Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Eid is a time to celebrate with family and friends, and for communities to come together in joy and solidarity. I was happy to join members of my community in Ottawa Centre and the diplomatic corps at a celebration organized by Abbis Mahmoud and Koussei Kurbaj that combine the Eid celebration and fundraising for the Ottawa breakfast program. The program is run by the Ottawa Network fo…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to be absolutely clear to all members of this House: Forced labour is unacceptable. We must ensure that our global supply chains remain free from these abuses. That is why we prioritize the inclusion of comprehensive labour provisions and free trade agreements to promote international labour standards. We also work with Public Safety to reduce forced labour from our supply chai…
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Mr. Speaker, I am standing here as the member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre, which is a great honour that the good people of my community have given me. I am very much looking forward to speaking again on Bill C-9, which is a very important piece of legislation. It emanates from a platform commitment that my party, the Liberal Party of Canada, made in the last election after consulting many grou…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. This is a very important point, as to where those lines are. I think it is important to clarify that the bill is not a bubble-zone legislation. I know it is more commonly referred to as creating some sort of a bubble zone around places of worship, community centres or schools. That is not what the bill does. It does not talk about dista…
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Mr. Speaker, the member is somebody who, by the way, wears a collar. He knows what it means to work with communities and to protect communities. We have seen so much victimization happen in the country over the last few years because of people's religious beliefs. It is incumbent upon us to provide protections for them, to make sure that people are not being victimized because of their faith, sexu…
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Mr. Speaker, I think what we are considering here today is the entire bill, Bill C-9. I went through, in quite some detail, the five pillars of the bill, that make the bill. The Conservatives have chosen to divide our communities. They have chosen to just pick one very small aspect of the bill, as opposed to looking at its entirety, something that is supported by Canadians coast to coast to coast,…
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Mr. Speaker, some of the main challenges facing many seniors are isolation, staying active and engaging with their neighbours and communities. Addressing those challenges is the core mission of The Good Companions Seniors' Centre in my community of Ottawa Centre, and it has been pursuing that for the past 70 years. The amazing staff and volunteers of The Good Companions have shown unrivalled passi…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to work with my colleague on the Standing Committee on International Trade. He has contributed a great deal to the work of that committee. The committee adopted an important amendment that was put forward by the opposition member. That particular amendment would enhance transparency. It would allow for Global Affairs Canada to report back on the progress a…
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Mr. Speaker, it will require a lot of hard work for us to really meet the objective of doubling our non-U.S. exports in the next 10 years. The work that is necessary is to deepen relationships with our existing partners and to build new partnerships. The United Kingdom is a really good example. It is a nation that, as I mentioned earlier, enjoys a very long-lasting relationship with us. This agree…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate being acknowledged. You always look good in the chair and you do a really good job. I am hoping you will give me some leniency while I am speaking. I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. I am thrilled to share my time with her, as I consider her to be a close friend in this place. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to Bill C-13, which …
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Langley Township—Fraser Heights was one of the members I had the chance to travel with, and I got to know him personally quite well. I appreciate his public service and his representation of his community. He would remember that in every conversation we had, including with the Minister for International Trade from the United Kingdom, we brought up the issue of these non…
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Mr. Speaker, I think we all share the goal of making sure there is energy security, and not only energy security. In order for us to really fight climate change, we need to make sure there is more enhanced electrification, not only in Canada but around the world. I think that is going to be an imperative. For us to do that the best way, we need to make sure we have net-zero electricity. Some may d…
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Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak to Bill C-18. Bill C-18 is a very important piece of legislation. It is critical at this moment in our history for Canada's economic growth and prosperity, and for making sure that we are able to create the important jobs necessary for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Before I get into some of the substantive parts of this legislation,…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her important question. I was very pleased to work with my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois on the amendment to the bill. It was a good amendment. We agree with the member that having a report-back mechanism in the agreement is a good procedural step to ensure that we as parliamentarians will be able to take full stock of the promise of this legislat…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a very good question. As I mentioned, this is a more modern free trade agreement than we have done in the past. That is why we do not call it a free trade agreement. Rather, we call it a comprehensive economic agreement. I think this is the kind of template that we will be able to use in other places, like ASEAN and Mercosur. We are negotiating with the Philippines and Thaila…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a very good question, and the member is absolutely right. The agriculture sector was extremely enthusiastic, because it opens up a very big market. Some of the big barriers that exist are around sanitary and phytosanitary conditions. The agreement allows for better regulatory harmonization, for better process and understanding, and for high-quality products that are grown in …
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for raising a very important point. The games that the Conservatives are playing are very dangerous because they are making our communities and our society even more insecure at this moment. All the Jewish community groups have been asking for this legislation. They support this legislation. They want this legislation to be passed. As we are seeing the rise …
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Mr. Speaker, just like the member opposite, I have been meeting with many faith groups, and I have shared with them the same information I will share now. We have something called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Religious rights are protected within the charter. I think that relying on some sort of an exemption, which may have been created before the charter existed, is really misleading folks…
