Debates of Nov. 27th, 2024

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's speeches because she really gets down to the ideological drive of the current government. She knows that when the current Prime Minister was asked which country he admired the most, he said he admired the basic dictatorship of China. Most people on this side would have said Canada.

My concern is the drift of the government toward more censorship and more authoritarian methods to control information that is given to Canadians. In a free society, that is unacceptable.

Could my colleague please comment on this increase in censorship and how it leads to totalitarian governments?

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Madam Speaker, there have been several bills before the House, including the one to tax the Internet. There have been many censorship bills, such as Bill C-11, which restricted what we can see and hear on the Internet.

With all of this, be it the carbon tax or anything that makes life more expensive, it is the goal of the government to make life less affordable. All that is meant, as the Prime Minister himself has said, to change this from a democratic society to one where technocrats and autocrats like him run the country.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, it is a bit much to hear the member say that, when we know that there are Conservative MPs who have been very clear in saying, even though they wanted to be anonymous when they were saying it, that the leader of the Conservative Party is “the one who decides everything. His main adviser is himself ... The people around him are only there to realize the leader's vision.”

Today, for example, we brought forward legislation, Bill C-78, that is going to give a GST holiday on many products. I am wondering if the member will wait until her leader tells her how to vote on this legislation or if she will vote the way she feels her constituents want her to vote. I believe that would be to vote yes for Bill C-78 to give Canadians a bit of a tax break for the holiday season. Would she not agree that would be good?

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals deny, distract and delay, and that is exactly what that question was doing.

We are here today because there is every indication that the government is hiding corruption. We have seen a bit of what has already surfaced in the papers, but we want to see how deeply it runs. That is what this debate is about. As soon as the Liberals produce the documents required by Parliament, as is the law, we will move on to their next little mission, whatever that is, to make life less affordable for Canadians.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Speaker, what I particularly like about debates in the House is that we learn so much. I just learned that my Conservative colleague has admitted, in answer to my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona, that climate change is caused by humans. We can look at the blues.

The Conservatives, they tell us, are very focused on government spending. Now that we know they admit that climate change is caused by humans, does my colleague agree with me that sending Canadian taxpayer dollars to the world's biggest polluters does not make any sense? What is more, these are the wealthiest companies because they make record profits.

Does she agree with me that we should stop sending money from the Canadian government to Alberta's oil companies?

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Madam Speaker, they have to stop taxing Canadians and taking that tax under the guise of being able to change the weather, and they have to stop giving that tax money to the friends of Liberals, so they can invent alternative forms of energy production that end up costing taxpayers and homeowners even more. We went through this already in Ontario. People had to decide whether they would heat their homes or eat. The Liberals destroyed it at the provincial level and are trying to make it happen all across Canada.

Conservatives are going to stop that. We are going to make things right.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Madam Speaker, before I begin, I would like to say that it was an honour to join those at the Lucan Scout and Guide Hall as it celebrated its 40th anniversary, which is a truly remarkable milestone. The event was filled with nostalgia and excitement, especially as I had the privilege to witness the opening of a time capsule that had been sealed since 1984. It was fascinating to see the items and memories preserved from the past, each one telling a unique story about the people and events that shaped the group's history. The experience was not only nostalgic, but also deeply inspiring, reminding everyone present of the enduring gift of scouting and community.

What made the day even more special was the opportunity to contribute to the legacy being created. I presented the hall with a new portrait of King Charles III for the participants to hang for future generations. I am thrilled to share that a record of my statement of the events made today in the House will be preserved for the next time capsule, ensuring that future generations can look back and appreciate this moment.

I send my congratulations once again to the Lucan Scout and Guide Hall on 40 years of incredible service, dedication and community building. Its contributions have truly made a lasting impact, and I wish it continued success and growth over the years to come. Here is to the next 40 years of achievement and cherished memories.

As we are into the festive season right now, I would also like to take a quick moment to extend my warmest and most heartfelt Christmas greetings to everyone in Lambton—Kent—Middlesex and beyond. As we come together to celebrate the joyous season with family, friends and loved ones, let us pause to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas: the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. His arrival brought hope, peace and love into the world, and his message continues to inspire and guide us today.

