Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, members know the old adage “where there is smoke, there is fire,” and there is clearly something smouldering across the House. The Leader of the Opposition, for months now, has refused to get his security clearance. In my riding, more and more people are asking, “What is up with the Leader of the Opposition?” Then we hear about the foreign interference. The member for Calgary Nose Hil…
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Mr. Speaker, talk about a party being desperate for power. The party opposite tried to become government in 2015, 2019 and 2021. The member opposite is a straight shooter, and I respect him for that. Here is my question for him: There is clearly something going on with respect to the fact that his leader will not get a security clearance. What is up with the foreign meddling in the leadership cont…
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Madam Speaker, I come here, week in and week out, to do work for my constituents. I want to do work for the country. I want to be up in the House talking about such things as the housing accelerator. Some Conservatives wanted it, and some did not; some wanted it but could not speak up for it because their leader would not let them. It was unbelievable. I want to speak about the Canada child benefi…
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Madam Speaker, I think the party opposite has about 80 pages of speech that they hand from member to member. It is almost like a fruitcake at Christmas, going around from house to house. The member opposite speaks about accountability and transparency, so here is my question: Where is the transparency with the Leader of the Opposition with respect to his clearance? He refuses to get it, and more a…
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Madam Speaker, I respect the member greatly. There is a report today in the CBC, which states, “Agents of the Indian government allegedly attempted to derail [candidate's] campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2022, according to sources who spoke to Radio-Canada.” The article also states that the MP for Calgary Nose Hill “allegedly was pressured to withdraw her support for [that…
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Mr. Speaker, my condolences to the member opposite for drawing the short straw and having to read that 20-minute speech. The member opposite talks about accountability and leadership accountability. If there is any one thing that is starting to increase in my riding, it is the concern that the leader of the party opposite will not get a security clearance. People are becoming more concerned. Now w…
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Mr. Speaker, I came up yesterday with great anticipation that we would get some work done this week in the House of Commons for Canadians. Obviously, I am very disappointed. I am here to work on behalf of my constituents of Saint John—Rothesay. I am here to continue to advocate for stuff like our wonderful housing programs, our child care benefits, so on and so forth. However, we cannot get that w…
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Mr. Speaker, I know the member is new to the House, and I want to welcome him here. What a terrible example we are showing a new member of this House by tying up the House and our government, which has been going on for six weeks now. The other terrible example that we are showing him is this: Are the members on that side allowed to speak up? We just went through the housing accelerator program. T…
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Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I really do not disagree with a lot of the member's speech. We all come here week in and week out. The member said we have been here now for six weeks, basically wasting our time and the time of the Canadians watching, just continuing on with the debacle. What puzzles me is that the member of the NDP and his party are supporting what is going on, and they could very…
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Madam Speaker, I certainly want to thank and acknowledge my good friend across the House on his speech, although he must have drawn the short straw to have to get up and do that for 10 minutes. However, I do have a question for him with respect to what the commissioner of the RCMP said. He said that: ...the RCMP's ability to receive and use information obtained through this production order and un…
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Madam Speaker, I come here, week in and week out, hoping we can get work done on behalf of Canadians. I had great hopes coming here today, but obviously I can see from the members opposite that that is not going to happen. All of us are elected here. We have the great privilege to be here, but that privilege needs to be taken seriously. I came here this week to talk about the wonderful initiatives…
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Madam Speaker, I have a lot of respect for the member opposite and 20 years' service is absolutely incredible in this House. I take him at his word that he did not want to waste his time and ours this afternoon with that speech, but we did hear it. I have a quote from the commissioner of the RCMP that I would like to read to the member opposite. He said: ...the RCMP's ability to receive and use in…
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Mr. Speaker, honestly, I think I am watching Groundhog Day or Inception. This goes round and round again. My question straight up to the member opposite is this: Will you have the courage to encourage your leader to do the right thing and get his clearance? I know the leader has painted himself into a corner and has to get his feet wet getting out, but he needs to listen to Canadians. He needs to …
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Mr. Speaker, I continue to be more and more frustrated. I come here week in and week out to do work on behalf of my beautiful riding of Saint John—Rothesay. None of us is getting work done. However, I do want to home in on the Leader of the Opposition. Every member of the House, and every Canadian in fact, knows that there is a need for leaders of the parties to get a security clearance. We all re…
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Mr. Speaker, to be blunt, that speech was absolutely all over the map. I mean, it covered everything but the failure to produce sustainable documents, so I am not quite sure what the member opposite was trying to get at in his speech. To be perfectly honest, I come to Ottawa each and every week to try to get work done on behalf of my constituents. I want to talk about housing. I want to talk about…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the winds of change have blown through New Brunswick. Last night, New Brunswickers voted for change and helped make history too. New Brunswick has elected its first female premier. Susan Holt led her Liberal team to a solid majority government, bringing an end to six years of Conservative rule. Even Premier Blaine Higgs lost his seat in the red tide of change. The final tally is 31 se…
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Mr. Speaker, I and everybody in this House came to this place to get work done on behalf of our constituents. My constituents want me to come up here and talk about things like housing, health care, dental care and other things that they really care about. If I can be perfectly transparent, the number of calls I get in my constituency office with respect to this subject is minuscule. I appreciate …
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Mr. Speaker, we are all privileged to be here in this House, to have a seat and to be representing our constituents by doing what they elected us to do. As we all know, but perhaps the public does not, we could not do our jobs well without having the backing and support of our amazing teams, like the people who help answer the thousands of emails we get and the ones who answer our many calls and s…
