Routine Proceedings
With regard to expenditures on accommodations by the government, broken down by department or agency, and by year since January 1, 2016: (a) what were the total expenditures on (i) Airbnb, (ii) Vrbo, rentals; and (b) how many different purchases or rentals do the amounts in (a) represent?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I was wondering whether my hon. colleague could comment on the rationale of the government for the 18-month implementation date for the legislation, and why the government would preclude the largest employer group, the federal public service, from being part of it.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise in my place today to participate in the debate with respect to Bill C-351, an act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, maximum security offenders. My Conservative colleague, the member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, has done an incredible job in bringing forward this important bill, which builds on the private member's bill I…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to stand in this place today to talk about the dissenting report that we have submitted on the underused housing tax on Canadian border communities. While Conservatives were generally pleased with the evidence contained within this report, they firmly believe its recommendations fall way short of what was being asked by concerned stakeholders. The Conservative members a…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I agree with the member's comments. On this side of the House, we are disappointed in the government for bringing forward time allocation. There are chances to improve this legislation. We put 14 amendments forward, and only four were accepted. We still have concerns that we would like addressed to ensure that this bill is better, better for all Canadians. That should be the priorit…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my understanding is that the amendment we proposed at committee would have allowed for a takeover by any foreign hostile country to be reviewed immediately. That would have been looked at. It is again the whole notion of removing the mandatory cabinet review on national security issues. Does the member not feel that those members from the Quebec caucus who are members of cabinet sho…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, during the whole committee process of reviewing the bill, and this is why we are debating it at report stage, my Conservative colleagues on the committee proposed 14 amendments to improve this legislation, to improve the security and scrutiny that takes place with foreign-controlled enterprises that are looking to take over Canadian companies and the impact it has on workers in this…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I rise today to take part in the debate on Bill C-34, an act to amend the Investment Canada Act. Bill C-34 attempts to update and strengthen the Investment Canada Act through seven significant amendments. Mainly, these changes to the act aim to protect Canada's national security with stricter regulations and higher penalties. Why does the government feel we need this bill? Here is a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it is cold in northern Ontario. It is not a luxury for residents of northern Ontario to heat their homes. The Prime Minister has created two categories of Canadians: those who got a temporary pause on the carbon tax on home heating and those who did not. The Prime Minister has been clear that he opposes providing relief from his unaffordable carbon tax for all northern residents. My q…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, despite the faults with the ArriveCAN app in its application and the $54 million and the scandals that we now find, why is it that the government, in your mind—
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I take issue with my colleague's comments on our role as the opposition. In fact, I called for, at the international trade committee, the study of ArriveCAN in the winter of 2022. That is why we are here today. It is because of the negative impacts that application had on the tourism community. We lost two years because of COVID. We lost a third year of tourism because of the Arrive…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague, the member for Calgary Midnapore. A lot happened during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, which stretched over three years, from 2020 to 2022. It was a time when the Liberal government tried to give itself full spending authority without any opposition scrutiny. This was in the spring of 2020. Then, the Liberal government thought it was …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, being in a border community, I can relay some of the examples we have from the four bridge crossings into my community and about our visitor base in terms of tourism in Niagara, which would be about 30% American. Those American visitors represented 50% of the spend. On the ArriveCAN app and the terrible image it portrayed because of wait times and the glitches it caused, there were,…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I enjoy working with my hon. colleague on the international trade committee as well. If we go back to the study we undertook, we were the first committee to undertake a study on this. The first recommendation asked, “That the Government of Canada ensure the safety and security of Canadians by continuing with its ongoing efforts designed to modernize Canada’s borders, including throu…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it was an absolute shame to see what was happening at Canadian borders. We were essentially driving people to airports such as Buffalo. I questioned the previous minister and jokingly said the Buffalo chamber of commerce was going to hold a parade for him because of the additional business he was creating in Buffalo, instead of getting our act in order so we could get people back to…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, why is it that the members of the government believe that there is still some value in retaining the ArriveCAN app?