Jennifer O'Connell

[Outstanding Community Members, June 23rd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize outstanding members from my community of Pickering—Uxbridge. Despite the pandemic, these individuals share an unwavering commitment to supporting their communities.

Dr. Carlye Jensen and Dr. Jennifer Wilson were recently selected by the Dalla Lana School of Public Health as Pillars of the Pandemic. The pandemic has required exceptional leadership, and Dr. Jensen and Dr. Wilson consistently went the extra mile.

Mahnoor Hussain was recently selected as one of only three Parks Canada Youth Ambassadors. Mahnoor will spend the summer engaging with youth across Canada, advocating for the protection and conservation of our national parks.

Paul Yang was recently awarded The Globe and Mail's Changemakers award. As acting director of innovation and sustainability, Paul has worked hard to phase out the use of plastic straws at all Tim Hortons restaurants across Canada.

I want to thank these members of our community for their commitment and for reminding us of the lasting impact individuals can have in our communities and across Canada.

[Health, June 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the dissemination of misinformation regarding this pandemic, I think the member opposite should understand his role and responsibility as a parliamentarian, and the trust that his constituents place in him.

This pandemic is serious. It requires a serious response. I would urge him to follow the rules. If Facebook would not even allow what he is saying to be put up, perhaps he should rethink his choices.

[Health, June 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we are all incredibly excited as we start to see life post-COVID. That is precisely why we have started to release or adjust some of the border measures, but we are going to do this in a cautious, responsible manner to ensure that all of the hard work and all of the sacrifices that Canadians have made are not lost. We are so grateful that Canadians continue to step up to get vaccinated and follow local public health guidelines. By doing so, we are going to get through this. We are going to save lives.

We are going to follow the science and evidence to make sure that Canadians are safe.

[Public Safety, June 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, once again, only the Conservatives can accuse a government of a cover-up, when we actually provided all of the documents to two separate committees. One was with redactions to protect national security and another in a completely unredacted form. It is unfortunate that the Conservative members did not trust their own committee representation on that committee. I served with them; they did good work and it is a shame that Conservatives are more focused on innuendo and conspiracy theories than doing the job of parliamentarians in this House and protecting the national security of all Canadians.

[Health, June 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we have taken the concerns of Canadians seriously throughout this pandemic. It is the opposition members and their own caucus who cannot seem to get their story straight when it comes to which measures they want to follow.

We are guided by science and evidence every step of the way. Throughout this pandemic, we have had to adapt and adjust as the virus changed. We have done so to keep Canadians safe and save lives.

While the members opposite want to play politics, we are taking this virus seriously and have put in place a cautious approach to make sure the hard work all Canadians have done is not lost. That is what our government is committed to. We are taking care of Canadians. The Conservatives continue to play politics.

[Health, June 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the only awkward thing is the Conservatives' policy when it comes to border measures. On social media, they say “tighten the border measures”. In the House, they say “loosen all restrictions” without any basis in science or evidence.

The approach we are taking is a cautious one. All Canadians are very excited to see life start to return to normal. Canadians have stepped up to get vaccinated and followed local public health measures, and we are not going to sacrifice that work based on the political games being played by Conservatives. We are going to stop the spread of COVID-19 and save lives, and we are going to do so based on science and evidence.

[Public Safety, June 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, as stated already, the documents have been provided to two separate committees.

I have a question for the member opposite. Why does he refer to the work of NSICOP when it suits his needs in committee to prove a point, but when he is playing politics and it no longer suits him, he throws the integrity and the work of NSICOP under the bus? Canadians see through these partisan games and understand which party is willing to put national security at risk for a little bump in the polls.

[Public Safety, June 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, once again we see Conservatives showing no shame in playing politics with national security. In fact, we have provided documents to two separate committees: one in a way that is measured for taking into account national security preparations, and the other a fully unredacted release of documents to NSICOP, where members and the committee itself have all of the national security measures in place. Conservatives should care about national security and stop playing politics.

[Business of Supply, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I have two questions for my hon. colleague, but first, the fact that so many survivors are coming forward is also an indication that there are actual consequences happening.

Does the member opposite believe that sexual harassment and assaults did not occur previous to the last six years? If he does think that they occurred, is he disappointed in the Leader of the Opposition for sitting around the cabinet table at a time when there was a culture of sexual misconduct and there were no consequences? They did not take it seriously, and therefore the culture of the old boys' club being protected by the Harper government and his leader continued. Is he proud of that history and that record?

[Health, June 10th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we know that any life lost to suicide is one life too many. This is precisely why we did not just act in the last 188 days. We have acted over the last five years to bring the mental health supports and the investment that provinces and territories have asked for. We provided throughout the pandemic the funding needed to create wellnesstogether.ca. Over a million Canadians have accessed mental health supports that the member opposite flippantly misses, but this is real help, helping real Canadians access the help they need.

We are going to continue to invest in more ways. We will not—