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Mr. Speaker, I came from my riding of Saint John—Rothesay to Ottawa to do work on behalf of Canadians. We have literally been tied up and not doing work on behalf of Canadians for the better part of two weeks now. People in my riding are asking me why we are not getting to work on behalf of all Canadians. I am also here to talk about dental care, pharmacare and other great initiatives that we are …
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Madam Speaker, a well-known singer-songwriter from New Brunswick has sadly passed away after losing his battle with brain cancer. Ken Tobias was born in Saint John and brought joy and beauty to the world for more than 60 years with his music. He wrote multiple chart-topping hits like Stay Awhile, which sold more than two million copies worldwide, and was written for the Bells, and Dream No. 2, whi…
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Madam Speaker, I have sat with my friend and colleague on HUMA for eight or nine years now, and we have done some wonderful work together. One of the first things our government did was to raise the GIS by 10% for low-income seniors, and we are certainly a friend of seniors. The rationale behind our 10% raise for those over 74 was obviously because seniors are living longer, their money is running…
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to recognize one of southern New Brunswick's best: Senator Joseph Day. Joe grew up in Hampton, New Brunswick. He attended CMR in Saint-Jean and then went on to RMC, where he graduated in engineering. He then pursued law at Queen's University and a master's degree at Osgoode Hall Law School. Joe spent his entire career largely in law, which included role…
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Mr. Speaker, I come from a community that is filled with good, hard-working people. The small city realities do not always look the same as that of someone who lives in big urban centres, but they do face many of the same challenges when it comes to housing. I am proud that our government has stepped up to tackle the housing crisis. This challenge requires bold, outside-the-box thinking, including…
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Mr. Speaker, I come from a community, Saint John—Rothesay, that is filled with good, hard-working people. Their small city realities do not always look the same as that of someone who lives in big urban centres, but they do face many of the same challenges when it comes to housing. I am proud that our government has stepped up to the plate to tackle the housing crisis. This challenge requires bold…
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Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, our community, the Atlantic region and Canada lost an extraordinary business leader. Irving Oil chairman emeritus, Arthur L. Irving passed away on May 13 at the age of 93. Arthur Irving was one of Canada's greatest entrepreneurs. Under his leadership, Irving Oil's Saint John Refinery grew to become the largest in Canada. He led the expansion of the business in the …
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Madam Speaker, I want to ask the member a question about the unbelievable fiscal management the Conservative Party thinks it has. He talked about nine years a few times, with nine years this and nine years that. The party in power before us, for nine straight years, ran a deficit. That is a fact. The Conservatives ran a deficit. Yes, they balanced the budget in the 10th year because they put some …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about housing, and I want to talk about the lack of support the party opposite, the Conservative Party, has actually had with respect to housing. We came forth with the national housing strategy. We came forth with the rapid housing initiative, the federal co-investment fund, the housing accelerator fund and many other wonderful transformational programs for cities and …
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of many Canadians who are looking for our government's continued commitment to our coastal communities and their families by standing with the Canadian aquaculture industry. Through investment, innovation, technologies and practices, Canada's highly regulated aquaculture industry can continue to grow and prosper. Our coastal communities on the east coast and on …
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Madam Speaker, I have to point out the unbelievable hypocrisy here. The member opposite talks about lack of resources when it was the Conservatives who cut 1,100 jobs out of the CBSA. They talk about lack of resources, and they were going to cut another 400 more. It has to be mentioned again that Conservatives talk about lack of resources, but they voted against $1.5 billion in funding for the CBS…
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Madam Speaker, I had a meeting recently in my riding of Saint John—Rothesay with CBSA officers and I was shocked to learn that in 2011-12, the party opposite cut almost 1,100 jobs. That would be like the mayor of Saint John cutting hundreds of jobs out of the police force and then wondering why crime went up. The Conservatives were also going to cut another 400 jobs if they had been re-elected in …
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my friend and colleague from Kings—Hants for his leadership as chair of the Atlantic caucus and for advocating for the pause on the carbon price for home heating fuel and the doubling of the rural rebate to our government. We often hear across the aisle about axing the tax and the carbon price being tripled, but never do we hear about the climate cheque that c…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his wonderful speech today; it was very enlightening. We know this for a fact: The party opposite ran on pricing pollution. Whether its members want to admit that is totally up to them; it was in their platform, and we all know it. We also know that the official opposition's job is to challenge our government, to hold our feet to the fire and so on; however,…
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Mr. Speaker, one thing that is very clear is that the Conservatives are going to axe the tax, as I have heard time and time again. However, I would ask the member opposite what other programs are going to be axed by her and her party. Are they going to axe child care? Are they going to axe the Canada child benefit? The member spoke very passionately about what families cannot afford, yet she voted…
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Madam Speaker, I always marvel when I hear speeches from the opposite side. The Conservatives paint themselves as these magnificent fiscal stewards. Pre-2015, the Conservative government ran nine out of 10 straight deficits. I ask the member opposite to come clean with Canadians. What programs would he cut? Is he going to cut the Canada child benefit, the dental care program or the child care prog…
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Mr. Speaker, I continue to be confused by the party opposite, the Conservative Party, as to what its members actually believe when it comes to housing. They voted against the housing benefit, the rapid housing initiative and the accelerator fund. They actually voted against the right to housing. Last week, the member for Calgary Centre actually supported his council's NIMBYism. He supported a coun…
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Madam Speaker, the member opposite certainly has my respect. I do have a question for him. Why did he vote against the right to housing? Does he not believe in the right to housing?
