Mr. Speaker, thanks to some excellent work by Radio-Canada reporter Christian Noel, we learned this week that Conservative MPs are being muzzled by their leader. The article states, “The man who promised during his leadership run to make Canada ‘the freest country in the world’ maintains tight control over the actions of his caucus members.” One Conservative told CBC, “Everybody is being watched. What we say, what we do, who we talk to. We're told not to fraternize with MPs from the other parties. And that's not normal.”
The Conservative leader will not even let his members advocate for the housing accelerator fund in their ridings, which is money for housing for the people who voted them into office. I know that in my riding of Hamilton Mountain, the housing accelerator fund means $93 million for 9,000 new homes over the next decade. Affordable housing providers, such as Indwell, Victoria Park Community Homes and Good Shepherd, say the fund is critical to their work.
It is time for the Conservatives to stop parroting their leader's slogans and start standing up for their constituents.