Parliamentary Speeches

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, I drew a straight line from the substance of the debate, which dealt with international trade, and the election results. I am quite interested to hear more about the connection between international trade and the election results last night.

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, it is nearly Christmas and we are still waiting for the fall economic statement and the public accounts, both of which should have been tabled in October. That is just basic management. Canadians need to know how much debt the government is piling on. If the government cannot even manage the basics, like giving Canadians the straight facts about the public's finances, will it call an …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister's failure to table a timely fall economic statement goes to the core incompetency of the government. Canadians need a government to axe the carbon tax, build more homes by exempting the GST from new home construction and fix the budget by getting spending under control. Canadians are tired of waiting. Can the finance minister confirm whether she will keep her prom…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I am sharing my time with the member for Simcoe North and look forward to his remarks. What we are debating is the outcome of a desperate gimmick announced by the government a few days ago, for which, somewhere on the back of a cocktail napkin, it cobbled together some kind of desperate ploy to buy Canadians' votes. The plan originally had more components than what is going to be vo…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the member is absolutely right. It was an excellent but leading question. She suggested that this whole system is arbitrary and strange and will benefit wealthier Canadians. People who perhaps buy large quantities of things in January, such as a year's supply of beer or wine, and warehouse it, can do so, but these are the better capitalized Canadians who have more money, not the peo…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it was a heck of a lot easier to administer an across-the-board cut on all products for one month than this bizarre, cobbled-together laundry list the Liberals have created, but that is beside the point. The point is that I have no confidence in the government. I will not vote in favour of a budgetary tax measure, a money bill. I am not going to vote for it and I am proud to oppose …

Private Members' Business

Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, over the last nine years, and in particular over the last three, we have watched the NDP enable all of the corruption and incompetence of the Liberal government. It has really been on display with how this bill came into being. The NDP and the Liberals seemed to be somewhere writing on the back of a cocktail napkin, trying to cobble together some kind of a bill that could distract Can…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I answered his question. It contains a ridiculous premise that I reject, and so there is no answer for that question. It is a non-question.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the previous government did no such thing. I reject the premise of the member's question.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, what we have before us tonight, as I mentioned before, is part of a broader, desperate gimmick that the Liberals cobbled together on a napkin somewhere with the hope that the NDP, the Bloc and their backbench would sustain the government a little longer. They cannot, so we are down to this GST bill. I will vote against it. I oppose the government's agenda. We need a serious governme…

Orders of the Day

Mr. Speaker, while the member for Chilliwack—Hope was giving an answer about the supremacy of Parliament in a democratic society, where the sanctity of votes in this chamber have to count for something as an expression of the democratic will of people, the parliamentary secretary was heckling the member and disagreeing that votes in Parliament were the final say in this matter, that Parliament was…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister said she wanted to “help Canadians get past that vibecession”. I am not exactly sure what that means, but I do know that the Deputy Prime Minister has unleashed nine years of economic vandalism on Canadians. Canadians are poorer now than they were nine years ago. She might think that this is just bad vibes, but it is a fact from Statistics Canada. …

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, I apologize to my colleague from Kelowna Lake—Country for interrupting her speech, but the Standing Orders of the House of Commons insist that more than one party House leader sign an order to extend a House sitting. I am certain that the Conservative House leader has signed no such order, and I just wanted to confirm that the request for an extension is in order.

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, this is amazing. I am being heckled by the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, who is chirping from the sidelines and telling me they do not have to follow the votes of the House of Commons and that the votes in the House of Commons do not need to mean anything. That might have been what the Prime Minister was getting at when he admired the dictatorship of the PR…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, I would be delighted to comment on those things. I would say that the cost to operate this Parliament is a small price to pay if we are debating a motion that goes to the democratic accountability of the government, but that also has the side benefit of preventing the government from introducing more bad laws that will harm Canadians. I talked about that in my speech. I noted that o…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, there is a bit to unpack there, but I will start with this. If the votes in this chamber are to mean anything, they have to be respected. It is to—

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, the member is absolutely right. The $400 million was misallocated by Liberal insiders, who were deliberately appointed by the previous minister. The misappropriation of that money could have gone to any of a number of things, including housing our troops. There is a base housing problem, in which our men and women in the armed forces do not have access to housing. That is just one t…

Mr. Speaker, my point of order is different. Yesterday, you made a ruling and informed the House that you would come back. I am just confused because, this morning, you have allowed debate about that on which you had already made a ruling. Mr. Speaker, I wonder which rulings you are allowed to revisit and keep talking about and which are actually firm and have to be complied with.

