Routine Proceedings
With regard to government procurement and contracts for the provision of research or speechwriting services to ministers, since January 1, 2020: (a) what are the details of the contracts, including the (i) start and end dates, (ii) contracting parties, (iii) file number, (iv) nature or description of the work, (v) value of contract; and (b) for speechwriting contracts, what are the details, includ…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, the bill lays out a time frame of 18 months for a report. Hopefully, we are going to move this bill forward faster than would normally be scheduled. I am hoping debate will collapse tonight and we will be able to save some time to get it to committee and then move forward even faster. As for a timeline, my hope, and she can probably play a role in this as a member of the Liberal cau…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I totally understand the jurisdictional issues that sometimes the members of the Bloc have to grapple with, but I have had great conversations with colleagues from my hon. friend's party. We look forward to getting it to committee and hearing from experts from across the country. The whole point of a national strategy is that we benefit from the very best evidence, from the very bes…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I will say this. As I have travelled the world and talked to people, we are doing better in Canada and North America than in many parts of the world. We have a lot to offer in terms of knowledge and we have a lot to learn in terms of knowledge, but if we get this right, we can export the knowledge that we have to other parts of the world, sharing and having conversations about how w…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am loving these questions from all sides. They are hitting the nail on the head. They indicate there is a real understanding of what needs to happen. The “nothing about us without us” conversation is something that I think we continue to get better at, but we have a long way to go. It is a challenge. There is a segment of the autistic population that is able to clearly communicate…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I request that it be carried on division.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, what a fantastic 45 minutes that was. This is a rare time in the House, because often things are pretty combative in here. I am reminded tonight, as we think about what we are doing here, of words from JFK: Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. I am so thankful for two senators who did not take for granted that the government is moving toward a national autism strategy. I…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
,seconded by the member for Don Valley East, moved that Bill S-203, An Act respecting a federal framework on autism spectrum disorder, be read the second time and referred to a committee. He said: Madam Speaker, it is an absolute pleasure to stand here to discuss Bill S-203, which came to us from the Senate. It was unanimously passed by the Senate before it got to us here. As members know, I do no…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise and take part in this conversation. I had the opportunity last week to engage in some of the questions and answers. It was interesting to see emotions rise a little on the Liberal side when I talked about the Trudeau legacy. In our part of the world, when we talk about the Trudeau legacy, emotions rise as well. Of course I was talking about the Pierre Trudea…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I love the opportunity to stand up and talk about the Harper legacy, if we want to talk about that. First of all, we cut virtually every tax Canadians could pay. I think over 60 different taxes were cut under our government. We dealt with a global economic meltdown in a world-leading way—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I get as equally excited as they do talking about the Harper record. When the world dealt with the global economic meltdown, we laid out a seven-year plan, we followed that plan to a tee, and by 2015, we balanced the budget. In contrast, as this government faced a significant global challenge, what it did was bring out the chequebook and responded by just cutting cheques with no eye…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I have a couple of comments. First of all, during the Harper era, we increased health transfers by about 6% per year for almost every year that we were in government. In the plan that our leader has laid out, he has simply said that, after a 70% increase in program spending over the last eight years, and an endless succession of spending plans and massive deficits, we would have a s…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am not familiar with the specific study the member is talking about. I would be glad to talk to him afterward. I would reiterate that, during our time in government, we cut virtually every tax that Canadians pay, and I think that is a plan that is prudent for this country, as we take a look at responsible spending moving forward.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the commitment by the Prime Minister in the 2021 Liberal election platform to establish a Canada mental health transfer (CMHT): (a) why did the government not fulfill the commitment on page 75 of the platform indicating that the government would provide $250 million to the transfer in the 2021-22 fiscal year; and (b) will the government be providing $625 million to the transfer in t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we can debate all day which Liberal government was more of an economic disaster, but right now I am talking about the former Trudeau government of the 1970s that ran deficits 14 out of 15 years, and then a generation later had to slash tens of billions of dollars, $35 billion in fact, in health care, education and social services funding. It also had the lowest level of internationa…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, like so many Liberals, the hon. member was very excited to list off all the spending that the government is doing. I want to ask a question about the Trudeau legacy. There is a lot of economic disaster in the Trudeau legacy, which gets confusing at times, but back in the 1970s and 1980s—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I understand the Liberals' confusion when I mention “economic disaster”. They have a hard time understanding which Liberal government we are talking about, but—