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Mr. Speaker, thank you for recognizing me and giving me an opportunity to speak on this motion. I know my colleagues are still working their way out of the chamber as we end question period, so I am just going to make sure that you are seated and that there is some time and space in the House so that I can speak. Before I get into my comments, I want to start by saying that I will be sharing my ti…
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Mr. Speaker, the most incredible thing about this country is that we always find a way to make sure that everybody's freedoms are protected. That is what the charter tries to do. It protects the rights and freedoms of people to make sure we can find that perfect space where we can all live in harmony, which is sometimes challenging to do. What we are trying to do is protect the cultural rights of …
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Mr. Speaker, there is obviously a very serious divide within the Conservative Party, as there are some who support the bill and others who oppose it. By bringing these arguments forward, its members are delaying the safety of society. We have something called the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, which protects everybody's religious freedoms. The charter remains in place.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I think we are starting to recognize that the opposition has finally gotten the memo that we may be in the middle of a trade war, in which our closest ally and trade partner has turned its back on us. That is why we are so focused on making sure that we diversify our trade. That is why we are working hard to open markets in China, India, Japan and Australia, where the Prime Minister i…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, when was the last time you thought about the health of your heart? For many Canadians, the risk of cardiovascular disease is not top of mind, but the One Million Canadian Hearts campaign led by the Ottawa Heart Institute, located in my riding of Ottawa Centre, is hoping to change that. As part of the activities to mark 50 years of operation, the Ottawa Heart Institute has launched thi…
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That is the language you are using. Go on X right now. Take a look at your leader, who is walking around somewhere in downtown Toronto, talking about those things. You have been using all kinds of rhetoric, such as deluxe supplemental benefits, which brings all of us down. It brings down the spirit of Canada and what this country is all about. I for one am not going to accept this. I am going to c…
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Madam Speaker, last year it was 86,000 out of 549,324 people. Do the percentage right now, my friend. All of a sudden, all of those people are bogus and fake. Come on. Again, nobody is denying that the costs have gone up, but let us be careful with the language we use. Let us not incite Canadians against each other.
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Madam Speaker, I just heard a friend of mine across the way say that they are not Canadians. The truth comes out. All of a sudden our humanity is out the window, because if someone is not Canadian, then we do not owe them anything. We have no international obligations and we do not protect their human rights. The truth comes out. The heckle from the other side was that they are not Canadian; it is…
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Madam Speaker, first of all, if that is the focus of the argument, it is a very small number of people, so to then argue that somehow the entire $1 billion is being spent on people whose asylum claims may have been refused is an erroneous argument. Again, the way that argument is being presented is divisive. The other thing I will say is that if people's asylum claims have been denied, they are pr…
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Madam Speaker, I figured I would get interrupted a few times. I am ready for the right-wing troller trash to be unleashed on me as well as a result of my comments. I am completely ready for that, because what this motion would do has nothing to do with facts or how we can perhaps reform a system. It completely has to do with dividing Canadians, trying to use the Trumpian sentiments that we are see…
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Madam Speaker, I do not think the member is questioning my perspective when it comes to standing up for refugees. I do that kind of work in this chamber and outside this chamber all the time.
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Madam Speaker, I must confess, as I start my remarks, that I am coming from a place of extreme sadness around the level, tone and tenor of debate that I have been hearing in the House. I recognize that my Conservative colleagues and their political party are a bit against the ropes right now. They are down in the polls and not getting any traction with the public, and their set of issues is not so…
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Madam Speaker, just yesterday I had a very thoughtful and detailed meeting with a doctor who is part of the Canadian Refugee Health Network, the executive director of Somerset West Community Health Centre, which is located in my riding, to have this exact conversation and to talk about the changes that are being proposed around copayment on some of these supplemental benefits. We went through the …
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the appropriate point of order from my colleague. Let us look at this program. In the fiscal year 2024-25, the eligible population in Canada for the program was about 549,324 people, as I mentioned, of whom 440,537 were asylum claimants, protected persons and victims of human trafficking and family violence. We can imagine those individuals, depending on which part of t…
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Madam Speaker, again, we just heard my colleague say that my numbers are fake. We do not even have to name Trump anymore to say that is the kind of language he uses. The member can do better. This is what I am saying. How lazy is his argument if this is what he has to go to? Let us focus on the issue at hand. The reason the cost of this program has gone up is that, as we all know, and we have deba…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, which is a fair one. Of course, we need to make sure our asylum claimant system works well. Nobody is debating or denying the fact that there are backlogs, that it could be managed better. I am not suggesting that there be no evaluation of this program or the way we review asylum claims, and the speed at which we do so, from an administrative a…
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Madam Speaker, I wish the member opposite would have written this motion or been the spokesperson for this, but I am sorry, that is not the language his leader has been using. We do not have to go too far to see it. We can just go on X or Instagram and look at it right now. I agree with the member that the debate around the state of our health care system is an extremely important debate, but how …
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Health care is broken? Madam Speaker, that is what I heard. I hope you are having that conversation with your minister of health in Saskatchewan, my friend. I hope you are having that conversation.
