Andrew Scheer

[Public Safety, January 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, in cities across this country, gang crime committed with firearms is a serious concern, yet the Prime Minister's only approach is the lazy approach of asking people who are already following all the rules to follow a few more rules. It is much harder to track down illegal guns, it is much harder to stop the flow of smuggled firearms and it is much more difficult to infiltrate gangs and hold them accountable. However, that is the difficult work that Conservatives are prepared to do.

Will the Prime Minister admit that asking honest, law-abiding people to follow more laws will do nothing to stop crime?

[The Economy, January 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has made the choice to destroy Canada's energy sector, cancelling billions of dollars' worth of projects and chasing billions of dollars of private sector investments out of the country. It is starting to have an impact.

The IMF has found that Canada's economy is growing at a much slower rate than our international competitors'. The Prime Minister's recipe is to borrow more, rack up debt and chase away private sector investment, all to fund a massive increase in government spending.

Does the Prime Minister realize that this has been a recipe for disaster in literally every country where it has been tried?

[Natural Resources, January 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister for that update.

Here at home, the government has overseen more than $100 billion in cancelled energy projects. Across the country, wages have stagnated and have not kept up with increases in the price of consumer goods. Food bank usage by people with jobs is up 27%.

The Prime Minister has an opportunity to show that Canada's energy sector is open for business. Will he do the right thing, stand with energy workers and approve the Teck Resources frontier mine, or will he stand with the activists and celebrities who are trying to shut it down?

[Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, January 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, on January 8, 57 Canadians lost their lives when Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 was shot down by Iranian missiles. I want to thank the Prime Minister for keeping me and the official opposition and all Canadians informed throughout the process, but there are still, of course, many unanswered questions.

Could the Prime Minister update the House as to whether there has been progress made on returning Canadian remains home and what steps are being considered to bring the perpetrators of this attack to justice?

[The Economy, December 12th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that their high-tax, high-regulation, big-borrowing approach is not working. It may be creating jobs in other countries. Foreign direct investment into Canada has fallen by 56% since the government came to power, over $100 billion of investment in the energy sector has been cancelled and five G8 countries have a significantly lower unemployment rate than does Canada, including Japan, Germany, the U.S., the U.K. and even Russia.

Will the Prime Minister abandon this course of action?

[The Economy, December 12th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the program is not working.

The Prime Minister drove out 56% of direct foreign investments. Energy projects worth $100 billion were cancelled. Canadian companies are forced to close their doors and sell their equipment to American companies, which are doing the work.

One might say that the Prime Minister is doing more to create jobs abroad than here. Our economy needs to refocus on jobs and growth.

Will the Liberals present an economic update this week?

[The Economy, December 12th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, last month 71,000 Canadians lost their jobs. This is shocking when we compare it to the 266,000 jobs created in the same month in the U.S. Broken down by sector, the story gets even worse. Natural resource jobs in Canada decreased by 3% while they grew by 15% in America. Manufacturing-job creation in the U.S. is more than double what it is in Canada.

Will the Prime Minister admit that he is creating the conditions for a made-in-Canada recession?

[Privilege, December 12th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I will not abuse the indulgence that you have given me today, but I do want to sincerely thank the other party leaders.

I want to thank the Prime Minister for his kind words. I believe our children are of the same age. If there is one person who knows the challenges and the difficult decisions that need to be made when balancing public and private life, it would be the Prime Minister. I have always appreciated our opportunities to chat briefly about how our respective families are holding up during the pressure and the grind that this life places on parliamentarians.

I also want to thank the Leader of the Bloc Québécois for his comments. We have not worked together for very long, but as he said, all of our conversations have been respectful.

Thanks very much to the leader of the NDP as well. We have crossed paths several times throughout the years at various events together. I have always found when we put partisan differences aside, there is a great deal of mutual respect for people of all different parties because when we come to this place, we might disagree on what it is that we think should be done for Canada, but we all agree on the motivation, and that is to make Canada a better place.

I truly do believe that. Each one of us makes tremendous sacrifices to that.

I hope the Prime Minister will not mind a bit of good-natured ribbing. Obviously debates can be heated and fiery, but we do like to point out successes and we are very proud of what we accomplished in the last election. Although we fell short of our goal, someone pointed out something that I have not fact-checked yet, but I will: I am the first person in Canadian history to get more votes than a Trudeau. I could not resist saying that.

I do intend to serve the constituents of Regina—Qu'Appelle for the near future. When I was 25, the highest goal I set for myself was to be the best member of Parliament that I could be for the constituents of Regina—Qu'Appelle, and I look forward to devoting more time to doing that.

