Debates of Nov. 8th, 2024

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I believe the allegation by the member, what he characterizes as borderline contempt of Parliament, is itself unparliamentary. I would ask him to withdraw it. It is the second time he has done this. Doing it twice when it is wrong does not make it right.

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

After consulting with the table officers, I would ask each member to be measured and disciplined in the use of their words. If need be, we can come back and intervene, but for the time being, debates must be respectful.

I invite the hon. parliamentary secretary to continue his speech.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate that the Conservatives are very sensitive on this issue. At the end of the day, everything I am saying I feel very comfortable in justifying. If they stop interrupting, they will find out why one can easily draw the conclusion that what we have witnessed on the floor of the House of Commons today and for the last number of weeks is borderline contempt.

I have listened to over 150 Conservative speeches littered with all forms of misinformation that is spread through social media. Then when it comes to hearing a little truth, they have an allergic reaction to it and feel they can stand up on points of order to disrupt what I am saying. I would encourage them to leave the chamber if they are not comfortable with what is being said.

I recommend, as I did last week, that we understand what the Conservatives are being asked to do by the leader of the Conservative Party. They are being told that they should oppose the government and, however they can do it, raise scandals. That is what their agenda really is. It has in good part—

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes on a point of order.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Do we have quorum, Mr. Speaker?

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

We will check.

And the count having been taken:

We have quorum.

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order. I am five minutes into my speech, and the Conservatives continue to rise on points of order, some of which are very frivolous. The Conservative Party is trying to censor what I am saying in the chamber.

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

I thank the parliamentary secretary. His intervention seems to be more a matter of debate.

I invite all members, when rising on a point of order, to specify which standing order they are referring to.

The hon. parliamentary secretary has 14 minutes to continue his speech.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I believe the Conservative Party is denying my privilege to address the House of Commons. I cannot cite specific quotes, but I can assure you, whether it is in Beauchesne's or the Standing Orders, that you will find that all members have the right to speak in the House of Commons. I have only been able to speak for five minutes, and a number of Conservatives have interrupted my train of thought for the purpose of disrupting what I am saying. I should be allowed to start from the beginning because they are consistently playing a game. It is disrespectful to our House rules.

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

The parliamentary secretary's point was understood. It is more a matter of debate.

I therefore invite the hon. parliamentary secretary to continue his speech. He has 14 minutes left.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, that does not take away from the behaviour we have seen from the leader of the Conservative Party. At the end of the day, we have a Conservative motion on the floor indicating that the Conservatives would like to push the issue at hand to the procedure and House affairs committee. I would suggest that is the right way to deal with the issue. In fact, all members of all political parties except for the Conservatives, who have proposed the motion, want the motion to be accepted so the matter can go to the procedure and House affairs committee.

The Conservatives have not only moved a motion, but moved an amendment to the motion and a subamendment. Then after they had 100 members speak to the subamendment, they allowed the subamendment to drop and moved another subamendment. The purpose of this is to paralyze the House, as they continue to stand up for speech after speech while not necessarily being relevant to the motion. Rather, they focus on what I would suggest is the ongoing issue of character assassination. They started with the Prime Minister back when he was elected leader of the Liberal Party when we were the third party inside this chamber, and nothing has changed.

The Conservatives today are saying they want unredacted information, and they believe they have an entitlement to it because they say that a majority of members of the House argued for that and voted in favour of it. There are two quotes that I would like to bring forward to the Conservative Party, particularly the leader of the Conservative Party.

First and foremost, what the Conservative Party is asking for is inappropriate. It is a Conservative game. It is a multi-million dollar political game that serves the personal interests of the leader of the Conservative Party and the Conservative Party as a whole. The Conservatives are asking us to give out unredacted documents from a collection, handing them not only to opposition members but directly to the RCMP. This is what the RCMP commissioner has said regarding that: “There is significant risk that the Motion could be interpreted as a circumvention of normal investigative processes and Charter protections.”

The Conservative Party does not give a darn about that. The Conservatives do not care about charter protections. They are not listening to what the RCMP is saying, and the RCMP is not alone. The Auditor General has also been critical of the tactic being used by the Conservative Party. The former law clerk is critical of the tactic being used by the Conservative Party as well.

