Garnett Genuis

[Petitions, November 20th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from Canadians who share their condolences with the member for Kingston and the Islands on being passed over for cabinet again. I am sorry, I am misreading it.

This is a petition in support of Bill C-257. It is a private member's bill I have tabled that seeks to protect the fundamental rights of Canadians by adding political belief and activity as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act. This bill would combat political discrimination.

The petition calls on members of the House to support Bill C-257 and to defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

[Petitions, November 20th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I believe the rules require a petition to be addressed to the House or the government. The Leader of the Opposition will soon be Prime Minister. He is not Prime Minister yet. I wonder if it is in order for a petition to be addressed to a person who is not the Prime Minister, the government or the House.

[Ethics, November 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, during committee and just now, the Minister of Indigenous Services refused to defend her colleague, the pretend-indigenous Minister of Employment. The Minister of Employment pretended to be indigenous so that his company could steal contracts from indigenous communities and businesses. While the Prime Minister continues to be the defender of the pretender, even his cabinet colleagues are losing faith.

This question is for the Minister of Indigenous Services: Will she stand up and defend her cabinet colleague, or should he be fired?

[Petitions, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I will conclude with a petition in support of Bill C-257, which would ban discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity. The petitioners want to see the House support Bill C-257 to protect Canadians from political discrimination.

[Petitions, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the point of order took much more time than I intended to take.

The petition I was just tabling highlights a call for Ukrainian youth to access the Canada summer jobs program.

[Petitions, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling highlights the situation in Ukraine, as it is 1,000 days since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. I join colleagues in deploring that invasion and in calling for strong action to deliver the support to Ukraine, weapons and other forms of support, that it urgently needs and to do so without delay.

The petitioners further highlight some of the inconsistencies with respect to the immigration regime involving Ukrainians who have come to Canada, and they call on the government to allow Ukrainian youth, under the Canada-Ukraine authorization—

[Petitions, November 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is very gracious of colleagues to finally give me the time I need to table a sufficient number of petitions.

The first petition highlights the horrific persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the People's Republic of China. We table these petitions regularly, but there are a number of practitioners and leaders of the Falun Gong community on the Hill today, and I think all members would join me in welcoming them.

In tabling this petition on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, I want to highlight three specific cases of practitioners who are imprisoned in China: Sun Qian, a Canadian citizen from Vancouver who was illegally sentenced to prison for eight years simply because of being a Falun Gong practitioner; Xie Mingguang, the father of a permanent resident living in Regina who was imprisoned for being a Falun Gong practitioner and faces torture as a result; and He Lizhong, the brother of a Canadian citizen from Mississauga who was also illegally arrested simply for being a Falun Gong practitioner.

These and other cases of Canadian citizens or people with close ties to Canada who face persecution in the PRC because they are Falun Gong practitioners need to be highlighted. I join colleagues in highlighting these specific cases, as well as calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in general.

The petitioners want the House to take strong, clear action opposing the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and to explicitly continue to call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.

[Committees of the House, November 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the report on forced labour uses very strong language to denounce the government's failures. It describes the government's failures to take seriously the issue of forced labour as deplorable.

I note that in the committee meeting where this report was adopted, the Liberal chair of that committee, the member for Humber River—Black Creek, voted in favour of the motion. We have a Liberal member voting in favour of a motion that calls her own government's performance on the issue of forced labour absolutely deplorable.

However, it is no wonder Liberal members find the actions of their own government deplorable on this file as it relates to Uyghur forced labour in particular, about which the member spoke. The Americans have been so far ahead, stopping many shipments of goods over concerns about forced labour from the Uyghur regions, but Canada has not stopped a single shipment. I believe this puts us in breach of our obligations under CUSMA to have all partners to that agreement act to combat forced labour. Therefore, this is going to be a challenge not only to us morally, but also in Canada-U.S. relations in that we are not doing our part.

I would like to hear the member's reflections, in particular on the impact on Canada-U.S. relations of the failure of the government to take the issue of forced labour seriously.

[Committees of the House, November 18th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are repeatedly taking issue with our efforts to get ministers to come to committee to be held accountable for the Liberal indigenous contracting scandal. In fact, the indigenous affairs committee had ministers before it who simply refused to answer questions.

In committee, all opposition parties agreed to order ministers, in particular the Minister of Indigenous Services, back to committee to actually answer those questions. They asked her to be back within two weeks, and the minister is not honouring that request from the committee. Meanwhile, we have committees that need to hear from the Minister of Employment about his misrepresentation of his indigenous identity so that his company could benefit from these same set-asides.

It is clear why the government is complaining about this. It does not want its ministers to appear before committee to be held accountable. The ministers have been asked to appear within certain timelines, and they have not honoured that. This is why what we are putting forward today is necessary for ensuring that ministers will come to committee and answer those questions. Will we have the support of all opposition parties again to say that ministers have to be held accountable and answer questions at committee about what they did and what happened in their portfolio?

[Committees of the House, November 18th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is striking that the Liberals do not seem to think talking about economic development in indigenous communities is an important topic. It is unbelievable to hear that previous Liberal member characterize it as, in his view, a waste of time.

There was a sleight of hand in the member's previous response to me. The amendment we put forward is important because it is the only way to order the minister to appear. Various committees have asked the Minister of Indigenous Services and the Minister of Employment to come before a committee and provide an explanation. They have not done so. This motion would create a House order. It is the only way to do it.

Does the member appreciate that that is the only way to do this procedurally and therefore the amendment is important?