Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am glad to be able to rise, following up on my question from a few weeks ago about the so-called carbon tax exemption being provided on home heating oil, which only 3% of Canadians are going to be able to enjoy, and only with the condition that it is for just three years. After the three years, everybody who is on home heating oil will have their carbon tax massively increased, wh…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary has not answered the substance of my question. The moratorium that has been announced is based on an ASO technical report of experts, and 13 projects have been suspended. That is it, as for what has been impacted. This is also temporary. I will draw the parliamentary secretary's attention back to the legal arguments that have been undone by the government…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am joining the debate. I will read the parts of the motion that I want to talk about the most. First is “the importance of educating Canadians of all ages about the core values that Polish Canadians have imparted”. The second part I want to draw the attention of the House to is “the government should reflect upon Polish heritage for future generations”. I have a Yiddish proverb, a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we are debating this motion about wraparound services for immigrants and newcomers coming to Canada. The minister was just in Calgary. He would know that the Centre for Newcomers in Calgary and the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society have had their funding cut. They need another $3 million to provide the key on-the-ground services for newcomers coming to Canada. They have estimated a…
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Mr. Speaker, the simple answer is no, that is not it. Pre-2019, I did not have constituents coming to tell me that they were worried about being able to purchase a home or being able to pay rent. It was not a problem until the Liberal government, with its NDP allies, decided that it was a good idea to overspend $600 billion during the pandemic, $205 billion of which had nothing to do with addressi…
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be joining this debate. I will be sharing my time with the member for Edmonton Mill Woods, my colleague from up north, the deputy leader of the Conservative Party. I would be remiss if I did not start by addressing an issue that is top of mind for many of my constituents and for Canadians coast to coast. I want to remind everybody about the carbon tax flip-flop of the Pri…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's question about residential, commercial and, of course, industrial infrastructure. Do we have enough highways, hospitals and clinics to provide the services people will need? The province of Alberta has the second-highest rate of interprovincial migration. Many people who come to Canada settle first in another province and then choose Alberta. Even with all th…
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Mr. Speaker, my response will be about processing times. I actually do have a paper on that, and it is funny. The Auditor General's report found that, on average, privately sponsored refugees waited 30 months for a decision. Some of them waited two years before their file was even touched. I have the 2015 numbers, so I would like to refresh the member's memory. In 2015, study permits took 31 days …
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Mr. Speaker, I serve with the member on the immigration committee, and I want to bring it back to that particular issue, which is the substance of the Bloc motion. There is an Auditor General's report that just came out about the immigration backlog and the eight immigration PR systems. The report mentions that there are two programs for permanent residency for privately sponsored refugees and gov…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the member to comment on the issue of online applications submitted to the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Since September, the system has had a processing backlog of 2.2 million applications. A year ago, we were told that the new system that was created forces all people, whether in Canada or outside, to apply to change their immigration sta…
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Madam Speaker, to hear the parliamentary secretary tell it, Canada's immigration system has been working well for the past eight years. It is perfect and working exactly as the government intended. However, we know the application backlog is 2.2 million and growing. It seems to get a little bigger every month. Foreign students are turning to food banks every day, every month and every year. That w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to respond to the comments made by the leader of the Bloc Québécois. Behind all the numbers there are families, people who came to Canada or are waiting for permission to come to be reunited with their family, as was the case for members of my family. However, the numbers also count for something. Since 2015, the number of departmental employees working on backlogged ap…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, after more than eight years, we have an immigration system with a backlog of over 2.2 million applications. It is shameful to make people wait to reunify their families. It is also shameful to make those with precarious status wait to find out whether they will be entitled to permanent resident status. Sometimes, they have to wait many years to find out if the answer is a yes or a n…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, Shilan Mirzaei is a prominent Iranian human rights activist who has been wrongfully arrested for her defence of Iranian refugees in Turkey and her strong voice for human rights. Worse still, her arrest was made at the request of the terrorist regime in Iran. Mirzaei is now being held in a deportation centre in Turkey. She faces deportation to Iran and a certain death sentence. Turki…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it has been eight long, miserable years with the NDP-Liberal government. A year ago, its members voted to keep the carbon tax on home heating, and now they are in full panic mode. With polling numbers in free fall, their new re-election slogan is “elect them and they will only quadruple the carbon tax right after the next election”. There is no relief either for the second carbon tax …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, obviously, the members on that side are in panic mode because of falling numbers in the polls, so they are serving up election gimmicks. This week's food bank report says that one in six Canadians is one of the “working hungry”. They are working and going to the food bank. Herman, in my riding, tells me that he has been going to the food bank for almost two years, along with his broth…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a petition on behalf of constituents in my riding. They are drawing the attention of the House to the fact that Canada has now the highest rate of common-law relationships among G7 countries, with a share of co-residing common-law couples increasing from 6% in 1981 to 23% in 2021. The petitioners also draw the attention of the House to the fact that nearly four in 10 chil…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am tabling a petition on behalf of my constituents, who draw to the attention of the House that Canada now has the highest rate of common-law relationships among G7 countries, with the share of co-residing common-law couples increasing from 6% in 1981 to 23% in 2021. There are other statistics that they draw the attention of the House to, including the number of children living wi…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am glad I am joining the debate. I was worried that perhaps I would be one of those unfortunate members of Parliament to be cut-off before being able to speak on behalf on my constituents. I am glad to join the debate on Bill C-57, the modernization of our free trade agreement with Ukraine. Off the top, I should first begin by mentioning that I absolutely continue, as many members…