The Conservative Party is saying to wait a minute; it wants people to believe the Conservative Party over the RCMP, the Auditor General of Canada and other professionals and experts out there. The Conservatives know full well that we are not going to do that, as well we should not. That is why the Speaker's ruling tells us to send this matter to committee and allow the committee to review it. However, the Conservatives do not like that, and that is where, in my opinion, they are borderline in contempt of Parliament. I would articulate that to whomever. The Conservative Party is saying that they are not going to allow the House to deal with any issue until this matter has been resolved to their liking.

I would like to quote a story from The Hill Times. We have a one-week break, and I would like every Conservative member, because we are going to hear from another 100 of them no doubt, to say they read The Hill Times story from October 31 that Steven Chaplin wrote and say they disagree with that individual. If they are not prepared to say that, then they should look at themselves in a mirror and recognize the reality of the type of abuse the leader of the Conservative Party has been putting into the House of Commons for weeks now.

I will not read the whole article, but for those following the debate, Steven Chaplin is the former senior legal counsel in the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel. He is someone who truly understands this. He is apolitical. I could not even identify him on the street or the sidewalk. Here is what he says as an expert: “It is time for the House of Commons to admit it was wrong, and to move on. There has now been three weeks of debate on a questionable matter of privilege based on the misuse of the House’ power”. He wrote this story last week.

The article goes on, and here is what members really need to appreciate. A member could think of themselves as a parliamentarian first, believing that serving their constituents is the most important role they have to play, but they should also recognize they are a parliamentarian. Every parliamentarian of the House of Commons needs to listen carefully to this statement. Again, this comes from Steven Chaplin: “It is time for the House to admit its overreach before the matter inevitably finds it way to the courts which do have the ability to determine and limit the House’s powers, often beyond what the House may like.” That is a warning to all parliamentarians about the abuse of power that the leader of the Conservative Party is imposing on his Conservative caucus, which none of them is taking seriously based on the discussions and debates we are hearing.

I am not surprised that the leader of the Conservative Party continues to push this issue. I am not surprised because we see that in his history and his pattern of behaviour. Stephen Harper was the only prime minister in Canada in the British Commonwealth to be held in contempt of Parliament. Guess who his parliamentary secretary was. It was none other than the leader of the Conservative Party.

The leader of the Conservative Party is the only leader in the House of Commons without a security clearance. Leaders of the Bloc, the Greens and the NDP, as well as the Prime Minister, all have a security clearance. Outside the Hill, there is a serious concern in regard to foreign interference. We have seen the killing and murdering of individuals and extortion. We have seen the influencing of parliamentarians, both past and present, of different political parties. That means the Conservatives also. We have seen serious allegations that the leadership convention in which the Conservative leader was elected had foreign interference.

Every leader in the House of Commons today is saying they recognize the seriousness of this, and they got the security clearance necessary to be informed by Canada's agencies, including the RCMP, about the personalities and information that are vital to know as a leader, except for one. The only leader who refuses to get a security clearance is the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Does that surprise people? It should, actually. Yes, the Conservative leader was the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister who was held in contempt. Yes, he continues to play an abuse of power on the floor of the House of Commons, which is ultimately leading to challenges for all of us as parliamentarians. Yes, he has been manipulating the floor and concurrence reports to take control over standing committees in the last week. We have witnessed that on at least two occasions.

Now, we even get Conservatives who stand up on points of order to try to censor the types of things I am saying in the House, because they do not like to hear the truth. The truth is that the leader of the Conservative Party owes it to Canadians to get that security clearance, and if he is not going to get that security clearance, then he had better tell Canadians why not and tell Canadians what he is hiding. I believe that he is hiding something from Canadians, and that is the reason he does not want to get that security clearance, yet Canadians have a right to know.

What is it about the Conservative leader's past, or is it strictly in regard to the leadership? Is it some of the Conservatives? Is he one of the Conservatives dealing with foreign interference? Instead, he says, “I am not going to get it. I will wait until we are after the next election”. It is highly irresponsible.

I go back in terms of the motion itself, because the leader of the Conservative Party has chosen to play this multi-million dollar game. As a direct result of his behaviour, we are not able to deal with important issues that are affecting Canadians throughout the country. The leader of the Conservative Party has made the decision to put his self-interest and the interests of the Conservative Party of Canada ahead of Canadians, and that is the reality.

