Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the situation remains fragile for members of Syria’s minority communities. The new government makes promises, but has not yet been able to provide guaranteed security for its citizens. Recent massacres targeting the Druze community around Suweida and the ongoing blockade of Kobani by HTS fighters are especially concerning. After years of civil war, the Kurdish and Druze communities wa…
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Madam Speaker, the country is not doing well. Admitting this is not a bad thing; it is the right thing to do, because then we can at least deal with the problem. I have three questions for the hon. member. The first is, would he admit that the country is not doing well? The second is, will he take responsibility for the last 10 years of damage? The third is with respect to the CUSMA negotiations. …
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Madam Speaker, former prime minister Stephen Harper established a new policy on the tabling and ratification of treaties through a ministerial statement in 2008. That policy remains in place under the current government. Under that policy, treaties are tabled in the House of Commons 21 sitting days before ratification by the minister. Treaties that require changes to domestic law go through an add…
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations to the hon. member for York South—Weston—Etobicoke for sponsoring this bill in the House. What message would he like to give to Canadian society on behalf of the Arab community, which has been in this beautiful country for nearly 160 years?
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise to offer my support for Bill S-227, the Arab heritage month act. There are more than a million Canadians of Arab descent. They are found in every province and territory. Each one has a different story of how they or their ancestors came to this country. No matter where they came from originally, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Jordan…
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Madam Speaker, the previous incarnation of the Liberal government was led by a man who believed that budgets somehow magically balance themselves. He clung religiously to that belief, even after 10 years of watching the deficit get bigger and bigger. No wonder he thought Canadians would forgive him if he did not think about fiscal policy. He obviously did not understand that the government deficit…
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Madam Speaker, I have learned in life to compare myself to the people above me and ahead of me, not to the people behind me. The government has given us the same story over and over. It talks about the comparison to whatever, such as the comparison to the debt in so many years. All these numbers do not help Canadians with what they deal with on a daily basis. Millions of Canadians are lining up at…
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Madam Speaker, there is a lot of bad news in the budget. One piece is the $78 billion of extra deficit, with $321 billion for the next five years. At any simple level of understanding, we know this has to be paid somehow by Canadian taxpayers and by future generations. My hon. colleague is correct; the lineups at the food banks are a huge concern. It is something we have not seen in our history. T…
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Madam Speaker, we have been hearing the word “investment” for the last 10 years. There has been more debt and more money to service the debt. It seems as if the government does not want to listen to true numbers, whether they are coming from the PBO or coming from us and from others around the country. Unless we accept the reality of the last 10 years, including now, we will still be going in the …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I am presenting this petition, which has 600 signatures, on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners in China. They are suffering severe human rights abuses, including mass arbitrary detentions, torture, killing and forced organ harvesting on a large scale. The petitioners are calling on the Canadian government to publicly call on the Chinese regime to end its persecution of Falun Gong in…
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Madam Speaker, after a decade of passing laws to make life easier for criminals, the Liberal government has suddenly realized it created a problem. From its rare attempt to face reality, we have Bill C-14, the bail and sentencing reform act. Conservatives have been pointing out for years that the Liberal approach to crime has the opposite effect of what the Liberals intended. Criminals did not rea…
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Madam Speaker, I am sure the hon. member knows well that we need Canadians to be safe, first and foremost. In order for Canadians to be safe, the government cannot be light on criminals, as it has been through Bill C-75 and Bill C-5. I said in my speech that this bill, Bill C-14, is a good start. The Conservatives want it to be stronger. We want criminals to understand they cannot just get a freeb…
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Madam Speaker, we hear a lot in the news everywhere about how many crimes are committed every day, and the majority of them are committed by repeat offenders, people released from prison within 15 days who go out on the streets again and start attacking people. I hear about it in Edmonton every day. Toronto is also a great example.
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Madam Speaker, if anyone should accept any amendments, it should be the government, not the Conservatives. When it comes to the bill going to committee, it is very important for any bill of this importance to go to committee to be examined by all parties. This is the way we do things. I hope the committee will be able to study this bill well to make sure we can present to Canadians, once and for a…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Edmonton's Food Bank is serving more people now than at any time in its 43-year history. Requests for food hampers have gone up 42% in the last 30 months. Food Banks Canada reports record use, with 2.2 million visits in a single month. It took decades to hit one million but only six years under the Liberals to double it to two million. When will the Prime Minister finally give Canad…
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague had a very thoughtful speech. The last part of his speech was about transparency. The government is bringing forward a huge bill to make a huge change to something that is very important, which is citizenship, without any idea about the number of people who would qualify for that nor what the cost would be. The government is introducing a budget on November 4. Why …
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Mr. Speaker, this bill would still allow serious offenders, including those guilty of robbery, trafficking and firearms-related crimes, to serve time at home under house arrest. This is a loophole in the bill. Can the hon. member tell us why the government left this loophole in Bill C-14?
