Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would just underline that this is important legislation. This goes to the very foundation of what Canadian society is. We are a nation that is built on the rule of law. For us to feel that we need to hurry this very important piece of legislation through Parliament just because we are all in agreement is something I disagree with. I was ready to speak to Bill C-14 today. I did not r…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, this is very important legislation. This goes to one of the cornerstones of our democratic society, and that is judicial independence and whether Canadians have confidence in their court system. This is one of the most important things that we are going to debate in this parliamentary session. Even though we are all in agreement, it does not mean that we do not debate the issues. Thes…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for South Surrey—White Rock. It is an honour for me to be here today to engage in the debate on a very important topic, the reform of the Judges Act. Bill C-9 introduces comprehensive reforms to the Judges Act. It introduces comprehensive reforms to the process through which judicial conduct is reviewed and sanctioned. The proposed reforms to …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove, we celebrate Canadian Environment Week by planting trees. They are mere seedlings now, but in the process of growing up, they will add beauty to our community and greening for the planet. On Saturday, June 4, with the help of Langley Environmental Partners Society, we gave away 500 native tree seedlings. Admittedly, 500 trees is not nearly as impres…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, that is a really good question and I am grateful to have received it. Many experts are saying that the Internet is different and that the people who wrote this legislation clearly do not understand how the Internet works. I have a further quote from Michael Geist. He says: ...regulating user-generated content in this manner is entirely unworkable, a risk to net neutrality and a threat…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives recognize that there is some good in this legislation. We would be happy to support that if the bill did not have these other problems, which are well known and the Liberals knew about. They had an opportunity to repair them properly, but they have not done that. They did half the job, not the whole job. I have a burgeoning movie industry in my riding. People, partic…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will read another quote from Professor Geist about exactly that point on proposed section 4.1. I recognize that Bill C-11 is improved, at least to an extent, with the inclusion of the wording in proposed section 4.1, but this is what the professor says: “While this is true in the sense that users are not regulated like platforms due to an exception in the bill, the truth is the bill…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it should not come as a total surprise that the Liberal government would make strategic moves to limit my freedom of speech as a member of Parliament who wishes to speak to the topic of freedom of speech. It seems very ironic. Today, we are talking about a programming motion that would cut off debate on the substance of a very important piece of legislation: Bill C-11. I am hearing …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, at $2.36 a litre, the price of gasoline in B.C.'s Lower Mainland is the highest in North America. We hear the Minister of Finance say that the price of gasoline is beyond her control, yet we know that it is the government's policy to actually drive up the cost of gasoline. When will the government come clean and acknowledge that its policies are hurting ordinary Canadians and fuelling…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in the House of Commons to join the debate on Bill C-5, which is a seriously flawed bill, in my opinion. It presents itself as wanting to keep Canadians safe against gun crime and illicit drugs, but if the bill is passed by Parliament, it will eliminate mandatory minimum penalties for many of the serious crimes listed under the Controlled Drugs and Substan…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member's comments are well thought out and sensitive to the needs of many people. Bill C-5 eliminates mandatory minimum penalties for very, very serious crimes. That is the objection I have to this legislation. I believe that addiction should be, in certain circumstances, treated as a health issue, rather than a criminal issue, but that is not what we are talking about today. We…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I do enjoy working with the member at the public safety committee. We, the whole committee, have done some very good and important work together. We have put out some pretty good studies, including the one on guns and gangs. I hope that leads to further legislation and policies to be considered by this Parliament. Bill C-5 is not one of them. I do not think that Bill C-5 accomplishe…
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Madam Speaker, I have an indigenous community in my riding and I have developed a very good relationship with them. I have been advocating for a government response to the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the ones that are important to them, particularly relating to residential schools. I think that the Gladue principles are very important. Judges need to be educated o…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I enjoyed the speech from the member, and I enjoy working with her on public safety. Reference has been made several times in tonight's speech to the study coming out of the public safety committee on guns, gangs and drug smuggling. One piece of evidence that we heard from quite a few witnesses, including Statistics Canada, is that we do not really know the source of guns used in cr…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is honour for me to be here this evening to join the debate on Bill C-21, a bill recently introduced by the government in an attempt to keep our citizens safe. I will be sharing my time with the member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame. In his opening comments, the Minister for Public Safety stated his wish that we would find common cause on this very important topic, and I wa…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, having guns come into Canada is a very complicated social problem and there is no easy solution. I do not believe that the CBSA can stop all guns coming in. As the member pointed out, they are being smuggled across the border by rail. Trains are not being inspected for guns. They are being smuggled in by boat across rivers and lakes. They are being smuggled in across unofficial, non…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am not a hunter or a gun person myself, but I have a lot of constituents who are and I speak with many of them. They are all law-abiding citizens and they are okay with gun control laws that make sense. They are okay with background checks. The RCMP does criminal checks. All of that is completely acceptable. That is all good policy, so laws around that I would completely support. …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am assuming that is a rhetorical question, as I cannot answer why the government is not doing something, but I would completely support the underlying premise. We have discovered that illegal drugs and illegal guns are tied together. We cannot solve one problem without solving the other, and I am mystified as to why the government has not yet introduced a study into the source of …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we also need rental properties. A lot of these investors are renting properties out, which is satisfying a market demand, so I am not that worried about it, to be honest.