Blake Richards

[Petitions, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians enjoy freedom of conscience, belief, and thought. The government's requirement that organizations applying for the Canada summer jobs program sign an attestation stating that they agree with all the policies of the Liberal government is a violation of those fundamental rights. I have heard from thousands of constituents who are upset that the government would violate these rights of Canadians. Many organizations that do wonderful work with youth through our communities were made ineligible for this program as a result of the requirement.

Therefore, I table this petition today calling on the government to remove that attestation requirement from the Canada summer jobs program and ensure that Canadians enjoy their rights to freedom of thought and belief.

[Democratic Reform, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the minister can keep repeating his talking points and his attempts at spin. The fact of the matter is, the rules he referenced would only be in place after July 23 for his Liberal government. The limits for opposition parties would apply almost a month before that. This is the Liberals blatantly trying to tip the electoral scales in their favour.

Will they commit to amending their bill so that these same rules apply to Liberal government advertising and ministerial travel, as they do to opposition parties?

[Democratic Reform, May 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals say they would ban government advertising 90 days before an election, yet they want to apply spending limits on opposition parties almost a month before that time. For the Liberals, it is, “Do what I say and not what I do.”

Once again, I ask, will they impose the exact same restrictions on ministerial travel and government advertising that they are on parties in this newly established pre-election period?

[Elections Modernization Act, May 10th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to have an opportunity to debate this piece of legislation more officially in the House. We already had a chance to have some back and forth in question period, but we will now have the chance to do that here in official debate in the House of Commons.

There are obviously a number of things I find of concern, but my biggest concern is that the Liberals and the Prime Minister seem to continually try to find ways to damage themselves, to find ways to prevent opposition, and to find ways to tip the scales in their favour. We have seen that a number of times, whether it be breaking their promise on electoral reform or whether it be trying to change the rules of the House of Commons to suit themselves. We see potentially more of that in this piece of legislation as well.

I want to focus on one topic, and it is a topic on which we had a bit of an exchange in question period earlier today. I want to talk about the idea of spending limits. The government is making some changes, obviously, that would prevent political parties from being able to use funds truly given to them by Canadians in a period prior to the election, but it is not doing the same for government advertising and ministerial travel, at least not for the same time period.

I wonder if the minister would commit to making changes to the bill that would line those periods up so that it would not disadvantage the opposition parties in such a way. Would it line those timelines up so that those directives, in terms of the limits on ministerial travel and government advertising, would be the same? I wonder if the minister would make a commitment to make that amendment today.

[Democratic Reform, May 10th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I guess we will take that as a no. Therefore, we will try another topic, because clearly he does not want to try and deal with the actual problem here.

Getting young people over 18 out to vote is a thing that everyone in the House agrees is a good thing, but what is not right is invading the privacy of children. The Prime Minister's new law will establish a future register of electors for children between the ages of 14 and 17. Yesterday, the Prime Minister disagreed with us when we raised this concern about political parties targeting children.

Again, will the Prime Minister commit that the information about children will not be distributed to political parties or political candidates?

[Democratic Reform, May 10th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, that is pathetic to not apologize.

The Prime Minister has infamously stated that he admires China's dictatorship, and that is quite evident in how he operates. Every time he faces opposition, whether it is in the House or from Canadians, he takes away the tools that opposition parties have to hold him to account. Now he is proposing to limit how and when political parties can spend money that Canadians have freely contributed to support them.

Will he impose those same restrictions on ministerial travel and on government advertising in this newly established pre-election period?

[Democratic Reform, May 9th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, in addition to a number of changes that weaken the integrity of our electoral system, the Liberals are also attempting to establish a register of future electors for children between the ages of 14 and 17. Could the Prime Minister please confirm that he will not allow the private information of 14-year-olds to be handed out to political parties or to anyone seeking public office?

[Democratic Reform, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the statistic the minister just used is completely incorrect. In the last election, having a photo ID was a requirement, and the voter turnout was the highest it had been in two decades. Clearly, proving who a person is did not make it harder to vote. Why do the Liberals think it should not be necessary for voters to prove who they are and where they live in order to vote?

[Democratic Reform, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, there are 39 accepted forms of ID to vote in a federal election. A label on a prescription bottle, a personal cheque, a utility bill, a library card, those are all acceptable, and the list goes on. It is hard to conceive of a scenario where a voter would have none of these but would have a correct voter information card. However, the Liberals want to have almost a million incorrect cards used as proof. Why are the Liberals making it possible for people to vote without the correct ID?

[Humboldt Broncos, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, a month ago, our entire country grieved when tragedy struck the Humboldt Broncos. Among the injured was 19-year-old Ryan Straschnitzki, from Airdrie. Ryan was left paralyzed and faces a long recovery, but his determination never wavered. After the accident, Ryan stated that he had a commitment to play for Canada on the Olympic sledge hockey team.

Through the darkness, there is always light, and this light came from our community rallying around Ryan. Cody Thompson, friend and trainer of Ryan's, supported by the Airdrie Dads Facebook group, helped start the #strazstrong committee and sold hats to help with medical costs. Operation Airdrie Random Acts of City Kindness hosted a bake sale, led by brothers Aiden and Nolan Pole. Phil Dell, dad of local NHL goalie Aaron Dell, and many others offered their time as tradesmen to help refit Ryan's home. Mackenzie Murphy set up a vigil to support Ryan and to commemorate the Broncos.

These are just a few examples of how our community was able to shine some light on a tragedy. Our entire country is behind Ryan.