Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour and a privilege to rise on behalf of the great people of southwest and west central Saskatchewan. Before I begin though, I just want to give a quick shout-out to my daughter's U13 girls' hockey team. The Colts had a great series against the girls from the Big River First Nation Rangers. My daughter's team was victorious this time, two games to one. I want to commend all the parents and all the fans who came down from Big River for game three on Sunday as well. It is a very long trek from there, so I do appreciate them putting the effort to come on in and support their team. It is a great team. We look forward to a series against Moose Jaw, just down the highway, to find out who are the consolation bracket winners of the U13 girls' hockey league in Saskatchewan. We are not playing for the championship, but it does not matter. There are games to be played, and we hope they win.
Today, we are debating yet another Liberal censorship bill, Bill C-9. Sadly, this is not the first time we have had to fight against censorship from government overreach by these Liberals. Considering that this new threat of censorship is directed against religious groups, it means we are getting to something that deeply affects people's lives. We need to be clear about what we have in mind if there are going to be changes to the law removing protection for people's views of religion or spirituality.
Faith shapes the world view and conscience of both individuals and communities that seek to live their lives accordingly. In this way, faith is more than an accessory or disposable part of people's lives. Too often, that is how some people who might be non-religious and do not have personal experience in this area try to reduce it down. There is a lot more involved than outward participation in social activities, cultural practices or celebrating holidays. For the believer, faith is an essential part of living their life publicly and privately, and it is a matter of personal integrity. This seems to be what the government is trampling over. It is bringing in a censorship bill, and while doing so, it is shutting down our debate to rush it through.
Even though the government is trying to silence Canadians and stop debate, I am honoured to be able to speak to Bill C-9 and bring a voice to the many people who have reached out to my office to express their deep concerns and frustrations with the Liberal government and its continued efforts to divide the Canadian public and achieve its political goal, which is ultimately to rule over every group and institution of this vast country.
I would like to go back to the foundations of this very country. Sir Samuel Tilley, who was one of the founding fathers of the Confederation, was reading his Bible back in 1864. He was reading from Psalm 72, which is known for verse 8, which states, “May he rule from sea to sea, [and] the river to the ends of the earth.” This passage, of course, is the inspiration for the inscription on the Peace Tower, which says, “He shall have dominion...from sea to sea.”
This is not written about the Prime Minister having dominion as much as he would like it to be. No, it is about King David who wrote it about his son Solomon, who was the incoming king, but it is widely regarded as being written about God's kingdom on earth. This is about recognizing that God has dominion over Canada. It is God who blesses this country. It is God who appoints rulers and leaders, and yes, even Liberal ones. If we uphold this idea, we will realize that this means there is a higher source of truth and goodness standing above human governments that frequently go astray. Otherwise, we are left alone to suffer under those who are powerful on earth, trying to abuse their power to control, exploit and impose their agenda on vulnerable people.
Psalm 72 ends with verses 18 and 19, which say:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen. The prayers of David, son of Jesse are ended.
When Canada created its own coat of arms in 1921, there are Latin words that are inscribed on the bottom of it. I am not going to try to cite them because I will say it very wrong. I do not want to do that. Those Latin words mean dominion from sea to sea, which is a tip of the cap to Psalm 72 once again. Along with our motto, government documents officially refer to our country as the dominion of Canada, making a clear connection with the original verse from scripture, but the Liberals started to neglect this title. Eventually, the first Trudeau made a point of erasing it after changing the Constitution.
The founders and builders of Canada recognized that our nation would be built on biblical values and that God would be the cornerstone of our nation.
John Diefenbaker, the great former prime minister from Saskatchewan, famously said:
I am Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I [think is] wrong, free to choose those who [shall] govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.
He made that statement, and he passed the Canadian Bill of Rights long before the charter came along. He clearly understood the close relationship between freedom and faith, which helps us understand that God is the source of our human dignity and rights.
It is because of that that we know there are moral absolutes and we have learned how to clearly choose right from wrong. Even people who are not from a faith background recognize that respecting human rights does not depend on human opinions or the views of dictators and tyrants.
Following Diefenbaker, Lester Pearson's preferred flag for Canada had two blue bars on either side of the red maple leaf. These blue bars also represented from sea to sea, which would have been a public display and recognition, once again, that God has dominion from sea to sea. Even though the sidebars are red, I would argue that it still stands for the dominion of God from sea to sea over Canada.
The charter that the Liberals love to pretend to support begins:
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:
Do colleagues know who worked to create that document and whose signature is down at the bottom? It was none other than Pierre Elliott Trudeau, yet with the way things are going today, he probably would not be Liberal enough for the current government, which has somehow become even more radical than the government was back then.
Since the Liberal government has been in power, it has done everything to erase and eliminate its founding principles. Colleagues who do not agree with me should just look at its track record. One of the more famous anti-Christian policies that was put in place was for organizations to affirm the radical left Liberal viewpoint with the Canada summer job attestation. It was a values test, and it was an attack on many summer camps, food banks and other community organizations because they might happen to have a different moral value set than the Liberal government. Despite the uproar and push back from many organizations and groups, this ridiculous policy, which has no benefit to hiring summer students, remained.
The government's treatment of faith-based organizations under its far left, death cult MAID regime forced a hospice to close. A place taking care of elderly people on their deathbeds was forced to close because it chose to uphold the dignity and value of life, in accordance with the very values that this country was founded on, rather than offer death.
Then there are the constant threats of the Liberals to revoke the charitable status of faith-based organizations. There are many organizations that work to provide clothing, food, diapers and supplies to vulnerable mothers who are pregnant or have newborn babies, yet the Liberals have repeatedly campaigned on an ideological crusade to shut these places down because of their religious or moral beliefs. They work to attack parental rights when they pass a law with an overly broad definition that would criminalize conversations with their children or raising their family according to their religious values.
There are many other examples from the government that have led to an erosion of trust by Canadians. Worse yet, it has given social licence for thugs and anti-Semitic people to terrorize places of worship, day cares and schools for simply being Jewish organizations. Then there are the church burnings. Over 120 churches have been burned in the last five years without a single objection from the government.
The Liberals' anti-faith agenda has spilled over to the police not pressing charges and prosecution not proceeding. Clearly, they have never been serious about fighting crimes like this or dealing with the riots. Instead, they are trying to score points with problematic bills, such as Bill C-9.
It was the former chair of the justice committee, before he was put back in cabinet, who made some troubling remarks about the Bible. While working to remove an exemption for good-faith religious belief, he said:
I don't understand how the concept of good faith could be invoked if someone were literally invoking a passage from, in this case, the Bible, though there are other religious texts that say the same thing [and] somehow [say that] in good faith? Clearly, there are situations in these texts where statements are hateful.
Ironically, he expressed his own interpretation of the Bible and apparently wants to have that worked into the law. He clearly does not understand that people who follow biblical teaching are not hateful and that they actually believe in loving everyone. Besides that, how else are we supposed to understand that? Clearly, in this case, he suggested that what Christians believe is hateful and should be something that should be legally prosecuted.
Despite the strong concerns of many churches, as well as other religious groups, are we really supposed to leave it to the Minister of Justice's assurances that we should just trust him? That would mean ignoring what his fellow minister said about the Bible, and that is not a responsible way to write laws in what is supposed to be a free country.
With another Liberal censorship bill, Bill C-11 we saw a previous heritage minister flip-flop on whether the government would require licensing for media and journalists. Canadians cannot trust the Liberal government to get this right, and that is why we stand opposed to this bill here today.
