Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I think debate on Bill C-223 is outside the scope of this legislation. I approach legislation like this as a father of a young daughter who had a disability when she was born and who passed away from her disability. I met a lot of parents over that time who are taking care of their children until the age of maturity, and the biggest fear they always had is that their children would …
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Madam Speaker, yes, of course. In clause 11, the regulations, right now the government is proposing that the indexation to inflation will be determined by cabinet, both the day it would happen and the amount it would be. It seems infinitely reasonable, when we are talking about a cost-of-living crisis in Canada, that we protect the most vulnerable, to whom we are trying to extend the benefit. I th…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is quite right. It seems to me that we have been waiting several years for this bill, which was introduced today, to be debated in the House. The bill has some flaws. The framework lacks substance considering what is being proposed, and there are no details, either. It will be up to the Council of the Federation, the provinces and the federal government to negotiate the…
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Madam Speaker, I think the member brought up a lot of the shortfalls of the bill. The government, over the last few years, has been promising that it would bring it through, but we see that most of the details are being left up to cabinet to decide. I want to put this to him. Twenty-one regulations would be created through this piece of legislation, but it is leaving it up to cabinet to decide ver…
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Madam Speaker, in the paragraph the member was reading that said persons with disabilities represent about one in five Canadians, there was a section he read that was discussing the potential benefits and who might be getting this. Is he implying that the government believes that up to one in five Canadians would therefore be eligible for this benefit? Is that the government's goal? It is not in t…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, defence department documents revealed that Pakistan's chief of army staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had a visit to Canada approved for a $50,000 taxpayer-covered trip in 2020 that was cancelled thanks to COVID-19. General Bajwa has been accused of toppling two governments in Pakistan. The military under his command has been involved in human rights abuses and extrajudicial killing…
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Madam Speaker, on a point of order arising out of question period, I take the parliamentary secretary's explanation to mean that I should aid him and the House, so I am seeking the unanimous consent of the House to table an access to information request with the information regarding General Bajwa and the trip to Canada for $50,000 that was to be approved.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Elections Canada's "Inspire Democracy network": (a) when was the network established; (b) which community organizations and stakeholders are members of the network; (c) which of the 27 community organizations and stakeholders in the network promoted early voting options on behalf of Elections Canada in the 2021 federal general election; (d) how much funding or other support was prov…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, “Expect No Warning” is the motto of the HMCS Victoria, the namesake for the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps 344. On June 16, the cadet corps will be meeting for the first time since the pandemic to recognize with medals three deserving cadets: Chief Petty Officer Jayden Traimany, Chief Petty Officer Pablo Silva and Petty Officer Miguel Sharif. For over 20 years, this cadet corps has be…
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moved: That Bill C-14 be amended by deleting the alternative title. Madam Speaker, as always, it is a privilege to rise in the House on behalf of my constituents. I will try to be brief and not use up all of my speaking time. I hope that other members will be happy to hear that. I think we all agree that no one province in our beautiful country should lose a seat when electoral boundaries are redi…
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Madam Speaker, I would simply like to remind the member that the Charlottetown accord, which guaranteed that Quebec would never have less than 25% of the total number of seats in the House of Commons, was rejected by 58% of Quebeckers during a national referendum. I would also like to quickly tell him that we cannot blame Albertans for the mistakes of Ontarians.
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Madam Speaker, it is a wonderful question. I do not think they use proportional voting in the member's own party. I will mention this: My colleagues know me to be a contrarian, and perhaps it will surprise the member for Elmwood—Transcona that I actually voted in the 2003 merger between the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. I was a young Canadian Alliance activist…
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Madam Speaker, I did mention it. There have been Supreme Court decisions and lower court decisions on this. In Canada, what is most important is what is called effective representation. In court decisions, that has been the way to nuance representation by population, which were the great debates that led to eventual Confederation in 1867. The courts have found that effective representation is a co…
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Madam Speaker, none of what the minister just said is accurate. The Senate is not going to pass this bill before the end of June. We just heard that the committee has been considering this bill since the middle of May. I have been to that committee. What the cabinet is calling filibustering is what I call debate and raising the issues our constituents are raising. Thousands of Canadians emailed us…
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With regard to concessional investments, grants, or other financing provided by the government since November 4, 2015: (a) what is the total value of such financing, broken down by (i) year, (ii) government program which provided the funding; and (b) what are the details of each project that received concessional financing, including for each the (i) date of the announcement, (ii) date of financin…
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With regard to the federal government financial participation in the Joint Federal/Provincial Commission into the April 2020 Nova Scotia Mass Casualty: (a) what are the total expenditures to date by the commission; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by type of expenditure; (c) what are the specific details of the expenditures related to the glossy mailer that was sent out, including the total expend…
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With regard to applications received by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, since January 1, 2016, and broken down by type of application: (a) how many applicants were deemed inadmissible pursuant to (i) Section 34(l)(b), (ii) Section 34(1)(c), (iii) Section 34(1)(f) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (S.C. 2001, c. 27); and (b) broken down by each section of the act in (a), h…
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Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely correct. I have been to his riding. As in his riding, in my riding we have a lot of lawful firearm owners who want to abide by all the rules set out by the government. They understand that it is a privilege, and they have had a lot of difficulty over the last 20 or 30 years with ever-changing rules and expectations that keep being set higher and higher.