The season is a time of renewal and a chance to embrace the spirit of kindness, compassion and generosity. It is also a reminder of the importance of community and the bonds that unite us all, regardless of our backgrounds or our beliefs. As we gather at our festive tables, exchange gifts and share the laughter of those closest to us, let us also remember those in need and extend a helping hand whenever we can.

May the Holy Spirit fill everyone's homes this Christmas, blessing them with warmth, joy and peace. May our hearts overflow with gratitude for the blessings of the past year and with hope for the opportunities that lie ahead. Let us carry on the values of Christmas, which are love, forgiveness and understanding, not only during this holiday season, but also throughout the coming year, spreading light wherever we go.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas filled with cherished moments and unforgettable memories. May the love of Jesus Christ bless everyone and their families today and always. As we look on to the new year, may it be one of promise, prosperity and happiness, filled with health, success and countless reasons to smile. I wish a merry Christmas and a bright and prosperous new year to all.

We are here today again debating a privilege motion, which I have spoken to once before. We are here because the Liberal government does not want to produce unredacted documents to give to the RCMP. I would like to read into the record a list of every Liberal scandal that I could find. I will give fair warning that the list is not exhaustive, and I strongly believe that most rational individuals will believe that the government has not finished adding to the count. Traditionally, we would have the 12 days of Christmas, but after nine years of NDP-Liberal government, I bring members 68 scandals this Christmas instead. Let us take a walk down scandal lane together as we review the 68, and counting, Liberal scandals.

There was the Aga Khan vacation scandal and the prison needle exchange program. The Prime Minister pressured the then justice minister to get Liberal donor SNC-Lavalin off the hook and fired that justice minister for not helping with the cover-up. There was the “people experience things differently” response to groping allegations and the WE Charity scandal. The Prime Minister assaulted an NDP MP in the House of Commons and prorogued Parliament to escape the WE Charity scandal.

The Liberals sent personal protective equipment to China during a pandemic and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in ventilator contracts to Liberal Party insider Frank Baylis. There were the fake charges against Mark Norman. There is rampant sexual assault in the military, and they illegally invoked the Emergencies Act, fabricating reasons to explain the Emergencies Act being invoked. The Public Health Agency of Canada was found in contempt of Parliament in the Winnipeg lab document scandal, and there was the Public Health Agency tracking scandal.

There was the trampling of Canadians with horses and the seizing of Canadians' bank accounts. There was rampant abuse of staff in the office of the then governor general, who was appointed by the Prime Minister, and the Governor General wasted over $100,000 to throw private jet parties. There were Liberal connections with illegal casino magnate, vaccine delays and unwarranted vaccine mandates.

The Prime Minister dressed up in racist costumes on an official trip to India and dressed up in racist blackface costumes at least three times over 11 years, but this number is only how many times the Prime Minister can remember doing so. There were the mass airport delays and cancellations, and there was the decriminalization of hard drugs. The flag was lowered for half a year, and the Prime Minister polluted more in one year on his private jet than an average Canadian does in half a lifetime. There were also more than 72 secret orders in council.

The Liberals sent diplomats to a party at the Russian embassy during the invasion of Ukraine, and they have a minister who gave a $17,000 contract to a Liberal-aligned media firm. They let Thomson Reuters take the Prime Minister's chief of staff to the White House press correspondents' dinner, and the DND minister misrepresented service.

The Liberals tried to get unwarranted border searches of electronics, and they restricted online free speech. They spent $11 million to renovate the Prime Minister's cottage, raised the carbon tax during an energy crisis, ignored racist laws in Quebec and misinformed Canadians about electoral reform. The Prime Minister skipped the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to go surfing in Tofino

The Liberals were eliminating mandatory minimums for gun offences while going after law-abiding firearms owners. The Prime Minister is flying in his private jet to climate conferences and was partying in Scotland maskless while Canadians were still under lockdowns. The Liberals failed reforms in the ATIP system and awarded contracts to government employees without proper bids, such as those with GC Strategies for the ArriveCAN, or arrive scam, app.