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. It is a time for us to recognize and support the importance of childhood cancer research while remembering those young lives that have been taken away from us far too soon. One of these new angels was Jordy Pepperall, a beautiful six-year-old little girl who recently passed, leaving behind her older brother Jack and loving parents Lindsay…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, last Friday, as a result of the Prime Minister's inaction, a Nazi veteran was allowed access to this chamber. Although this person was invited by the Speaker, it is the responsibility of the government to organize and ensure the security of foreign dignitaries. Further, both the Prime Minister and this individual were present in the same reception room in West Block after the speeches…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to memorandums and briefing notes sent to the Minister of Public Safety or the minister’s office concerning prisoner transfers since January 1, 2019, about prisoner transfers or potential prisoner transfers: what are the details of all such documents, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) title, (v) type of document, (vi) subject matter, (vii) summary of…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. If you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move that the House call for the immediate return of vile serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo to a maximum security prison, that all court-ordered dangerous offenders and mass murderers be permanently assigned a maximum security classification, that the least-restrictiv…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the IMF warns that Canada is at the greatest risk of home mortgage defaults in the world. The Liberal government's out-of-control spending and massive deficits have caused inflation to skyrocket. Canadians cannot absorb these higher rates, placing their dreams of home ownership at risk. Families are struggling, and they are struggling because of this Liberal government. Will the Prime…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canadians simply cannot afford the higher cost of living brought about by these Liberal government policies. They are being forced to work more shifts or find a second job simply to get by. Canadians deserve our help. Budget 2023 only makes the cost of living crisis worse. Conservatives are ready to work through the summer to fix their mistakes. Will the Liberal government cancel its …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Canada's tourism sector, and Canadians who enjoy travelling, are under attack by the Liberal government's out-of-control spending and tax hikes. A recent Ipsos report found that six in 10 Canadians are now planning to scale back on their summer vacation plans, yet the Liberal government continues to hike taxes, like adding a second carbon tax to the price of gas, which will add 17¢ …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, that is an interesting response. Surely our tourism minister knows that travel is a discretionary activity. Adding 41¢ a litre to gas through the first carbon tax will not help. A second Liberal carbon tax of 17¢ will hurt as well. If we add GST to that, we have a tax on a tax on a tax. Canadians need tax relief, not another tax. When will the Liberal government axe the tax and help…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, I stand in the House today to add my name to those of residents in Fort Erie and Port Colborne who were shocked and disappointed by the decision of the Niagara health system to reduce the operating hours of the urgent care centres in both communities. What makes this decision so disappointing and frustrating is the fact that nearly 8,000 residents in Fort Erie alone are without a fa…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the minister fails to answer the questions. He does not even know the details of the rapid housing initiative and how many units were built in Niagara. The answer to that, out of the $2.5 billion, is only 42 units in Niagara. Do the government and minister know how many households in Niagara Falls were on the centralized housing wait-list last summer?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, under the first two streams of the government's rapid housing initiative, the government committed $2.5 billion to projects. How much money was allocated to construction in the Niagara Region?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the Liberals' programs are failing. Again, according to the Niagara Regional Housing, the answer is eight years. Minister, under the first two streams of the government's rapid housing initiative—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Again, Madam Chair, he is not answering the question. Again, according to Niagara Regional Housing, the answer is 12 years. Does the minister know the estimated wait time for a family in Fort Erie who is waiting for a new, affordable four-bedroom unit?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, again the minister refuses to answer, and it is a failure of the government. According to Niagara Regional Housing, the answer is a wait time of 21 years. That is unacceptable. Does the minister know the estimated wait time for a senior in Niagara-on-the-Lake who is waiting for a new, affordable one-bedroom unit?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the minister refuses to answer questions. The answer to that is $1,495. Does the minister know the estimated wait time for an adult in Niagara Falls who is waiting for an affordable one-bedroom unit?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, does the minister know what the average rent is for a one-bedroom apartment in Niagara Falls?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, again, according to Niagara Regional Housing, the answer is 4,500 households as of July 2022. Does the minister know how many households and Niagara residents are on the Niagara region's affordable housing wait-list?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the program is not working. The answer is $10.5 million out of $2.5 billion. Can the government answer how many new, affordable housing units have been built in the Niagara Region through this program?