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Mr. Speaker, they trigger it, but that is what they want. That is exactly what they want—
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Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate that, because while the Liberals will go on and on saying that people are heckling them, you will notice that I did not even acknowledge them. They can say anything they want to say. It does not bother me at all, because what they are saying is total hogwash. They are triggering. What Bill C-31 is called in the political sphere is a wedge issue, because Liberals ar…
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Mr. Speaker, after a hiatus of two years, the national Diwali celebration is returning to Parliament Hill today. With the support of our Indo-Canadian friends, community organizations and mandirs from across the country, tonight at 6:30 p.m. I will be delighted to host the 22nd national Diwali celebration at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building. I hope all my colleagues will join us. The Diwali cele…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My colleague, earlier in his speech, shamed those of us who may be follically challenged in this House, and I take offence to that. I would ask for our hon. colleague to apologize.
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Mr. Speaker, the trouble I am having with this debate is that we are putting a lot of faith in a government that has made a lot of promises over the last seven years. It has failed in its boil water advisories plan for first nations and still allows and permits billions of litres of raw sewage to be dumped in our waterways. It has a Prime Minister who chastised indigenous protesters at an event an…
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Mr. Speaker, I first want to say happy Bandi Chhor Divas and happy Diwali as well. I have sat through the Bill S-5 debate, which has been riveting. I think the pages are wide awake, maybe not so much after my time. Bill S-5 deals with the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which has not been significantly updated since it was passed in 1999. Bill S-5 is the first major update since 1999. We ag…
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Madam Speaker, I should apologize to the folks in the gallery, because this is probably not the day to come and listen to a debate. Bill S-5, as riveting as we try to make it, probably does not have the most riveting debate. I just will recap, as I was cut short prior to question period, some of the concerns we have with Bill S-5. I will say that the Conservatives are going to support sending Bill…
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Madam Speaker, the concern we have is that it says every Canadian has a right to a healthy environment, but the Canadian government needs another two years to study that. What does that mean? Our riding has gone through some horrific wildfire seasons, as well as drought and flooding. We have had the whole gamut of the climate change issues facing Canadians, and really facing people from coast to c…
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Madam Speaker, I am going to apologize to my hon. colleague across the way. I do not know whether it was the translation, but I did not hear all of his question. I am not the expert on Bill S-5. I do know that we have some serious concerns with it. As we move forward, it is incumbent on all of us to make sure we are working collaboratively with our friends across the way to whatever extent they ar…
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Madam Speaker, my understanding of this bill is that it would put into place a provision that anybody could bring forth a concern about a toxic substance and an assessment on that substance would be developed within 24 months to determine whether that substance is toxic. While I am not familiar with the statistics the member rambled off, that is the challenge of using facts and figures with that. …
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Madam Speaker, this bill also puts in place the precautionary principle. It is one I have seen, and I am very well aware of it in other pieces of legislation we have studied. It gives the power to the minister of that file to take extraordinary measures when he or she deems it necessary. We always want to make sure we are putting the right tools in place. What we have seen using the precautionary …
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Madam Speaker, the hon. colleague across the way knows where I stand on that question. As a matter of fact, I said it in my speech. We are dealing with extraordinary events due to climate change, such as the wildfires we saw in our neck of the woods and the floods we have seen. We had incredible weather storms, the tsunamis, the flooding we saw in the lower mainland and the hurricane we saw on the…
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Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for her passion on this file. Since we were elected, she has been one of the loudest voices in terms of standing up for veterans who were prescribed mefloquine and the mental injuries they have faced from that drug. While we are on the topic of veterans, we know that when our veterans serve, their families do as well. Perhaps the member could talk about some …
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Madam Chair, I want to thank our hon. colleague for calling for this debate tonight. As my colleagues know, mental health and suicide prevention are passions of mine, and I think, as the minister said, there is so much more we can do. A concrete step we could do immediately as a Parliament would be to set up a mental health parliamentary committee with members from all sides so we can study and de…
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Madam Chair, that is a great question and, in truth, I do not have the answer, but I can speak from my experience with my family. I talked with my brother last summer, after he had been shot twice with a shotgun, and he said all the right things. He said that he was going to get clean. This is someone I have taken off the street so many times over the last 20 years. I have no idea why he is here. …
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Madam Chair, I am honoured to take part in this evening's debate. As those in this chamber know, I have been a huge proponent of raising mental health issues and suicide prevention issues since the first day I was elected. I know we have made huge strides as a society when it comes to mental health, but we have so much further to go. There was a time not so long ago when people were embarrassed to…
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Madam Chair, I appreciate the question, and absolutely, but we are not the experts here in the House. We have to work with those who are on the front lines. We have to work with those who have lived experience. We have to work with the national organizations and the true medical experts to really develop something that is tangible and can impact and help Canadians. I know that far too many Canadia…
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That is a great question, Madam Chair. We know that just on suicide prevention alone, 11 Canadians each and every day die by suicide. We know a further 275 Canadians attempt suicide. The reality is we know that those statistics are probably even greater because of the stigma associated with suicide. The same goes with overdose and drug abuse. There is such a stigma attached to suicide, mental illn…
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Madam Chair, I appreciate that from the minister. I am 54 years of age. I had my birthday just the other week. I am ashamed to say that this is the first time I have spoken publicly about this. For many years, I did not even tell my wife and my kids about this. I just knew that each and every day I wanted to live, not to perpetuate the dysfunction. I did not want to talk about it. As I said at the…
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Madam Chair, I wonder if our hon. colleague could tell us exactly what Quebec's provincial mental health plan is.
