Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, I likewise very much enjoy my colleague's interventions. I enjoy them much more than the ones from the member for Winnipeg North, if we are being honest about things, although I do not get to enjoy them as frequently. I want to say with regard to this that I was intimately involved in the procedure and House affairs hearings in 2011 into the purported contempt of Parliament of the the…
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Mr. Speaker, there are really two ways of slicing this. The implication is that these conflicts were reported to the ministers, and the ministers saw them and decided not to act, which is itself obviously outrageous. The other possibility, which is entirely possible, remembering always the dictum that one ought never to ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence, and looking at …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is quite right. We could, and probably should, go to an election. The House of Commons has a kind of tenuous confidence in the government right now, so it would seem. It should be understood that “confidence”, used in the parliamentary sense, does not mean robust confidence; it means unwillingness to trigger an election. Certainly, in this party, we are willing to go to a…
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Mr. Speaker, thank you for getting my riding name right time after time. It is an impressive feat and I appreciate it. There was a sort of drive-by smear comment from the member for Kingston and the Islands a bit earlier, in his questions and comments. He essentially asserted that the government is passing the legislation in order to protect people like my hon. colleague here. I just happen to not…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, four and a half years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a worldwide pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic. Two days after that, the House of Commons suspended. About ten days after that, on March 24, it came back in an emergency session with the government's goal of passing a piece of legislation, which at that point had not been shared with the House of Commo…
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Madam Speaker, I think the member is mistaken with the list of cuts she gave. My party, under our current leadership and under, hopefully, some of our other leaders in the past, has demonstrated a concern for making sure we do not spend money we do not have. We do not promise to spend on programs we cannot actually finance. We also do not engage in wishful thinking, as the Liberals do, which will …
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Madam Speaker, I think that was more of a comment than a question.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, first, I will deal with the assertion that the Prime Minister has never tried to avoid facing the House on this issue. On March 24, 2020, hoping that we would be in a panic, the government tried to get unanimous consent to push through a provision. This would have given it the power to avoid facing a confidence vote in the House for a little over year and a half. When the opposition…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Health Canada’s (HC) Priority Review of Drug Submissions policy (hereinafter the policy): (a) since December 1996, how many submissions have been made under the policy, broken down by year; (b) since December 1996, how many submissions have been approved under the policy, broken down by year; (c) since March 2006, how many submissions have been made under the policy, broken down by …
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With regard to the Canada Summer Jobs program: (a) what is the formula used to calculate the youth unemployment rate for each riding in Canada; (b) from what sources is the data used to calculate the youth unemployment rate obtained; (c) what method is used to apply census data on youth unemployment from the municipal level to arrive at useful youth unemployment data by federal electoral district;…
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With regard to the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Diseases: (a) since January 1, 2023, including announced commitments by all departments and agencies, what is the dollar amount that has been provided to, or committed for the purpose of provision to, the provinces and territories, through the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Diseases, broken down by purpose; (b) for which drugs, therapie…
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With regard to training and employment programs for offenders in federal penitentiaries: (a) does Correctional Service Canada (CSC) currently offer registration and training in any provincial or territorial apprenticeship programs and, if so, which programs and in which institutions; (b) are there provincial or territorial apprenticeship programs in which CSC has previously offered registration an…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Health Canada's priority review program exists to allow the expedited review of new, potentially life-saving, therapies. Qualifying drug submissions are able to seek approval for therapeutic use in advance of other, less urgent therapies. Health Canada's posted time frame for this expedited process is a target of 180 calendar days. How often is Health Canada meeting this target? How…
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Madam Speaker, I will ask the housing minister something this time. Carleton Place, in my riding, has been Canada's fastest-growing municipality for the past four years. When the town was given zero dollars from the housing accelerator fund, I wondered why. It turns out there is a pattern here. Of the $1.5 billion awarded to Ontario under the fund, 97% went to cities and towns in which Liberals ho…
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Mr. Speaker, Corrections Canada has a mandate to retrain Canada's 10,000 inmates so they can find employment upon release. In the past three years, Corrections has issued 112,000 meaningless in-house vocational certificates and a grand total of 64 Red Seal certifications. Corrections has also made zero effort to engage in provincial apprenticeship programs, which could produce life-changing certif…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, last Friday I had the opportunity to sit in the Speaker's chair for an hour. I had no idea until that moment how hard it is to remember the names of people's ridings, so you have my empathy. I appreciate what the parliamentary secretary said in his response. It sounds like the November deadline, which I speculated and hoped would be achieved, is likely to be achieved. I am hoping th…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, on May 24, I raised the following question, which I will repeat verbatim for the purpose of context: ...pulmonary arterial hypertension, also known as PAH, is a disease that blocks arteries in the lungs, causing high blood pressure in the lungs