Chris Bittle

[Border Security, May 29th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect our government to keep our borders secure. A strong border leads to safe streets.

Can the Minister of Public Safety provide this House with an update on the implementation of Canada's $1.3-billion border plan?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, May 28th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member for Winnipeg North's words in this place, which are bountiful.

This is a commitment that we made to Canadians. It is a strong commitment to show Canadians that we understand what they are going through and to provide some relief to them. Things have gotten more expensive. Global inflation still remains a problem, but Canada can step up. We have made this commitment. Canada's new government and the Prime Minister acted quickly, and we will see that relief on July 1.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, May 28th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, this is all the Bloc has. I will be honest in that I have not spoken to a Quebec business person recently, but they want Ontario businesses buying their products, and they want Alberta residents buying their products. I want to see Quebec aluminum used in Canadian products. I want to see Niagara wine purchased in Quebec. These are things that the Bloc is apparently against.

The Bloc wants to see as many barriers as possible to prevent the growth of Quebec business. It is absolutely shocking, but this is all the Bloc Québécois has in this place. It does not want to see economic growth. It just wants to see more barriers and more problems for Quebec businesses, which is unsurprising, but here we are.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, May 28th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Northumberland—Clarke and I have been working together off and on for 20 years, since we first started as articling students at a law firm in St. Catharines many years ago.

I look forward to the legislation. I look forward to seeing what the government will be doing to get those provisions to come down and, most importantly, to seeing cabinet work with premiers to take down trade barriers across the country. We need to see them come down. Something I was surprised to hear a lot at the doors is that Canadians are worried about this. It is something we need to take action on, and I am glad action is being taken on it as quickly as it is.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, May 28th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, there was more applause from the other side than my own, but it is early on. That was some Jeb Bush-level begging for applause, and I apologise to my colleagues, but it is good to be back.

I should say that I am splitting my time.

I am hoping the Speaker will indulge me while I offer a few thank yous. First, I would like to thank the residents of St. Catharines, who have entrusted me for a fourth time to represent them in this place. It has been an honour of a lifetime to be in this place, to represent their views and to try to make our little corner of Niagara a little better. Though I may not see eye to eye with my constituents all the time, I will hear them, I will bring their voices and I will do my very best every single day.

I would like to thank the members of my core campaign team, and I wrote their names down because I am bound to forget someone. I give Alice, Yasmine, Sarah, Garrett, Sam, Ramy, Luca and Sadie my thanks for all their work during the campaign.

I want to say a special thank you to Cassandra Almeida, who has been with me for seven years, by my side, typically at my Hill office here in Ottawa. She has been an incredible adviser and is never afraid to tell me I am wrong, like many members of the opposition. She is usually right, and she has been there all this time. As has happened to so many of us who have advisers who have become friends, I have been very lucky to have her over these past seven years, so my thanks go to Cassandra.

I thank all the volunteers and supporters. It was an incredible five weeks through the election, and we saw so many new faces helping us go door to door in St. Catharines.

I also want to say a quick thank you to our former colleague Vance Badawey. Though I congratulate his opponent in Niagara Centre on a win, Vance has been a public servant in Niagara for over a quarter century and has worked incredibly hard on big files like protecting the Great Lakes and building infrastructure in Niagara. I know he will continue to be a champion for our region.

Most importantly, I want to say my thanks to Hannah and Ethan, my daughter and son. Though they are happy Dad won, they are the ones who sacrifice. They are the ones who deal with Dad's being away during these times and during the campaign. They are the ones who do not get to see Dad. I know that so many in this place have a similar experience, but it is always important to say thank you to family.

It is on the subject of my son that I will start my speech. Sometimes kids come to us with a question we are really not prepared for. My son asked, “Dad, is Donald Trump a threat to Canada?” I was not ready for that from an eight-year-old kid, who would probably want me to tell my colleagues that he is almost nine.

I think it shows the level of anxiety for Canadians, including residents of St. Catharines, that these are the conversations happening around dinner tables at family gatherings, which kids hear. The anxiety that Canadians feel, that Niagara residents feel, is something that was repeated back to me by my own son. I told him that it should not be for kids his age to worry about these things, but it is something we are hearing. It is something that I heard at the doors, from door to door: concern from residents.

