Brian Masse

[The Budget, April 29th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, recently the Conservative Party voted line by line against a number of different projects, including finishing the Gordie Howe bridge in my riding, a multi-billion-dollar project that is just about ready to connect. The Conservatives voted against $324 million to finish that job. Why have the Conservatives changed their position on supporting the project, doing a specific line-by-line vote against it when it is almost built? If they had it their way, it would be the most expensive viewing platform in North America. Not completing it is bad for our economy, and billions of dollars have been wasted leading up to the bridge and on the bridge itself.

[Petitions, April 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the petition I am tabling is for the Government of Canada to apologize to Black Canadians for its role in chattel enslavement in Canada. Specifically, four items are noted in the petition: first, chattel enslavement was initiated over 400 years ago to assemble a cheap, ready and usable workforce that was dehumanized and dispersed globally; second, in colonial Canada, King Louis XIV's Code Noir became law in 1743 and required both indigenous and Black slaves brought into the French colony to be considered the possessions of those who purchased them; third, Great Britain further supported the practice of chattel enslavement after the French in 1759; and fourth, following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1834, and after the Dominion of Canada was created in 1867, systemic racism continued, thereby perpetuating the practice of discriminating beliefs in societal institutions, organizations and legislation, which treated Black people as marginal and inferior.

Therefore, these petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to finally do the right thing and apologize to Black Canadians for the centuries of mistreatment and racism in Canada. I thank Elise Harding-Davis for bringing this petition forward.

[Black History in Canada, April 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, today I recognize the accomplishments of esteemed historian and Black Canadian heritage expert, Elise Harding-Davis.

Throughout her career, Elise elevated positive Black history in Canada, earning many accolades including the Order of Ontario designation, being named among the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women, and receiving the Ontario Black History Society's Daniel Hill Award, the Ontario Museum Association's Award of Excellence, Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Ontario Historical Society's Carnochan Award.

For over 60 years, Elise has highlighted how African Canadians were essential to Canada's development and was the first Black female curator at the Amherstburg Freedom Museum.

Elise comes from a family of strong character. Her late sister, Shelley Harding-Smith, was Canada's first Black female master electrician and an activist, and was a friend and a mentor to me, personally. Their great-grandfather was a slave, and both Elise and Shelley progressed in a challenging world, where they let nothing stand in their way.

August 1 this year will mark the 190th anniversary of Emancipation Day, marking the day Canada's Slavery Abolition Act came into effect. Canada still needs to apologize for the enslavement of Black Canadians. An official apology would mean a lifetime of work recognized.

Elise exemplifies the true meaning of preserving Black history in Canada. Her legacy will no doubt inspire future generations.

[Points of Order, April 16th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I do not like to rise on this. In a couple of weeks it will be my 22nd year here, and I can tell the House that it is different. It is not heckling or a sense of involvement in the debate; outright bullying tactics and verbal abuse are taking place. This chamber has changed significantly.

Because of your being on that side, down the aisle of the chamber, Mr. Speaker, you may not be aware of this, but I can also testify that it depends on which member rises in the House, what gender they are and what they look like. This determines how they are treated. It is a regular behaviour that has escalated significantly in the last number of years.

In particular, right now, there was your decision about the member from Hamilton Centre, for example. He had an important question to ask. I appreciate your position on it, but he cannot do in 20 seconds what he should have had the right, in 35 seconds, to do, for his constituents and for what he wants to do for this country, without the type of harassment that takes place.

I ask you to review not only what takes place in this chamber and how you respond to it, to reflect back over the years and the way it has been dealt with in the past, but also the behaviour that takes place behind the curtains, in the hallways. They are definitely included, and what takes place there spills into the chamber. Especially during late nights in this place, we have had young people exposed to behaviour that is not becoming. It is not acceptable in a workplace to have a number of different activities taking place that are especially encouraged when the camera is off, clearly, and that may not be seen when the camera is on.

[Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act, April 11th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, when the free trade agreement was signed, Canada's auto sector went from number two in the world to basically 10th or 12th at different points in time. The U.S. has moved forward with the Inflation Reduction Act, through which it is investing billions of dollars over multiple years in battery and electric energy efficiencies for its auto sector.