I think collectively the Conservatives need to start listening to what the experts are saying, in terms of what their expectation is as an opposition party, not just as Conservatives, and think of their roles as parliamentarians. They should recognize the abuse that we are witnessing every day, for weeks, and start holding their own leader accountable to their own caucus, if not all Canadians. If the Conservatives are not prepared to do that, at the very least, let us get the leader sharing with Canadians why he refuses to get security clearance and why he has chosen to be held, from my perspective, in borderline contempt of the House of Commons by not allowing work on issues like the Citizenship Act; the military court and the civilian court for sexual complaints, which would be dealt with through Bill C-66; the online harms act to protect our children; the rail and marine safety legislation to support supply lines; or the fall fiscal statement.

All of these are being put off to the side because of the self-interest of one individual who is the leader of the Conservative Party. I think he needs to get off the rock, recognize that the House can work, start co-operating and stop the filibuster.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct some of the misinformation in the member's speech first, and then I will ask my question.

He is maintaining that it is the Conservatives who are keeping government legislation from coming forward, when, in fact, it was the Speaker's ruling that, until the government produces the unredacted documents, no government business or private members' business will come forward.

The member has described this as a multi-million dollar Conservative game, so what I would ask the member is this: Does he think it is a game that cabinet ministers knowingly put people with conflicts of interest into the Sustainable Development Technology Canada fund, which became the green slush fund? Does he think it is a game that $400 million of taxpayer money has been given in conflicts of interest, sometimes to companies that cabinet ministers are invested in? Does he think it is a game that, contrary to the government's own rules that when it wrongly gives out money, it has to get it back, the government has gotten zero taxpayer dollars back? Does he think it is a game to keep hiding the truth of these documents from Canadians?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the member starts off by providing misinformation. She said this is about providing unredacted information; that is not what it is about. The motion is about referring the matter to the procedure and House affairs committee. The Conservative Party is twisting it to talk about that issue because they want to talk about scandals. It is not just one; they will talk about several.

I would love for 150 Liberal MPs at some point in time to be able to stand up and talk about Stephen Harper, the current leader and the scandals they were involved in. I have a booklet entitled, “Stephen Harper, Serial Abuser of Power”. There is a list here of 70 scandals and instances of corruption, and it does not even talk about the ETS scandal, which is a $400-million scandal.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary referred to the content of the motion that we are debating today, but this motion was motivated by the government's refusal to comply with an order of the House to hand over certain documents. The real issue here is our right to know what is happening so that, if need be, we can hold the government to account for any questionable or illegal acts that may have been committed.

The parliamentary secretary is talking about the importance of transparency and of knowing what is happening in reference to the fact that the Leader of the Opposition has not applied for his security clearance. I agree with him on that, but what he is saying should apply to the entire House, to our right to know. I would like to hear the parliamentary secretary's comments on that.

We are being told that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Should that also not apply in this context?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I support the idea of us passing the motion. By passing the motion, the issue the member is referring to will go to standing committee, then members of the standing committee can ask why the RCMP believe that the documents should not be unredacted. People who are following the debate should understand there are literally thousands of pages of information already provided.

Do we believe the RCMP is being genuine when it says we should not provide it unredacted? The Speaker's ruling is that discussion, that debate should be taking place in the procedure and House affairs committee. That is what the motion is saying: push the debate to the procedure and House affairs committee. If this chamber had to deal with all the committee business, we would never be able to do anything. No government could do anything. That is why we have standing committees.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is always good to see you in the chair.

My comment to the parliamentary secretary is to stay within the focus of today's debate, even though I certainly sympathize with the unusual aspect of overruling the cautions of the Auditor General and the RCMP. I am still very troubled. It is just not the government's position to do the easiest thing and, however many boxes of documents there are, ship them over to us. It would end this horrible waste of time we are locked into.

Based on the Speaker's ruling that there is a matter of privilege here, all other critical issues, like Bill C-33, are making no progress at all to the finish line, even though they have cleared almost every step in processing. Bills, like Bill C-33, which is on rail safety and marine matters, are waiting for report stage votes.