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Mr. Speaker, the issue of citizenship is one I have heard about on more than one occasion from constituents concerned with how our laws impact their status. It is one about which we as parliamentarians are called upon to make decisions and establish rules that will, by their nature, exclude some people. Canada, like all countries, has regulations surrounding who is automatically granted citizenshi…
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Mr. Speaker, the obvious thing is that this is a government that made a disaster of the immigration policies in Canada. In the last 10 years, it brought in millions of people. It made slavery, a housing crisis, a health crisis and an education crisis. There are crises across the board because of its policies. Now, it has the face to come to Canadians to ask for more citizenships to be granted with…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, it is the oldest trick of the Liberals. Every time we question them about something they do, they turn it into trying to divide Canadians further, calling us names and trying to narrow the conversation to their level of non-transparency. Unfortunately, that is what they have done here. This is what they have been doing all along. We cannot reject the premises of their quest…
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Mr. Speaker, it is very funny and unfortunate that the government asks us to be transparent, but it is not transparent itself. It is bringing forward a bill without giving any information to Canadians. It is as though no accountability and transparency is needed. Before it asks the question of us, it needs to remind itself about what it has done and what it has included in the bill. After that, we…
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Madam Speaker, I extend my offer of another mirror to this member.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-12. As a Conservative member of Parliament, I am proud to stand and express my concerns with this legislation. I have heard from my constituents, and they have made it clear to me that the Liberal government is not going far enough to fix the messes it has created at our borders. Conservatives negotiated…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to send the member a mirror today, because he and his government need one. They should look into the mirror to see what their former prime minister did and what he called the RCMP. Other members on his side have asked to defund the police. I am not sure why they did that. Maybe a mirror is needed today.
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Madam Speaker, I did address the issue of legitimate refugee claims, and we know that Roxham Road has been a devastating story for Quebec and for Canadians in general. We definitely have to deal with the serious issue of fake refugee asylum claims being made in order to come to Canada. I agree that we need to work harder on this, and that is why I mentioned the words “legitimate refugees” in my sp…
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Madam Speaker, every time I meet with constituents, the topic of immigration comes up. The government has left a mess by opening the floodgates to get all kinds of people into Canada, millions and millions of them, without even thinking about the economic impact on Canadians, such as there being no schooling or housing available and no health care or social supports. The Liberals have left this me…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence is new to the job. He inherited a mess from his predecessors and is now trying to fix a decade of Liberal mismanagement and neglect. I hear him saying the right things about Bill C-11. I am sure he believed it when he stated: Canada’s military justice system must reflect the values of fairness, accountability, and respect that Canadians expect. With th…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is absolutely correct. Canadians have seen complete neglect of the justice system in the way of approaching crime and the way of dealing with it. That is why I was hoping they would stand up today, admit to the mistakes of the past and assure us, and Canadians, that they can move forward seriously and honestly to make sure they correct the wrongdoing.
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Mr. Speaker, I was hoping the hon. member on the government side would at least recognize the 10 years of misconduct, the 10 years of mismanagement and not taking the issues that happened in the military seriously. He used the podium to praise the current government. He missed my point when I spoke about the last 10 years, the last prime minister and what they have done by filibustering at the com…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, the government has not learned at all after the last 10 years. It is still the same rhetoric, name calling and talking about American politics to somehow convince Canadians otherwise. Liberals have to be serious. They are in government. They have to be serious about these issues and deal with them responsibly. That is what they are not hearing. By the way, I insinuated in m…
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Mr. Speaker, what I gather from the member's speech, as far as the seriousness of the government or the military commitment or leadership, is that the rights of those serving in the institution were neglected completely and ignored in terms of what happened in the last 10 years. What in the bill would assure us that we are going to change the conduct of the past to give people the rights they dese…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously the government likes more control over Canadians through Bill C-8. Can the hon. member, through his wonderful and detailed speech, explain to us where the government wants overreach and more control over Canadians?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister promised the fastest-growing economy in the G7, we thought he meant Canada. He obviously did not. Canada has the fastest-shrinking economy, the second-highest unemployment, the worst household debt and the most expensive housing in the G7. It is just another broken Liberal promise. The Prime Minister said to judge him by the prices at the grocery store. Food pr…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is highlighting an important issue. We hear a lot of concerns from Canadians about Bill C-8. She included some of them in her speech. If she could shed light again on those concerns, it would be great.
