Joe Peschisolido

[Seniors, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, seniors make valuable contributions to our families, workplaces and communities. By 2036, seniors will represent close to 25% of the population.

Could the Minister of Seniors please update this House on what our government is doing to ensure that our seniors remain active, informed and engaged in our communities?

[Jewish Community of Steveston—Richmond East, November 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to solemnly join the Jewish community of Richmond in condemning the horrifying anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life synagogue.

I feel truly privileged to represent one of our most diverse ridings, and our Jewish community is an active and integral part of it.

I would like to thank Rabbi Adam Rubin for allowing me to share a Shabbat dinner at Beth Tikvah.

I enjoyed having lunch with Rabbi Baitelman at the Chabad seniors luncheon, and I have had many conversations with Mike Sachs and Rabbi Levi Varnai at the Bayit.

I also want to thank Toby Rubin and everyone at the Kehila Society of Richmond for all of the great work they do. I look forward to attending their upcoming Hanukkah lunch.

[Filipino Heritage Month, October 25th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by congratulating the member of Parliament for Scarborough Centre for all her hard work and the dedication she has put forth to get this motion and, hopefully, this bill to this House.

I an blessed to come from a place called Steveston—East Richmond. One of the thriving communities in Steveston—East Richmond is the Filipino community. It is more than a community. It is made up of individuals who love their families and who, as has been stated, believe in faith, community and church.

I feel blessed to have gone to the birthday party of a granddaughter of one of my good friends. I saw the love and commitment to one another, but also the love and commitment to Canada and to the community. I was just chatting with my dear friend, Tony Rodriguez, who has just become the grand knight of the Knights of Columbus over at St. Paul's Church. When I asked him, “Why are you doing this? You're so busy”, he said, “Because I want to give back to the community”.

Members of the Filipino community are fiercely proud of their Filipino heritage or perhaps are even more fiercely Canadian. Every June 12th for the past 20 years or so, I have been over at city hall where we have a flag-raising ceremony where we are celebrating in Richmond, as I am sure is done all across the country, independence day for the Philippines. Beside that, we have the Canadian flag. We stand and we sing proudly. I do not sing that well but I do proudly sing both national anthems. That is a testament of a community that not only contributes here in Canada, but also acts as a bridge by deepening our links to the Philippines.

I mentioned earlier on the Knights of Columbus. The whole idea of giving back to the community is integral to the Filipino community. I had dinner a couple weeks back at Ed and Mercy's café and restaurant, Little Ongpin. When I go there, it is not just having a meal. It is sharing and talking to all folks in Richmond. It is not just folks of Filipino background who are there, but everyone. That is a testament that the Filipino community is not just celebrating Filipino culture but also Canadian culture.

I am sure we will officially recognize the month of June every year as a celebration for the Filipino culture and heritage. However, I would argue that it is also a recognition of Canadian culture because, as time goes on, 800,000 Canadians of Filipino background are moulding and shaping our culture. That is a wonderful thing. As our Prime Minister always says, diversity is a strength, not a weakness. It is an ongoing process where Canadians, wherever they come from, come to Canada and contribute not only to benefit their own families but also contribute to benefit Canada. They change, I would argue, for the better the nature and the culture of Canada. There is no better community to be an example of that than the Filipino community.

It has been my great honour to stand here today and to support our bill that will make June the month to celebrate the heritage of the Filipino community.

[Petitions, October 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I present this e-petition, e-1527, calling on the government to address birth tourism. Birth tourism exploits our generous public health care and social security systems and violates Canadians' sense of fairness. Nearly 11,000 Canadians signed this e-petition, calling on the government to condemn birth tourism, quantify the practice and implement concrete measures reducing and eliminating this illegitimate and exploitative industry.

[Ray Martyniuk, October 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the life Ray Martyniuk, a lifelong resident of Steveston. Ray loved his community and its history. He owned and operated several successful local businesses, including a health food store, Function Junction junk store, Cannery Cafe and Steveston Water Taxi.

Ray came by his entrepreneurial spirit naturally. His grandfather opened the town's first barber shop back in 1945 and his father started a dry cleaning business, which also served as the local post office. Ray's son Brett now operates Village Bikes in the same building where his great grandfather cut hair over 70 years ago.

Ray was affectionately known as Mr. Steveston. He will be missed.

[Mid-Autumn Festival, September 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, I joined the Richmond Chinese Community Society at Lansdowne Centre in celebrating mid-autumn festival. I would like to thank Linda Li, Thomas Yu, Phyllis Chan, Michael Chiu, and all the great volunteers at RCCS for organizing this great annual event.

This festival was a time for friends and loved ones to get together to celebrate the harvest and the achievements over the past 12 months.

I am honoured to rise today to extend my best wishes to the people of Steveston—Richmond East and all of Canada on this autumnal equinox.

I wish everyone joyous celebrations and a happy, prosperous year.

[Lois Carson Boyce, June 1st, 2018]

Madam Speaker, on Saturday, April 21, I attended the celebration of life at South Arm United Church for Lois Carson Boyce, who passed away at the age of 99 years young.

Lois was a proud member of the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, before dedicating her life to the peace movement, the environment, seniors' issues, and the cause of social justice.

Her volunteer work earned her many awards, including the prestigious Golden Jubilee Medal, the Richmond Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award, and the Ethel Tibbits Award in recognition of her contributions as a Richmond pioneer.