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, Canadians are getting poorer while Liberal insiders are getting richer. That is not my opinion; that is a fact. Per capita GDP is declining. It is lower now than it was nine years ago when the Liberal government was first elected. The total value of all the goods and services produced in Canada, divided by all the people in Canada, is shrinking. It is not shrinking in the United Sta…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, and indeed the member for Saint John—Rothesay is my friend. The member asked me to comment on the commissioner's views. I disagree with the commissioner, but that is not the point. The time to have made that argument was back in June when we voted on the motion. This is no longer a debate about whether the House should request the documents; the House has requeste…

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary has misrepresented and mis-characterized both me and our party. We know that the industry will lead the way in best practices and in technology to reduce or be able to produce more efficiently while doing its best to minimize emissions. He has ignored the question again, which was about the suppression of information. The current government ran on a platf…

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, Adjournment Proceedings are where we debate unsatisfactory responses to questions raised in question period, and tonight I rise to follow up on a question asked on June 14. That day, I asked two questions of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. The questions were about the suppression of his department's information proving that the carbon tax costs the Canadian economy $…

Orders of the Day

Madam Speaker, we are talking about $400 million in the green slush fund. Liberal insiders got rich by voting to give themselves money at a time when the government is, once again, waging war on the western economy. I know the member has some very strong feelings about the energy industry. We even heard about some of the things today in question period, just nonsense from the other side about the …

Statements by Members

Madam Speaker, Monday is Remembrance Day, the day when we pause to remember those who serve, those who continue to serve, those injured in body or mind, and those who gave their lives in service to Canada. Canada was built on eternal foundational values, values that include freedom, democracy, the rule of law, pluralism, peace and orderliness, yet our way of life has often been threatened or attac…

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I can assure the member that I am speaking to the question that was presented before the late show. It was about the carbon tax. It was about the suppressed report. The reason I asked the question on June 14 was that the Minister of the Environment had suppressed a report. That led to the access to information system, which the minister was using to suppress and prevent the release …

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, it is customary in the House to give members a chance to correct the record when they make a mistake. That is what this member must have done because he said things that were not correct. For example, he was not correct on the number of times I have spoken to the motion, its amendments and its subamendments. I do not want to digress too far from the question, but I still have not ha…

Adjournment Proceedings

Point of order.

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, in Adjournment Proceedings, we debate questions that were not answered properly in question period, when members of the opposition ask a question and the government refuses to answer or provides an unsatisfactory answer. This, indeed, is the case with the question that I asked on June 14. I noted that the Liberals had promised to be the most open and transparent government in histor…

Orders of the Day

Mr. Speaker, I am going to take the member back to the intervention of the member for Saint John—Rothesay, who was frustrated that, roughly in his words, there is no business being done. However, if there is an impasse over the government's failure to table the documents, there is a clear constitutional remedy, and that is an election. Does the member believe that if the government is unprepared t…

Orders of the Day

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the member might comment on some of the arguments that have been brought forward from the other bench. Already this morning, the Liberals are talking about whether the House of Commons should order the production of documents. That ship sailed. The House of Commons did vote for the production of documents and the government has failed to comply with an order of Parliament,…

Orders of the Day

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the member might spend a moment on talking about remedies, for those who think the House should merely move on to other business. I do not care for the government bills that are potentially going to be debated, but some would say we must get on to other business. However, the remedy for what one might think of as paralysis in the House would be to dissolve the House and go…

Statements by Members

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. The Prime Minister's economic vandalism is making Canadians poorer with every passing year. Per capita GDP is lower than it was nine years ago and shrinking. Since 2015, Canada has had the worst per capita GDP in the G7. We are down 2%, while the U.S. is up 8%. That is what nine years of capital …

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, two years ago, the NDP leader sold out workers when he signed on to the costly coalition that raised taxes, increased food costs and doubled the cost of housing. Two weeks ago, he tore up the agreement, he said. However, this was just a cheap political stunt to avoid losing a safe NDP seat in a Winnipeg by-election. After nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, c…

