Scott Reid

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2023]

With regard to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs): (a) since June 20, 2022, have any meetings, communications, briefings, or other informational materials pertaining to AEDs been requested, formally or informally, by the Minister of Public Safety, the office of the Minister of Public Safety, the office of the Deputy Minister of Public Safety, or the office of the Commissioner of the RCMP; (b) for each instance in (a), what was the (i) date the request was made, (ii) recipient or office to which the request was made, (iii) nature and details of the request, (iv) result of the request; (c) since June 20, 2022, have any briefing or informational materials pertaining to AEDs been provided to the Minister of Public Safety, the office of the Minister of Public Safety, the office of the Deputy Minister of Public Safety, or the office of the Commissioner of the RCMP; (d) for each instance in (c), what was the (i) date the material was provided, (ii) recipient or office to which the material was provided, (iii) topic of material provided; (e) since June 20, 2022, has the Minister of Public Safety issued any ministerial instructions, directives, or analogous decisions with regard to AEDs?

[Christmas for Ukrainian Refugees, December 14th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker,'Tis just before Christmas, and 'tis both strange and true,
That our home's Yule colours will be yellow and blue.
That's not red, green and white, so let me explain
That our house is home to six guests from Ukraine.
It was back in the spring that from Dnipro they flew:
Two parents, three children and a babushka too.
Our home town of Perth is a welcoming place;
You’ll fit in, regardless of language or race.
Our guests live in our house; they've helped deck the halls,
The kids making snowmen and throwing snowballs,
But when those three kids nestle snug in their beds,
It's visions of home that must dance in their heads,
And how does a mom focus on the right gift to buy
When back home the missiles still drop each day from the sky?
And then there's the dad, who deserves admiration;
He must balance his duties to family and nation.
For exiles, no Christmas can be truly mellow
So our Christmas this year will be blue and yellow.

[National Defence, December 2nd, 2022]

Madam Speaker, a year ago, the advisory panel on systemic discrimination in the military recommended excluding clergy of the three Abrahamic religions from being chaplains. It said:

Defence...cannot consider itself supportive of inclusivity when it employs as chaplains members of organizations whose values are not consistent with National Defence's ethics....

For example, some churches [exclude] women from their priesthoods...[and] certain faiths have strict tenets requiring conversion....

This recommendation is anti-Muslim, anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish. Has the government definitively rejected it?

[Correctional Service of Canada, November 25th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, unfettered access by incarcerated individuals to spiritual guidance from prison chaplains is a key component of recovery and plays an important role in reducing the chance of reoffending. Equitable access to this guidance across faith groups is also a charter right. Therefore, it is disturbing to learn that incarcerated Canadians from a number of faiths, including over 1,000 Muslims, have no access to chaplain services in their own faith.

Why has the Liberal government broken the prison chaplain system and allowed this situation to develop?

[Public Safety, November 22nd, 2022]

Madam Speaker, that was a very informative answer from the parliamentary secretary. It was very helpful.

This is not so much in the nature of a question, but rather a comment on the response that the RCMP gave to the parliamentary secretary. Some of the issues that are presented are, I understand, real issues, but some of them are red herrings. I just want to alert her to that.

An example is the storage and weather issue, and the idea that batteries, including those in AEDs, do not work as well in cold weather. These are problems that have been overcome in other police forces. Defibrillators can be put into a heated pack and stored in the back of a police car, where typically it is not as cold as the ambient outdoor temperature. These are problems that exist for the Ottawa police, for example, for the Toronto police, which also have AEDs, and for numerous other police forces in Canada.

I would note that the parliamentary secretary also mentioned the fact that officers are already required to get training, so training costs are in fact zero. The cost I cited to her, which I would be happy to demonstrate, is one that includes battery replacement and necessary servicing.

[Public Safety, November 22nd, 2022]

Madam Speaker, this evening I am following up on a question that I raised in the House on October 28. The question I raised at that time was a follow-up on some encouraging news that had been passed on to me by the hon. member for Oakville North—Burlington: that the Minister of Public Safety would, for the first time since the Liberals took office seven years ago, be initiating a discussion with the RCMP on the subject of placing automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, in police cruisers.