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise to talk about budget 2022, or what the Liberals are calling “A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable”. I thought I would put that audacious claim to the test against reality on the ground. Inflation is at a generational high. House prices are out of reach for most first-time buyers. The price of gas is soaring, at $2.36 a litre in my …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would request a recorded division.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise today to join the debate on Bill C-216, an act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and to enact the expungement of certain drug-related convictions act and the national strategy on substance use act. The sponsor of this private member's bill is a fellow British Columbian, the member for Courtenay—Alberni, and I want to thank him for introd…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the whole world is starting to see the COVID-19 pandemic in the rear-view mirror. Governments around the world are starting to ease up on gathering and travelling restrictions. Canadian travellers are certainly back in full force. Too bad their government is not. Look at the long lineups at airports and passport offices. When will the government start following the science that the …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Vancouver has the highest gas prices in all of North America. The gas station at the Vancouver airport is advertising regular gas at $2.34 a litre. The Minister of Finance keeps saying that inflation is a global phenomenon, yet we know it is the current government's policy to actually drive up gasoline prices through its taxation policy. When will it quit blaming others, take responsi…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am submitting a petition signed by Canadians from across the country who are concerned with the lack of palliative care services in Canada. They are calling on the government to create a national strategy on palliative care and to work with provinces to create national standards for palliative care training.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the cities in metro Vancouver need 25,000 new houses every year just to keep up with population growth projections, but we are building only 20,000 new homes. This supply and demand imbalance is hurting a lot of Canadian families that just want a safe home and financial security. Clearly, the government's housing policies over the last six years have not been working. Why should Canad…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have a second petition, signed by Canadians who are deeply concerned that President Putin has launched an unprovoked and illegal war against the people of Ukraine. The petitioners are calling on the government to immediately implement a government-assisted refugee program for Ukrainians coming to Canada.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, contrary to the song the Liberal government has been singing about inflation being transitory and tied to short-term supply chain disruptions, Bank of Canada Governor Macklem is now acknowledging that inflation is going to be with us longer than anticipated and 6% higher than anticipated. This inflation costs the average Canadian worker $2,000 a year and the average family $4,000 a …
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, we are hearing from so many people in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove who are frustrated with the disfunction of the passport office. We hear of people lining up at six o'clock in the morning, and even camping overnight, in the hopes of being the first in line, yet even some of those people are being turned away. We have heard some people calling it “the lineup of despair”. We heard…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, so many small and medium-sized businesses in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove tell me that one of their biggest challenges is to find good workers with the skills and knowledge needed for today's economy. We know that many young people and new immigrants are anxious to get to work, but if the economy cannot produce the products, services and workers the economy needs, we have inflation…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, of course, we in the Fraser Valley are grateful for support from the federal government in funding repairs and enhancing infrastructure to adapt to climate change. However, my real question today is this: What is the state of negotiations with our American counterparts regarding the Nooksack River specifically, which drains Mount Baker and the North Cascade Mountains? I ask because …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the government's fall economic and fiscal update. To better understand the economic pressures that Canadians are facing, we need to look at the data. We have the highest rate of inflation that we have had in a generation. My children are all adults now and do not know what inflation is. It is at 5.7% at the moment, and that means that, on average, everything i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would support any programs that are effective in helping first-time buyers get into the market. It can be very challenging and very intimidating for first-time buyers to bid on a house. I have talked to many people in my riding who are desperate to get into a house, but they keep getting outbid by investors and they fail to buy the home they want. Yes, I would support anything tha…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, we are talking about Bill C-8, an act to implement certain provisions of the economic and fiscal update. We are talking about the economic pressures that Canadians are feeling, which are today at a generational high of 5.7%. However, if we look at industry-specific statistics, it can be much worse than that. We are also talking about housing. The cost of housing, in the time the Lib…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the hon. member talks about these wonderful programs. Well, we have not seen them. We are talking about the first-time homebuyer incentive, and it is a complete bust. It does not work in my riding. People have to earn more than the maximum amount set out in the program even to afford to buy a house, so it is another example of a failed program. We are just asking the Liberal-NDP gov…