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

I am sorry to have to interrupt the hon. member.

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear and put it really simply here. All we have to do is stop the filibuster the Conservatives are doing and allow the matter to go to the procedure and House affairs committee. That is what the motion is asking for, and that is what will in fact happen if the Conservatives allow the vote to occur. After that, we can have the RCMP commissioner come before the committee and we can ask the RCMP commissioner why it is he believes we should not be directly providing the RCMP the documents being requested.

It is the RCMP that does not want the documents, it is the Conservatives saying to give them the documents, and it is the RCMP commissioner saying to not do that. It seems to me we should send it to PROC, get the commissioner before PROC, and today, just like we could have three, four weeks ago, we would be able to continue doing House work.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. member whether the reason for filibustering the privilege motion by Conservatives is that they do not want to discuss economic issues within Canada.

Coincidentally, this filibuster started when the economy started rolling back. In fact, the Canadian consumer index reached a 30-month high when this debate started, and interest rates have been cut four times. The IMF has projected that Canada will be the best-performing economy in 2025. Rents, which were a major concern for affordability in Canada, started softening. In fact, they went down by over 9% in Toronto and Vancouver. Would my hon. colleague like to comment?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. It is kind of like, anything that is good news for Canadians is bad news for Conservatives. They want to stay on “Canada is broken,” which is not true.

Canada is the best country in the world to call home, but the Conservatives want to stay on that theme, emphasizing one issue, character assassination, whatever it takes to try to make politicians look bad. If the Conservatives want to talk about corruption, they should bring it forward on an opposition day and open the floodgates. I would love to talk about all the corruption of Stephen Harper. I was here, inside the chamber, witnessing a lot of that corruption.

Quite frankly, I do not think it would be overly productive. It would be far more productive to deal with the substantial legislation that is going to ultimately, hopefully, pass, because it is for the betterment of all Canadians.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member has referred to sending this to committee. He knows quite well that if it goes to committee, the Liberals will filibuster to never turn over the documents.

The member talked about the RCMP and his concerns about sending documents to the RCMP staff. I have listened to them swear their oath, where they have to keep everything that they come across in their investigations confidential. Does he not trust the RCMP?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, if the member believes her very last statement, for the sake of argument let us say that the Conservative Party actually trusted the RCMP and the testimony, then why would they not allow it to go to committee and get the RCMP to say that it is fine for a motion on Parliament Hill to gather information unredacted and send it directly to the RCMP?

However, that is not what the RCMP members are saying. Let us listen to what the RCMP members are saying. Let them go to committee, and listen to what they have to say. The Conservatives do not respect the office, and they do not respect the RCMP. That is the reason they continue to play this multi-million dollar game.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in this place. It is Veterans' Week; Remembrance Day is coming up. When I rise, whether it is in this place or the other place, I think of what an incredible privilege it is to be able to stand and represent the people of Barrie—Innisfil and all Canadians, frankly. Whether we align ideologically or not, our job is to represent everyone.

When I think about the incredible responsibility of being a member of Parliament and being able to stand in this place, especially during weeks like this, as we lead up to Remembrance Day, I think of those who have fought throughout the course of our history in world wars and conflicts. I think of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while trying to keep the peace around the world, defending democracy and standing up for the rule of law, human rights and human dignity.

I think about that often as I stand here. I think of the blood that has been spilled, the lives that have been lost and the families who have been decimated by war to allow us the privilege, all 338 of us and those who have come before us, to stand up in this place and defend the values they fought for. We can never repay those sacrifices. However, it is incumbent upon us to treat this place with the respect and reverence it deserves because of the bloodshed that happened in order for us to be able to do that. That is our responsibility as parliamentarians,

The context of what we are talking about today is the obstruction of documents and the lack of respect for this institution. We are talking about the fact that Parliament is here to function in what is supposed to be a functioning democracy, yet we have a government that is obstructing the will, the right and the privilege of Parliament. It is doing so because it does not want to turn over documents that Parliament has rightly asked for and requested.