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Madam Chair, I apologize to my friend, but perhaps he could state this one more time. I just want to know again the amount of money that Quebec has committed to its mental health plan, as well as the seven pillars. I am not quite sure I heard that there was anything in them for addictions or recovery. I wonder if Quebec is seeing the same things that the province of British Columbia is seeing in t…
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Madam Chair, I want to thank our hon. colleague from Courtenay—Alberni for his speech and his passion in this area as well. I know we share that. One of the very first debates I took part in after being elected in 2015 was in 2016 on the Attawapiskat First Nation and the suicide epidemic it had there. I remember standing up and saying in my speech how suicide had negatively impacted my life. One o…
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Madam Chair, earlier this week, on Tuesday as a matter of fact, we heard about the death of Constable Yang, a three-year veteran with the RCMP, a mental health and outreach worker. She was somebody who was so passionate about doing everything in her power to support those who were struggling with mental health and addictions, a dedicated member, a committed volunteer and a champion in her communit…
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Madam Chair, back in the summer, we learned of a veteran who had reached out to Veterans Affairs in a time of need who was counselled by a Veterans Affairs employee to perhaps consider medical assistance in dying. We know that recovery is always possible, and we have to manage through recovery, whether it is addictions or mental illness. I do not agree with our colleague from the Bloc. I believe t…
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Madam Chair, I want to offer our colleague another opportunity. Today in question period she brought up a tragic case of a young mother who was pregnant, I believe, and could not find housing in her community. Sadly, this young mother died by suicide. We must consider the importance of housing, the importance of clean water and the importance of, as my colleague said, nutrition in our rural and re…
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Madam Chair, I am going to take our hon. colleague's last comments a bit further. I am where I am today because of the volunteers, the sports I was in and the cadet program I was in, which essentially provided me an outlet and a safe place from the dysfunction I was growing up in. The reason I am not on the street, in a gang, in prison or dead is due to this: the importance of these volunteers and…
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Madam Chair, I want to thank my hon. colleague not just for her intervention today, but also for the passion she has shown since we were elected in 2015. I know she does a lot of outreach work within her communities. There are some strong mental health organizations within her community that do incredible work on the ground. I know she is a champion of them so I want to give her an opportunity to …
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Madam Chair, we know that millions of Canadians right across our country do not have access to a family doctor. Family doctors are very often the first point of contact for those who are struggling with mental health. Does our colleague feel there is more that is needed to be done by the government and other governments, and what can be done to perhaps provide more medical professionals within our…
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Madam Chair, I would like to offer my hon. colleague a little bit more time to finish his speech.
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Madam Chair, I must have misunderstood or misheard my hon. colleague in reference to a question that was asked earlier about one of the challenges we are facing with respect to the government's dollars and why they are not flowing. I think I heard him say that it was an issue with the provinces. I am wondering if he could clarify that.
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Madam Chair, my hon. colleague across the way was the first member from the government who stepped forward to do whatever she could on her side to champion my bill, Bill C-211, and she has assisted us along the way with our other initiatives we have put forth. This is a question I asked one of her colleagues earlier, and I think it is relevant now because I know her passion in standing up for our …
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Mr. Speaker, the brave men and women who serve and protect our country and community do so knowing that, when they kiss their loved ones goodbye as they leave for their shift, in service to our country and our community they may have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Yesterday, RCMP Constable Shaelyn Yang was tragically killed in the line duty. Constable Yang was a loving wife, mother and friend who…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk facts. Hard-working families in my riding are already struggling to fill their tanks, put food on their tables and keep a roof over their heads, all because of this government's overspending. The Liberal government has tripled down on the carbon tax. The reality is that Canadians, on January 1, will wake up to smaller paycheques. The last thing my constituents need is anot…
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Madam Speaker, our leader just finished a whirlwind tour. He did 80 town halls across Canada and spoke with 93,000 Canadians. Can our hon. colleague tell us some of the stories that he heard first-hand from Canadians about how the Liberals' mismanagement and monetary policies are hurting hard-working Canadians?