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moved that the first report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, presented on Tuesday, February 8, be concurred in. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to move concurrence on the first report of the Standing Committee of Public Accounts presented to the House on Tuesday, February 8. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts is probably known as one of the most powerful committees of the H…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, during the Standing Orders debate, the member talked about making Friday a day when any members could rise in this chamber to speak about an issue they care about. I am simply practising what he is preaching.
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Mr. Speaker, in my experience, having worked for three years for a professional association responsible for this, not the Payroll Association but HR professionals, what people typically do is hire more compensation advisers. I will admit that, at the time when Phoenix was being rolled out in its first phase, there were not enough compensation advisers, because one wants to work out all the kinks. …
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Mr. Speaker, I cannot divine what my House leader is thinking, nor what the members on my side of the House may want to speak on, because I am sure that on Monday, when the government table-dropped this legislation, many of our constituents did not even know such a thing was coming and were not expecting its contents. Over the summer months, I would hope that we will collect our emails, collect in…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the motion tabled by the Bloc Québécois House leader. I think that the motion of instruction highlights the important work that the House standing committees do. I trust the committee members to decide what type of motion and amendment regarding Bill C‑14 they might introduce. I would also like to remind my colleagues that the substance of Bill C‑14 comes, as I believe, f…
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Madam Speaker, I want to perhaps suggest this to the member in talking about Private Members' Business. It is unfortunate that some members who have served in this House for perhaps a decade never get an opportunity to table a private member's bill and take it through the entire process. I will bring up the experience of the former interim leader of the Conservative Party, former minister Rona Amb…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Beauport—Limoilou offered lots of suggestions for changes to the Standing Orders that could be codified in the House. I think we should not be too quick to change the rules of the House. It is very difficult to go back to a previous version that may have been better. Sometimes people try to change things without knowing for sure that it will make the work of the House…
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Madam Speaker, I like the member's idea on adjournment proceedings, but I think it should be moved to earlier in the day. It should actually follow question period and it should be shorter. Perhaps the system could be either a random draw done by the Speaker right away through the clerks, or a first-come, first-served system. Whatever it is, could the member comment on that part? It would be like …
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Madam Speaker, the evening is getting short, so I want to offer the member an opportunity to comment further on pairing. Like the member who spoke before, the member for Calgary Rocky Ridge, I also have not liked the fact that a hybrid Parliament has allowed for a reduction in accountability and transparency in this place. I have seen things get worse. I was elected in the same year, in 2015. I wo…
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Mr. Speaker, during the vote, and in this hybrid Parliament, we have had an abridgement of some of the Standing Orders when it comes to voting from our seats. The member for Laval—Les Îles heard the question but was seated in a different seat during the roll call on the government side. He moved seats to have his name called for the vote. I would like clarity from you on whether that vote can be c…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join this debate on the concurrence report. I want to say something for my constituents back home who have been wondering what this is. Oftentimes, I have to explain to residents in my riding what exactly Parliament is doing during report stage like this. It is the opportunity for any group of members in the House to highlight a particular report that is coming out o…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for referring to that dissenting report the committee agreed to and sent to the House of Commons. I will refer to recommendation 11, though, which is on the powers of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada. It is “That the Government of Canada introduce legislative changes to the Lobbying Act to give the Commissioner of Lobbying real powers to investigate, issue f…
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Madam Speaker, I regret that the member caught your eye, because that member is from Edmonton, and after the 5-4 beating on May 26 that the Calgary Flames took, I do not find it very fair to let him speak. He is absolutely right. If we have Treasury Board rules that are set out, we have to abide by them. That is the whole point of having them. When we have a situation of cabinet ministers allowing…
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Madam Speaker, the member for Berthier—Maskinongé just asked two questions. First, I hope that, after these three hours of debate, we will end with a vote on this issue so that the House can say, on behalf of Canadians and Quebeckers, that what we ultimately want is for the government to take this report and its 23 recommendations seriously and follow through on them. Second, it is not the job of …
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Madam Speaker, I entirely agree with the opposition House leader. That was an excellent question, and I could not have done it better myself.