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Madam Speaker, I am going to focus on my riding again. The western part of it is highly urbanized. I talked about the SkyTrain coming to Langley. It is going to help the people living in those urbanized areas. The people in the eastern part of my riding need to drive on the Trans-Canada Highway, and it is completely clogged up. To those people at home, I am also advocating for the expansion of Hig…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am here this evening to talk about the recent flooding in the Fraser Valley, in particular in the Sumas Prairie area. The Minister of Emergency Preparedness or his parliamentary secretary will be well aware of the extent and dimensions of the damage and the estimated cost for repairs. It is somewhere between $339 million and $580 million to seismically upgrade the Sumas Prairie di…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, business people in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove and indeed right across Canada are deeply concerned that inflation is not transitory, as the government likes to say, but is becoming deeply embedded in our economy. A farmer told me recently that the cost of getting their specialty products from Langley to Calgary, Alberta, has doubled from $3,200 per truckload to $6,000. This is c…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, the film industry in B.C. is demonstrating once again its job-creating power. The industry has plans to build dozens of new state-of-the-art stages across the province, and my riding of Langley—Aldergrove will be the beneficiary of a lot of that new investment, with a massive expansion of the Martini Film Studios. Just recently, it broke ground on a 33-acre campus that will employ 2,0…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek. We are here this whole weekend debating the merits of the Liberal government motion to invoke the Emergencies Act. Before I get into that, I want to take the opportunity to thank the many people in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove who have reached out to me to encourage me and to plead with me to vote against th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, that is completely absurd. To quote what the Minister of Justice said, “If you're donating to the freedom convoy, to a Trump-like movement, you ought to be worried.” Those are not my words, those are his words. If he misspoke, he should correct himself. He should also take a look at the legislation and correct it if there was a drafting error. I cannot believe, like the member, that…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, that's a great question. What could have been done? Let us take a look at where it was done successfully in other provinces and other cities. The problem is in Ottawa. Far be it from me to criticize the police forces of the nation's capital, but they could have subpoenaed tow trucks or asked the provincial government for more help. They could have asked for police forces from across…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, a number of earlier speakers made the point that the measures under the Emergencies Act are temporary in nature, yet the Minister of Finance just the other day said that some of the provisions dealing with financial services organizations, banks, credit unions and perhaps crowdfunding platforms will become permanent. I wonder if the member has a comment about that.
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, there were two questions. The first was about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Indeed, the Emergencies Act says that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights must still apply, but it is not good enough just to say that. The regulations coming out of the order in council actually have to honour that, and I am submitting that did not happen.
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, the people of my riding of Langley—Aldergrove are pleased to have a commitment from all levels of government now to extend the Metro Vancouver SkyTrain from downtown Surrey into downtown Langley. It is exactly what is needed by Langley, one of Canada's fastest-growing urban centres, but it is not enough. Every day, thousands of commuters are stuck in traffic on Highway 1, westbound …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Canada's economy needs to improve productivity, and for that we need to grow our workforce, with more highly skilled immigrants and more people with the skills, training and knowledge that employers require. However, here is the problem. People cannot afford to live in some of our economic-generating cities because of out-of-control housing inflation. When will the government take c…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the recent flooding in British Columbia brought out the best in Canadians: neighbours helping neighbours, charity springing into action and farmers working together for the common good. I want to highlight the work of an exemplary corporate citizen in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove, a whole industry actually. Mutual Fire Insurance of British Columbia was started about 100 years ago b…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned that young families across Canada are giving up the dream of ever owning a home. Nowhere is this more true than metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, the epicentre of Canada's housing affordability crisis. People like Alison in my riding, who just in the last year saw house prices increase by more than the amount of money she and her partner were able to save up…
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Madam Speaker, I know the member opposite's riding was also impacted by the recent flooding, so he would have first-hand experience with how significant that has been. Yes, absolutely, the government has to step up with very serious dialogue about climate adaptation. It is glaringly obvious that it needs to be done. It should have been done 10 years ago. It should have been done 20 years ago. Now …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Order in Council SOR/2020-96 published on May 1, 2020 whereas it states that “the newly prescribed firearms are primarily designed for military or paramilitary purposes” and as the former Minister of Public Safety has re-stated this in the House of Commons of the over 1,500 newly prohibited firearms on numerous occasions: (a) which specific models that were prohibited on May 1, …
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