Charlie Angus

[Business of Supply, June 13th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is fascinating that all of Canada is asking about foreign interference and about actually having credible leadership on this, yet we have one leader who either cannot get security clearance or refuses to get security clearance, so he is in here doing another gong show on the same issue, again and again, yet he has not explained to Canadians why he cannot get security clearance.

What kind of leader refuses to understand the threats to our country? I would like to hear from the member for Stornoway.

[Indigenous Affairs, June 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, for decades, the Mushkegowuk Cree of James Bay have fought to end substandard health and to get a proper hospital built, but now that the deadline is looming for the future of the Weeneebayko hospital, the federal government has walked away. If it does not return to the table with funding, the construction companies will quit and the provincial funding will evaporate, and all these years of hard work will be lost. The communities and the NDP have called on the Prime Minister to intervene.

It is now or never, so is the minister willing to commit today to flow the funds so this hospital in James Bay can finally be built?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1, June 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we just passed the 80th anniversary of the landings on D-Day. Having been in Normandy for the 75th anniversary, I know it is incredibly emotional remembering the struggle to free Europe.

We are very concerned with the rise of the extreme right in Europe and what that will mean for the defence of Ukraine against the aggressions of Putin. There have been multiple votes in the House where the Conservatives have voted against support for Ukraine. We know that this is a pattern of the rising right and feeding to extremist fringe groups. I want to ask my hon. colleague whether the government is willing to commit to being there for Ukraine militarily, culturally and in the rebuilding in the long run, to stop Putin's aggression.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1, June 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, voila, Conservatives are gaslighting us, so I would ask the member to withdraw—

[Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1, June 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I do not believe the member was here when the time came to vote, but that is okay. I do not need his vote to still be recognized as a strong, hard-working member—

[Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1, June 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it was fascinating to listen to my colleague actually bring a little bit of truth to this troubled place.

What we have seen from the Conservatives is this endless gaslighting, where they get up and talk about children not being able to eat and talk about how children have to go to food banks. Their leader, who lives in a 19-room mansion paid for by the taxpayers, with his own private chef, ordered all the sock puppets to vote against a program to get food to children.

We asked the Conservatives why they voted against food for children. They want children suffering so that they can blame our weak Prime Minister for it. It is the same as when Conservatives talked about the mental health crisis, yet they had the gall to vote against a suicide prevention hotline.

Meanwhile, New Democrats showed up. We got the national suicide prevention action plan because we actually care. We got dental care for seniors because we care. We got diabetes medications for seniors and for people because we care.

The member for Carleton, who has never had a job and who lives in a 19-room mansion in Stornoway, would get all his sock puppets to cut all those important investments, while they are saying that people are suffering.

I would like to ask my hon. colleague what he thinks it is about the Conservatives' constant gaslighting of the Canadian people, when they really do not give a damn about those who are suffering.

[Business of Supply, June 6th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I had a lot of confidence when we came into this Parliament that we would get serious about the climate crisis.

Canada has the ability and the leadership to have a clean energy economy, yet we are still waiting on the investment tax credits long after the Deputy Prime Minister promised them. We are seeing green slush funds, yet, all the while, the government focused on giving $34 billion in taxpayers' money to build a pipeline for Pathways Alliance.

The Liberal government never blinked once when it came to building that pipeline, but when it came to putting the solutions on the ground for a clean-tech economy, it was more willing to help its friends than to live up to the obligations that the Prime Minister made as a solemn promise to the Canadian people back in 2015.

[Petitions, June 6th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, my second petition is on the importance of recognizing the role of volunteer firefighters in our country. Volunteer firefighters account for 71% of Canada's total firefighting essential first responders. In addition, approximately 8,000 essential search and rescue volunteers respond to thousands of incidents every year.

The tax code of Canada currently allows volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers to claim a $3,000 tax credit if 200 hours of volunteer services were completed in a calendar year. This works out to a mere $450 that we allow these essential volunteers to keep of their own income from their regular jobs; that is $2.25 an hour. If they volunteer more than 200 hours, which many do, the tax credit becomes even less.

These essential volunteers not only put their lives on the line and give their time, training and efforts to Canadians, but they also allow cities and municipalities to keep property taxes lower than if paid services were required. Increasing this tax credit would allow these essential volunteers to keep more of their hard-earned money, which would likely be spent in the communities in which they live. It would also help retain these volunteers in a time when volunteerism is decreasing.

Therefore, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call upon the Government of Canada to support Bill C-310 and enact amendments to subsections 118.06(2) and 118.07(2) of the Income Tax Act in order to increase the amount of the tax credit for volunteer firefighting and search and rescue volunteer services from $3,000 to $10,000.

[Petitions, June 6th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I have a number of petitions here.

One of the petitions really is timely right now, given the bombing of a school in Gaza. It states that, whereas Israel's war with Hamas killed almost 20,000 people in Gaza in two months, between October 7 and December 18, 2023, with about 70% of them women and children, the civilian casualty rate in this war is significantly higher than the average rate in all the conflicts of the world during the 20th century. In the occupied West Bank, it has been the deadliest year on record since the UN began reporting in 2005, with at least 477 Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire. The value of Canada's arms trade with Israel has been accelerating in the last few years; in 2022, Canada transferred over $20 million in arms to Israel, the third-highest value on record. Canada has a legal responsibility under the Arms Trade Treaty and its harmonized domestic legislation to ensure that its arms exports are not used in commission of serious violations of international law or serious violence against women and children. In the late 1980s, during the first intifada, Canada imposed a two-way arms embargo on Israel as a response to violence against Palestinian civilians.

Therefore, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call on the Government of Canada to impose a two-way arms embargo between Canada and Israel; investigate whether Canadian weapons or weapons components have been used against Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in the current war on Gaza; review all military and security co-operation between Canada and Israel; and close loopholes that allow the unregulated and unreported transfer of military goods to Israel through the United States.

[Oil and Gas Industry, June 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, corporations should not be allowed to lie about the threats that are posed by their products, which is a no-brainer, unless of course we are talking about big oil. Last week, a front group for the oil and gas industry was found guilty of running a massive disinformation campaign on the supposed benefits of burning even more fossil fuels.

The planet is on fire. People are getting sick, yet this Liberal government has never taken on the lies and the greenwashing of big oil. To the Minister of Environment, what is it going to take to end this massively funded disinformation campaign by the fossil fuel industry?