The Prime Minister had an $8-million barn built at Harrington Lake and a Jamaica vacation that cost Canadian taxpayers at least $162,000. We have the Liberal cover-ups of foreign interference with the family friend rapporteur, Liberals not naming foreign threats, and the Bernardo and Magnotta prison transfers. The Liberals have a known compromised MP on their benches.

There was the former Speaker's Nazi scandal and the Liberals' waiting to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group. We have skyrocketing debt, skyrocketing inflation, skyrocketing addictions and skyrocketing overdose deaths. Other scandals include other Randy, the incompetent mismanagement of CERB, the failing promises on Senate reform and an anti-Semitic human rights chair.

The ECCC politicized the Jasper wildfire response, and a $9-million penthouse was purchased for Tom Clark. There is the illegal plastics ban and the green slush fund, or SDTC, which is why we are here today. There are the CBC bonuses, the CBC CEO's travel to Paris and the immigration crisis. The Liberals are pulling refunds away from farmers for unnecessary fertilizer tariffs and then charging them interest. The Minister of Environment awarded funding to his own company. There is India's criminal activity and how it was announced and then retracted. We found out there was no other Randy. Now there is $6.5 billion to be spent in a shallow attempt to buy votes. There is more to come, I am sure.

That is the over 68 scandals from the last nine years. Meanwhile, Canadians are struggling to eat, heat and house themselves. After nine years of the NDP-Liberal government and its heavy-handed carbon tax, that is what is happening in Canada. The government has a pattern of giving its friends hundreds of millions of dollars, taxpayer dollars, while shirking responsibility for all it has done to destroy Canadians' livelihoods.

McKinsey & Company, the consultants being sued because of their role in providing hard drugs to Canadians, has been awarded $200 million in contracts since 2015. Most of the time the Prime Minister's WEF buddy, Dominic Barton, led the board of directors, only to run off when the drug market became too hot for him. Members need not worry. The Prime Minister failed to hold Dominic Barton accountable for contributing to one of Canada's greatest calamities, and one of the NDP-Liberals' greatest calamities since they formed government, but he did give him a position in government as the Canadian ambassador to the People's Republic of China, of all things. With drug-related overdose deaths increasing 400% after his legalization experiment and overdose deaths becoming the number one cause of death for teenagers, do we think a big promotion and a paycheque for another Liberal insider was worth the tax dollars? I think most Canadians, and in fact all Canadians, would say no.

Let us go back over the McKinsey contracts to let Canadians know about how their $200 million was spent. The Auditor General report cites that 90% of its contracts did not have the appropriate guidelines. It was not even clear what the purpose of the contract was or if the desired outcome was achieved, with 70% of contracts being non-competitive and sole-sourced directly to McKinsey, without a single attempt to explain why a non-competitive process was justified. McKinsey even raised a statement of work to skirt the Canada Border Services Agency after its initial statement did not qualify.

This is not how we manage a free, fair and democratic society. It will take years, if not decades, to recover from the calamity and restore public trust. With thousands of Canadians dead, many more addicted to hard drugs and every Canadian taxpayer robbed, it is certain the NDP-Liberal government is not worth the crime, the corruption or the cost.

Another scandal the incompetent NDP-Liberal government has been involved with that people are still livid about is the arrive scam app. While Canadians struggled through the implications of the pandemic, the NDP-Liberal government managed to waste at least $60 million on an app that did not work.

The app was originally designed for declaring customs in advance, but the only thing the app completed was enriching a shady, two-man, IT company that had ties to senior Liberal politicians. The Prime Minister not only allowed this to take place but also defended it. Initially budgeted at $80,000, the app's cost ballooned to over $60 million. Let us think about that: An app that was mimicked by university students in a basement over a weekend somehow cost taxpayers $60 million.

The Auditor General not only reported that the arrive scam app cost around $60 million but also admitted that the exact cost was impossible to calculate due to CBSA's poor record keeping. CBSA also reported that $12.2 million of the $60 million could be unrelated to the app. Where did the money go? It went to Liberal insiders. What a surprise that is. While Canadians are struggling, the NDP-Liberal government has put its own interests ahead of Canada, hidden the truth rather than face accountability and wasted taxpayer dollars on pipe dreams and vanity projects.