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No, Madam Speaker, the member did not misunderstand. The committee is the right place for going into the details of the agreement. It is an opportunity for stakeholder groups to come before the committee, those that have gone into the weeds of it to see what it would mean for the customs code and what the implications are of expanding certain sections. What I was referencing is that I would like t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member is absolutely right. I am concerned because with the Canada-Europe free trade deal that was signed, I do not think Canadian companies have been able to take full advantage of what is in the agreement. When it comes to agricultural goods, we know that is a sore point with the United Kingdom. I remember that when I was in the United Kingdom travelling for a study by the par…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, that is a worthy goal to have on the government benches, obviously. The House leaders, I am sure, are negotiating some type of agreement. If they are amenable to it, I am sure the Conservative House leader will obviously listen, but at the end of the day, I think we can both agree that this chamber, this House, has been clear in our support for Ukraine, the people of Ukraine and the…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, looking at the Standing Orders, I am raising a point of order under Standing Order 18. I believe the member for Whitby made a very serious allegation against the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. During an exchange in question period, the member for Whitby said that the member “falsely claims”. He did not say “alleged” or “made an allegation”, which means h…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to table today. The first petition comes from constituents in my riding who are drawing the attention of the House to the increasing levels of divorce rates. One of the points they raise is that Canada now has the highest rate of common-law relationships among G7 countries, with the share of co-residing common-law couples increasing from 6% in 1981 to 23% in 2021.…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is signed by over 1,500 Canadians from all across the country. They are concerned about the self-administration of the citizenship ceremony. They are drawing the attention of the House to this being a tradition, since 1947, for new Canadians to swear an oath in person and live and that two-thirds of submissions during the time this was considered in the Canada Gaze…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, it has been eight long years of having the member stand up all the time for the Liberal caucus, to answer for the mistakes and the corruption in the government. I have one specific question regarding the Auditor General. When the Auditor General was conducting the audit of the 50-plus million dollars spent on the ArriveCAN app, did the ministers involved in those departments direct …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, at the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, the Auditor General indicated that, in the context of her work, two departments had not informed her that criminal investigations by the police were under way. I would like the member to tell us what she thinks about this fact that has come to light. What does she think about the importance of this report and the vote to refer it committ…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Iran’s terrorist regime has done it again. Another young woman, this time a 16-year-old girl, was beaten before entering Iran's subway system by Iran’s so-called morality police. Armita Geravand, a young Kurdish women from Kermanshah in Rojhelat, was beaten for not wearing a hijab and now lies in a coma in intensive care. Her story is eerily similar to the brutal beating of Zhina Mahs…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition on behalf of Canadians who are drawing the attention of the House to Bill C-257, which would add protections against political discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act. The petitioners have two points they want to raise with the House of Commons. First, they want the House to expeditiously support Bill C-257, which bans discrimination on the basis of …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During the roll call vote, from the government benches, the member for Fredericton voted and then left the chamber before the vote was reported in the House. I would like to know whether that vote will count under the current voting rules or whether it should be stricken from the record.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, housing costs have doubled. The average price of a house in Calgary is $548,000. That is up 20% just from 2020. The average home in Canada now costs nearly double one in the United States, even though they house 10 times as many people on less land. The average rent in Calgary for one bedroom is $1,718; for two bedrooms, it is $2,121. This …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I have two petitions to table today. The first petition is from constituents of mine who want the Government of Canada to conduct a full, open, independent public inquiry into Beijing's foreign interference in our elections.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, my second petition is on behalf of Gerry and the Hema people in my riding. The Hema civilians in the Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo, are facing extreme daily violence from armed groups, forcing about 2 million people to flee their homes. Various armed groups, including Codeco-Lendu, FRPI-Ngiti, FPIC-Chini ya Kilima-Bira, and ADF Nalu terrorist groups are attacking ethnic Hema v…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the commitment of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in January of 2022 to eliminate backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of the 2022 calendar year: (a) why was this commitment not fulfilled; (b) what are the current backlogs, broken down by immigration stream or program; and (c) when will the backlogs be eliminated?