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Madam Speaker, I do not really have a question for the member, but I do have a comment. I listened carefully to her speech. There were some parts that I agreed with, but we disagree when it comes to political weight. I think that the weight of the population is what matters most for the province. I come from Alberta and we still do not have the number of seats we should have in the House of Common…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to comment on the member's speech. This bill is about amending the Constitution. I think what she meant to say was that this is not an amendment that would require the agreement of seven of the 10 provinces, or 50% plus one of the Canadian population. Speaking of population, Alberta is under-represented in the House based on its democratic weight and the weight of its s…
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 62, I move that the hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot be now heard.
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Madam Speaker, the member for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston asked this question of the member earlier. One of the great debates of Confederation between Canadians in Upper Canada and Lower Canada at the time was about representation by population. In a Supreme Court decision regarding a case out of Saskatchewan, the Supreme Court talked about effective representation. The member represents quite a lar…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Pursuant to Standing Order 62, I move: That the hon. member for South Shore—St. Margarets be now heard.
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On behalf of the official opposition, I ask for a recorded division.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join the debate on Bill C-210. This is a difficult bill to debate because it is a responsibility of citizenship and that is the fundamental question before us. What is a citizen? What are their duties and responsibilities? Often times, people talk about what rights they have as a citizen. They rarely address the responsibilities of a citizen. I, like many Canadians, …
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Mr. Speaker, I hear the member for Kingston and the Islands heckling me again. I am happy to take another question from him.
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Montcalm addressed several issues and problems he had with the various paragraphs in the motion. I would like to hear what he thinks about subparagraph (c)(B)(iv), under which “a minister of the Crown may move, without notice, a motion to adjourn the House until Monday, September 19, 2022...and that the said motion shall be decided immediately without debate or a…
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Mr. Speaker, to finish what I was saying before the heckling drowned me out, only a minister of the Crown can move it. Only a cabinet minister can move said motion. These Liberal members have ensured themselves the vote of the NDP. They bought the vote. Therefore, it is a guarantee that this will happen. They will have a majority, so it is a guarantee that they can shut down the House at any momen…
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Madam Speaker, I am glad to be joining the debate on Motion No. 11. Ahead of time, I am going to inform you that I am going to be sharing my time with the member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley. I have to look at him just to remember his riding name, so I recognize it is difficult to memorize all of the members' riding names here. I want to start by saying something for constituent…
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Madam Speaker, I hear them heckling me and chirping away. I appreciate they do not like it when I bring up these facts, but I want to make sure that my constituents back home understand what we are debating here and what we are going to be called to vote upon. I look forward to questions from their side. “He that cannot pay, let him pray.” I love Yiddish proverbs. I know there are members of the l…
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Mr. Speaker, apart from correcting the member on the rules of the House, where we cannot impugn another member for intentionally misleading the House, which is against the rules in the Standing Orders, I will remind the member that it is his own government's motion that says the following: “that the said motion shall be decided immediately without debate or amendment”. It can only be moved by a mi…
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Mr. Speaker, let me quibble first with the number. Obviously, when a time allocation motion is moved, there is a difference between having a 24-hour notice that debate will be shut down versus having two weeks to debate the matter. I know the member for Hamilton Centre is heckling and would perhaps like to jump in and correct what I am trying to say, but again, there is a huge difference between i…
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Mr. Speaker, I hear the member heckling me again.
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Mr. Speaker, I will always be happy to be corrected by the chair of our caucus and one of the longest-serving members on the Conservative side in the House of Commons. He is right. The end person, the person who decides who is the government House leader and who is supposed to be responsible for the government's agenda and making sure it goes through the House if not smoothly at least assuredly, w…
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Mr. Speaker, I will agree with the member's concerns about the culture of this place. That is probably unusual for a Conservative, to agree with the former leader of the Green Party, but I have sat at many prayer breakfast tables with her, so I know her heart is in the right place. However, the culture of this place has gone in the wrong direction over perhaps the last 40 to 45 years, and I do not…
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