The report also states that GC Strategies was paid up to $19 million, when the original cost was $9 million. GC Strategies was handed a non-competitive contract, despite there being no record of a request or even a proposal. For an app that cost $60 million, it did not work at all. The app's failure actually led to 10,000 Canadians being quarantined despite doing everything right.

Canadians deserve to know where their taxpayer dollars are going and why their money is going to waste. While Canadians did their best to stay healthy and safe, the Liberals spent their money around programs that did not work, in order to line the pockets of their elite friends. Canadians are paying the price, not only in higher taxes and rising costs but also in blatant corruption that has affected the very top of the Liberal government.

We would think the Liberals had learned a lesson, but alas no. Let us take a look at another ethics scandal involving one of Canada's now most notorious ministers, the now unemployed former minister of employment. It has come to light that he maintained ties to a lobbyist who secured a staggering $110 million in federal contracts. That is not all; the minister himself was also a director of a company that raked in an additional $8 million in government contracts. This is not just mismanagement; it is deceit.

It has been reported that the minister tried to conceal payments he was receiving from his own lobbying firm while the same firm was lobbying his own ministry. I cannot believe it, but it gets worse. Text messages from the minister's business partner showed that a Randy was in regular contact with the co-owner of the company even while serving as minister. What was his excuse? He claims it was just another Randy.

Canadians deserve better than this. They deserve better than the flimsy excuse from a senior cabinet minister. We have learned that the same business allegedly claimed to be indigenous-owned despite the minister's repeatedly stating that he is not indigenous. This is a clear pattern with the Liberal government, lining its own pockets while Canadians struggle to make ends meet. The cost of living is skyrocketing and families are forced to make very tough choices, yet Liberal ministers seem more concerned with enriching themselves.

An affidavit filed last week claims that a company co-founded by the former minister and his partner took a $250,000-deposit for medical gloves that were never delivered. Even though the minister was supposed to cut ties with the company after his re-election in 2021, it is clear he continued to co-own and benefit from it.

Canadians are tired of the lies, the cover-ups and the complete disregard for ethical standards. They deserve accountability. How much money was taken from hard-working taxpayers? Did the minister defraud indigenous people by falsely claiming an indigenous identity? It is not enough that he lost his job and that his company is barred from receiving federal contracts for 90 days. That is a slap on the wrist for this level of corruption and indecency.

Canadians deserve a government that is transparent, accountable and focused on serving the people, not on serving itself. It is time for a common-sense Conservative government to restore trust, integrity and fiscal responsibility in Ottawa. If what I have said is not enough to make members agree, let us unpack a few more things that have happened recently.

The Liberal government placed a massive tariff on fertilizer coming from Russia when the invasion of Ukraine began, and most of the fertilizer that is used in Ontario and Quebec comes from Russia. Farmers pre-ordered and prepaid, months in advance, for what they required for the spring planting. Such a sudden change drove prices through the roof and helped contribute to the inflation on food prices that Canadians still suffer from.

Business of the House

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I request that the ordinary hour of daily adjournment of the next sitting be midnight, pursuant to order made Wednesday, February 28.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Pursuant to order made Wednesday, February 28, the minister's request to extend the said sitting is deemed adopted.

The House resumed consideration of the motion, of the amendment as amended and of the amendment to the amendment.

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Madam Speaker, even the Liberals had second thoughts about the slapdash tax and its impact, and they issued a partial refund. The refund was paid from the government to a distributor, who did the honourable thing and returned the refund directly to farmers.

However, almost a year later, the government has decided that it wants the money back, and it is demanding interest. Fairness seems to apply only to Liberal insiders. How fair is it that farmers who are suffering from poor policy decisions are now on the hook for the NDP-Liberal government's being too reprehensible to honour a rebate?

Recently I had the opportunity to ask bureaucrats from across departments whether the action was even legal and how they had received the power to make such a decision. They could not answer. One person even suggested that it was up to the individual border agents.

