Debates of May 7th, 2019

Oral Questions

[Erin Weir, Independent, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, as the independent whip, it falls to me to congratulate Paul Manly on last night's byelection win in Nanaimo—Ladysmith.

Including him, we will have 21 independent MPs sharing only 14 weekly spots in question period. Would the Prime Minister support reallocating more questions to independents so that Mr. Manly and all of us can better represent our constituents?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, all MPs are elected to this place to represent their constituents, and question period is 45 minutes of the day to do so. There is a formula to determine the number of questions for each party and for independents.

Mr. Speaker, you ruled that the current allotment of 14 questions per week for independents maintains the appropriate balance with respect to management of time, the rights of independent members and the long-standing practice of this House. We will respect that ruling, and we know that we have seen the number of questions for independents increase since we took office.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I would like to draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of His Excellency Dr. Artis Pabriks, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the Republic of Latvia.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order, but first let me just recognize and appreciate the support from the member for Elmwood—Transcona.

There has been discussion among the parties and, if you seek it, I hope you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: that the House of Commons recognize the historical significance of the Winnipeg general strike of 1919, in particular on workers rights, human rights and social advocacy for over the past 100 years.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I think you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That this House oppose the construction of new pipelines because they would harm the environment, and as the Leader of the Official Opposition said on December 2, 2018—

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I am sorry, but it is already quite clear that the member does not have the unanimous consent of the House.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During question period, I referenced the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's new report. I believe I should table that report. If you seek it, you might find unanimous consent to table “The Catastrophe: Assessing the Damage from Canada’s Fighter Replacement Fiasco”.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Montcalm.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. If the Conservatives are going to heckle, the least they could do, in a self-respecting Parliament, is wait until the last sentence or word of a motion.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Unfortunately that is not how the rules or procedure work in the House. When a member seeks the unanimous consent of the House and there is clearly no consent, the matter is over and we move on. This has been well established.

I have heard enough on this matter and I have already made statements on this.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I referred to a document twice during question period. This time, I truly hope I have unanimous consent to table the document entitled “GES, inventaire québécois des émissions de gaz à effet de serre”—

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I have already heard members saying no. One again, sadly, there is no unanimous consent. I can see that the member is very disappointed.

Member for Langley—Aldergrove

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my birthday.

[Members sang Happy Birthday]

Mr. Speaker, I was in the hospital recently for 15 days, and I had zero interest in politics since I was in the hospital and possibly facing the end of my life. In just a few minutes here in Parliament, I am interested in politics again.

I am not running again; I announced that. However, I wanted to make a farewell speech. It is tradition in this House to be able to say goodbye and thank members of this House. I have surgery for colon cancer coming up on May 22, and my only opportunity to say goodbye was this week. I am here to give the House an update and thank members.

I was an election observer with a colleague, and I had to come back early because I was turning yellow. I was very jaundiced. I came back, went to the hospital after a few days, and doctors found that I had a pancreatic tumour. They then found that I had colon cancer and then that the pancreatic cancer, which is the same as what Steve Jobs had, had spread to my lungs. The prognosis from the doctors is not great. However, I have a strong faith in God; and the God who created me can heal me.

I want to share a little about my life. Throughout my life, there have been some wonderful little God moments, nuggets and interventions of guidance. People ask me why I became involved with politics in the first place, and it started with a dream back in 1990. I had a dream that there was an upcoming municipal election and that I was elected. This was out of the blue; I had no interest in it.

Later that day, somebody came up to me and said that they had a dream about me. “Oh, really?” I asked. “What did you dream?” The person dreamed that I ran in the election and was elected. When those little nuggets happen, one has to listen. So often we get busy and do not. I put my name on the ballot, and surprise, I was elected. That was in 1990.

I served on Abbotsford council with the wonderful, intelligent, good-looking member for Abbotsford. I served there for 14 years, and what an honour it was.

Then there was another God moment. I was with my beautiful wife, Diane, and we were going out for our anniversary. I said to her that one day before I retired I would love to get into managing or owning an auto body shop. I had just sold a business and everything, and she told me not to start a new business. I told her that I was just thinking out loud, because I loved cars and would like to do that. That happened on Saturday. On Monday morning, the phone rang and this fellow said that he was Gary down at the so-and-so avenue body shop. He said that he was looking to retire and asked if I would be interested in managing his auto body shop.

From that I then went to ICBC, and then brought money into Langley and started fixing up things. I became known, and the next thing I knew, I was running for federal politics. Again, there are these little voices, these little nuggets in our lives where we need to listen and follow God's leading. That is why I am here. I am just an average guy who has had an incredible honour serving with members and serving our community.

