House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2021, with 53% of the vote.
Business of the House March 1st, 2018
Mr. Speaker, it has been a bit of a different schedule, because we have just been here for one week and then we will be going back to our ridings for another two weeks, which is going to be great. I hope the Prime Minister stays in his constituency, or at least stays here, so he does not embarrass us anymore or cause any diplomatic incidents.
I am wondering if the government House leader could tell us what we will be doing for the rest of this week and then when we get back in two weeks.
Business of Supply March 1st, 2018
Madam Speaker, this is about organizations that are doing great work for Canadians across the country. It is about their beliefs being questioned.
Even if I might disagree with them, this is not about what I personally believe. This is about the personal beliefs of organizations across the country that have a right to their beliefs. They have a right to do great work for people who have nothing to do with some of these very divisive and contentious issues.
In Canada, we get to disagree. I am going to give an example. I come from an area where there is a very strong Mennonite community. Consumption of alcohol is frowned upon. In some places, it is actually taught that it is wrong and people should not drink. That group has a right to believe that. They do not have a right to stop somebody else from consuming alcohol, because alcohol consumption is legal in Canada.
I use that as an example of what we are talking about. It is not about the specific issue. It is about the freedom of individuals and groups to disagree with the government and still be able to do good work on other issues and employ young people. That is what this is about.
Business of Supply March 1st, 2018
Madam Speaker, the Mustard Seed in Calgary Centre provides social services for the homeless. Stephen Wile, the CEO, said that because of this attestation, up to 300 youth in Calgary will not get to experience what it is like to work with the homeless and foster a compassionate heart.
Either the attestation is meaningless, and if it is, then the government should just remove it, or it is a values test. If the government is worried that the Mustard Seed is going to be doing some terrible advocacy work for some group that does not fit in with the Liberal thought police, it could just say that the Mustard Seed is doing advocacy work. It is pretty clear the work that it does.
Lindsey Villages in Ajax—
Business of Supply March 1st, 2018
Madam Speaker, that is absolute hogwash. I would like to use a stronger term, but I will not.
I can just hear the government back in 1950 telling the LGBTQ community that it is not about this or that. The government had to apologize because it infringed on Canadians' rights.
Business of Supply March 1st, 2018
Madam Speaker, I am very happy to rise today and speak on behalf the good people from the riding of Portage—Lisgar. They are people who have done so much to help young people get jobs, and done so much for people who are in poverty, people with mental illnesses, people who have been using the Canada summer jobs program in order to do these things. As I said, I am rising to speak on their behalf today and am happy to do it.
It was not very long ago in this House that the Prime Minister rose and issued a formal apology to the LGBTQ community for what happened during the 1950s to the 1990s when the government of the day decided that the government would be telling a certain group of Canadians what they could think, what they could feel, how they could live. If what they did did not line up with what the government of the day wanted or what might even have been politically correct in that day, those individuals were cut off from being part of the government process. They were cut off from their jobs. They were cut off from taxpayers' dollars that would have been paying them to do those jobs. They were cut off from serving their community. Why? This was done because of the way they lived their lives, because of their beliefs. We saw the Prime Minister rise in this House and do the right thing and apologize to that group of people, the LGBTQ community.
We are seeing a government today, in 2018, do exactly the same thing to a group of Canadians. In December 2017, just a week or so before Christmas, the Liberal government announced that anybody who wanted to apply and possibly receive funding for the Canada summer jobs program would have to sign onto the government's attestation on a certain number of beliefs, and if they did not do that, they would be denied funding. That was several months ago. As soon as we saw it, and as soon as these groups saw this attestation, they were extremely concerned that their rights would be infringed on. Today, literally as we speak, we are seeing this come to fruition where amazing, excellent, and great organizations across the country are being denied funding because they have not checked off the values test box of the Prime Minister and the Liberal government.
I want to talk for a minute about the Canada summer jobs program. This is a program that has been non-partisan. In fact, in 2016, over 75,000 students across Canada benefited from the work experience. This has been a wonderful program where we as members of Parliament actually have been able to look at who was getting these summer job grants. We would congratulate them and many times help them work with their application. These are groups who are not doing political work. They are advocating for people, advocating for communities, and they are employing our young people to do so. This was the exact program that the Liberals and the Liberal thought police decided they were going to attack with this attestation.
Let me read what the Charter of Rights and Freedoms actually says:
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
Then it mentions the fundamental freedoms:
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
For these organizations and the individuals who work for them, these are their charter rights.
We saw again a few short months ago when Omar Khadr, a convicted terrorist, somebody who fought and worked to kill our soldiers and our allied soldiers, was awarded $10.5 million by the government and the Prime Minister. Canadians were outraged. By the way, let us not forget that his lawyer has just been appointed as a federal judge by the Liberals.
