Cathy McLeod

[Health, May 7th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we are a year in and many people are struggling with COVID. They rely on expert advice. I will quote just one person's frustration regarding vaccine messaging: “I am so tired. I was excited to get my first vaccine and suddenly I am told it is not the preferred dose. Now I’m questioning why I was told to take the first dose available. In the meantime, my 92-year-old father can’t get his second shot as advised.”

When will the minister take responsibility for these failures in communication and delivery?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 6th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, there is one thing that has been very puzzling to me in terms of the government's fiscal approach. As we know, the Minister of Finance, and of course we are very proud to have the first female minister table a budget, is new to this portfolio. We were well into one year of the pandemic when she assumed the role. At that time she had a mandate letter from the Prime Minister. This mandate letter said for her to create no new programs and to create fiscal guardrails, so what we have is a budget that completely defies the mandate letter from the Prime Minister.

Could my colleague explain to me if the Liberal mandate letters to the ministers from the Prime Minister actually mean nothing?

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the speech from my colleague was very disturbing, and it should be disturbing for the victims.

Like the colleague from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, the Liberals are just going back six years and pointing their fingers. Does she justify the government's inaction on very clear recommendations from the Deschamps report when the Liberals have been in government for over six years, and when they have made a clear commitment to the women who serve in our military to actually take action?

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the government sat on serious allegations of sexual harassment at the highest level for over three years. The Bloc is stating that it believes this motion is about scapegoating.

Could my colleague talk about how this is about accountability at the highest level of government? It is not about scapegoating on very serious allegations.

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I want to note that the Prime Minister is the one who used to say “sunshine is the best disinfectant” and that the Liberals would not resort to parliamentary games. Again, this motion is about accountability. Could my colleague, the House leader, talk about why we felt it was important for this motion to be put forward and for the Prime Minister to be held to account?

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his service. He probably understands better than many of us how important accountability is to the CAF. Yes, we need to come up with some long-term fixes. Some great recommendations have been ignored.

On the issue of accountability at the highest level, can he speak to that and the importance of it within our military?

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we have two issues here. One is solutions. We do have solutions. In the last question, the member talked about some of the answers already being there.

We also have an issue of accountability. Clearly the Prime Minister does not hold the Minister of National Defence to account, because he is still in that position, and he clearly denies knowledge of the issue.

I am concerned about the lack of accountability at any level in the Prime Minister's office as well as the issue of moving forward on the very important recommendations that the government already has available.

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary was saying the right words, but the actions do not actually align. The Prime Minister many years ago suggested a minister should be fired simply over a $16-orange juice, but for over three years now, no one in the military has been held to account for very important allegations that were made.

The government said that it would redo a report that was already done. My question for the parliamentary secretary is this. What does she have to say about no one being held to account and about another study being done when the government has a very comprehensive document that should be used to make the changes required?

[COVID-19 Emergency Response, April 23rd, 2021]

Madam Speaker, the government says it has enforced some of the strictest border measures in the world. This could not be further from the truth.

The so-called quarantine hotels have little to no security. Four hundred and four passengers simply walked out of the airport with nothing more to worry about than a fine. Who knows how many more were just never caught?

The government allowed dozens of flights to arrive from Delhi with COVID-positive passengers, all while India now faces the threat of a double variant.

When will the government get serious about keeping Canadians safe?

[The Budget, April 22nd, 2021]

Madam Speaker, my colleague has been here for a while and has some very valuable historical insight on things that happen over time.

When I saw this budget of 700-plus pages with extraordinary debt spending and decisions around support for many different items, I worried about, as the saying goes, when we will have to pay the piper. Part of the Conservative amendment suggests that we are concerned that the government, in an election budget, has given things away, but is not talking about the hard choices it is going to make. Does the member guarantee that there will never be capital gains on private homes?