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Madam Speaker, is it Alberta? Yes, that is what your premier thinks too. She blames immigrants. She wants to have a referendum on immigrants because she is unable to manage her own books.
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Madam Speaker, I will leave the future of the Conservative Party in the hands of the voters. I think what we are seeing from some of the Conservative members is that they do not disagree with the position of our party and are actually choosing a different direction. I am sure it is not easy for anybody to leave their political party and join another one. Imagine the limits they are being pushed to…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the government is working day in and day out to ensure that we are diversifying on trade and working with as many countries as possible. As we speak, the Minister of International Trade is visiting places like Singapore and Vietnam so we can create opportunities in those markets. The Standing Committee on International Trade recently sent two bills back to the House, one dealing with …
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Mr. Speaker, we will not rest until normal trade resumes to make sure that canola is being shipped to all markets around the world, including China. That is why the Prime Minister and this government have been working really hard. That is why the Prime Minister visited China to help reduce the tariffs on canola. As my colleague said earlier, we are so fortunate to have the best canola grown right …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), and in accordance with the enhanced transparency requirements set out in the amended policy on tabling of treaties in Parliament, I am pleased to present to the House of Commons the Government of Canada's objectives for three negotiations, including a Canada-United Arab Emirates comprehensive economic partnership agreement, a Canada-India comprehensiv…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, last week was International Development Week, and it was remarkable to learn from partners whose efforts make Canada a leader in development work around the globe. From speaking at Carleton University about how refugees in Canada can contribute to development work globally, to discussing how to bridge the gap between trade and development, it was a very productive and enlightening wee…
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Mr. Speaker, this is precisely the reason that the Prime Minister and his government are completely focused on building more homes in our country. It is why we have brought in a piece of legislation, Bill C-20, which would create Build Canada Homes, which would ensure that we build more housing across the country. That is why we have hired somebody like Ana Bailão, who has the knowledge and expert…
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Mr. Speaker, our big focus is to build as much housing as possible. We are going to build that housing through Build Canada Homes. We are going to build that housing on federal lands, just like in my community in Ottawa Centre where we are repurposing federal buildings. We are repurposing federal lands to build housing, and we will do that across the country. Slogans are not going to be cut it, as…
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Madam Speaker, Bill C-14 is about keeping Canadians safe, and this government is leading. We listened to police officers on the front lines, to mayors, to premiers and to victims' advocates, who have been crystal clear that the status quo is not acceptable. That is why we brought forward a strong, targeted bail reform bill and why we are pushing to get it passed without delay. We expect the opposi…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, today, we celebrate an interpreter whose voice will be instantly recognizable to members of the House. Over his 30-year career, Peter Douglas has also been the voice of francophone leaders for 10 different leaders' debates and interpreted numerous budgets and Speeches from the Throne. As a professor of conference interpreting at the University of Ottawa since 2007, he has transmitte…
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Mr. Speaker, I think we and all young Canadians know that the world is changing. For us to be successful in this changing world, we need to ensure that we are investing in Canadians and building our economy. For us to do that, we need to diversify our trade. We need to make sure that we are doing more business with other countries so that we are creating good-paying jobs for those young people who…
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Madam Speaker, most of our treaty agreements support and benefit small and medium-sized companies. If we look at the Trade Commissioner Service, 75% of the businesses it supports are SMEs. These agreements help businesses in our communities and create good-paying jobs locally.
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Madam Speaker, the member raises a very good point: Just talking about it is not going to make it happen. Since the election, look at the amount of work we have done. We have moved ahead with the accession of the U.K. into the CPTPP, finalized the negotiations with Indonesia and Ecuador, resumed our negotiations with the countries of ASEAN and Mercosur, started negotiations with Thailand, the Phil…
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to serve with the member on the Standing Committee on International Trade. I think the member is quite aware that there were quite a few complications when it comes to CETA being extended to the United Kingdom, with Brexit and all the politics around that. He is right that CETA is a very good agreement, and I am glad the Canadian government has engaged in CETA. Unfo…
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