What was the Prime Minister's defence of this $10.5 million payout to this convicted terrorist? He said, “The Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects all Canadians, every one of us, even when it is uncomfortable.” I would add, ten-and-a-half million dollars uncomfortable. These are the Prime Minister's words, “This is not about the details or merits of the Khadr case. When the government violates any Canadian's charter rights, we all end up paying for it.”
The Prime Minister has no problem violating the rights of tens of thousands, if not millions, of Canadians across the country who do not agree with him. He has no problem violating their rights by taking away their ability to apply and to receive Canada summer jobs funding. By the way, it is not his money; it is taxpayers' dollars. Let us remember that. He has his family fortune and he seems to love using taxpayers' dollars for all of his holidays, his nannies, and all of the stuff he wastes money on. This summer jobs program money is not his money. It belongs to the people, but he has no problem violating their rights.
The Prime Minister even went on to say, “The anger that some people feel, and that a lot of people feel about the payment the government made to Omar Khadr is real and quite frankly—this might surprise you—but I share that anger and frustration. That settlement had nothing to do with what Omar Khadr might have or might not have done. It had to do with what the Canadian government did or did not do and when a Canadian government wilfully turns its back on defending a Canadian's rights and allows a Canadian to be tortured and mistreated, we all end up paying.”
We paid Omar Khadr $10.5 million because apparently his rights were violated. We have apologized, and rightly so, to a group of people who in the 1960s to 1990s had their rights violated, and at the same time the Liberal government is violating the rights of Canadians who will not sign this attestation.
I want to mention some real stories with some real names of people whose rights are being violated right now.
David Acco is an indigenous business leader in Quebec. His company provides technology integration and human resources counselling. This is what he had to say about the Liberals' values attestation requirement, “As an Indigenous person, what I care about is indigenous youth getting into STEM, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and into management positions, but the message I’m getting on the summer jobs program is what matters to them are my religious beliefs. It’s reminiscent of the days when the churches told us what to do to civilize our brains.”
This individual wants to hire a student and make sure that young people are exposed to the STEM fields in industry and he is being told he cannot apply because what he believes privately might disagree with what the Prime Minister thinks.
Dr. Efrem Leakemariam, the pastor from the Ethopian Evangelical Church in Toronto had this to say about the Canada summer jobs attestation requirement, “I remember why I came to Canada 29 years ago. I came because we had a Communist discriminatory government in our country. As a young man at age 17, I was discriminated for my beliefs. I was tortured. That's why I escaped and I came here to a land of freedom, the land of respect, and I am very proud to be Canadian today. But the reason that we are here is because of this summer jobs for young people. I believe summer jobs should be based on skills and talents, not based on someone's views, whether religious or ideological views. We oppose that kind of ideology.”
I am so fortunate. I have never been tortured for my beliefs. I have always lived in Canada, where I cannot impose my beliefs on somebody else. I cannot stop somebody else from having their rights but I am allowed to have my beliefs. Canadians are allowed to have their individual beliefs.
Conservatives will always stand up for the beliefs of Canadians and their rights. Let us not have to be apologizing for something else in 50 years. In 50 years, let us not have the government have to stand up and apologize for trampling all over the rights of those Canadians who applied for the summer jobs program in 2018. Let us change this. Let us do the right thing.
Public Safety February 27th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, can the Prime Minister tell me what part of this is false? Was there a briefing arranged by the PMO with the media? Is that a lie? Was that briefing done by the national security adviser, Daniel Jean? Is that a lie? Was the Indian government complicit in conspiring so that there was a terrorist in India at the same time as the Prime Minister so that they could hang out together? Which one of those three things is a lie?
Public Safety February 27th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, the accusation is that the Indian government conspired so that the convicted terrorist and Liberal insider, Jaspal Atwal, would dine with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister just said that is true, that he trusts his national security adviser, and that is in fact true.
Before the Prime Minister destroys our relationship with our ally, the government and country of India, will he please tell this House what proof he has of that allegation?
Public Safety February 26th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, according to a Global News report, the PMO organized a briefing where one of the most senior members of the civil service advanced the following theory:
That Jaspal Atwal, the terrorist invited by the Liberals to Mumbai, may have been planted there by the Indian government or maybe by Indian security agencies or perhaps by factions in the Indian government.
The media did not make this up. This briefing happened. The Prime Minister needs to tell Canadians if this allegation against the Indian government is believed to be true, and if so, where is the proof?
Public Safety February 26th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, according to multiple media outlets, a briefing was organized by the Prime Minister's Office with a high-level national security adviser who suggested that the Government of India's own intelligence service orchestrated the ability for Mr. Atwal to be in India at the same time as the Prime Minister's visit.
This is a very serious allegation. What proof does the Prime Minister have that the Government of India did this?
Public Safety February 26th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, is it the Prime Minister's belief that the Government of India conspired and manipulated events in order to ensure the attendance of Jaspal Atwal, a convicted terrorist, at a reception in India last week with the Prime Minister?