This obstruction is an affront to democracy and to the very values that many fought and died for in defending this institution before us. I do not think it is the right tribute to be paying to them, quite frankly. This standoff has now effectively been going on for a month, yet the government has talked about the fact that it is not going to hand over these documents. Of the ones that have been handed over, many were redacted. We are aware, for example, that there are 11,000 documents from the Department of Justice that have not been handed to the parliamentary law clerk, not to mention all the other documents related to this SDTC scandal that have not been sent to the parliamentary law clerk for Parliament.

Innovation and Science is where this whole scandal started. What conversations were going on between department officials? We know that there were some taped conversations, and we know Doug McConnachie, who came before the ethics committee, spoke on tape about how upset the minister was that this was going on. He talked about this being on a sponsorship scandal level. The sponsorship scandal was $40 million, and it took down the Chrétien-Martin government.

This is a $400-million scandal in which insiders, who were connected to and appointed by the Liberal Party, were free to make decisions, regardless of any conflicts. There were many conflicts, but they did not care about them. These insiders were benefiting and funnelling taxpayer money to their own companies, to the tune of $400 million. My wife's Uncle Jackie was killed in a Lancaster bomber on his last mission over Poland, defending democracy and the rule of law. He and millions of other Canadians have fought for this country and defended democracy and those rights I spoke about earlier.

Imagine what they would be thinking today, or even those families who have been decimated by war. They are watching what the government is doing today, making a mockery of this institution by not abiding by a decision of elected officials to hand over documents so we can get to the bottom of this scandal.

It is absolutely absurd that we are in this position today, especially from a government and Prime Minister who said in 2015 that they were going to be open and transparent by default. Every one of the ministerial letters he sent reminded ministers that they were to be open and transparent by default. What did that mean? Maybe there were good intentions at the time, but after nine years of the Liberal-NDP government, we see that it is not open and transparent by default.

It is not just with this scandal; there have been other scandals. The Winnipeg lab documents scandal is the one that stands out for me. The Liberals were going to take the Speaker to court in order to protect those documents from being publicly released and given to parliamentarians after a very similar situation occurred where Parliament ordered documents to be handed over. They prorogued Parliament. That is how bad this scandal was and how bad they did not want the information to come out.

Here we are again in not the same but a closely similar situation to what we were dealing with before. It speaks to contempt of Parliament, the decline in democracy. The fact is, this is a government that holds this place in contempt every chance it gets, and we are in this standoff now because we and other parties in this place are trying to do the right thing. I believe the Speaker did the right thing in his ruling regarding the privileges of the members of this place, which are paramount and supreme in this land when it comes to calling for document production. He made the right decision. That is why we are in this place today.

I want to focus on the context of what I said about those who defended democracies, those who stood up for the rule of law, those who defended human rights and human dignity, because we are heading into a very critical weekend. The most important day of the calendar year is Remembrance Day. That is arguable, but that is my opinion. It is when we pay tribute to and honour those who served our nation and those who continue to serve our nation.

We are very lucky. When I say “we”, I include the members for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, Simcoe—Grey, Simcoe North and Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound. We are part of Simcoe County and are very fortunate to have a long and storied military tradition and history that all centres around Canada's largest training base, Base Borden, which is in Simcoe County.

I recall when I was the critic for Veterans Affair for roughly two years, I used to travel around the country meeting with veterans, their families and stakeholders. I would always ask how many of them had been to Base Borden. If I was in a room where there were 100 veterans or active military people, 99 hands would go up and they would say they had gone to Base Borden, as it is Canada's largest training base. Then I would ask how many of them had been to the Queens Hotel in Barrie. I see the member for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte has been there, but 99 hands would go up, because if they trained at Base Borden, many a time they would end up in downtown Barrie at the Queens Hotel.

With its long and storied history, Base Borden, which is in the member for Simcoe—Grey's riding, is a big part of our local economy. It is a big part of our history. In fact, the base is where many Canadians in the expeditionary force trained to fight for the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Trenches were built there. The Grey and Simcoe Foresters, of which I am an honorary member, were a big part of the preparation for the Battle of Vimy Ridge. I am going to the Remembrance Day dinner with them tomorrow night with my wife.

Of course, we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force . Canadian Forces Base Borden was the home of the RCAF. There were hundreds of thousands of Canadian airmen and airwomen who were trained throughout the First World War and Second World War in Base Borden to be able to fly missions like the Battle of Britain, for example, which was the great defence of Europe. That long and storied history of military heritage is one that we are very proud of in our riding.

