House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 59% of the vote.
Canada Elections Act June 15th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the member made a statement that was patently untrue. Can we call it out? He has made a patently untrue statement that the donations to the Conservative Party are smaller on average than the donations to the Liberal Party. This is patently untrue. Can he retract it, yes or no?
Canada Elections Act June 15th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite made a number of statements that are designed to mislead the Canadian population, carefully chosen words such as “cash” for access, which he used 10 times. “Cash” speaks to anonymity, criminality, and envelopes full of money. They know full well there is no cash for access. There is no cash used.
I have a simple question, which I doubt will be answered with a yes or no. Does the member have any knowledge of any member here accepting cash, not a cheque, not a credit card, but cash, which he used nine times to be precise. Does he have knowledge of any member accepting cash, yes or no?
Paris Agreement June 5th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, I quite enjoy listening to the member for Carleton speak. He has a very nice speaking style. Unfortunately, there are contradictions in the content of his speech, and that is something I would like to address.
The member talked a lot about social justice and how any action should not impact on the poorest of Canadians, that there should not be a push to the gap between the rich and the poor. He has gone on and on about that.
However, there is a cost to greenhouse gas. There are real costs to climate change that come from it. In fact, less than a month ago my riding had severe flooding. There was a huge cost involved. What I am seeking to understand is why should that cost not be shared proportionately? For example, in our garbage collection, the more garbage I put out, the more I have to pay. That makes sense to me.
However, when it comes to pollution, why do the rich not not pay more than the poor? Why should the rich be supported by the poor on this one?
Terrorist Attack in Manchester May 29th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, it was with great sadness that I learned of the tragedy in the United Kingdom last week. On the heels of an attack on the Parliament of the United Kingdom in March, this new terrorist attack in Manchester specifically targeted the young, the defenceless, the innocent.
Canada stands firmly with the United Kingdom and the British people during these difficult times, and we will continue to fight against terrorism and violence in all its forms.
As chair of the Canada-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Association and on behalf of our members in this House, I extend my deepest condolences to our colleagues in the United Kingdom and to those they represent.
I think I speak for all of us in this House when I say that our thoughts and our prayers are with the families and friends of all those affected by this heinous terrorist attack.
Volunteer West Island May 19th, 2017
Madam Speaker, I recently had the pleasure of attending the 50th anniversary celebrations for the organization Volunteer West Island. Its mission is to facilitate volunteerism by recruiting, training and referring volunteers to meet our community's needs.
Volunteer West Island supports so many services, including Meals on Wheels, the Pair program, handyperson services, Caring Paws animal therapy, and much more.
On a more personal note, I know first-hand of the great work they have done in my riding by helping seniors and low-income constituents do their tax returns.
I say a great big thank you to Lynda Barrett and her entire team at Volunteer West Island as well as to all the wonderful volunteers themselves. Together they have made our community a better place to live over the last 50 years and more.
Interparliamentary Delegations May 15th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Association and the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association respecting its bilateral visit to London, United Kingdom, and Edinburgh, Scotland, from March 13 to 17, 2017.
World Health Day April 7th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, today we are celebrating World Health Day. We thank organizations such as HPIC, whose mission is to increase access to medicine in vulnerable communities.
HPIC recently sent medicine to treat more than 50,000 Haitians in the aftermath of hurricane Matthew.
From a small, humble office in a strip mall in my riding, HIPC ensures that over a million people a year receive their required medications for free. They are supported by dozens of pharmaceutical companies that generously donate these medicines. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and over 100 countries in between, HIPC, this wonderful Canadian charity, has donated more than 30 million medical treatments to people in need around the world.
I say bravo to HIPC and all such organizations on World Health Day.
The Budget April 4th, 2017
Madam Speaker, the member for Guelph is perceptive, as always. He is absolutely right that this is a phenomenal investment of $950 million for superclusters. These clusters are not regionally based. They are going to cover the full span of our country. To say that it is one region or another is patently false on the part of the other member who said such a thing.
The Budget April 4th, 2017
Madam Speaker, the member is correct when he says this is good news. I was not able to talk about the entire budget, because it is enormous. I decided to talk about issues relating to education.
He is also correct to say that this falls under both provincial and federal jurisdiction. It will take time to negotiate the agreements, but we are going to do that work to ensure that if a person needs social assistance at some point while working to earn a living, they will be able to do that.
The Budget April 4th, 2017
Madam Speaker, whatever we do in life, someone can always say we could do it faster and we could do more of it. That is fair criticism, a fair critique. Can we do more? Can we do it faster? That is to be seen.
The important thing is that we are doing both of those things. We are doing it, and it is coming. Obviously, when it comes to skills training, a lot of this has to be integrated with provincial programs. We alone do not set the pace. We have to work with our provincial counterparts. However, the good news is that we are moving in the right direction.