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the real effect of Liberal economic policy. The original Trudeau spending legacy was 14 deficits in 15 years, an inflation, housing and energy crisis for Canadians at the time, and, as a result of the crippling debt, devastating cuts to health and education transfers a generation later by another Liberal government. It is the classic Liberal economic one-two punch: s…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved that Bill S-203, An Act respecting a federal framework on autism spectrum disorder, be read the first time. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to introduce Bill S-203 in this House, seconded by my hon. colleague from Don Valley East. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator Leo Housakos, who has long been a tireless advocate for autistic Canadians. It was seconded there by my good friend…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister answers every question with mock bewilderment that we dare question her record levels of spending and the increasing taxes to pay for them. She seems obsessed with Stephen Harper, whose record is clear: In 2015, just seven years after a global economic meltdown, the Liberals inherited a balanced budget. Our Conservative government had lowered virtually every …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the current Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance and the government's new labelling requirements for beef and pork products: (a) what specific steps, if any, has the minister taken, or will the minister take, to prevent the labelling requirements from having a detrimental impact on Alberta beef and pork producers; (b) has the minister or his office sent any communic…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the utter chaos experienced by Canadians simply trying to obtain a passport from their own government is a crisis solely of the Prime Minister's making. A summer that should have provided much-needed relief after two years of significant stress has instead turned into an endless nightmare of dangerous passport office all-nighters and infuriatingly long hold times, often ending in abru…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Health Canada's application process for medical devices under the Interim Order No. 3 Respecting Importation and Sale of Medical Devices for Use in Relation to COVID-19: (a) what are the different stages each application must go through; (b) for each stage in (a), what are the (i) stated service standards, (ii) processes, if any, in place to measure and report on the department's pe…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to ongoing or planned government IT projects with a budget over $1 million: what are the details of each project, including the (i) project description and summary, (ii) total budget, (iii) estimated completion date?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it was interesting to hear the hon. member's response to my last question. First of all, I like the hon. member. I like the way he carries himself in the House. I take issue with his characterization of my raising mental health as an issue as “a tantrum”. The hon. member talked about the priorities the NDP negotiated into the spending of the government. It was one of the highest-spe…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, on a point of order, just based on the conversation, surely if you seek it, you would find unanimous consent to allow me to table page 75 from the Liberal platform, which promises for a Canada mental health transfer under new investments—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, in our previous interaction, the NDP member for Elmwood—Transcona was pretty clear that the NDP was unable to negotiate or, at least, he implied that the NDP was unable to negotiate the Canada mental health transfer into their agreement on the budget. The Liberal platform clearly promised $250 million in 2021-22 and $625 million in 2022-23 for a Canada mental health transfer. I am w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, what we saw there was like a WWE fight. That last exchange was not real because, while the hon. member stands and talks about his disappointment in the government, the reality is that the only reason the government is able to do any of the spending he decries is because his party is supporting the government. I will ask a very specific question in an area that the government is not …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, as we look to make progress on this issue, I am banking on the fact that Canadians who just heard my question and that answer will recognize that the response had nothing to do at all with the question I asked. I am going to ask it again, and I am hoping the parliamentary secretary will put away her notes and just answer the question. In the Liberal platform that she ran on eight mo…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here tonight to follow up on a question I asked the Prime Minister on May 18. I think it is important in these late shows to give a little context for people who might be seeing this live, but more likely on social media after we post the clips from this. The late show is our opportunity to have a conversation in which we follow up on something where we feel l…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, then why did they make the promise? The Prime Minister recently stood here and actually said, with a straight face, “We will not simply fall back on slogans and easy solutions....” Instead, with the current government, it is always only slogans and no solutions. More than 30 times this year, including a couple of times today, the Prime Minister has responded to legitimate questions by…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, four times in the past two weeks I have asked questions about the Canada mental health transfer, an election commitment quite obviously broken by the Liberal government. The minister never even pretended to attempt an answer. Page 75 of the Liberal platform clearly promises immediate funding of $250 million and then another $625 million in this year's budget. There has to be an explan…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is fitting that the member is talking about being heard. My constituency has 209,000 people. It is roughly the same size in population as P.E.I., which has four Liberal members of Parliament. It does not matter how hard I work or how hard my staff work. I can come in here and debate all day long. I could even debate as much as the hon. deputy House leader. Still, when it comes ti…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, that did not even come close to answering the question we actually asked. We have asked consistently very fair, straightforward questions on the issue of the Canada mental health transfer. Last week, the minister dismissed them as “annoying” and “despicable”. If the minister is annoyed with anyone, perhaps it should be with her own Prime Minister, who has put her in such an awkward, i…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, while it