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Madam Speaker, I do not know whether to thank our hon. colleague for her speech or to laugh at it. It is frustrating because I hear from Canadians and constituents almost every day in my riding who are saying loud and clear that they cannot afford this government any longer, whether it is a farmer who has been hit by the Liberal fertilizer policies, a fisher who has been hit by Liberal fisheries p…
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Madam Speaker, this is interesting, because when NDP members stand up, they like to point fingers at our new Conservative leader, when they only need to look within. I ask if the hon. member has priced out the bespoke suits or the Rolex watches the NDP leader wears. Perhaps they should be introspective and not throw stones when they live in glass houses.
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague is also from our home province of British Columbia. British Columbia has some of the highest gas and fuel prices. We know that Canadians who are living in rural and remote areas are disproportionately impacted by higher food prices and higher gas prices. We now know, from a recent report, that Canadians are paying higher prices in taxes than they do on food, gas an…
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Mr. Speaker, far be it from me to tell you your job, but I believe that our hon. colleague in his opening statement just called our colleague from Red Deer—Lacombe a liar, and you and I know, as our hon. colleague knows, we should not do that, whether indirectly or directly.
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Mr. Speaker, the cost of the government continues to drive up the cost of living for my constituents. Canadians living in rural and remote communities are already disproportionately impacted by higher gas prices and higher food prices. Now the government is hitting them again with a tax increase on their paycheques. From Vanderhoof to Prince George and Quesnel to Williams Lake, my constituents hav…
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Mr. Speaker, I commend our hon. colleague for reading that speech. It is not a plan; it is a stimulus cheque. It will help Canadians for one month. That is great, but what do they do for the other 11 months? What do they do for each and every day? Canadians are paying more in taxes than they do for the necessities of life, and the government is now planning to tax their paycheques further. What th…
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Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative leader will put people first. He will put their retirement first, their paycheques first, their homes first and their country first. We will bring hope to doctors, nurses and engineers, and hope to others who are immigrants to this country but are blocked from working in their profession for no other reason than that they come from another country. We will team up…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in support of the motion on Hindu heritage month. Like my colleague from St. Albert—Edmonton, I want to also congratulate and thank our hon. colleague from Nepean. He has worked tirelessly in pursuit of cultural recognition and I want to publicly thank him. Understanding, tolerance and acceptance are what this motion is all about. Before I get into the crux of…
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Madam Speaker, I want to provide a quick warning before I speak. My testimony today contains a lot of graphic facts, and I may struggle getting through it. I ask my colleagues, my friends and Canadians who are listening to stop for a moment and close their eyes. We can imagine we are a new RCMP constable in northern British Columbia. We are in our car on a dark isolated highway. It is late Novembe…
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Madam Speaker, I want to commend my hon. colleague. When she speaks, I listen. The concern I have is that this would become just another Liberal-appointed or government-appointed board, and then we would have the same inaction that we are faced with today. I wonder if the member has concerns about the appointment process in terms of who would be there, and whether perhaps she has some guidelines a…
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Mr. Speaker, this bill and debate allow me to bring up a couple of people within my riding. One is my own daughter, who lives with a high-functioning disability, and another is Jenna Wuthrich, an indigenous mouth artist who is confined to a wheelchair and needs to crowdfund to try to get her only way of transportation because, as many know who have adult children who live with disabilities, one ag…
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Madam Speaker, it truly is an honour to participate in the debate on Bill C-224. I thank the member for Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne for bringing this important legislation to the House. We may disagree on a lot of things, but I know that she is equally passionate about serving and fighting for those brave men and women who serve our communities and our country. If members will indulge me for just a …
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Madam Speaker, the cost of food has risen 15%, gas is over $2 a litre, and what the government has done to our seniors is shameful. Public transit is non-existent. For many people, the hospital is over a two-hour drive away. My constituent Dave Kendall wrote and said, “I am slowly going broke, and my savings are disappearing.” He had one question for the government, so I will ask it for him. “How …
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Madam Speaker, after two long years of restrictions and lockdowns, it is great to see our country finally getting back to normal. In Cariboo—Prince George, our communities, friends and families have been through a lot, but despite the adversity, our Cariboo spirit is stronger than ever. Summer is just around the corner and we are looking forward to welcoming back visitors from across Canada and ar…
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Mr. Speaker, the minister needs to look up from her talking points. These are people, men and women, who we have asked to serve our country, at home and abroad, and unbelievably they are being asked to go to Habitat for Humanity for accommodations. The Liberals have failed to provide our troops with equipment that they need. They have failed to protect our troops from sexual misconduct, and now th…
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Madam Speaker, I was just getting to it.
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