and damaging heart tissue. Patients diagnosed with PAH have, on average, three years to live. In the [U.S.], a drug called sotatercept was r…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, several weeks ago, I asked a question about Red Seal training programs in correctional institutions. The answer seemed unsatisfactory, so I am providing further details today about issues that I think ought to be dealt with. There is no question that proper training, in a trade for which there is a market demand, helps incarcerated individuals to find employment upon their release. …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, amidst all that, the parliamentary secretary made the point in his final remark that I was trying to make: 64 individuals over a four-year period got Red Seal certification. I can work out the math myself. This is about 20 people or less per annum in their entire system. There are about 10,000 incarcerated individuals in Canada. That is pathetic. I know there are other things the go…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, pulmonary arterial hypertension, also known as PAH, is a disease that blocks arteries in the lungs, causing high blood pressure in the lungs and damaging heart tissue. Patients diagnosed with PAH have, on average, three years to live. In the United States, a drug called sotatercept was recently approved by the FDA. This drug increases quality of life and lifespan for PAH patients and …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I want to take the opportunity to respond to the NDP member who spoke earlier with regard to leakage from abandoned wells. I would just observe that Canada can adopt regulations and rules that will be a world standard. We talk about doing the same thing with our carbon pricing. Therefore, if we believe we can be a world standard with rules that are adopted with regard to carbon pricin…
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Mr. Speaker, do you ever wonder why former inmates who have had vocational training while incarcerated are just as likely to reoffend as those who have not, despite the fact that Corrections Canada claims to have issued 112,000 vocational certificates in the past three years alone? Well, the answer is this: These vocational certificates are meaningless participation awards. In the same period, onl…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to penitentiary farm and agriculture and agri-food operations at the Joyceville Institution and the Collins Bay Institution: (a) what funds have been spent on Public Services and Procurement Canada fees and disbursements and professional project management services, including, but not limited to, concept design, project leaders, tender packages, geo-technology, hydrogeology, engineerin…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to say a few words about our colleague from Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel, who has served our country and the people of his riding for 40 years. It is a matter of coincidence that the man whose record the member is breaking is a man named John Graham Haggart, who was a Conservative member of Parliament elected in Canada's second election, in 1871, and who served until his deat…
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Madam Speaker, my point is that at the end of his intervention, complaining about the unparliamentary behaviour of a previous member, the member for Timmins—James Bay added, gratuitous to the comment, that those are unfit comments from “a member as low as that member”. That, I think, is unparliamentary. I might be wrong, but I think that was an unparliamentary addition to the debate by the member …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. First of all, I agree that nobody should have been speaking during the member's intervention. I am happy to say I was not one of those people. With regard to the point of order raised by the member for Timmins—James Bay, he ended it by making a personal aspersion against the member. He said that the previous member, and I am not even sure which mem…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am told it was five minutes, but the point is this. In the normal course of business, we present a motion in one language only. We do not stop the proceedings for an hour, as has actually happened, to give the opportunity for the second language to be produced. We would return to the debate and, if members could get the matter to you, Mr. Speaker, in both languages prior to the expi…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I want to point out something that I think is highly relevant but has not been mentioned in the previous submissions. I think it will be of use to you in coming to a decision. We know that it was one minute, more or less, before the end of the debate that this was raised—
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Mr. Speaker, the key thing here is that we cannot expand the scope to take in more subject matter than was in the original motion. We see that one of the amendments proposed by the government would expand to deal with settlements on the West Bank. This is not a motion about the West Bank. It is about Gaza. Indulging in a discussion about aspects of Israeli policy that deal with some other area, wi…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I rise today to address Bill C-347, an act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 regarding the oath of office. The bill would, as its proposer said a moment ago, if enacted, amend section 128 of the Constitution Act, 1867 to allow individuals who have been elected to the House of Commons or appointed to the Senate to select between three different oaths of office. The first option wou…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to all lines of business for Afghans being delivered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, such as programs, temporary public policies, ministerial instructions, pathways, or other measures, as of December 11, 2023: (a) which lines of business are accepting applications; (b) which lines of business are not accepting applications; (c) which lines of business are processing ap…
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With regard to federal correctional institutions, since September 1, 2020: (a) which Red Seal apprenticeships are offered in federal correctional institutions; (b) how many inmates have been registered in Red Seal apprenticeships during their incarceration; (c) how many inmates have successfully completed Red Seal apprenticeships during their incarceration; (d) how many inmates have been released …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, 'Tis a week before Christmas, and it's time to state That our PM is well past his best before date. After eight years of his rule, it's time to say thanks For doubling the number of folks using food banks. After eight years, when our kids nestle snug in their beds, They're just lucky there is still a roof over their heads, For on cold winter nights, under snow and the stars, Many citi…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, never has the Kingston part of my riding name been more important than today, as my colleague from Kingston and the Islands and I wrestle over whose riding is home to the illustrious former Speaker of the House Peter Milliken. He is a man who served with great distinction for many years and who will make, if this goes to the procedure and House affairs committee, an excellent witnes…