There are several people, too, who we are proud of. There are members of our military who will be participating in ceremonies.

Nantyr Shores Secondary School Remembrance Day dinner is happening this evening. Craig Froese is a teacher at Nantyr Shore Secondary School and has done a terrific job with young people talking about our proud military history. He has written books. For example, when the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge was happening, Craig took a group of students to Vimy Ridge. I was there as the critic for veterans affairs at the time. There were roughly 30,000 people at Vimy Ridge celebrating the 100th anniversary of that great Canadian battle. I knew Craig was there, I was not sure how I was going to find him and the students among 30,000 people. All of a sudden I heard faint voices in the crowd yelling my name. I ended up finding them and we took some great photos at Vimy Ridge. That is the kind of stuff that Craig does with those students. I am sorry that I will be travelling back to Barrie this evening and I will not be able to attend that dinner. However, the Honourable Guard of the Grey and Simcoe Foresters are having their dinner tomorrow night.

At Mapleview Church, Pastor Jay Davis does a great job. On Sunday, it is having three services for Remembrance Day.

The Sandycove Acres Remembrance Day ceremony is happening on Sunday. The organizers do a terrific job.

The City of Barrie is having its ceremony on Monday. The Town of Innisfil is having its ceremony and the Innisfil Legion Branch 547 Remembrance Day service is going on.

The Cookstown and District Lions Club is having its annual veterans' dinner and, of course, Base Borden will be having its Remembrance Day service on Monday.

I encourage anybody in Simcoe County to find a Remembrance Day service and pay tribute to those who served and those who continue to serve our nation and their families as well.

We are talking about veterans who fought for this institution to function, who fought for democracy and fought for the rule of law. There are a few I want to mention in the short time that I have. Marcel Vigneault, who is the president of the Barrie Legion, is doing great things with outreach to veterans and their families; Phil George is the past president; and Steve Glover is the public relations officer. I know the member for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte knows Steve very well. He is one of the historians at the Barrie Legion. He does a terrific job with commemoration and making sure that not just the legion but our whole area in Simcoe County is aware of that military heritage. I cannot say enough about Fern Taillefer as the first VP. He is the veterans service officer. Fern will be front and centre, I am sure, at the Barrie Remembrance Day parade as the sergeant-at-arms leading the ceremony that day. Tim Shaughnessy is the second VP. There is, of course, Judi Giovannetti who is a conflict resolution officer there and a former district commander of the Royal Canadian Legion. They do some great work there.

The Innisfil Legion will be having its ceremony on Sunday. Denis Mainville is the president there. It will be in Lefroy. About three or four years ago the member for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte and I started a poppy launch campaign. We invited people from all over the county, politicians, to amplify the start of the poppy campaign. We held it about two weeks ago when the poppy launch was initiated. We had the honour of presenting, on behalf of the Ambassador of Kuwait, a Kuwait service medal, to Denis because he served in the Persian Gulf War. The mayor of Innisfil, Lynn Dollin, was the one who presented it and pinned it on Denis. It was a really special moment. Again, that is all part of that military heritage. Laurie Sprink is the vice-president of the Innisfil Legion and Olga Cherry is the second vice-president.

Of course, there will also be the Sandycove veterans I mentioned earlier. We have a terrific ceremony happening on Sunday afternoon. Fred White is the president, and I cannot say enough about Ted Gemmell and the work that he has done, really, in putting on this ceremony. Hundreds and hundreds of people from the Sandycove Acres community will be at that Remembrance Day ceremony. There is something special this year. This is Marilyn Sehn and her volunteers. They started this in the summer, and they have crocheted and knitted poppies to honour military members, past and present. All of that will be on display at the Sandycove Acres Remembrance Day ceremony on Sunday, and it happens at two o'clock.

The Innisfil ceremony is going to be happening on Monday. I know that the Innisfil ideaLAB and Library is holding a special presentation on November 9 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the branch in Cookstown, telling stories of veterans from the town of Innisfil.