I want to thank God. I want to thank my family.

Diane and I were married in 1972, almost 47 years ago. She is my best friend. We have five kids and 10 grandkids. We are so blessed.

My passion has always been the environment, justice, family, seniors, children's issues and respecting life right from beginning to end.

Diane and I met at Trinity Western University, and on the weekends, as I did not have a lot of money as a student, I would take her on a date to a seniors place, where we would play the guitar and sing. We just loved dealing with seniors. We did not have to be great singers for the seniors to like us.

We are so blessed with our kids and grandkids: Jon and Jen with Carrington and Rich; Ryan; Eric and Carolyn with Christian, Jonah, Jeremiah and Jakob; Nathan; and Kristen with Russel, Mya, Mark and Will.

I have always been involved with sports over the years, and I know the importance of teamwork. We cannot get anything accomplished as a lone wolf; we have to be part of a team. I understand the importance of this in politics as well, and I have this incredible team that I get to work with, my staff. I could not have accomplished anything without them. They are Annette, Kim, Jane, Liat, Monique, Megan and Rebeca.

As members all know, the best part of the job is being able to help people, and it has been such a blessing. We love our community, and it has been an incredible honour.

When I announced that I was not going to be running again, I felt that God was creating a new chapter of my life. I was preparing to be a chaplain giving pastoral care to seniors. I was doing this studying and reading, and lo and behold, I got sick. I was reading all these case studies about whether to operate or whether to give palliative care and I was honoured by our leader to be given the responsibility for palliative care. Then I found myself in the hospital, a surprise, and experiencing what it is like to face end of life. With all that reading and preparation, maybe it was not for me to administer to others but to prepare myself for this trial. I want to thank everyone so much.

When someone is first given the diagnosis that there are some serious problems, doctors are dealing with the physical person, but there is more than just the physical to us. There are the spiritual and the emotional sides, the psychosocial, but that was left unadministered to. While the doctors were looking at my physical condition, that was being ignored. This is tremendously important. Doctors give a diagnosis and look at how they are going to fix a patient, at what kind of operation is needed or what chemo, but what about the person? What about the family and the distress? We need to encourage our medical system to make sure that they are providing a ministry for the rest of the person.

I was at the Vancouver General Hospital, which is an incredible hospital with incredible physicians and surgeons, but that need was left unmet.

I asked for palliative care. I was there for 15 days. Of the thousands of doctors, there are two palliative care physicians at VGH, and I never saw them. They came once while I was recovering and groggy and sleepy, so that need was unmet, unfortunately.

I have experienced first-hand the difficulty of accessing palliative care. We know from statistics that it is not available to 70% to 84% of Canadians, a tragic number. Our system is not designed to meet that need. We are trying to fix the body, but in some cases it is better not to do the heroic thing, not to remove the organs or use chemo and that sort of thing. Science has shown us that people can live longer and have a better quality of life, in some cases, if they are given palliative care, but those options were not provided to me. Why is that?

The system is broken and needs to be fixed. We passed Bill C-277. This Parliament is coming to an end, but I hope that the next Parliament will make a commitment to fix that and provide leadership in Canada, maybe through a university chair or something, so we can fix this situation. People are left in despair, emotions are raw and family support is not there, but they are not given the opportunity for palliative care. What is the only remaining option? If it is not surgery, it is maybe that they should consider MAID, medical assistance in dying. I was on the legislative committee when we discussed that proposal and passed it. We had to, because of the Carter decision.

We have a situation in Canada of basic needs not being met, and out of desperation people are saying that the easiest way is to end their life through an injection. They are saying that would be the humane thing to do, but we cannot force people into that kind of a choice. We have to provide palliative care.

It has been such an incredible honour to work in this House. I was first elected federally in 2004, and 15 years went by just like that. It has been such an honour.

None of us are here by accident. I believe that strongly. I have a strong faith in God. If we are not here by accident, then what is the responsibility for each of us that goes along with that?

To whomsoever much has been given, from him much will be required.

Therefore, we have a responsibility to do what is right, to be truthful, to be people of integrity in making Canada better and working with one another when it is appropriate to do so.

I have not always done things right. I have a very mischievous nature, as chairs of different committees can attest, so I would like to apologize for some of the problems I created.

Death does come to each of us, and to some very early. We just said goodbye to a very dear friend. He had an aneurysm and he was gone. God has given me some time. I may be around for a long time or I may be around for a short time. We do not know.

This is the most important part: It is that I want to encourage each of you to love one another, to encourage each other, because God loves us. Pray for another. Pray about what is really important. Help one another. Seek God's will for you each day. Do what is right. Be honest.

