House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2019, with 29% of the vote.
International Trade January 30th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, the thing is that Canadians still do not know what is in the deal. New Zealand was transparent with their people on the new trans-Pacific partnership and there is no reason why the Liberals cannot do the same. If we stand to lose 58,000 jobs because of this trade agreement, I would say that an explanation is in order, and Canadians are worried.
The Prime Minister promised to be transparent on trade deals, and so far he has not been. Will he release the deal?
International Trade January 30th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, “The Harper Conservatives have failed to be transparent through the entirety of the negotiations – especially in regards to what Canada is conceding in order to be accepted into [the trans-Pacific] partnership.”
Who said that? The Liberal leader and MP for Papineau when he was an opposition member in 2015. Now that he is Prime Minister, he seems to have forgotten how important transparency used to be to him.
Today I am asking the Liberal leader to keep his transparency promise and tell us what concessions Canada had to make to be accepted into the new trans-Pacific partnership.
Centre culturel islamique de Québec January 29th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, today, 17 children are orphans. Because of hate, 17 children are now orphans. They are orphans because their fathers were killed simply for being Muslim. On January 29, 2017, Khaled, Azzedine, Aboubaker, Mamadou, Ibrahima, Abdelkrim, and dozens of others made their way to the Grande mosquée de Québec. It was a winter night like any other. Peaceful. However, that night, an act of terrorism changed their lives, and ours, forever.
A year ago, lslamophobia changed lives forever in Quebec, in Quebec City, and across Canada.
The tragedy at the great mosque in Quebec City, the Grande mosquée de Québec, is the worst terrorist attack in Quebec since the shooting at the École polytechnique in Montreal in 1989, which killed 14 women and injured 14 others. They were targeted simply because they were women. There was a “before” and “after” the Polytechnique. There is now a “before” and “after” the great mosque of Quebec City. Over the past year, a lot has been said and a lot has been written about the attack. The dead have been mourned, and their lives have been honoured. We honour them again today.
However, it is not enough to honour them. We must commit to fight Islamophobia in order to deprive hate of future victims. Today, on this day of commemoration, we must ask ourselves whether lessons have been learned, whether the tone of the discussion has changed, whether it has worsened. The truth is that hateful acts have not diminished, especially not online, on social media.
Harassment in the street continues, especially for Muslim women, and acts of violence are still all too common. Let us not forget that last summer, a car belonging to the president of the Centre culturel islamique de Québec was set ablaze in front of his home. The intimidation of young Muslims also continues. How will they navigate this environment of constant suspicion that surrounds them? These youth live in the real world, where they cannot close their eyes and pretend there is no racism directed towards them.
Le Devoir announced this week that in Montreal alone, almost 250 hate crimes were reported in 2017. That is almost one every day, just in Montreal. Furthermore, we know that a large number of hate crimes go unreported.
Silence is a common refuge for those who are tired of hate. Because hate is becoming so prevalent in our society, too many are tuning out, but this is how hate prevails and why we, as parliamentarians, have a special responsibility to speak out.
Hate has always found a target. In the past, it was the Irish, Jews or Italians; today, it is Muslims or Arabs. Who knows which group will be targeted tomorrow? History is watching us.
I am a white man, and as a white man I do not know what it is like to face racism. I will never be the victim of xenophobic acts, but some of my neighbours, friends, constituents, fellow MPs, and staff will be. Some members of my own family have faced racism. We need to stand up and say that we will not get used to this and we will not turn a blind eye to this hate. We will confront it, we will denounce it, and we will work to end hate.
What we need is education. Racism does not simply materialize out of thin air. It takes root in the space our society allots, and some people feed it. We need the right tools to rid our society of it. That will not happen from one day to the next, for racism is tenacious, as we all know. It is our responsibility as elected representatives to be aware of the impact of words, of our own words, of the messages we send and how they are interpreted and reinterpreted.
The day after the shooting at the Quebec City mosque, 6,000 people in Quebec City and 15,000 people in Montreal joined thousands more in communities across Canada to stand in solidarity with the families of the victims. They gathered to not only mark the tragedy, but to condemn racism, Islamophobia, and populist hate. Candles in hand, thousands enduring freezing temperatures, showing us that the best response to those who would tear us apart is solidarity and that openness and acceptance trump suspicion based on nothing but ignorance.
