House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2019, with 39% of the vote.
National Defence June 9th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, the terrorist death cult ISIS has made it clear that it targets by name Canada and Canadians.
Canada and Canada's brave Canadian Forces did not sit on the sidelines 71 years ago, and we are not sitting on the sidelines today. Can the Minister of Foreign Affairs update this House on Canada's mission as part of the coalition to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIS?
MAIN ESTIMATES 2015-16 June 8th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, we are speaking tonight about accountability. The parliamentary secretary mentioned that he wanted to hold to account those who spoke about the motion tonight in regard to the Senate. I would like to give him the opportunity to do just that and draw the parallel between how if one group or individual wants to hold someone else accountable, they should be responsible as well for the way they execute their behaviour in regard to funding.
Digital Privacy Act June 2nd, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I want to inform my colleague that the Supreme Court specifically noted that PIPEDA does not give any special search and seizure powers and that information can only be shared with law enforcement when it is legally able to be requested and obtained.
I also want to let the member know that in every meeting of the industry committee, I was in attendance. I chair that committee. I heard witness after witness. Each witness had differing opinions about some aspects of the bill, but when asked by my colleagues on the committee, all of them said that they would prefer to have the bill pass and move forward and have some kind of update on PIPEDA.
I wonder if my colleague might consider what all of the witnesses said. They said they would like to see the bill move forward, and it would obviously come back to the government with more improvements later.
Business of Supply June 1st, 2015
Mr. Speaker, the motion before us today calls on the government to introduce consumer-friendly measures for hard-working Canadian families, something we not only stand for but are already doing. For example, in our most recent budget, our government introduced several measures to empower consumers, including delivering a new and exclusive financial consumer framework for federally regulated banks and strengthening the financial literacy of Canadians.
I am wondering why the opposition does not stand up and support the plans we have already put in place.
Firearms Regulations May 26th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today in support of Motion No. 589 regarding the firearms regime that the opposition is attempting to foist upon Canadians by the United Nations.
This motion is very important. It clearly lays out the case that Canada has a firearms control system superior to the one contemplated by the UN. Let me elaborate on precisely why that is.
The UN resolution calls for three main things.
First, it calls for a registry of all firearms. Canada has extensive experience with this social experiment. It cost billions of dollars and did not stop a single crime or save a single life. Unless the Liberals or NDP have a chance, this scheme will never again burden Canadian firearms owners. Let me say that we have a very sophisticated and effective handgun registry that is the model and envy of many nations.
The second provision is even more onerous. It calls for a registry of all ammunition. How exactly would this be achieved? Would every single piece of ammunition require a serial number? This is just more bureaucratic creep at its worst.
The third provision would establish a very specific and very onerous regime for the marking of all firearms manufactured in or imported into a signatory country.
Let me provide an example. Were this provision to be in force, all firearms imported into Canada this year would be required to be marked with an additional marking: CA-15. The members opposite seem to think that somehow this would be an enhanced tool for tracing. The only real tool police use when tracing firearms is a serial number, which tells law enforcement a lot. Country markings are patently useless, as statistics show that 96% of firearms crimes in Canada are committed with illegally imported firearms.
These are the facts. We are committed to safe and sensible firearms policies. If measures target criminals and make Canadians safer, then we will support them; if they do not, then we will abolish them.
As a case in point, we created tough new sentences for drive-by shootings. This is a good deterrent. It makes Canadians safer.
We are also in the process of strengthening firearms prohibition orders so that those individuals convicted of domestic violence cannot possess a firearm in a volatile situation. This makes Canadians safer.
We also ended the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry. This is sensible.
There have been comments from across the way suggesting that if our firearms regulations and legislation are even more effective than those of the UN, we should adopt the UN measures as well. My response is that adding laws for the sake of just adding them and adding bureaucratic red tape just means an extra burden on Canadians and more expense to government. Those dollars could easily go toward more effective law enforcement and toward reducing the importation of illegal firearms over the borders.
We are also eliminating useless red tape around authorizations to transport restricted and prohibited firearms. This paperwork is not even shared with police; it is simply filed in a bureaucrat's drawer. Ending this requirement is a very sensible act.
We are committed to a made-in-Canada approach. We will not cave in to foreign interests that want to craft Canada's firearms policies. In short, the regulations that give teeth to the resolution we are discussing here today are simply meant to discourage firearms ownership and to discourage hunting and sport shooting. These are Canadian heritage activities that we value and are part of what makes us Canadians. We want to encourage them.
That is why I will be supporting this motion. I encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.
Business of Supply May 26th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I know that you like to give lots of latitude, and all members here appreciate that, but if the hon. member is going to go through the entire list of all federal appointees and staff who have decided to retire or move on, I do not know how he will possibly get to the subject at hand, which is the great quality of science funding that the government has done.
Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act May 25th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I suspect that the hon. member has never been through the rigorous training involved in getting a possession and acquisition licence. He probably is not aware that for any club one joins subsequent to that, one has to go through another safety course as well and pass it. He probably is not aware that the authorization to transport is already in effect. The only change we are talking about is that rather than having a permit for every kind of trip one needed to make, in other words for each individual club, there would just be one permit if a person decided to go to different clubs.
However, what really troubled me is that he went on ad infinitum about a crime spree that happened in Manitoba, which was preceded by his notion that people would be driving around with their legal, locked firearms in their trunks and leaving their cars somewhere to be stolen. The reason this misrepresentation bothers me is that he mentioned all these cars that were stolen but never linked them to even one case of a legal firearm in any one of these cars that was stolen along with the car. The reason is that the vast majority, if not all, of the legal gun owners in this country understand the importance of making sure that they are with the vehicle all the time when they have an ATT, and they only drive it from home to a club.
Petitions May 25th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is with regard to the diminishing human rights situation in Venezuela.
The petitioners are asking that the House direct the Subcommittee on International Human Rights to revisit the situation in Venezuela and update its previous report that was adopted on June 18, 2012.
Petitions May 25th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions.
The first petition is in regard to respect for the rights of small-scale family farmers.
The petitioners are asking that the government ensure that Canadian policies and programs are developed in consultation with small family farmers and that it protect the rights of small family farmers in the global south to preserve the use and free exchange of seeds.
Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1 May 13th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, when the tax-free savings account was first established, it was heralded as the best innovation in retirement savings since the RRSP, and we fulfilled a promise that we made to the Canadian people to double the tax-free savings account. I believe that it is the responsibility of government not only to help those who need help but to provide tools for those who can help themselves so that they can make sure they have adequate savings to have a comfortable retirement.
I am wondering if the parliamentary secretary could elaborate on the benefits of the increased TFSA and what it is going to mean to millions of Canadians.