Finance committee  There are geopolitical implications inherent in a commodity of such significance and volume. The contemporary histories of Russia, Iran, Venezuela...Iraq [and others] are intertwined with their roles as major oil producers, roles [that] they have used to advance their (often illiberal) interests on the world stage. It is fair to ask why Canada has never seen fit to advance its own values and interests through its vast energy reserves.

Carbon Pricing  I have one here where she did backflips to attempt to apologize for an anti-gay remark she made in the House. There was another time when the MP compared abortion to an Iraq beheading. The list goes on of when the member peddled deranged conspiracy theories about the Liberals. I will read from this article in which the Conservative member was promoting deranged conspiracy theories akin to those promulgated by supporters of former U.S. president Donald Trump.

National Defence committee  .; as well as international civil protection, capacity-building missions in Jordan, in Tunisia, in northern Iraq, in Algeria, in Morocco, in Ukraine for the procurement and transport of equipment for different stakeholders, in Lebanon for urban search and rescue after the explosion at a chemical warehouse, and in Mozambique for water purification and drinking water supply after the cyclone.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It is also possible, I think, in Canada, as you have put it, to work outside the UNHCR refugee system to accept refugees who come in and are supported by church groups, by many other people, by mosques, by all kinds of people. I think that's a really good way around this problem. We saw the same thing in Iraq. I've been to Kurdistan I don't know how many times now. The UNHCR there was also too heavily influenced by non-Kurdish people, so Christians often didn't make it through.

Foreign Affairs committee  It seems to me that this rogue state has a band around it that is potentially engaged in this, whether it is directly with Hamas—which it appears to be, but I don't know—or with Hezbollah in perhaps causing instability in Lebanon, which we are watching very closely, or with action in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Is there any intelligence you can provide to this committee on what we're watching? I don't want you to be hypothetical. What do we know? It seems to me that this, again, is elevating our concerns about Iran.

Foreign Affairs committee  In this respect, Iran's rhetoric and support of Hamas, statements by the terrorist group Hezbollah, and the launching of rockets into and towards Israel and American forces by actors affiliated with Iran in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen are all deeply concerning. Canadian representatives at all levels are continuing to engage with our partners in the region and around the world in dealing with the situation.

National Defence committee  In my experience, even in working with L3Harris, I know that we've deployed the CC-150 Polaris into Kuwait, and it has operated out of Iraq with civilians supporting that capability for four years. Having deployed in fighters around the world, I have not seen a conflict where we couldn't have technicians on the ground supporting those capabilities, like in Aviano or in Kuwait or in other places.

National Defence committee  They go to questionable recipients such as Saudi Arabia and have been misused, such as in the case of Turkey, where Canada has authorized the export of drone-mounted targeting technology produced by L3Harris WESCAM, despite the fact that Turkey has misused it in Iraq and in Syria and has shipped it to Libya and, despite a UN arms embargo, has diverted it to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and to its ally Azerbaijan, which has been accused of committing abuses during the course of that conflict.

Kurdish Heritage  Speaker, it was my pleasure to host and celebrate Kurdish Heritage Day on Parliament Hill yesterday with hundreds of Kurdish Canadians. Recently, I visited Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which, like Canada, is a wonderful place where people of several different religious faiths coexist peacefully. I met Yazidi people at camp Sharya and Yazidi community leaders at their holy temple in Lalish.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  What we read and understood is that what the community has been going through is nothing but a playbook in recent history and some of the past over what happened to minorities in many regions of the world. Iraq is an example. What happened against the Christian communities and other minorities in Iraq is the most recent, and also what's happening in Afghanistan. One thing that begs the question over this is, where is the leadership of the community?

Queen's York Rangers  More recently, the regiment has deployed members on many Canadian Armed Forces overseas missions, including Afghanistan and Iraq. This week, one of my constituents of whom I am very proud, a member of the Rangers, Sergeant Josh Ballard CD, was in Ottawa to receive a commendation from the chief of staff of the Department of National Defence for his quick thinking during a live-fire exercise, which saved the lives of his comrades.

Freedom of the Press  Julian Assange is currently jailed in the United Kingdom, fighting extradition to the U.S., where he is being charged under the century-old Espionage Act and facing 175 years in prison on charges for publishing information of immense public interest that served to expose war crimes in Iraq, charges for doing exactly what quality and independent news organizations do every day, and what we expect them to do. Whatever one thinks of Julian Assange, it is time for Canada to side with organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and with news outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, EL PAÍS, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and to ask for these charges to be dropped, because they set a chilling precedent and because publishing is not a crime.

Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1  We had the great global recession under the previous Conservative government. We had two wars: one in Afghanistan, and another in Iraq and Syria. We managed to do so while keeping the debt the lowest in the G7 and balancing the budget. Other countries faced similar challenges without adding as much debt. For example, the Swiss, who are right in the centre of Europe, closer to the conflict in Ukraine, and more dependent on global supply chains than we are because they are a landlocked nation surrounded by the European Union, were able to balance their budget, pay down their deficit, pay down their debt and keep interest rates, inflation and unemployment lower than all of the other OECD countries.

Finance committee  I know there are people here who weren't even alive in the second Gulf War, but the first Gulf War was in 1991 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. In 1991, Mohammed Al-Mashat, a former Iraqi ambassador to Washington during the Gulf War— This says “discreetly”, but I will explain that it wasn't that discreet.

Finance committee  That Gulf War was when Iraq invaded the sovereign nation of Kuwait and the “coalition of the willing” came together. They came together under the leadership of the first president Bush and under then-prime minister, Brian Mulroney, to push back a despot in Saddam Hussein out of an independent country.