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Madam Speaker, as a federal government, it is important that we acknowledge that, yes, we have a lot of work to do and we need to make a difference in housing nationally. We have come forth with wonderful programs, whether it is the co-investment fund, the rapid housing initiative, the housing accelerator fund, the Canada housing benefit and the right to housing, which the Conservative Party voted…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the parliamentary secretary, for her wonderful leadership on the housing file. We have come forth with many great programs and initiatives to help those looking for housing and to help solve the housing crisis we are in. Whether it is the rapid housing initiative, the co-investment fund, the housing accelerator or the housing benefit, we certainly know …
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly respect and recognize the member opposite's passion on this file. Let us also talk about a lot of the good things we have done as a government, whether it is through the billions of dollars of national housing strategy investment, the rapid housing initiative, the coinvestment fund, the accelerator fund or the Canada housing benefit. These are programs that the NDP, the pa…
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Mr. Speaker, as Port Saint John celebrates its annual Port Days, excitement and optimism reign supreme. Our government's $100-million investments are supporting more than 100,000 TEUs of cargo and are aimed at 150,000 by the end of the year. This will be the largest volume of container traffic the port has ever processed and will explode to over 800,000 TEUs in only a few years. This has positione…
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Madam Speaker, as a government, we often hear about everything we are doing wrong. It seems to be one thing after another. Certainly, the official opposition is quick to remind us that we cannot manage the economy, yet it ran nine straight deficits. The economy was in a mess when we took over. In the fall economic statement, we came forth with a lot of good programs. To be sure, we hear from the p…
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Madam Speaker, only in an alternative reality would the Conservatives think that they are fiscal stewards. They ran nine straight deficits. They tried to balance the budget by throwing in the sale of stock and an EI rainy day fund in 2015. We all know, and Canadians know, that is not true. In the fall economic statement, there are three things my constituents love: first, the doubling of the GST r…
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Madam Speaker, my friend opposite's speech was impassioned. I have to admit that for a while there I was feeling kind of bad, but then I remembered that the members of the party opposite live in an alternative reality where they are the fiscal managers and fiscal stewards of this country. Let me remind Canadians that this is the party that ran nine straight deficits. It drove the Canadian economy …
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Madam Speaker, one thing our government did was believe in students. We believe, in particular, in university and post-secondary students, and we have done many things to help those students. We have doubled the Canada summer jobs. We have doubled the Canada student grant, and in this last fall economic statement, we have raised the threshold of repayment from $25,000 to $40,000. It is key that we…
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Madam Speaker, I cannot say there is a lot I agree with in the member's speech. In my riding of Saint John—Rothesay, I was pleased that under the veterans connection to home program we announced over $450,000 to identify and assist veterans. I want to tell a little story about 2014, when I was not a politician and was really not involved in politics at all. I was watching one of the TV channels, a…
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Mr. Speaker, I came to this great place in 2015 laser-focused on one goal: to deliver much-needed strategic federal investment for my beautiful riding of Saint John—Rothesay, investment that was sadly lacking under the previous Conservative government. It was because of that lack of investment that Saint John's waterfront was undeveloped. That is, until now. We have announced $15 million to rebuil…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a few comments. First and foremost, I know there was mention made of a broken regulatory system. That system was broken because the previous government, prior to 2015, absolutely gutted that system and broke all trust in it. That is why that system was broken. That is number one. Number two, the member talked about the government's credibility with respect to a price on polluti…
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Mr. Speaker, seven years ago, in 2015, I came to this great place on behalf of the constituents of Saint John—Rothesay with one major goal. That goal was to deliver much-needed federal investment in my riding, a riding that had become stalled under the previous government. I wanted to deliver strategic investment that would help my riding grow and thrive, and there is no better example than that o…
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Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, entitled, “The Impacts of COVID-19 on Seniors”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to introduce to you and all Canadians to four very important people: Ashley Lloyd, Maghnus Ryan, David Hickey and Jeannette Arsenault. They may not be as popular and as well known as Wayne Long in the riding of Saint John—Rothesay, but they are equally, if not more, important. They are part of Team Long. They are part of my constituency office and my Hill office, and we a…
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