When we talk about those stories, I cannot help but speak of Brigadier-General John Hayter, who served in the Canadian Forces from 1951 to 2009. In 1952, General Hayter joined the Grey and Simcoe Foresters, of which I am an honorary member. At the age of 18, he began training at CFB Borden, and then headed over to the Korean War. Just this past summer, the City of Barrie renamed a community centre, the Southshore Community Centre, as the General John Hayter Southshore Community Centre. This is a fitting tribute for a man who has dedicated so much to his community and so much of his life to this country.

This past weekend, in Stayner, which is in the member for Simcoe—Grey's riding, World War II veteran Allister “Mac” MacDonald celebrated his 101st birthday at the Stayner Legion branch.

I mentioned Craig Froese, the Nantyr Shores teacher who does great work with young people. To encapsulate the work that he does, I would say that he really pays tribute to the legacy of those who have fallen, not just from the town of Innisfil but from Simcoe County.

We are so lucky, the member for Simcoe—Grey and I. We have Peacekeepers Park in Angus, which has been there for a long time; it is a tremendous tribute to those who have kept the peace around the world. There are memorial walls. There are LAVs. It really is a destination. I encourage anybody from across this country who is passing through Angus, Ontario, which is just next to Base Borden, to visit Peacekeepers Park and pay tribute to those peacekeepers.

It has not only been Fern Taillefer, in the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping, but also Bob George and Don Ward, who have done all the graphics displays in that park. They have just been incredible.

Of course, we have had those who have passed away in the service of our nation. As we head toward Remembrance Day, I think of Private Kevin McKay, who was 24; he was killed in Afghanistan two days before his tour was to end. Of course, I think of his Silver Cross Mother, Elizabeth, and his father, Fred. I think of them as we head toward Remembrance Day.

Sapper Brian Collier, who died in 2010, grew up in Bradford. I think of his mom, Carol, and his father, Jim, who attended the poppy launch a couple of years ago.

This is the 100th anniversary of the RCAF. As I said earlier, we have a proud tradition at Base Borden because it is the home, the birthplace of the RCAF. This year marked a very special centennial celebration at Base Borden, with the addition of the Ad Astra monument, “to the stars”, and it really was the community that came together. I want to commend Wayne Hay and Jamie Massie for the work that they did. We know that 133,000 aircrew trained at Base Borden.

As we get into the weekend, as we get closer to Remembrance Day, poppies are being sold all over Simcoe County. Tomorrow, for example, at nine o'clock, I am going to be at the LCBO in Alcona for a couple of hours with members from the Innisfil Legion to sell poppies. Every dollar that is raised in that poppy campaign will go toward helping veterans and their families. I want to give a special tribute to the cadets, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Vents, high school students, veterans and many other members of our community who have kept that legacy alive. They are out there selling poppies so that our veterans can be looked after in the way that they have earned and the way that they deserve.

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

Madam Speaker, I want to echo many of the positive words that the member opposite has put on the record in regard to service people both past and present who have served our country so well, recognizing the importance of November 11 at 11 o'clock in the morning.

Every year, I have had the opportunity to participate in one way or another. We all participate in different ways. On Machray Avenue at McGregor Armoury, a heritage building, the local armoury, there will be a presentation and a moment of silence. I have attended ceremonies at cemeteries. I have even had the opportunity in the Philippines to pay tribute to fallen soldiers of allied forces who were born here in Canada. It is important that we recognize November 11, and I appreciate the member's statements in regard to it.

I have had the opportunity to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces, and during the 1980s I actually marched with World War II veterans. Therefore I am very sympathetic to the member's argument in regard to how the veterans would see what the government is doing today. I would suggest to the member that I have held myself high, that the government has held itself high and that the individuals with whom I marched would in fact have been very comfortable with it.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Madam Speaker, I addressed that at the beginning of my speech. We have seen the contempt for the institution of Parliament play itself out over the last nine years of the current government through the levels of scandal, the levels of corruption and the insiders' connected cronies who have been benefiting far greater than Canadians have because Canadians, whether the Liberals like to think so or not, are hurting right now, and I would say that this place is not being represented with the honour and the integrity that many who served our nation have.

Just today, we are finding out again that there has been a directive that there will be no prayers at military services or Remembrance Day services. Men and women, before doing their duty and before they were called to duty, would say prayers to their god in order to protect themselves. This is what we are hearing today. It is sad, where we are at.