We read in Galatians:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

It is all legal. It is all good.

Life is precious. Life is sacred. I have been reminded very freshly of how valuable and precious life is, from beginning to end.

God bless you. I love you all. I will look forward to being able to serve. Until October, it will likely be out of my constituency office, but to God be the glory.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I know the hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove loves vigorous questions and comments, but I am not sure he will find them quite as vigorous today as he might have on other occasions. However, we will have to wait and see for that.

I know the member will appreciate that some members have had to leave to go to the Holocaust memorial, which I know he would want us to attend. I am going to be attending that this afternoon, so before I go to questions and comments, I would like to just say a word now.

I had the pleasure of serving with you, Mark, on the natural resources committee, and it was a great pleasure. I found you extremely collegial. Yes, you could be mischievous, but so could I, sometimes, and so could most members. We did have a lot of fun on that committee, and I really appreciated your camaraderie and the fact that you could put partisan stuff aside when the television cameras were off. We became friends, and I really appreciate that friendship.

It is a shock for all of us to learn that you are dealing with a difficult matter of cancer right now. I know you have the thoughts and prayers of all of us, and we hate to see you leaving under these circumstances. We wish you and your family all the very best in the coming weeks, months and years. You leave here, sir, with our love and admiration.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Abbotsford.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, you will pardon if I find this very difficult to get through. I ask for just one very special dispensation, that I be permitted to use the member's real name so that Canadians across the country know whom we are speaking of. He is not only the member for Langley—Aldergrove. I see you nodding. Thank you.

We are speaking of Mark Warawa, our dear friend Mark, and it is his 69th birthday today. Thanks, colleagues, for singing Happy Birthday. I know he very much appreciated that.

Of all the members in the House, I probably have known Mark longer than anyone, because we have both spent a lot of time in the beautiful city of Abbotsford. I first came to know Mark when he was the proprietor of Warawa's vacuum shop in downtown Abbotsford, and it was renowned because it had the big mechanical gorilla outside. That gorilla would scare all the kids when they walked by, but he sold a lot of vacuums because of that gorilla.

Later on, he and I participated in provincial politics. We worked hard to get him elected provincially. Thank goodness that did not work out because he ended up in this august chamber. He went on to serve on city council, and I followed him a few years later, and we had such wonderful time serving our community as fellow brothers working hard to grow a community that was prosperous and compassionate. I remember there were three of us on council who were often referred to as the three horsemen. We did not know if they were referring to an apocalypse or not, but that was what they called us.

Then Mark was elected to this august chamber in 2004. Two years later, I followed him, so for the last 14 to 16 years, he and I have been able to serve our communities together here, crafting policy for our country, making sure we continue to be prosperous, kind, gracious, loving and outward looking.

I know that Mark has an incredible heart for this country. He has an incredible heart for his family as well. He is a deep man of faith. I have known that because he and I are brothers in arms. He has a deep faith in Jesus Christ, and we got to live out that faith even here on Parliament Hill when he, Chuck Strahl, Randy Kamp, the member for Battle River—Crowfoot and I were part of something called the MP5. Five of us sang together, mostly gospel music. I was the guy who did not have the voice, so I played keyboard, but they sang their hearts out, and the pinnacle of that was when we sang at the National Arts Centre. We were a walk-on. We had a cameo appearance at the National Arts Centre, the five of us, of which we were quite proud.

He has been a friend to all of us, but I know he has been a best friend to Diane, his wife, who is in the gallery. He is retiring, so Diane will now have him back full time, and I know she will really appreciate that.

Let me close with a couple of poignant comments. Mark, we know that you have a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ that has driven your life. You have a deep confidence in the providence of God, that he knows best for your life even as you walk through this very dark path. We are praying for healing for you, Mark.

Mark, I think I speak for all of us in this House when I say you will be sorely missed. You are leaving an incredible legacy behind. That legacy includes kindness. You have been kind to the opposition members in this House over the years. You have understood the role that we play here as representatives of the Canadian people. You just understood that, more so than most of us, probably.

Our thoughts and prayers are going to be with you as you face this challenge head-on. We are praying for healing. I know the thoughts and prayers of every single member of this House are going to be with you in the coming weeks and months. We wish you the very best, Mark, as you embark upon this new journey, this new season of life.

I just want to say we all love you. God bless you.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Abbotsford. I truly did enjoy working with him, both in the local and federal governments. I went on a trip with him in the last Parliament—we went on a trade mission—and I was worried because he worked so hard. He pushed himself and did such an incredible job for this country as the trade minister. I want to thank him for all his efforts. However, I also want to encourage him to take care of himself.