As I always note when I am speaking on this subject, placing AEDs in all RCMP cruisers would save over 300 lives per year at a one-time cost of only $2 million. That boils down, over a 10-year period, because AEDs last about 10 years, to about $3,000 per life saved.

I also noted on that occasion that 300 lives per year is about 30 lives per month. I suppose I could have added that this is a little less than one life per day, so time is of the essence. Since each human life is as precious as yours, Madam Speaker, or mine, it seems to me that every day that passes is a day too long.

That said, I note that the minister's response to the question I raised on October 28 was very encouraging. He said, “I have engaged my office to be in touch with the RCMP to ensure that it has all of the tools it needs.”

Nearly a month has gone by since that time, which means that another two dozen or so Canadians, whose lives could have been saved had there been an AED in the RCMP cruiser responding to their particular 911 call, have now died. Of course, this cannot be blamed on the minister, whose sincere interest in the subject I do not doubt, but bureaucracies move slowly, and naturally I would like to know what kind of progress has been made on the minister's promise. What kind of engagement, to use the minister's term, has been undertaken?

The hon. member for Oakville North—Burlington, who is of course also the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, has very generously offered to give me a private briefing. I am very grateful to her for making such a generous offer, but I think it would be good to get the progress that has been made so far onto the public record. I will therefore ask her to provide the House with this information, and I will listen with considerable interest to her response.

I note as well that my interest in learning the details is sufficiently great that I will also take advantage of the option of placing a question on the Order Paper with regard to this progress so that further details can be made part of the public record. I am very grateful indeed that the parliamentarians who came before us had the wisdom to include that particular wonderful tool of openness in government in our standing orders.

Finally, I note that the parliamentary secretary mentioned, in response to an earlier question that I posed to her on October 17, that the possibility exists of using public-private partnerships to fund the acquisition of AEDs. Specifically, she stated, “If the hon. member had a private company that wanted to donate AEDs to all RCMP vehicles, I would be happy to work with him on that.” I remain interested in this possibility, as the parliamentary secretary knows, and I would ask if she could offer any further details on what the government might be willing to consider.

[Afghan Refugees, November 18th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, when the Taliban seized power last year, about 13,000 Afghans fled north to Tajikistan. Some of these refugees had rendered service to the Canadian Armed Forces earlier during the war. For several months now, the Tajik government has been openly contemplating deporting all Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan. For those who helped foreign troops during the war, this would be a death sentence.

One such family belongs to a courageous interpreter who now resides in my riding in the town of Smiths Falls. His parents and siblings, one of whom is only 15 years old, are languishing in Tajikistan. The family clearly qualifies to come to Canada and had filled out all necessary paperwork back in January, but as of this month, my office has learned that the department has not even started verifying security checks.

This is just one of literally thousands of examples of how the glacial pace of Canada's immigration bureaucracy is risking lives. Surely this country can do better for those who helped us in our time of need now that they are in need of our help.

[Arrival of Ugandan Asians to Canada, November 14th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I wanted to say this with regard to the first point of order seeking unanimous consent. The last one actually had the consent of the House and that had been sought beforehand.

I think that if we had a slight change to the wording formula, such as, “Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I think you will find unanimous consent to the following motion, which has been approved by the House leaders of the recognized parties.” I think if that formula was used every time, as opposed to asking for unanimous consent without mentioning that statement of fact, we would end this nonsense of people standing up to read a motion for which there was no consent. I would strongly recommend you consider that.

[Judges Act, October 28th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot imagine what the rush is.

I appreciate the kind comments of my hon. colleague. We have always had good relations. She has good relations with many people on this side of the House and elsewhere, and that is something to be encouraged. After being here 22 years, I can say that, although there never was a golden age where we all got along, it is much worse now. However, we should all strive to get along with each other. We are colleagues and we should work together. That makes this place a better place.

[Judges Act, October 28th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I think that is more of a comment than a question.

However, my hon. colleague is right.