Tonight, similar gatherings are planned for Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Guelph, Kitchener, Hamilton, Toronto, St. Catharines, London, Yarmouth, Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, Vancouver, Surrey, and Victoria.
People are gathering, shoulder to shoulder, to remember, to share the same pain, and to share the same hope for a brighter future. To quote NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, “We're all in this together”, no matter the colour of our skin, our beliefs, our gender identity, our place of birth, or the clothes we wear.
Dignity does not discriminate on the basis of religion, race, or gender. Human dignity knows no borders. Today, 17 children are orphans because of hate. The survivors must hold their heads high. As a society we must be united in our determination to combat hate. Together, let us pass on a peaceful world to the next generation, a world where everyone knows that they belong. Together, we will work to end the inequality that divides us. Together, we will douse the flames of intolerance, because everyone deserves to live in peace, because everyone deserves to see their children laugh, run, and discover everything life has to offer as they grow up.
Today we are reminded why it is so important that we stand united against all forms of hate. As our leader Jagmeet Singh has said, “We need to champion the politics of love to fight the growing politics of hate, the politics of courage to fight the politics of fear.”
Taxation January 29th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, that is certainly poor comfort to those Sears workers.
According to Oxfam, 82% of global wealth created in 2017 went to the richest 1%. The 1% are the people that the Prime Minister wooed in Davos, Switzerland. The 1% are people like Stephen Bronfman and the Aga Khan, who are personal friends of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister lets CEOs keep their generous tax deductions for stock options while asking Sears employees to settle for employment insurance instead of the pensions they poured their own money into.
When will he finally fight for all Canadians instead of just the 1%?
Taxation January 29th, 2018
Mr. Speaker, increasingly Canada is divided into two worlds, the wealthy and the struggling. By January 2, Canada's top-paid CEOs had already earned what the average Canadian earned in a year.
In 2017, the wages of CEOs increased 16 times faster than those of most Canadians, but the Prime Minister is showing he does not get it. He allows CEOs to keep their lucrative stock option loophole, while telling Sears workers to suck it up and be happy with EI rather than their own pensions that they paid into.
When will he get to work for these people rather than his CEO friends?
Government Appointments December 13th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, asking us to put forward a few names back in June is not consultation. It is not the commissioner that we do not trust; it is the government's process.
Why is that? Because the selection committee for the new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner had five members, including the chief of staff of the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, the chief of staff of the President of the Treasury Board, and two assistant secretaries of the Liberal cabinet.
How can we have any faith that the selection process for the future commissioner was open, transparent, merit-based, and especially impartial, when the selection committee was dominated by Liberal cabinet employees?
Government Appointments December 13th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, when Parliament chooses a new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner all parties must be consulted. It is a legal obligation. However, we were not consulted. We only received one letter and one name. We know nothing about the other candidates, and the nominee was rushed through committee within one hour.
Instead of a merit-based process, all we have are the Liberals' assurances that they are doing the right thing, but that is not enough. How can they tell us that their nomination was merit-based, and if they want to pursue that line, why do they not release the names of the finalists to the other parties?
Government Appointments December 12th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says the process is open, but we know nothing about the government's selection criteria. He says it is transparent, but we know nothing about who is on the selection committees. He says it is merit-based, but we know nothing about the candidates.
Basically, what he is doing is giving the opposition a piece of paper with a name written on it that came out of nowhere, and then he wants us to comment on that name for seven days. This is what he calls a consultation.
Could the Prime Minister show some transparency and tell Canadians who was on the selection committee and who the candidates were?
Government Appointments December 12th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised an open, transparent, and merit-based appointment process. However, after dragging their feet for months, they appointed a second official languages commissioner because the first one was too partisan, a lobbying commissioner who had actually applied for the position of information commissioner, and a conflict of interest and ethics commissioner who has already been severely rebuked by the Auditor General.
How can the Prime Minister tell Canadians that these are the best candidates when the process is so flawed?
Canadian Heritage December 11th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, newspapers are closing across the country, and the principle of a free and democratic press is actually in jeopardy. The favouritism that the government is showing to American digital giants such as Netflix is a large part of the problem. After confusingly defending her scheme, the heritage minister threw the ball in the finance minister's court, who left her hanging by confirming that he will continue giving Netflix a free pass.
With his cabinet in disarray on this issue, the Prime Minister must step in and defend the press. Will he do it?