Arif Virani

[Carbon Pricing, December 11th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, today I have heard a lot about rising costs. I just want to make sure Canadians watching appreciate that, when parliamentarians vote for 30 hours, and it costs about $70,000 an hour to keep this place running, it is costing Canadian taxpayers about $2 million. That is the first point.

Second, with respect to the point that was just made by the member opposite, if Conservatives were so concerned about the price of food, I would have thought they might have voted in favour of a school food program to keep food prices down for young Canadians in this country. Alas, they voted against it.

[Justice, December 7th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Alfred-Pellan for his question and his dedication.

As a minister, a father and a Canadian, community safety is one of my top priorities. Bill C-48 has now received royal assent. This bail reform bill will keep repeat violent offenders off our streets. Our government will continue to fight crime and its root causes to keep communities safe.

All of Canada's premiers, police forces and municipalities called for action, and we acted.

[Carbon Pricing, December 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, when I hear from everyday Canadians about affordability, and when I hear from people such as Lindsay in my riding and former classmates such as Stephanie, they say to me that the cost of food is going up, but they understand that it is a complex problem.

Climate change feeds into the cost of food, and things such as instability overseas in Europe and an illegal war in Ukraine affect the price of food. Ergo, we wonder about the sincerity of the party opposite when it votes against instrumental measures, such as an affordability piece of legislation or legislation that would assist Ukraine and stop that illegal war.

[Carbon Pricing, December 1st, 2023]

Madam Speaker, the fundamental principle is that the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues are not worth the cost.

What is the cost? The cost has been underscored by the president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress herself, a woman who happens to be my constituent. She has said that Ukraine needs assistance. The Ukrainian government is begging for that assistance.

What we have seen is a failure of leadership on the part of the official opposition to make supporting Ukraine a non-partisan issue. It should never be partisan to confront an authoritarian ruler in an illegal war who is driving up the price of food in this country and around the world.

[Carbon Pricing, December 1st, 2023]

Madam Speaker, that member from Alberta represents thousands of Ukrainian Canadians, as I am proud to do. Let me tell him a little bit about one of my constituents, Alexandra Chyczij, and what she wrote to the Conservative leader. She happens to be the president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. What she underscores is the fact that when we are concerned about the food in this country, we need to be concerned about geopolitical crises that are causing food prices to escalate. She underscored that she was disappointed to see the official opposition vote against the adoption of the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, that Ukraine needs assistance and that Ukraine's government, led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is asking for that assistance. What I am asking him to do is—

[Infrastructure, December 1st, 2023]

Madam Speaker, that is an important question. It allows me the opportunity to underscore the intense and significant financial supports that this government has put in place for the city of Toronto since 2015. In 2015, the Conservative Party saw fit to supply Toronto with about $200 million a year. This year, we are providing Toronto with $1.8 billion. Next year, that will rise to $2.1 billion. The supports for transit in Toronto and for infrastructure in Toronto are legion on this side of the House. I and other colleagues from Toronto will continue to defend our city.

[Criminal Code, November 30th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I believe if you seek it you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That notwithstanding any standing order or usual practice of the House, the motion respecting Senate amendments made to Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bail reform), standing on the Notice Paper be deemed adopted.

[Criminal Code, November 30th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member for Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa in Manitoba raising this instance and talking about repeat offending. I would say that, if those offences involve violence and offences with a weapon, the rules that we are putting in place are certainly meant to be applied by judges and justices of the peace right around the country, including in Swan River. There should be a direct impact on situations such as that in terms of promoting community safety around the country.

I would say equally that we were able to get this bill done quickly the last time it was in the chamber, in a matter of hours on the same day. That kind of co-operation is critically needed. Unfortunately, we have not seen that level of co-operation in the Senate, particularly among Conservative senators. They have delayed this bill in some respects over the last three to four weeks.

I am glad the bill is now before us. We have two Senate amendments to deal with. We can deal with them today, get this passed today and get it to royal assent immediately. That would be a terrific outcome for Canadians, including those in Swan River.

[Criminal Code, November 30th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I will say to the member that it has been quite remarkable in terms of the support that went into the development of this bill and in terms of law enforcement personnel and political leaders around this country, who are urging us to get this bill done.

I will say quite candidly that I took it as an opportunity when the leader of the official opposition said to get this bill done, to let us reconvene Parliament. He said on a radio show, in the middle of the summer, that we could do it on the same day Parliament was reconvened.

He was true to his word then. I would ask him to stay true to his word now. We were able to get this done with unanimity in this chamber because premiers, including Conservative premiers, and ministers were pushing us to get this done. They included Minister Bronwyn Eyre in Saskatchewan and Premier Doug Ford in Ontario.

That was amazing co-operation at the time. That goodwill still exists among political leadership and law enforcement leadership around Canada.

I would like to harness it and harness the goodwill of the parties opposite to, again, have these amendments passed quickly. Thus, we can ensure that Canadians are kept safe, particularly as we enter the Christmas season.

[Criminal Code, November 30th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member opposite for his work on the justice committee and for his dedication to this cause, as well as the dedication of the B.C. NDP government, in terms of promoting this.

With respect to the issue that he has raised, I would say that he is absolutely accurate. One cannot be addressing one facet without addressing some of the complementary features. I would point him to a couple of things.

First, in terms of the commitments we have made financially, in terms of health care supports throughout the country and in terms of the $190-billion 10-year deal that was struck by our government with various provinces, in that accord, we targeted certain sectors or certain categories of health care treatment, including mental health.

Second, I would also underscore that we have put money into the system to help with guns and gangs. That guns and gangs portion or envelope of money, which totals over $700 million over the last four years, is being used by law enforcement personnel around the country to ensure that the bail provisions we are putting forward are coupled with the tools necessary for law enforcement to ensure that they are keeping communities safe on the ground.