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Crucial Fact

  • Their favourite word was concerns.

Last in Parliament September 2021, as Independent MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington (Ontario)

Won their last election, in 2019, with 41% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Health June 22nd, 2021

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As I mentioned in my question, I had a parliamentary press conference that was censored by Facebook. People have reached out to me to say that they are unable to share it. That is problematic. Anything that goes on in the House should be able to be shared freely by Canadians.

I would like to seek unanimous consent for the following motion: That the House recognize that the House of Commons itself and the Parliament of Canada are a bastion of democracy and free speech; that members of Parliament enjoy special parliamentary privileges overseeing their ability to speak freely in Parliament, to discharge their duties freely and without constraint; that any Canadian seeking to share digital content of parliamentary functions should be able to do so freely and without constraint; that the government must strongly defend the rights of parliamentarians against the outside interference of social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter; and I call on the government to recognize that any potential suppression of information or censorship of parliamentary events, such as official press conferences, must not be allowed to happen and to officially sanction Facebook and Twitter for their actions.

Health June 22nd, 2021

Mr. Speaker, last week I hosted a parliamentary press conference on the censorship of Canadian doctors and medical experts. Their testimony was truly shocking.

Unfortunately, Facebook stopped my livestream in mid-conference. Despite this, the full press conference is now the most viewed video in history on CPAC's YouTube channel, with over 500,000 views. However, Facebook and Twitter are still restricting the sharing of this video on their platforms.

Given the importance to democracy of Canadians seeing official parliamentary functions, does the minister denounce this censorship by big tech?

Government Business No. 10—Broadcasting Act June 21st, 2021

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and will be voting yes.

Government Business No. 10—Broadcasting Act June 21st, 2021

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and will be voting no.

Government Business No. 10—Broadcasting Act June 21st, 2021

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and will be voting no.

Government Business No. 10—Broadcasting Act June 21st, 2021

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and will be voting no.

Government Business No. 10—Broadcasting Act June 21st, 2021

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and I will be voting no.

Government Business No. 10—Broadcasting Act June 21st, 2021

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and I will be voting no.

Government Business No. 10—Broadcasting Act June 21st, 2021

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and I will be voting yes.

Criminal Code June 21st, 2021

Madam Speaker, that question brings up the issue of what exactly our definition covers. With respect to that particular situation, I have personally spoken to the man who underwent what happened in Kingston. I am not aware of the other cases, but I am talking about the main person who was testifying at city council.

With his particular situation, he was basically prayed over in a very public manner and advised to take a three-day fast. These are things none of us would maybe agree to or advise, but when we take a look at what happened to this person, do we believe the religious leaders of this church should go to jail for five years? They prayed over an 18-year-old who was requesting prayer at the time. Now, apparently they embarrassed him, and of course I do not agree with that, but is it worth a five-year jail sentence?

These are the questions we need to answer. When I was speaking to the minister earlier in this session, I said that the Canadian Psychological Association has prayer in its definition and asked if this would ban prayer. I was told it would not.