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his comments regarding budget 2023 and the budget implementation act. He has spoken to a lot of the issues, but has not really spoken to the issue we are dealing with today, which is housing. Perhaps he can respond to some of the issues we are bringing forward. The government's approach with its national housing strategy, this “everybody g…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his comments, but there are consequences to this government spending the cupboards bare. I wonder if the member could speak to whether he is as disappointed as I was, when I reviewed budget 2023, that there was no mention of the wine replacement program. In last year's budget, the government identified that it would be generating $390 million because of the ex…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canada's tourism industry and Canadians who enjoy travelling are under attack by the current Liberal government's out-of-control spending and taxes. A recent report found that six in 10 Canadians are scaling back their summer vacation plans, while a quarter say they cannot even afford a vacation. While Canadians struggle with affordability, the Liberal government continues to raise ta…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, before budget 2023 was presented, our Conservative leader made three demands of it: one, that it end the war on work and lower taxes for workers; two, that it end inflationary deficits that are driving up the cost of goods; and three, that it remove gatekeepers to increase the building of homes in Canada. Sadly, none of these three Conservative demands were met, and for that reason I …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's questions about the work that the colleague from Niagara Centre has been doing. However, the member for Niagara Centre has been working on that for eight years. Only now, and after pressure from the United States that it was going to stop funding certain aspects of that money that is included in that $420 million, has this government finally realized i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the government, through the excise tax, placed a new tax on our Canadian grape and wine sector. In fact, it showed in last year's budget that it would be generating $390 million because of this new tax. What happened? Because of its escalator clause, we were forced to pay this tax. It promised a compensation program, a replacement program, but that replacement program of two years and…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned U.S. President Biden. The largest thing the government had to respond to was the Inflation Reduction Act tabled in the United States. We are talking $390 billion over 10 years. Let me note some of the comments we received when I was at the international trade committee on what it takes to respond to that. Catherine Cobden, the president and CEO of the Canadian S…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the government's plan to increase the tax on alcohol as of April 1, 2023: has Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada or the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario conducted any analysis on the negative impacts this increase will have on Niagara wineries, and, if so, what are the details, including the findings?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Canada is powered by tourism. That is the theme of this year's National Tourism Week. In my community of Niagara, some 2,800 tourism-related businesses employ 40,000 residents who rely on tourism for their paycheques. In 2019, Niagara welcomed more than 13 million visitors, generating $2.4 billion in receipts. We are Canada's largest tourism leisure destination. However, Canadian tour…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, like my hon. colleague, I have aerospace companies in my riding. I have Airbus Helicopters. Throughout the country, Airbus employs 4,000 people, including 250 in my riding alone. Airbus Helicopters has been in my community for almost 40 years. Dwayne Charette, the president and COO of Airbus Helicopters, spoke during committee hearings on this specific issue. He identified the disco…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague and I may disagree on other politics, but the one thing we can agree is that 100% Canadian-made wines are to the benefit of everyone throughout this country. When the Conservatives were in power in 2006, they implemented an excise exemption for 100% Canadian-made wines. The sector grew from 300 wineries to over 700, employing 9,000 people. This new escalator tax puts th…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of a Liberal government, groceries, gas and home heating are getting more and more expensive. If that were not bad enough, on April 1 taxes on gasoline are going up 14¢ a litre, while the escalator tax on wine, beer and spirits is also set to rise by 6.3%. That is no cruel April Fool's joke. In Niagara and across the country, these taxes will punish wineries, craft b…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) transferring refugees to Niagara Falls, Ontario, from the province of Quebec: (a) when was the first transfer of refugees from Quebec to Niagara Falls; (b) since the date of the first transfer, how many refugees have been transferred from Quebec to Niagara Falls in total; (c) what is the monthly breakdown of the number of refugee t…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, Canadians work hard for their paycheques, and they earn every cent of their income. That is their money to spend or save as they see fit. It is not the government's money to take through tax-and-spend inflation. At least, that is the way we Conservatives see it, which is in stark contrast to the high-tax Liberal government, which craves more and more taxes to continue feeding and fu…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, when I was elected, the first issue that I spoke to, and the first question I asked in the House of Commons, had to do with the WTO challenge that Australia brought about because of the escalator tax and its impact on the Canadian wine sector. The government failed to act. We told the government in 2017 not to act on putting forward that escalator tax. It did so, and it did so to th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, speaking about breweries, for example, Canadian brewers directly employ over 20,000 Canadian workers, many in unionized positions with an average compensation nearing $40 per hour. That is according to Statistics Canada. What are we doing by putting disincentives to their products being sold and putting their jobs at jeopardy? That helps nobody. We want to create an environment that…
Read full speech →