was trying to get elected, the Liberal Party used the words “mental health” 66 times in its platform, but we are losing 11 Canadians every day to suicide, and we still do not have a three-digit suicide prevention hotline. We are losing 19 Canadians every day to a raging opioid crisis that continues to worsen, and now the Liberals have broken their cornerstone mental health co…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, even after the imposition of vaccine mandates, some Canadians chose to remain unvaccinated. Many of them sacrificed jobs and their ability to travel to see loved ones because of their authentic anxiety about COVID vaccines. The Prime Minister's response was to go on television and proclaim that many of those Canadians were “racists” and “misogynists”. What does the minister have to sa…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the health minister talks a lot about numbers. I am wondering if he can tell us whether mental health, particularly the mental health of Canadians who still today cannot work or travel to see loved ones because of the mandates, is one of the metrics being considered in regard to lifting the mandates. If so, what specifically are those mental health metrics?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the last few years have been incredibly tough. For most of us, our mental health is not where it should be and many around us are really struggling. Everyone should remember the name BeThere.org. It is the award-winning Canadian brain child of jack.org and, quite simply, a tool the world needs to know about right now. Its five golden rules are a must for anyone who loves someone who m…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, a year ago this week, I made a one-minute statement in the virtual House of Commons from my basement in Edmonton. I have reflected on that statement a lot over the past few weeks. Yesterday, as I listened to the debate and monitored my very active and animated social media feeds, I decided to work that statement into my speech this morning, if for no other reason than to anchor my o…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I want to commend the hon. member because it might be the first time I have heard a Liberal member mention Alberta in the House. She has to recognize, first of all, that among my constituents, almost universally, the feedback we have gotten back has been opposed to the Emergencies Act. My staff tell me probably 95% of the feedback we have gotten has been people asking me to oppose t…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, to be clear, Conservatives have been unequivocal in denouncing the clearly negative aspects of what happened outside this place, while at the same time clearly supporting individuals from across the country who have legitimate concerns about the approach the government is taking. In regard to the plan the hon. member mentioned, I would point out that her party supported the plan. We…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, let me be 100% clear. This party, every member on this side of the House, is 100% against the issues he is talking about. We are against violent white supremacy, white supremacy of any kind, racial bigotry of any kind, and other bigotry of any kind. What I actually said was I will not be afraid to have conversations with people I do not know as I am walking from my apartment to the …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the Liberals seem almost giddy today when talking about the effectiveness of what is going on out there. There was never any question that it was going to be effective. The question is whether it is justified. That is the question. I listened to the hon. member's speech and I appreciated his tone and what he had to say. If we are using the Emergencies Act today for this, in what oth…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I am pro-vaccination, but I have friends and constituents who are not. They have made a different decision. We have had conversations about it and I cannot convince them. Many of them have reached out. Some of them who were working for the public service are not anymore as they lost their jobs. I talked to more than one person who had to give up their house because of it. They are c…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend talked about this going off the rails right from the very beginning. If one talks to many of the folks who have been expressing their concern about vaccine mandates, this went off the rails for them when the Prime Minister said that many of them were misogynists and racists. There has never been a retraction of that and there has never been an apology. I am going to giv…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, today and throughout the day, at different times we have seen the self-congratulatory attitude of the Liberals as they talk about the measures being effective. This might be partly because effectiveness is a new concept to them and they are not used to that in their caucus. I would argue that effectiveness is not the measure by which we should be looking at the situation today, but …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, there are kind members of Parliament on all sides of the House. The House is full of kind individuals, and there is none more kind than the member who has just spoken here, so I think it is absolutely regrettable that the Liberal and NDP strategy today has been to label every Conservative member of Parliament with the acts of a few individuals that we all unequivocally agree are unacc…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola. On April 29, 2003, I got a call at home from my brother Dan. I remember everything about that moment, exactly where I was in the House, the fact that I just finished an episode of 24, then in its second season. It was a beautiful spring day and there was a light breeze coming in through the patio…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, we are having yet another debate on this issue, saying some important things with lots of great sentiment. The member has been a member of Parliament for a long time and was a minister at one point in time. One would think she would have influence within her own party, especially with her credentials. I am wondering what specific action her government has taken that she can point to a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there are a few things. One of the things that is not talked about enough in this country is the concept of recovery. I know for some people there are all sorts of different connotations when we start talking about recovery, but more than anything, I would love to have my dad able to be up in the gallery as I am giving a different speech in this conversation because he was able to rec…
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