My concern is with the Conservatives cancelling the projects we have, such as those at the Stellantis project in Windsor, at the Volkswagen plant and others. What is their plan for the auto sector in responding to the United States? They are clearly looking at trying to recapture even more of auto assembly manufacturing for the future, and we need a response to that. What is the Conservative plan? I ask because we are going to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, April 8th, 2024]

With regard to the sales and transfers of military equipment and weapons from Canada to Israel and in light of the International Court of Justice determination that Israel is carrying out a plausible genocide in Gaza and has issued several orders to Israel: (a) what military equipment and weapons has the government of Canada sent or approved to be sent to Israel since October 7, 2023; (b) what military equipment and weapons has the government of Canada sent or approved to be sent to Israel since January 26, 2024; (c) what military equipment and weapons has the government of Canada rejected sending to Israel since October 7, 2023; (d) what military equipment and weapons has the government of Canada rejected sending to Israel since January 26, 2024; (e) what surveillance equipment has the government of Canada sent or approved to be sent to Israel since October 7, 2023; (f) what surveillance equipment has the government of Canada sent or approved to be sent to Israel since January 26, 2024; (g) what surveillance equipment has the government of Canada rejected sending to Israel since October 7, 2023; (h) what surveillance equipment has the government of Canada rejected sending to Israel since January 26, 2024; (i) what is the monetary value of the military equipment and weapons the government of Canada has sent to Israel since October 7, 2023; (j) what is the monetary value of the surveillance equipment the government of Canada has sent to Israel since October 7, 2023; (k) what is the monetary value of the surveillance equipment, military equipment and weapons the government of Canada sent to Israel in 2021, 2022, and 2023; (l) what surveillance equipment, military equipment and weapons the government of Canada sent to Israel in 2021, 2022, and 2023; (m) as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, has the government of Canada taken legal advice to comply with the orders that the International Court of Justice has issued to Israel and to ensure the government of Canada does not contravene them; and (n) what plan, if any, does the Government of Canada have to comply with the orders of the International Court of Justice?

[Questions on the Order Paper, April 8th, 2024]

With regard to the Housing Accelerator Fund and the decision to not fund the city of Windsor, Ontario (Ontario’s application), due to the decision to not change their zoning bylaws to include four units on any residential property as-of-right: (a) did the Government of Canada refuse all applications from municipalities that presented alternative plans which included allowing a minimum of four units on other properties not currently listed as-of-right; (b) how many, and which municipalities were denied funding due to not changing their current zoning requirements to permit four units on any residential property as-of-right; (c) what consultations, and with whom, took place to create a different density planning formula than the one established in Ontario which permits threeplexes; (d) what studies or evaluations were done to determine that the city of Windsor required a density increase to fourplexes to use these funds; (e) without the change to fourplexes, would the city of Windsor have been able to use the funds if approved in terms of places available to build; and (f) was consideration given to municipalities based on statistics of poverty, gender-led households, race, ethnicity, first nations and children per household?

[Business of Supply, March 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, of course, we want Hamas to no longer inflict violence, and never ever should any other result be presumed. However, at the same time and in the meantime, killing children and women disproportionately is not a solution. It is a consequence of the real math in terms of the geography, the weapons that are being used and where people can come and go. It is going to happen because the math has shown consistently, since this started, that this will be the end result. We have seen that with humanitarian aid workers and with children, mothers, fathers and other family members being wiped out in clusters because they live together. The math is all there. That is the problem with assuming we can allow all that to happen. That is just not a good way forward.

[Business of Supply, March 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, maybe the member is right. Liberals have been effective in burning up time when we could have saved lives. That is the real issue New Democrats have with them.

We have called for a ceasefire consistent with what Canadian values used to be many decades ago, even under Liberal regimes. I was here for the debate when we were deciding whether to take part in the war in Iraq, and I can say there was never a point in time, in debates back and forth, we could escape the fact that we played some role with the UN or the United States or other democracies across the world.

Today, the Liberals have sidelined our effectiveness and basically neutered our position internationally.

[Business of Supply, March 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the things we have to drive toward here are results and expectations. The clock is ticking every single day on individuals, and we do have some value and worth in this discussion. If we all truly believe in getting to that place, then time is going to measure us in terms of what we did not do in this chamber and the result of that ineffectiveness, which is currently the policy of the government. We must allow this motion to pass.