Ed Fast

[Petitions, May 12th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of tabling a petition signed by many Canadians, who draw the attention of parliamentarians to the fact that at one time the Government of Canada used to issue a Canadian volunteer service medal to recognize Canadians who served voluntarily for a minimum of 18 months of uninterrupted service in the Canadian Forces.

Since the cessation of that medal in 1947, which was quite a while ago, there has not been any formal medal to recognize certain Canada's veterans who have served honourably since the end of World War II, including Cold War veterans and those who provided volunteer service periods of not less than 18 months, and in some cases, are even serving honourably today.

The creation of a Canadian Forces service medal would restore the dignity, inclusivity and recognition of all our veterans and troops that have honourably served in the Canadian Forces since the end of World War II.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to recognize the service by Canadians in the regular forces, reserve military forces and others who have taken the oath and sworn to defend our nation and who have completed 18 months of uninterrupted, honourable duty in the service of their country since September 2, 1945 to the present day and in perpetuity, by creating, designating and issuing a new Canadian military service medal.

[Committees of the House, May 10th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her speech and for digging into this report and study. Earlier tonight her colleague, the parliamentary secretary, suggested that the government actually supports the recommendations of the committee contained in that report.

Can she confirm whether the government supports the main recommendations of the committee in that report?

[Committees of the House, May 10th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, as someone who was not part of the committee, but had an opportunity to read through the report, it was eye opening and helped me to understand the environment in which our companies now are made vulnerable because of the COVID pandemic.

I would ask the member to comment, to loop back to his earlier comments in his speech, about the circumstance that provided the genesis for this report. This report was brought about because of the COVID pandemic, and the vulnerability that Canadian companies now have to takeovers and investments that may not serve the public interest well. I would encourage the member to perhaps share some further thoughts on how important it was for that study to take place.

This is not a trite study, as our Liberal colleagues have suggested. They would rather debate the Elections Act, which would help them go into an election in the fall, but I want the member to comment on why the study even took place and how it has helped us understand why Canadian companies need to be protected under an investment Canada regime.

[Committees of the House, May 10th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

My colleague just raised another point of order about the relevance of this member's speech, and now he has spent the last five minutes talking about procedure rather than the matter at hand, which is a concurrence motion on Line 5, so I would ask you to gently correct him and move him in the right direction, so we can actually have a debate about energy security for Canada.

[Committees of the House, May 10th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I want to speak to relevance. The member has been going off on a tangent that is nowhere near the concurrence report we are debating. He is talking about Bill C-3, Bill C-14, Bill C-19, all except the matter before the House right now. This is a concurrence report. We are supposed to be debating about Line 5. This is important.

[Abbotsford, May 10th, 2021]

Lights. Camera. Abbotsford. Mr. Speaker, let me set the scene.

I am blessed to live in beautiful Abbotsford, British Columbia. Now it appears the film industry has taken notice of our city. Nestled between majestic Mount Baker and the mighty Fraser River, our city in the country has become one of the premier film destinations in Canada. Hallmark and Netflix have taken notice and profiled our community on movie screens around the world. Last year, 63 productions were safely filmed in venues such as Clayburn Village, Mount Lehman, Matsqui Village, Mill Lake and historic downtown Abbotsford. The economic impact has been in the millions. These spinoffs are thanks to a community effort to expand our economic base beyond agriculture and manufacturing.

The people of Abbotsford are resilient, and in the midst of a pandemic we have adapted. Our future looks bright, including our place in the movies.

That is a wrap.

[The Budget, May 6th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the member completely missed my point.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer reported that this so-called growth budget would not grow the economy as promised. He said the minister had overstated revenues, understated deficits, and that much of her spending had nothing to do with stimulating the economy. Clearly, the minister exaggerated how much growth the budget would produce. What is clear is that this is not a growth budget, it is a budget that misled Canadians. In fact, the government used the pandemic to recklessly spend on its own political survival. Why?

[The Budget, May 6th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Parliamentary Budget Officer debunked the Liberal myth that the recent budget was about growth. In his report, Yves Giroux said the minister had overstated how much her avalanche of spending would boost economic growth. The minister claimed that her budget would create over 300,000 jobs, yet Mr. Giroux confirmed that only one-quarter of that number would materialize. This budget had nothing to do with growth, and everything to do with fighting the next election. Why did the minister mislead Canadians?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 5th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the minister for reaching out to me last week after the budget had been tabled. We had a good conversation. However, had she reached out a little earlier, we could have helped her craft a budget that was truly a growth budget.

I noticed that her speech was almost exclusively about how much she had spent. There are certainly elements within the budget that we support, but as she is the finance minister, I would have expected her to talk about debts, talk about deficits and talk about the impact inflation and interest rates could have on the sustainability of our economy and our national finances. She mentioned none of that.

The minister's mandate letter from the Prime Minister directed her to come up with a “new fiscal anchor”. However, the fiscal anchor she came up with was the old one based on the debt-to-GDP ratio, except it did not have any targets attached to it this time.

Why has the minister not directed her mind to the financial sustainability of the country? Why did she not—

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 5th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, my impression is that we have a Prime Minister who is unwilling to work with the provinces. He has made it very clear that he has no intention of talking to the provinces until the COVID pandemic is over.

Quite frankly, right now, in the middle of this pandemic, with the pressure on our health care systems, on our hospitals, on our health care workers, the Prime Minister should be sitting down with our provincial leaders, with our premiers, and working something out. He has shown an unwillingness to do that.

We are willing to sit down—