It is beyond ridiculous to suggest that a decision impacting farmers' livelihood and costing millions of dollars did not follow procedure or was not grounded with a law or policy. It is absurd for the government to suggest that such a decision would and could be made by an individual CBSA agent. However, in the wacko government, apparently nobody bothered to check first.

Now let us look at the finance minister and her vibe cheque, because yes, now the government is slashing temporarily and spending $6.28 billion in a thinly veiled attempt to buy votes from Canadians who are already earning a six-figure income. One might think that they could take a moment and think to use some of the money to pay off the over $1.2 trillion in national debt, but why would they? Going deeper in the hole for showmanship and self-glorification is the ultimate Liberal play, tried and true.

Do not take my word for it; here is testimony from Jeff, the owner of a small business in my riding: “How does the government expect my small business to take HST off of all of these items in one night? We have to collect the HST December 13 and have it off on December 14. How am I supposed to manually do this for all the items in a convenience store? It would be easier to close my business for two months than to do all of this. This is an absolute joke and a travesty to lay this on small business owners and right before Christmas and for only two months. It's going to take me a week to manually change every item. If I get it wrong, I'm going to be charged interest by our government. What an absolute embarrassment of a government, and no wonder no one wants to start a small business anymore.”

Small businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy, and what I hear when I am speaking with Canadians is that from farms to convenience stores, everything the NDP-backed Liberal government is doing is set to destroy them. Canadians are tired of the relentless, oppressive flood of ineptitude coming from our Prime Minister and his horde of yes-men and yes-women.

People do not want policy and government run from scribbles off the back of a napkin. They deserve a positive change. They want hope for a better future. They want common sense, and only a Conservative government will give them that.

We will axe the tax, letting people keep more of their money that they worked so hard for. We will build homes, starting by removing the GST on new builds, which will save people up to $50,000, and get an additional 30,000 homes built every year. We will fix the budget, beginning with a dollar-for-dollar rule to curb excessive government spending. We will stop the crime by repealing the broken catch-and-release bail policies that are endangering our lives.

I plead with the Liberal government to hand over the unredacted documents to the RCMP and let it do the investigation. Let us get Parliament going. Canadians deserve accountability and transparency from the Liberal government, and they want it today.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, the member liked to focus some attention on scandals. Let me give her a list of her current leader's scandals while he was in government for nine years: anti-terrorism, $3.1 billion; Phoenix scandal, $2.2 billion; G8 spending scandal; ETS scandal, $400 million for that one; F-35 scandal; Senate scandal; and elections scandals, with more than one scandal there. I have a booklet—

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

First of all, members who want to participate should wait until it is the appropriate time, and I am sure the hon. member who made her speech will be able to respond. I know she is very capable.

I caution the hon. parliamentary secretary about pointing to a document. He can quote from the document but he cannot show it.

The hon. parliamentary secretary has the floor.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, I have a book that clearly shows 70 actual scandals and abuses of power when the member's leader was involved with Stephen Harper. In fact, this is one I find really interesting: “Harper Found in Contempt of Parliament”. That is while her leader was Harper's parliamentary secretary. There is also, of course, contempt of Parliament.

Fast-forward to today, and the Leader of the Conservative Party, as the leader of an opposition party, is in borderline contempt of Parliament because of a multi-million dollar game. That is all we are witnessing from the Conservative Party. When will the current Leader of the Conservative Party start paying more respect to Canadians and stop the multi-million dollar abuse of power and contempt of Parliament?

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Madam Speaker, I take offence at my hon. colleague's comments, because what I believe Canadians want is an open and transparent government. The NDP-Liberal government even said itself that it promised to be the most open and transparent government that there was.

Instead, what we have had in nine years of NDP-Liberal government is the most corrupt government in Canadian history. I gave 68 scandals and a list of things that have happened in the last nine years, and the list is growing. What Canadians want is a responsible government that will be accountable to the Canadian taxpayer with their money, and that is what Conservatives are going to do.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Madam Speaker, people sometimes watch our debates, and some folks have a good memory for what happens in politics. They realize that no matter which party is in power, whether it is dark blue or red, and which party is in opposition, the two sides will accuse one another of having been worse. It is inevitable. It is always the same.