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, the Conservatives are focused on axing the tax. The Prime Minister plans to quadruple the carbon tax, which has already made life unaffordable for working Canadians, and the NDP leader agrees with him. He has already voted for the carbon tax 24 times, no matter how much it hurts working people. The NDP leader will say or do anything to save himself, proving that he is not worth the …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I am actually no longer a member of the defence committee, but my colleagues who remain there always prioritize important work to ensure the best for our troops, and they will take that approach. They will ensure this bill is examined correctly, and identify if there are any issues and if amendments are required. We had an intervention a moment ago about some of the details of this …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to speak in the House. I am going to split my time with the member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington. I support Bill C-66. I support the principle of the bill. This is a legislative change that is needed to implement a recommendation that was made to the previous government in March 2015, which was only a few months before the House rose in 2015. The present …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I voted against confidence in the government. When the estimates were presented, Conservatives voted every chance we had to bring down the government. The estimates he speaks of, which we voted against, contained a cut to the military budget. I will not take any lessons from him on who supports the military. The government has failed the military every step of the way and continues …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, yes, the Arbour report did clearly recommend this legislative change, but so did the Deschamps report years earlier. This was a legislative change that was recommended almost 10 years ago and accepted by the previous government, but it sat on the current government's desk without movement for years. Here we are now, nine years into the Liberal government, in the twilight of this Par…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, the member brought up a good point. This is why we have legislative processes. This is why the bill needs a thorough study at committee. While the passage of this bill is urgent, given the length of time the government has caused delay in creating this legislative change, it still cannot be rushed. It has to be done right so we make sure the bill best serves victims and the members …

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the Auditor General of Canada’s 2024 Report 7 entitled “Combatting Cybercrime”, paragraph 7.6 of which states that the RCMP “has a mandate to investigate the greatest criminal threats to Canada, including cybercrime, transnational and serious organized crime, and threats to national security”: (a) since January 1, 2016, how many cybercrime case reports has the RCMP received; (b) in …

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the Auditor General of Canada’s 2024 Report 7 entitled “Combatting Cybercrime”, paragraph 7.23 of which states that “We found that the centre did not forward 7 of 26 (27%) of the requests we reviewed from international partners to domestic police agencies to see whether that had evidence relevant to the investigation,”: (a) what proportion of the requests which the RCMP did not forw…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the Canadian Armed Forces’ reconstitution and readiness: (a) how many pilots at 3 Wing Bagotville are qualified to fly CF-18s; and (b) how many pilots at 4 Wing Cold Lake are qualified to fly CF-18s?

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency and write-offs of accounts receivable, broken down by fiscal year from 2015-16 to 2023-24: (a) what was the total amount of write-offs; (b) how many (i) individual taxpayers, (ii) corporations, had amounts written-off; (c) what was the average amount written-off for (i) individual taxpayers, (ii) corporations; (d) what was the dollar amount of the single la…

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, the government only does the right thing when it gets caught. The Liberals only disclosed the information because Conservatives forced them to. The NDP–Liberal government put a gag order on the Parliamentary Budget Officer because it did not want Canadians to know the economic cost of the carbon tax. Per capita GDP is falling and the carbon tax makes life more expensive, proving tha…

Oral Questions

Madam Speaker, the Liberals promised to be the most open and transparent government in history and said that data paid for by Canadians belongs to Canadians. Well, that promise is just a sick joke after nine years of secrecy and cover-ups. Yesterday, common-sense Conservatives forced the NDP-Liberal government to release some of the data that the government has been suppressing. It proves that the…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, today's motion is one for the production of documents, arising from the refusal of the government to allow the PBO to release information he had seen that supported the conclusions he had drawn, and that is that the overwhelming majority of Canadians are worse off under the carbon tax when the economic impacts of the carbon tax are taken into effect. This was the latest in the serie…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I do not accept the premise of the member. It seems to be implied that the carbon tax is somehow making a significant impact on climate change. We heard from the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent earlier that Canada ranks very poorly in its performance on emissions, so I do not accept the premise that the carbon tax is a solution to the problems that she has outlined. I would also say …

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my colleague, our shadow minister of environment, talked about that in his speech, but I want to say to my colleague from the Bloc that his colleagues seemed to think that this motion is unworthy of debate or concern in the House. Do they think that it is okay for the Government of Canada to ignore requests for information with impunity, to gag the Parliamentary Budget Officer and t…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, the member did not really address the motion. The motion is about the production of documents. We have seen the government withhold information from Canadians. The member ran in 2015 on a promise to be the most open and transparent government in Canadian history, which would be open by default and would release data to Canadians that is the property of Canadians. Under the government,…