From our riding, it is about a ten-minute drive to the border. I have family in the United States; so many members do. It is not unusual for Niagara residents to head over the border to grab a bite to eat or to see friends and family, and there is a threat to our very sovereignty.

I was happy to hear in the throne speech that the continuation of our relationship, which we must continue to work on, needs to be rooted in respect and the common interests between sovereign nations. We hear statements from the President of the United States that concern Canadians, but I think Canadians know that the Prime Minister and members of the House are going to stand up for Canada's interests and sovereignty. It is something worth fighting for and it is something that will continue.

However, it is not just us in this place. I want to thank Canadians, both my constituents and those across the country. It is truly incredible to witness what we have seen, these little acts of dissent, like putting an item back on a shelf and not buying something that is made in the U.S. I sometimes go to the grocery store and see an item turned around, and see people looking at where it is from and putting it back. I will walk past produce, and the American version is virtually untouched, as people are buying Canadian. They are looking for a Canadian flag, and though it may be a few dollars here and there, those acts of dissent are costing the American economy hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars.

It is being felt in the United States. We are hearing governors and senators tell Canadians not to worry and to come to the United States, that they are not as bad as we think they are, but Canadians will continue to fight and stand up for the country that they believe in. It has been the silver lining of this dark cloud to see Canadians come together to celebrate the flag, celebrate the country and celebrate who we are.

It has also been good to see the Prime Minister, cabinet and the government getting to work right away. First off will be a middle-class tax cut that will benefit 22 million Canadians and that will see a dual-income family save $840 per year. We know things are tough. We have been hearing that door to door, and this is something reliable, a quick action, that Canadians will see on July 1.

The item I am looking forward to, and I know the Prime Minister has promised this, is legislation with respect to one Canadian economy. We have seen the premiers working hard on the renewed interest in taking down provincial trade barriers, but the federal government needs to lead by example. I am happy to see the federal government removing whatever remaining federal trade barriers exist.

We have heard that it is costing the Canadian economy $200 billion. The classic example we see in Niagara is that it is easier to get a bottle of wine from Argentina than it is to get a bottle of wine from a different part of the country. We see the same thing in British Columbia. British Columbians cannot find a Niagara bottle of wine, but can much more easily buy a bottle of wine from Chile. That is not something we should be engaging in, and I look forward to seeing the premiers work together with the federal government to break down these trade barriers.

It is not just a matter of one piece of legislation. There are hundreds if not thousands of pieces of regulation that lead to these barriers across the country. We need to get to work, and the government is getting to work right away to ensure that we have a strong economy and that we fulfill the commitments that we made to Canadians.

I do not believe I have much time left, but I would like to briefly discuss the housing crisis and the importance of building more affordable homes. I know the Prime Minister has made the commitment, and I look forward to it, to seeing more homes get built and to using ideas that we learned after the Second World War. Let us get factory and modular homes built and get more affordable houses built so we can see young people get into the houses they deserve and worked hard for.

I believe my time is up. I have enjoyed this opportunity and look forward to many other days of debate in the future.

[Privilege, December 4th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, on the same point of order, Standing Order 18 prohibits reflection on a member's vote. Again, it is disgusting, what the members are trying to do in this place.

[Privilege, December 4th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, it is unconscionable that the member rises on his feet with a smile on his face to mention that name in this place. It is disgusting. It is disgusting that—

[Privilege, December 4th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the member's speech just shows how unserious the Conservative Party is about this. For 20 minutes, we have seen the member smirking, talking about such things as J.R. Ewing, Darcy Tucker and General Hospital. He has quoted a comical German prison guard from the Second World War multiple times. That is how serious they are about this.

I am wondering if the member could actually spend a minute talking about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and RCMP officials' views on this. They have asked for Parliament not to proceed, as the member has said, because it may corrupt their own case in pursuing this. If there is misconduct, it should come forward, and the police should investigate it properly.

Why is the member filibustering his own party's motion?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, December 4th, 2024]

Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, if the government's responses to Questions Nos. 3073, 3074, 3076, 3077, 3081, 3083, 3086, 3087 and 3089 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled in an electronic format immediately.

[Questions on the Order Paper, December 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 3075, 3078 to 3080, 3082, 3084, 3085 and 3088.