end of a long winter. This is a good metaphor as Canada emerges from the pandemic. Many have hoped for better days ahead but are fragile from the events of the last two years. For us as parliamentarians, each of us must now guide our coun…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I would hope that everybody in this place would agree that lots of Canadians are really looking to us in this place to address the issue of the rising cost of living. Certainly one area where we have seen major increases in the cost of living is energy prices. I would like to say that every Canadian wants Canada to do its part when it comes to ensuring that we have renewable energy an…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, this is except for the fact that the Liberal government, prior to COVID, spent several years offshoring Canadian jobs to Iran and Saudi Arabia because it worked to shut down the energy sector. Can we imagine if the Keystone XL pipeline had actually been built and if the Prime Minister had actually gone out and advocated for it? Can we imagine if energy infrastructure had been put in p…

Private Members' Business

moved that Bill C-249, An Act respecting the encouragement of the growth of the cryptoasset sector, be read the second time and referred to a committee. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak to my private member's bill, Bill C-249, the encouraging growth of the cryptoasset sector act. It has been 14 years since work conducted by Stuart Haber, W. Scott Stornetta, and Dave Bayer was used by a person …

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, I would answer my colleague's question in the context of my Bloc colleague's question. The industry itself is not inherently bad or good. It is what we as a country choose to make of it. Any province, including the province of Quebec, would have huge investment opportunities chased away if we overly politicize this. I hope that does not happen.

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, I look forward to debate on the topic. I would say that the industry is a way to diversify Canada's primarily natural resource-based economy, something that the government has stated it desires to do. I would like to hear from the government or government members, even off-line, why “growth” would be a problematic word in this context. I do not think that growth is necessarily incon…

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, that is an odd question. Regular currency can be used to conduct illegal activities as well. The challenge that the Toronto police outlined in that example is that the framework that might be used to detect or prevent that in this emerging space is something that is worthy of discussion and the federal government, as I have outlined in this bill, likely has a convening role in that …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, we have had much debate on the government's use of the Emergencies Act. The story of the illegal blockades is one of the failure of leaders to acknowledge and respond to the frustrations of the public. It is also a policing failure and a desire to weaponize critical issues for political gain. We are now left with a weary public who are weary with Canada's institutions and its politici…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, this is also about taking personal responsibility, and the Prime Minister needs to do that. Democracy and the freedoms we enjoy in Canada as a result of concepts like rule of law and bipartisanship are fragile. What concerns me about the government's use of the Emergencies Act during a time of heightened political rhetoric and lack of trust from the public is that it is an admission o…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, the act expressly prohibits violation of charter rights. The declaration put forward by the government assumes power to regulate or prohibit private transfers of funds to protesters, including the ability to mandate the reporting of such transfers and the freezing of accounts, all without judicial oversight. How is this measure compliant with section 8 of the charter rights to be fr…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, tonight I make an appeal to every Canadian. We are a nation on the brink. Our country has not been tested like this in a generation. After two long years that have tested nearly every one of the societal systems that sustain our peace, health and prosperity, we have reached a tipping point of confluent crises. Many cannot afford food, energy and housing. Our health care system is br…

Orders of the Day

Yes, Madam Speaker, I am splitting my time with the member for Fundy Royal. Many are struggling with barriers, magnified over the last two years, such as racism, misogyny, bigotry and poverty. All of us, whether we admit it or not, are struggling with the trauma that comes from the loss of personal control that happens when our freedoms are restricted, when trust in government institutions and dem…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, former minister MacKay was faced with many national crises and many instances when he had to use his power as a minister to help de-escalate situations in the country. That is the exact opposite of what the government has done. At this juncture, instead of trying to seize power from Canadians, we should be trying to give it back to them. That does not mean that these blockades shoul…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, we should be trying to find ways to de-escalate tension and find common ground instead of using division and escalation of tension for personal or political gain. This is something that has happened far too long in this country, and it needs to stop. Our country is at a breaking point right now. We need to figure out how to make people have hope, how to feed them and how to fix our …

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, we need to respect the rights of indigenous and first nations persons in Canada. At this juncture, I believe that the illegal blockades in Ottawa must end. I said that throughout my speech. I also outlined how the federal government could be using many of the tools that are at its disposal or could have used them in the past, but instead chose the nuclear option of the Emergencies A…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, earlier in question period the Prime Minister said that the Emergencies Act should not be the first or second thing that should be used to resolve a crisis situation. What were the first and second things the Prime Minister did? How does the failure of those actions provide legal justification for the invocation of the Emergencies Act?