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Madam Speaker, the bill is a matter of changing a definition, and nothing but. There is nothing concrete in the bill that would ensure Canadians the protection that the member is suggesting. We are standing on where Canadians can be protected, regardless of their race, religion, colour, sexual orientation or anything else, but the bill would not do what the hon. member thinks it would do.
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Madam Speaker, the member and I disagree on this point quite a bit, because I think the government is trying to show that it is serious about the issue, but the Liberals have been dragging their feet for 10 years in dealing seriously with crimes taking place in Canada. That is the addressing that we need to look at. The government has always been virtue signalling and has been very symbolic on eve…
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Madam Speaker, is the hon. member certain that this bill would really help as intended?
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Madam Speaker, let us remind one another that the government weakened the Criminal Code a lot when it introduced Bill C-75 in 2016-17. The government did that so badly that we see crime rates and hate rates on the rise in Canada. We seem to be out of control on how to fight crime and make sure we protect Canadians. That is why the bill before us is empty except for a definition, and a definition d…
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. Our society has changed in recent years. Change can be a good thing. None of us wants to return to a past before we had things like refrigeration and modern medicine, although I suppose there are many who wish we could return to a past without social media. I can certainly sympathize with that. It se…
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Madam Speaker, the private sector in general is ready to protect itself, especially on the cybersecurity front, otherwise it cannot really do business in this world. The government, on the other side, is not ready. It has been dragging its feet since the last Parliament by killing Bill C-26. Will the hon. member be honest and tell Canadians why the government killed Bill C-26?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, the government is very creative in bringing more taxes on Canadians. Here is why: Beef is up 33%, canned tuna is up 19%, potatoes are up 16%, pork is up 14%, vegetables are up 13%, oranges are up 12%, and chicken is up 11%. How many food banks need to come to Edmonton Manning before the Prime Minister cuts taxes on food for Canadians?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I have four food banks in my riding, and that tells the Liberals something: There is a food crisis. Canadians cannot afford to buy groceries or enough of them anymore. They are choosing less nutritious food and eating less quantity and quality. Since the Liberals took power, groceries have soared by 40%. The Prime Minister can do something. He can stop taxing food so Canadians can e…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the bad news is that today there are 4,700 Canadians awaiting a life-saving organ transplant. The good news is that most of those on the waiting list could be saved by a living donor. A living donor is someone who donates all or part of an organ to save the life of a fellow Canadian. I am a living donor. On December 8, 2003, I donated part of my liver to save the life of my son Tyler,…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I will be done in a minute. We recognize citizens for bravery, selfless acts and compassion toward their fellow citizens. This should be no different for living donors. The medal would be a way to raise awareness and discussion surrounding living donation. It would save more lives. If we do this, Canada would be only the second country in the world to add living donors to its nat…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-234, An Act respecting the establishment and award of a living donor recognition medal.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, an Ipsos poll says that two-thirds of Canadians disagree with the disastrous Liberal plan for the ban of the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. The EV mandate would eliminate 38,000 jobs and cost $138.7 billion. U.S. tariffs could mean 1,000 more jobs lost. Prices will go up by $20,000 per vehicle. Canadian jobs will vanish. When will the Liberals repeal their EV mandate?
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Mr. Speaker, the average Canadian family will pay $16,834 for food this year, which is about an $800 increase from last year. That is $15 more weekly than last year, bringing a grocery tab to $324 each week. How will the government's policy, in trying to help Canadians, make an impact when its proposed tax cut will probably only be worth two weeks of groceries for Canadians?
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and his government are refusing to table a budget. It is as if they are telling the world, "We have no idea what we are doing. We have no plan, and we are just going to hope that we can stumble along and figure things out as we go, not making too much of a mess as we do it." This is exactly why they have not presented a budget. They had better have an answer for Canadi…
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Mr. Speaker, the grocery bill for Canadian families is $16,834, which is an $800 increase since last year, about 5%. The government is claiming that inflation is at 1.7%. Economically speaking, can the hon. member explain that if inflation is at 1.7% and groceries are going up by 5%, how that can happen?
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to media reports that the CRA discovered hackers had used H&R Block credentials to get unauthorized access into hundreds of Canadians' personal CRA accounts, change direct deposit information, submit false returns and pocket more than $6 million in fraudulent refunds: (a) how many users' accounts were accessed; (b) how many accounts had their direct deposit information changed by hacke…
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