Jagmeet Singh

[Petitions, June 12th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, today I rise to table a petition signed by members of the Sikh community across the country. They petition the House to formally recognize the state-organized and sponsored killing of Sikhs in India in 1984 as a genocide. As well, they petition the House to recognize this genocide this year as it is the 40th anniversary of this genocide.

They also ask that the House confirm its belief in the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and affirm that India must use all measures available to ensure anyone responsible for this genocide is held to account, including criminal prosecution.

[Taxation, June 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister could have done this eight years ago.

Yesterday, the Liberals came back to planet earth. They realized that it was unfair for nurses to pay more tax than millionaires, although the Liberals did not have a problem with that for the past eight years.

Why did the Prime Minister force nurses to pay more taxes than millionaires over eight consecutive budgets?

[Taxation, June 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Liberals finally woke up. They realized that it is unfair for nurses and carpenters to pay more taxes than billionaires. Well, clearly they did not have a problem with that for the past eight years.

Why did the Prime Minister let carpenters and nurses pay more taxes than billionaires for eight straight budgets in a row?

[Democratic Institutions, June 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has known for 11 weeks and has done nothing.

For 11 weeks, the Prime Minister has known the names of the MPs who may be working with the governments of foreign countries like India and China. For 11 weeks, he has known that some members are potentially helping a government that may have been responsible for the murder of a Canadian citizen.

Why did the Prime Minister do nothing for those 11 weeks?

[Democratic Institutions, June 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has confirmation that MPs knowingly worked with foreign governments to undermine Canada. He has known for 11 months and has done nothing. All the while, Canadians have been harassed. Canadians have been threatened. A Canadian citizen was killed. Those were all linked to foreign governments.

Why has the Prime Minister failed to protect Canadians?

[Democratic Institutions, June 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has known since March and has done nothing.

The allegations of MPs receiving help from a foreign government are troubling. The Prime Minister has had this information since March 22 and has done nothing about it, while the Conservative leader does not want to know anything about it.

Why are these two leaders content to turn a blind eye to this when they think that foreign interference improves their chances of winning?

[Democratic Institutions, June 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the allegation that there are MPs knowingly working for foreign governments to undermine our democracy is deeply serious. That is why I have requested a classified briefing to get more information. The Prime Minister has known about this since March and has done nothing, and the Conservative leader does not even want to know what is going on and refused this information.

Why are these two leaders looking away from foreign interference when it serves them?

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I completely agree that this government has failed to take the measures needed to deal with the climate crisis. We used our leverage over this minority government to force it to take measures that it never would have taken otherwise.

I also want to point out that the main reason why grocery prices are so high is actually price gouging on the part of these grocery giants.

In our motion today, we are proposing a plan to lower prices, because people in Quebec and across Canada are struggling. It is more difficult than ever to buy groceries. That is why we are calling on the government to take measures as urgent as this crisis. We are asking grocery giants directly to lower the prices of essential foods or face a price cap.

I also want to mention that France has a similar plan. It took a similar approach and forced the country's grocery stores to lower the prices of essential foods, and it succeeded.

We want to do the same thing here, because people need urgent measures.

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, that was another uncreative, lazy argument. The Conservatives continue to make complaints and little noises in the corner while New Democrats are delivering for Canadians. We have forced the government to bring in dental care to help seniors, something that the Conservatives want to take away from seniors, from people's parents and grandparents. We have forced the government to bring in medication coverage for people living with diabetes. The Conservatives think they are not worth it. They have been saying to people, the four million Canadians living with diabetes, that they are not worth it. We say they are worth it. We say seniors who are struggling because they cannot afford to get their teeth looked after are worth it.

We believe our job in this Parliament is to force Ottawa to work for people. While the Conservatives want to complain in a corner, we are delivering real results for Canadians to make their lives better. We are proud of that. There is a lot more that needs to be done, and we will continue fighting for them.

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am not surprised that Conservatives want to distract from corporate greed and going after powerful grocery stores that are ripping off Canadians, but I am somewhat surprised at the Liberals. I should not be, because the Liberals have just the same type of ties; they are just as cozy with these large corporations as the Conservatives are. We can see that from their actions. The Prime Minister, instead of forcing the corporations to lower prices and taking on the corporate greed of the big three grocery stores in Canada of Loblaw, Metro and Sobeys, would rather ask the CEOs nicely to stabilize prices. Our motion demands that the government force these corporate grocery stores to lower their prices and make life more affordable for Canadians, or else prices will be capped. That is what our motion calls for.

I can already tell that the Conservatives and the Liberals do not have the courage to go after their friends. They want to protect their rich CEO buddies and those corporate grocery stores. We are going to take them on.