Cathy McLeod

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 22nd, 2021]

With regard to the consultations conducted before the tabling of Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: (a) what are the details of all in-person and virtual consultations and meetings conducted by the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations or the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs with all First Nations, Inuit, and Metis stakeholders, between August 1, 2018, and December 3, 2020, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) location, (iii) name and title of the First Nations, groups, organizations or individuals consulted, (iv) recommendations that were made to the minister; and (b) what are the details of all in-person and virtual consultations and meetings conducted by the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations or the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, with all provincial ministers of Indigenous Affairs and all third-party stakeholders, between August 1, 2018, and December 3, 2020, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) location, (iii) name and title of the groups, organizations or individuals consulted, (iv) recommendations that were made to the minister?

[National Defence, March 8th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence has been complicit in covering up allegations of sexual harassment against the former chief of the defence staff. It is appalling that on International Women's Day 2021, our women in uniform are afraid to speak out against sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour, all under the watch of our feminist Prime Minister. What happened to honour? What happened to ministerial accountability?

Will the minister take responsibility and admit to participating in this cover-up?

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

Mr. Speaker, there is an old saying that the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour.

Historically, the government has responded to problems with simple symbolism and wishful thinking as opposed to well-executed plans. Similarly, its vaccine strategy has been based on one thing: hope. It hopes the Chinese CanSino vaccine comes through, hopes there is not a second wave, hopes there is not a third wave and hopes that countries counting on COVAX do not notice we are stealing their vaccines.

The reality is that I am hearing from Canadians who have lost all hope. The more the government talks about how it plans to deliver millions of vaccines, the farther we seem to move down the list compared with the rest of the world. Clearly, hope is not a strategy. Failure on the vaccine rollout means more lockdowns and more time until we can get our economy back on track.

Canadians deserve better. Canadians can trust the Conservative Party to save jobs and secure the future.

[The Economy, February 3rd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have expressed a desire to reimagine themselves with catchy slogans like “build back better”. Given their track record over the past five years, we need to be extremely skeptical about what this would mean for our country. Even before the pandemic, we had a failed infrastructure bank, capital fleeing the country and a unity crisis, all led by a scandal-ridden Prime Minister who continues to swamp the Ethics Commissioner with new cases and files.

From day one, a Conservative government will work tirelessly to support every sector of our economy. We know that every job added to our country is another family fed. We recognize that to pay off our debt, we need to get our whole country back to work. We will secure jobs, secure our economy and secure our future.

[Health, February 2nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to border closures, mask mandates, protective equipment and vaccine procurement, the government has been a day late and a dollar short.

The U.K. realized the necessity of making vaccines domestically months ago, and their facilities are ready to go.

We are an embarrassing 38th in the world in vaccinations per capita. Our ad hoc made-in-Canada solution was finally announced today.

Canadians deserve better. This is the most important intervention we have to save lives. Why did the minister wait so long?

[Petitions, February 1st, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, you may notice that there are citizens from across this country expressing the same concern through petitions, and that concern is regarding the situation with the Uighurs in China. The petitioners are calling on the government to deem it a genocide and to look at implementing Magnitsky sanctions on those responsible for this heinous crime.

[Standing Orders and Procedure, February 1st, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I have listened to these debates in the past and wonderful ideas and comments have come up that would help move us forward in a good way. Unfortunately, I have not seen us look seriously at adopting many of them.

I want to look at some of the comments on virtual voting. My colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby talked about serving his constituents. What many people might not realize is that during the 30 minutes when the bells are ringing, if I have something I really want to talk to a minister about, that is my chance for a one-on-one to address a really serious issue in the community. Sometimes people forget the importance of the ability to interact face to face and how something as simple as 30-minute bells before voting provide for that.

[Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020, January 26th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, it has been interesting to compare the transparency of the government with other governments around the world. For example, in many countries we can look at the vaccines, know what the contracts are and what was purchased. In Canada, it is completely non-transparent.

For a government that is committed to transparency, and sunlight being the best disinfectant, it certainly has fallen through and broken another commitment it made to Canadians.

[Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020, January 26th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, this is a wider issue than just the pandemic and what has happened with the pandemic. We know that when Greyhound stopped its service, the government at the time said that it was going to give it a couple of years and that it would help with routes where Greyhound was going to be challenged.

Certainly in the riding I represent, the ability for people to come down the North Thompson Valley is not there. That was a route that was never even adapted to in the new model. We had a problem before the pandemic. I know that here flights out of the airport are almost nil, and of course we do not have an adequate service. People who need to get to Vancouver for cancer treatments and people who need to go to other places for essential services are completely stymied, and the pandemic has made it much worse.

[Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020, January 26th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, we did express great concern about the Anbang takeover of our seniors' facilities. It is a state-owned enterprise, and I think it is important to note that previous to the pandemic, when a number of those facilities on the island were found to be providing inadequate care, the health authority actually had to take them over.

I remember, and at the time they should have been held accountable. When we were questioning on Anbang and its takeover, the Prime Minister raved about the standards and how the provinces had excellent quality and would make sure there were no issues with standards in our care homes. Again, that is something that he needs to be held accountable for.