Garnett Genuis

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling deals with the human rights situation in Venezuela, a situation that many members of Parliament have spoken about over the years.

The petitioners say that the current government is aware of crimes against humanity by the Venezuelan government and has created a family-based humanitarian program for Colombians, Haitians and Venezuelans suffering under current country conditions. The petitioners note that Canada was one of six countries that submitted Venezuela to the ICC, denouncing crimes against humanity as defined by the Rome Statute.

The petitioners note that several international organizations, including a Canadian NGO, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, led by former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler, have recognized the unjust incarcerations, torture, forced disappearances and political persecution—

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling deals with euthanasia, or medical assistance in dying.

The petitioners are concerned that allowing medical assistance in dying for those with disabilities or chronic illness who are not dying devalues their lives and tacitly endorses the notion that life with disability is optional and, by extension, dispensable. They note in this petition that many disability advocates in Canada have expressed opposition to allowing MAID for people with disabilities.

The petitioners' ask to the House today is to protect all Canadians whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable by prohibiting medical assistance in dying for those whose prognosis for natural death is more than six months.

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

The government House leader does not want to hear this, but it is an important petition. I hope he will take note of it and support this important bill.

The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to adopt Bill S-210, which is now Bill S-209, the protecting young persons from exposure to pornography act.

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling deals with a bill that was previously named Bill S-210 and has been reintroduced in this Parliament as Bill S-209.

The petitioners are calling for meaningful age verification for those accessing sexual material online. They note that the consumption of sexually explicit materials by young persons is associated with a range of serious harms, including the development of pornography addiction, the reinforcement of gender stereotypes, the development of attitudes favourable to harassment and violence, etc.

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition is with respect to the human rights situation in Eritrea. The petitioners note that Eritrea has been ruled by an authoritarian, brutal dictator, under a totalitarian system for the last 30 years, with no constitution, no elections, no parliament, no freedom of press or freedom of movement and association.

There are many different points made in the petition about the human rights situation in Eritrea; there are also concerns raised about foreign interference and the collaboration of the Eritrean government with the Putin regime.

The petitioners therefore call on the Government of Canada to engage Eritrean political and human rights activists and pro-democracy groups, to take a leading role among western allies to challenge the Eritrean dictator's malicious conspiracy with Vladimir Putin, to investigate foreign interference here in Canada, to strengthen sanctions against human rights abusers and to advocate for the release of all imprisoned journalists and imprisoned Eritrean parliamentarians.

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the petitioners have observed, and I share their views without comment, that Canada has fewer homes per capita than any other G7 country, and that there is too much red tape. Just to generally summarize, they are suggesting that we incentivize municipalities to allow the construction of more homes. They also express concern about the need to cap population growth and about the out-of-control immigration system.

Further, the petitioners say that we need to fix the budget with a law that would require government to find one dollar of savings for every new dollar of spending. They say we must stop crime, not by banning hunting rifles but by being tough on criminals and strengthening the border.

The petitioners want the House to build more homes, fix the budget, stop the crime, reduce taxes—

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, it was not difficult for me. I got two-thirds of the votes of my constituents, so I have a strong mandate to share—

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I must confess that it has been a difficult six months for me not being in this place. I missed everyone, but especially the member for Kingston and the Islands.

[Petitions, June 5th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to present petitions in the House today.

The first petition comes from the last Parliament, but I think it is one that is still very much relevant. The petitioners point out that Canada made us all a promise, a promise that anyone from anywhere could do anything. They say that, after nine years, the promise of Canada has been broken, that we have seen a lot of promises broken. They say the promise to balance the budget was broken. The promise to reduce taxes on the middle class was broken. The promise to build more affordable housing was also broken.

Petitioners say that many hard-working Canadians who are 35 years old are living in their parents' basement. This never happened before the government came along with policies that have doubled housing costs. There are 1,800 homeless people in encampments across Ontario; this has never happened before. This is the type of thing we would see in third world countries. People are dying in these encampments. Gun violence is up 120%, yet we have a government that goes after hunters while letting criminals and gun smugglers go free.

The petitioners want to see a reduction in taxes so servers, truck drivers and plumbers can work more, earn more and earn powerful paycheques. For this to happen, people need a roof over their head. They say that Canada has fewer homes per capita than any other G7 country. There is too much red tape. We need to incentivize municipalities to speed up—

[Wildfires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, June 3rd, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the new member to the House. For his benefit and that of others who are new, I want to do a quick walk down memory lane. There have been Conservatives in the House who have been warning about the problems of bad forest management for a very long time. I will give as one example Jim Eglinski, former Conservative member for Yellowhead, who asked a question on June 16, 2017. Highlighting the pine beetle infestation, he said:

Much of the forest is dead or dying. The dead trees are a tremendous fuel load that present a significant risk to the community of Jasper.

Residents are concerned for their own safety and that of the visitors...

Will the member recognize that this question, asked eight years ago and not responded to, shows what a failure the government has been on forest management? He says the government will be there. Does he recognize that the government needs to face up to its own failures and address the issue of forest management, which was barely mentioned in his speech?