We sometimes in this place ignore the importance of taking care of our body. Sometimes our families are not given the time. It is a priority. You do not realize this at times until you find yourself in a hospital room. The priorities of what is important in life suddenly became very real to me when I was in the hospital. I encourage each of us to make sure we are taking time to take care of ourselves and spend time with our family, because when you are gone, you are gone and it is over, so make sure that is a priority in your life.

The comments and all the compliments have been so kind. To God be the glory. If you see any good in me, hopefully you are seeing Jesus.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have my Kleenex at the ready, in case I cannot get through this. I want to continue the theme that the hon. member has spoken about, which is that this is a God moment. Seldom do we hear a speech in this chamber that is filled with such honesty, such directness and such frankness. There was such candour that I actually looked up the definition of “candour” in the dictionary while he was speaking. It said “he spoke with a degree of candour unusual in political life”.

Indeed, the hon. member's speech was unusual in the political life of us all, because we do not speak with candour, as we should. That is the tension of people of faith who work in this chamber. The priorities and beliefs of faith do not always line up with the needs and desires of being a practising politician. I know that the hon. member has faced that tension. I know that many of us in this chamber face that tension. I would say that the hon. member has navigated that tension about as well as any of us, because his candour in his admission of his faith in Jesus Christ is not something we hear every day in this chamber. In some circles, frankly, it is frowned upon.

The hon. member has, from time to time, joined us all at the prayer breakfast. It is probably the one hour in the entire week when we are no longer Liberals, no longer Conservatives, no longer NDP; we are just members of a faith community. Then as members of a faith community, we actually pray for each other. I know the hon. member has been a subject of our prayers in the last while, as have others, to be frank.

I would ask the hon. member how he has navigated that tension, but I would also ask him whether he has sung with his singing colleagues the song with the lyric, “thou hast taught me to say...it is well with my soul”?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is a distinct honour for me to rise today to address my friend, the member for Langley—Aldergrove, and Diane, his wife, to say a few words.

First of all, I want to wish my friend a happy birthday.

The humour, strength and courage with which he came to the House today is remarkable, for those who do not know him. However, for those who have been blessed to have had time with him, it is no surprise and only confirms my feelings and thoughts toward him.

I am not sure I have ever liked someone so much whom I have agreed with so little over the issues of the day and what we have grappled with. We first came to know each other when he was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of environment under Stephen Harper and I was the NDP's environment critic. We agreed on little, and our relationship of respect and mutual admiration was based on our ability to disagree without being disagreeable toward one another.

We are the class of '04. We have spent some time traversing this country, from British Columbia to Ottawa and back again. In some of those moments, we have been able to share the costs, not to us but to our families, of being away and being apart. I have taken my friend's counsel over the years on this.

Although I am not sure he will remember it, I will reflect on a time when a constituent of mine, Mark Penninga, who was running ARPA at the time, invited me to an ARPA meeting on the Hill. It was here in West Block. We had been here a long time, and we knew West Block before this.

I recall that the meeting was at the end of a long hallway. I bumped into my friend at the very beginning of the hallway, and we exchanged pleasantries as we were on our way to the ARPA meeting. ARPA is a Christian group that represents Christian values. There were many meeting rooms along the way, and I felt that my friend expected me to peel off at some point and go to some other meeting. I knew where he was going, and I was going to the same place. He said, “Well, have a nice evening” and I said, “You too. Let's go in.” Seeing the shock on some of the faces of colleagues from various parties in the House that I had entered that room for that conversation was quite pleasurable, actually. I quite enjoyed the conversation and the shock.

We come from opposite sides on many debates and many issues, but he has always approached those conversations with deep honesty and respect. I have taken exception to some of his ideas on things, and I will take exception to his assessment regarding the good looks of the member for Abbotsford. I worry about him and his ability to see clearly. However, I understand that emotions take over at certain points, so I will allow him that clear mistake in judgment regarding the good looks of our friend.

It has been said that politics at its best is a vocation, a true calling. Those who enter politics merely for ego, personal ambition or power often do it badly. Those of us who seek office as a calling have a better shot at doing well by the people we seek to speak on behalf of.

We all know that the member squeaked by in his five elections, with only, I believe, the support of 53% of his constituents, which is incredible. I think he represented them well. I think he represented them with integrity.

To Diane, his five children and 10 grandchildren, who he refuses to ever shut up about, constantly telling us what is going on in their lives, we owe a great debt for the time we have had with Mark.

I hope my friend understands that the shortness of my words here is in direct contrast to the depth and length of my admiration and love for him.

Thank you, Mark.