Lois dedicated her life to Richmond and to making it a better place. She will truly be missed.

[National Local Food Day Act, May 28th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I too would like to applaud the work of the member for Kootenay—Columbia for introducing what I think is an amazing bill. It will support our farmers and food processors, and all those Canadians who are part of or impacted by the agriculture and food sector in our strong economy.

Our country is a food superpower, and I do not say that lightly. In fact, we are the fifth-largest exporter of agriculture and agrifoods in the world. We are blessed to have the land and resources needed to help the world meet its ever-growing need for food, by producing more than we need to feed our population.

Our exports are known in the global market to be reliable, safe, innovative, and above all sustainable. That is all part of our Canada brand, our narrative.

The vast size and complexity of our food systems are worth consideration. The industry generates one in eight of our manufacturing jobs, over $110 billion of our gross domestic product, and over $64 billion of our exports. From gate to plate, agriculture is one of the key growth sectors of our economy.

Canada's innovative processing industry supplies approximately 70% of all processed food and beverage products available in Canada, and it is the largest customer for our farmers.

All Canadians can share their beloved local foods with the entire planet to help feed the growing world population with sustainable foods. That is why the objective of the new Canadian agricultural partnership is to build a strong agriculture sector. The Canadian agricultural partnership is Canada's five-year agricultural policy framework. It outlines a bold new vision that will help the agricultural and agrifood sector innovate, grow, and prosper.

On April 1, ministers of agriculture from across Canada launched the partnership as a shared vision for the future of Canadian agriculture. Over the next five years, our governments will invest $3 billion in the partnership. Over $1 billion of that investment will support federal programs and activities to revitalize Canadian agriculture. These programs will focus on the following three key areas: growing trade and expanding markets; innovation and sustainable growth of the sector; and supporting diversity and a dynamic, evolving sector.

In supporting this bill, let me begin with the observation that a robust local food industry does not need to compete with farmers who export to world markets. In fact, many farmers do both. All production is local, whether it is consumed locally or on the other side of the world. As the member of Parliament for Steveston—Richmond East, I have berry farmers who produce for the local market, be it in Vancouver, Richmond, or Kelowna, but who also export to Asia, be it in Japan, China, or Korea.

If we think of our vibrant organic sector, it is so much more as well. For example, today the market for certified organic products in Canada is over $5 billion, making us one of the largest markets for organics in the world. Two out of three Canadian consumers buy organic. That is very good news for the many supporters of Bill C-281, both in this House and across this country, who believe in the merits of a national local food day. We are not just talking about small producers; increasingly, we are seeing large-sized, more traditional operations that are gradually converting from conventional to organic production. In Saskatchewan, a 40,000-acre grain farm is converting to organic. In my neck of the woods, in Steveston—Richmond East, a significant organic blueberry farm just converted from traditional blueberries. It is also setting aside a section for traditional farming, once again proving that farms can do both.

I am pleased to say that our government over the past two and a half years has invested nearly $20 million in this innovative, dynamic sector. Bill C-281, an act to establish a national local food day, is an excellent initiative, and a special tribute to the great success of Canadian farmers, our responsible stewards of the land.

The government also recognizes the importance of strengthening connections between consumers and producers of food. Canadians are increasingly building bridges with local farms and the hard-working farmers they often meet in the colourful farmers' markets across this country. I have the same situation in Steveston—Richmond East. We have the Steveston farmers' market, where the local farmers, be they organic or the more traditional farmers, such as the May family, the Savages, produce food internationally. They also provide good, healthy, sustainable food, sometimes organic and sometimes not, for the local farmers' market. When I head over there and say hi to a farmer, or Canadians say hi to a farmer, we start to build trust because we know where our food is coming from. Local food is about increasing agricultural awareness among our consumers.

The future is bright for Canadian agriculture. We are lucky enough to live in a country with abundant high-quality farmland and a variety of local climates. We have some of the best icewines in the world. For superior-quality grain, we need look no further than the Prairies.

We are happy to support Bill C-281, because when Canadians shop locally, they are supporting the local economy and creating jobs locally, nationally, as well as internationally. Local food helps consumers build lasting relationships with local food producers. It also opens up economic opportunities and employment. It fosters community involvement and also creates a culinary tourism industry.

In supporting this bill, we are supporting the future of farming in this country. Heading down to a farmers' market, which I often do on a Saturday morning to the Steveston farmers' market, national local food day will not just be a way of enjoying solid organic vegetables, or wonderful blueberry ice wine, as enjoyable as that is, it will also be a great way to make the choice for a stronger agriculture and food industry in this amazing country that we call home.

That is why today I am supporting this bill.

[Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives, May 3rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute the dedicated volunteers at Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives for the excellent services it has offered our community for over 40 years.

In addition to being a hub for volunteers and fundraising, Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives is also a direct service provider. The organization operates a child care resource centre, the Richmond Christmas Fund, community support services for seniors, and leadership programs for high school students.

On behalf of all the residents of Steveston—Richmond East, it is my privilege to thank Ed Gavsie, its president and CEO, and all the wonderful volunteers at Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives. Our community is truly grateful for all they do.

[Tourism, May 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, 2017 was the best year ever for tourism in Canada. Close to 21 million tourists visited our country from all over the world, including more than 680,000 visitors from China, which was also a new record.

Can the Minister of Small Business and Tourism update the House on what our government is doing to welcome more Chinese tourists and what this means for our economy?