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With regard to the government's administration of section 42.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act: (a) how many applications have been received under this section, since 2020, broken down by year; and (b) what is the status of each application in (a), including the (i) date the application was received, (ii) date a decision was made, (iii) decision, (iv) number of days between the date …
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With regard to deportation letters sent out by the government, broken down by year since January 1, 2016: (a) how many individuals were sent deportation letters by the government; (b) of the individuals in (a), how many (i) self-deported or left the country voluntarily, (ii) were deported by officers or enforcement agents, (iii) currently remain in Canada?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to immigration applications for individuals who have been sponsored by their spouse or partner, since January 1, 2016, broken down by the year the application was received: (a) how many applications were received; (b) how many applications were (i) granted, (ii) denied, (iii) are still awaiting a decision; (c) how many applications were investigated for suspected fake or fraudulent mar…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, six years ago, the Liberal government had plenty of praise for the Asian infrastructure bank. The Prime Minister said joining was “good sense for Canadian know-how and for [Canadians abroad].” His former finance minister was quoted saying that he was pleased with Canada's gift of tax dollars and added that the bank was “independent of any government”. Now, six years and $200 million…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the member talked about family issues that may arise for members who sit in the House. I was listening attentively to that portion. However, the member must realize that in a hybrid Parliament, should this continue on, and I hoping that every single backbencher in all parties is aware of this, that eventually we will have no constituency weeks. We have constituency weeks so that we ca…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am going to share my time with the member for Chatham-Kent—Leamington. Members have heard me say before that I participated in the Standing Orders debates in the past. I think back to 2020, when Parliament resumed in a hybrid format. I think the Conservative caucus was one of the first to resume having full meetings. We were one of the first ones, if not the first, on Zoom. We had…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member is now heckling me from across—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I invite the member to look at the questions I submit, because I am always looking for data, content and information. That reminds me. With the member's interruption, I do have a Yiddish proverb. I hope that everything I have spoken about tonight are things I have seen. “Let you not say things that you have not seen” is a Yiddish proverb. I hope I have done that. I have stayed consi…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his question, but that is not the issue we are examining in the House right now. The question before us is whether we should have a hybrid Parliament that operates in the way set out by the government in Motion No. 26. During the pandemic, two of my three children, the two oldest, were attending school online. I was also the caucus chair. As s…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, the member for Berthier—Maskinongé is right. The amendments to the rules proposed in government Motion No. 26 will do away with the need for members to get along with one another. It is easy for cabinet members to meet and talk to one another. They often meet during the week. These meetings are usually held in person, since they sometimes have to talk about confidential matters. How…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I just want to clarify, because I do not think the member quite understood what I was getting at. What I am saying is that, in the future, what will happen is that constituency weeks will simply disappear. This may be two, three, four, five or six years from now. There will be an expectation that we do sessional weeks half of the year or more, and members will pick which weeks they …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have four petitions to table today on behalf of my constituents. The first one is on foreign interference. Specifically, petitioners are drawing attention of the House and the government to the fact that, so far, there has not been a public inquiry called. The petitioners are very concerned about the special rapporteur's conflict of interest with the Prime Minister and those who hav…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, my second petition is from Hong Kongers and those with heritage from Hong Kong. The petitioners are drawing the attention of the House to the following: On February 6, 2023, Canada announced that it would extend and expand the Hong Kong pathway open work permit program for eligible Hong Kongers by extending the open work permit scheme for an additional two years and making additional …
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Mr. Speaker, the third petition is from petitioners from the riding of Calgary Shepard, my constituents. They are drawing the attention of the House to the fact that there are over 53,000 internationally trained nurses, doctors and physicians in Canada. They say that we should copy what we do for skilled trades in the Red Seal program and create a blue seal program that would make the processes si…
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Mr. Speaker, my final petition comes from Venezuelans both in my riding and all across Canada who are calling the attention of the House to the disaster that is the Maduro Communist regime in Venezuela. I have very little affection for the regime, but I have a lot of affection for the people of Venezuela. Petitioners are drawing the attention of the House to some important numbers. As per the Unit…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urgently raise the case of the persecution of journalist Niloofar Hamedi. Hamedi is the 22-year-old Iranian journalist who broke the story of the now famous Kurdish woman, Zhina Mahsa Amini, her beating and murder at the hands of the morality police in Tehran. For her professionalism and journalistic ethics, she has been charged with “colluding with hostile powers”, a …
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