My question is this. Is it not time we gave more thought to ensuring that governments, regardless of political stripe, really do have the common good in mind, the welfare of ordinary folks, rather than that of the big lobbies that can impress people with their luxury receptions?

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Madam Speaker, yes, I truly believe that Canadians want us to work together collectively for the good of the Canadian people, and that is what I do here day in and day out as I represent the people of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex. What the people in my riding are telling me is that they want the government to be held accountable for all the scandals. They are hurting.

We are in a cost of living crisis because the government mismanages everything it touches, and everything in this country is broken. The government needs to be held accountable. What Canadians are asking the government to do is hand over the unredacted documents to the RCMP so the Liberals can be held accountable.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Madam Speaker, the previous intervention was just a small snapshot of what Canadians have been treated to over the last two months, basically the Conservatives and the Liberals arguing with one another over whose record was worse while in government. I have news: They are equally bad. There is a long list of scandals in Conservative governments and in Liberal governments. To borrow from Tommy Douglas's Mouseland, the red cats and the blue cats are arguing in front of mice over who is going to be the better government.

That aside, I asked the following question previously to a Conservative colleague because there was some mix-up or poor understanding of what the RCMP actually wanted in this case. I do support Parliament's unfettered right to send for documents.

If the matter does eventually get to the procedure and House affairs committee, what would my hon. colleague think about using that opportunity to call the RCMP commissioner forward as a witness so he could explain to parliamentarians exactly what the correct process is? I am sure the member would agree with me that we do not want to interfere in or unjustly deviate from an ongoing police investigation.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Madam Speaker, the reality is that the Liberal record is also the NDP record because the NDP members continue to back up the Liberal government. They are the ones propping this Liberal government up. Canadians want a carbon tax election, and they want it now. However, the NDP members continue to vote with the Liberals and back up the Liberal government, prolonging this Parliament and prolonging the suffering of Canadians due to the cost of living crisis. It will not call a carbon tax election, which is what Canadians want. That is the NDP record.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am going to be giving a speech later, and I would love to run through those scandals again, just to reiterate how scandal-ridden and plagued the Liberal government is.

We have a government that is unwilling to comply with an order from the Speaker. The Liberals want to do cartwheels about the ghost of Stephen Harper hiding under their beds. However, what does it say when the Liberals talk about these scandals, yet will not comply with something very basic when people have clearly broken the law?

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Madam Speaker, it says that there is no transparency or accountability in the government, which is what Canadians are asking for. One of the scandals I read into the record was on the plastics registry and the plastics ban. I have received a copy of a letter from a congressman in the United States who wrote to the Canadian ambassador, saying this: “Violation of Trade Agreements: The 'Canadian Plastics Registry' seems to violate USMCA's environmental and trade provisions, especially in Chapter 24, sections 2, 4, and 5, potentially undermining established trade agreements.”

Also, the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses Canada has said, “the [Liberal] government [needs] to abandon its plans to impose a 'plastics registry' on that important industry. This policy proposal has been found to contravene the USMCA trade agreement and has become an ongoing trade irritant.” Everything the Liberal government touches, including this plastics ban, is detrimental to, and is undermining, Canadians, who just want a carbon tax election, so let us call one now.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, in my first question, I talked about how scandalous the leader of the Conservative Party has been during his time in government. Let me amplify how things have not changed. He is the only leader in the House of Commons who refuses to get the security clearance. There have been people murdered in the streets. We have all sorts of issues regarding foreign interference, and he says that he does not want to get a security clearance. Why is that? The leader of the Conservative Party does not have the courage to come forward and say that there is something in his past that he is hiding, and he does not have the courage to come forward and tell Canadians what it is.

Will the member tell and encourage her leader to get that security clearance?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Again, I want to remind members that when someone has the floor, the hon. members know full well that they are to provide the opportunity for that individual to make their responses. If anybody else wants to participate, they should wait until the appropriate time.

The hon. member for Lambton—Kent—Middlesex has just a little over a minute to respond.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

You might want to side step it.