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the problem with that argument is that the illegal blockades at the Ambassador Bridge and the Coutts crossings occurred prior to the Emergencies Act being involved, without federal help. The Emergencies Act was not needed to settle the rail blockades of 2020, the Oka crisis, the crisis at Caledonia, September 11, the COVID‑19 pandemic or any other dispute in Canadian history. The Prim…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Kildonan—St. Paul. We have in front of us today a motion. The House of Commons is calling upon the federal government to table a plan to lift all federal mandates and restrictions. What I want to do with my time today is outline why I believe the initial rationale for restrictions is perhaps no longer particularly pertinent and that ther…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I find it unfortunate that my colleague will not commit to coming up with a plan to lift restrictions. I mean, this is probably the most serious issue our Parliament has been faced with in a generation, and today that type of a question is not going to address any of the issues I brought forward. He did not comment on any of the proactive solutions I suggested. Give your head a shake—…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I am having a sense of déjà vu, because it was basically a year ago when we all stood in this House and debated whether we should have a plan to end restrictions. A plan to end restrictions is not saying that we do not want Canadians to be healthy and safe. What we are saying is that the impositions on Canadian freedoms and the impacts on our economy and on our mental health as a coun…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I believe that public health restrictions should be informing our decisions as legislators. At the end of the day, we are charged with making these decisions, as are the ministers, and public health officials cannot make these decisions for us. Their opinions can inform our decisions but not make them for us, right? As for the second thing, hospitalizations, we are in year three of CO…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for raising one of the key economic engines of his riding, the wine industry. I certainly know that our party has several ideas for tax relief, around the escalator tax, to incentivize growth in that sector. I believe that all Canadians, particularly low-income Canadians right now, should be afforded some measure of tax relief, but particularly low-incom…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, who is always bright and good to work with. We need to have a much more robust response from the government on addressing Canada's broken health care system. Funding is certainly a large component of that. We need to make sure that the provinces are adequately funded. We also need to look at some of the significant learning that has occurred, and at the…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I just want to thank my team and my caucus for standing behind me for over a year as I stood in the House as the official opposition critic for health. In the role of the opposition, during that time, we held the government to account. When we were not getting vaccines and other countries were, every day we were in the House, asking questions as to when they were coming, as well as …

Routine Proceedings

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-249, An Act respecting the encouragement of the growth of the cryptoasset sector. Mr. Speaker, right now, Canada should be attracting billions of dollars of investment in the fast-growing cryptoasset industry. Right now, we are seeing government officials discuss and set policy related to cryptoassets. At the same time, many officials and lawmakers are not deepl…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, today we are debating a bill related to the fall economic update. I think we have to realize that the situation we are in right now is the context in which we are debating this bill. I have never seen our country more divided in my time in office, and I have never seen us in the kind of national crisis that we are in right now. We are now in year three of COVID. Every one of us in thi…

Statements By Members

Mr. Speaker, COVID has painfully proven that Canada's health care system is not capable of handling a high volume of emergent patients, particularly over a sustained period of time. Today, in year three of COVID, provincial governments are still closing businesses and imposing restrictions because of this. Even with these restrictions, doctors and nurses tell us that this approach does not reduce …

Routine Proceedings

With regard to companies funded by the Natural Resources Canada’s Emissions Reduction Fund: (a) what are the names and addresses of the headquarters of all companies which received funding from the Offshore or Onshore Program; and (b) broken down by company funded, what are the details of each grant, including (i) the date signed, (ii) the start and end date, (iii) the total dollar amount, (iv) th…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to government estimates related to energy consumption in Canada: (a) what is the approximate number and percentage of homes currently heated by sources of energy originating outside of Canada; and (b) what is the breakdown of (a), by (i) type of energy source (gas, coal, wind, hydroelectric, etc.), (ii) country of the energy source’s origin?

Routine Proceedings

With regard to energy security: (a) how does the government define energy security; (b) by the definition in (a), is Canada currently energy secure; (c) how much energy did Canada store per year for the last 10 years; (d) what is Canada’s frequency of reliance on our stored energy, broken down by year over the last 10 years; and (e) what is the profile of Canada’s current energy storage, broken do…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, most Canadians do not have the luxury of the Prime Minister's privileged future. No one is going to magically buy them an electric vehicle in the next couple of weeks. Nobody is going to magically build them an LRT in the next couple of weeks. They are struggling to pay their fuel costs now. The Prime Minister has failed to provide them with low-cost carbon alternatives, and his lack …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, after cancelling the Keystone pipeline and challenging Line 5, the United States finds itself in the same boat as Canada, with soaring fuel prices as winter sets in. To deal with this lack of fuel and inflation, President Biden has begged human rights-abusing oil cartel countries to increase their oil production. Will the Prime Minister admit that his delays, obstruction and lack of a…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister just said is that he has spent Canada into oblivion to make our prices higher for consumers. That is insane. Come on. Right now, Canadians are struggling to pay for gas. They do not have the ability to magically buy an electric car. We need to get fuel prices under control. Last year, the Prime Minister voted against a bill to reduce fuel price costs for farmer…