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Madam Speaker, of course, I would never suggest that my hon. colleague was deliberately misleading the House. I am sure it was an unintentional error with regard to the riding in which our esteemed former speaker, Peter Milliken, resides. I will just make an observation about having views on a subject and then sending them off to a committee such as procedure and House affairs to have them studied…
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Madam Speaker, the first thing I would say with regard to whether a convention of that nature exists is that the man who invented the concept of constitutional convention was Albert Venn Dicey. In his outstanding work, Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution, which everybody should have at their bedside, by the way, he says that there is a way of testing whether a convention exist…
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Madam Speaker, actually, in my remarks, I had meant to mention the issue of conflicts of interest and the appearance of a conflict of interest. I was going to say that the Speaker must be impartial and must be seen to be impartial, which is somewhat like a conflict of interest versus the appearance of a conflict of interest. In this case, I do not think that is what is going on, if we are talking …
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Madam Speaker, I was actually thinking of making the exact same observation. Even I am having trouble hearing myself right now. I was talking about how the Fathers of Confederation tried to incorporate unwritten conventions in a written instrument, or by reference to incorporate them. To understand this instrument, we have to go back and look at what was said at the Quebec Conference at the so-cal…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it seems to me that what is being referred to, and I am looking for my colleague's input on this, by both the member for Elmwood—Transcona and, most recently, the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, is a convention which does exist in the United Kingdom. In the U.K., when one is elected Speaker, the expectation is that they shed their partisan identity. They can choose to run agai…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, some key facts and some numbers were mentioned. I am grateful for those. There was a specific number for the total number of inmates involved in Red Seal programs and a mention of similar programs. There was no breakdown of who is in which program. I wonder if I could ask for those details. I am aware the parliamentary secretary probably does not have those at his disposal at this m…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, on November 24, I raised a question relating to corrections. I would like to restate my question tonight. I will simply read what I asked at the time, and then I will read the hon. Minister of Public Safety's response. I said: Mr. Speaker, also on the subject of corrections, on a recent visit to Joyceville Institution, I was informed that personnel at Correctional Service Canada had…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, paragraph (b) of the motion's text states that “a Canadian citizens' assembly on electoral reform” would inter alia: ...reflect the diversity of the Canadian population, including a representation and meaningful participation of age groups, genders, ethnicities, languages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and geographic regions including from First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.... The…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I rise today to address Motion No. 86. Knowing the sincerity and good will with which this motion was put forward by the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith, it pains me to have to vote against it. I will devote my remarks to explaining the reasons why I will be doing so. Motion No. 86 proposes to create a citizens' assembly on electoral reform. A citizens' assembly is an ad hoc assembly o…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to immigration, asylum, and refugee measures and programs established since September 2001: (a) what is the number of Afghan nationals that have been admitted to Canada, in total, and broken down by year, month, and program or measure; (b) what is the total number of Afghan nationals that have been granted permission to travel to or enter Canada by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship…
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Mr. Speaker, it is possible that the Liberal who said no was concerned about the accuracy of the statistics, but it sounds to me like those are accurate statistics. I wonder if the member could try again now that we are confident that they are.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I suppose, in that case, I am asking for the unanimous consent of the House.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, on a point of order, it is a practice of the House that, when a member realizes that he or she has a matter affecting the privileges of the House, the matter ought to be drawn to the attention of the House at the earliest possible opportunity. Therefore, it is my obligation to inform the House that a letter from the Ethics Commissioner confirming the existence of such a matter arriv…
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Mr. Speaker, like the member who raised this, I too have Jewish ancestors. My mother is Jewish. In our ancestral town of Bialystok in Poland, 95% of the Jewish population was murdered during the Holocaust. Every time the Liberal government missteps in this way, it pulls this stunt of coming out and saying, “Look at us, we have some kind of background,” and then it finds a word said by somebody els…
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Madam Speaker, there is just one thing I would like to say today about all the speeches from the Bloc Québécois. There is a party in the House that wants to separate Quebec from the rest of Canada, and that party is more respectful of our institutions and our democracy than the government itself is.
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Madam Speaker, I do not think I can provide an argument against it because I am not actually against hybrid. I am not against the voting app, nor indeed is the motion proposed by our House leader, which would allow the voting app to continue for the rest of this Parliament and one year into the new Parliament. I am really against the removal of the consensus requirement for changes to the Standing…
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