As for future positions in the House, those are discussions for another day. I doubt that I will become the Grover Cleveland of Speakers. That is probably not going to be in the cards.

I once again want to thank all my parliamentary colleagues.

Thank you so much for your kind words today. I know they are heartfelt.

We all go back to our homes and our ridings and deal with many of the same struggles, no matter where we are from or what party we represent.

I will see members at 2:15.

[Privilege, December 12th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I was elected to this House in 2004, at the ripe old age of 25. In many ways, I grew up in this chamber, but some might say I have not yet grown up. I was barely out of university, newly married and with our first child on the way. Since then, I have had five beautiful children. My first-born is now 14. He is all arms and legs. I think he is going to be taller than me very soon.

I have logged many hours flying back and forth from Regina to Ottawa and all across this wonderful country. Alongside my friends in the Conservative caucus, we have accomplished a lot on both the government and opposition sides of the benches. Most importantly, we have kept our party united and strong.

That is why I felt it was appropriate to speak to my friends and colleagues today in the House of Commons about one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made. I have just informed my colleagues in the Conservative caucus that I will be resigning as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

I will be asking the Conservative Party national council to immediately begin the process of organizing a leadership election. As our party embarks on this exciting opportunity of electing a new Conservative leader and Canada's next prime minister, I intend to stay on as leader of the party and the official opposition.

Serving as the leader of the party that I love so much has been the opportunity and challenge of a lifetime. This was not a decision I came to lightly. It was one I came to after many long, hard conversations with friends and family over the past two months since the election campaign.

It has been an incredible challenge for our family to keep up with the pace that is required to lead a caucus and a party into a general election, and my wife Jill has been absolutely heroic. However, in order to chart the course ahead, this party and this movement need someone who can give 100% to the effort. After some conversations with my kids and loved ones, I felt it was time to put my family first.

Our Conservative team is always stronger when we are united. When fiscal conservatives, red Tories, social conservatives, libertarians, Quebec nationalists and Conservatives in rural and urban Canada in the east and west come together, great things happen. We elect strong Conservative governments that deliver lower taxes, smaller governments, more freedom and stronger human rights. The party we have all built together is far more important than one individual.

Our party is not a cult of personality. It is not shaped by whoever's name is on the masthead, but by the hundreds of thousands of Conservatives who pound in lawn signs, sit on their riding associations and donate a few dollars every month.

As our party begins to embark on this exciting opportunity of electing a new leader, my only ask to my fellow Conservatives is this: Let us stay united. Let us stay focused on our one shared goal and one shared priority, which is to deliver a strong Conservative government that can unite our country and make life better for all Canadians, for the oil worker out of a job, for the senior who is choosing between heating and eating and for Canada's position on the world stage.

I believe in this party, I believe in our movement and I believe that we will be the government after the next election. I became involved as a teen because I love this party. I ran because I love this party, and I ran for leader because I wanted to help this party.

I will continue to serve my Conservative caucus, and I will continue to serve the great people in the fantastic riding of Regina—Qu'Appelle.

I am proud of what we have accomplished during my time as leader. We kept our party united and strong, we knocked the Liberals down to a minority and we increased seats all over this country. Whoever the hundreds of thousands of Conservatives across the country choose to lead our party into the next election will have my 100% support.

My message to the Prime Minister and the Liberals in the House is this: During this leadership election, there will be no free rides in the House of Commons. We have already hit the ground running. We had a 1,000% batting average for a brief period of time on Tuesday evening. We might see if we can increase that batting average.

We are going to continue to be here every single day to represent our constituents, to perform our duties as parliamentarians and to put Canadians and Canada first.

I want to thank you, Mr. Speaker, for indulging me in this statement. I want to thank my colleagues in the Conservative Party.

Being the Leader of the Conservative Party was the greatest honour of my professional life. I thank all my colleagues for their support and trust over the past three years.

I made this decision because it is the best thing for our party.

Our party needs someone who can give everything he or she has. I have always been honest with my colleagues. I have always been honest with everybody. I know that the road ahead and the stress it would put on my family would mean I could not give them that 100% assurance.

I know the next person will, and I know I can speak on behalf of all our team that the next leader of this party will have the support required from these benches to make sure we are successful in the next election.

[Foreign Affairs, December 11th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the House voted to take the crisis between Canada and the Government of China seriously by establishing a special committee to look at all aspects of the government's handling of that relationship. After China's unlawful imprisonment of two Canadians, after China put blocks on our exports of canola and other products, the Prime Minister still has not stood up for Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister at least take the very practical step of withdrawing Canada's funding for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank?