John Brassard

[Democratic Institutions, December 2nd, 2022]

Madam Speaker, like a game of dodge ball, the Prime Minister has become very deft at the five Ds of question period: dodge, deny, deflect, deceive and drivel. The problem is that when it comes to China's interference in our Canadian elections, it is not a game, because it is serious business. It has been widely reported that the Prime Minister received specific credible information on election interference in Canada, and he has done nothing about it.

Let us try again. Has the Prime Minister received any briefings or memos, verbal or written, specific to foreign interference in Canadian elections by the Chinese Communist government, yes or no?

[Cost of Living, December 2nd, 2022]

Madam Speaker, everything feels broken in Canada because of the Liberals. The inflation and affordability crisis is causing stress to Canadian families, who, for the first time in their lives, are having to make difficult decisions as their household incomes are being eaten up by the cost of everything going up.

The cost of groceries is up, along with gas, home heating, housing, interest rates and food bank usage; they are all up. When we add the tripling of the carbon tax and other planned tax increases taking effect in January and April 2023, things are about to get worse.

It is no wonder Canadian families and businesses are at a breaking point, and one-time bribe payments by the Liberals will not solve what is quickly becoming a bigger crisis than it already is. The people I represent in Barrie—Innisfil and people across Canada are spending an extra $3,500 a year because of the self-inflicted Liberal inflation.

How did we, Canada, as a G7 country, get to a point where seniors, young people, families and businesses have been lied to and let down, with many losing their hopes, their dreams, their confidence and their dignity?

[Telecommunications Act, December 1st, 2022]

Madam Speaker, the government has proven itself to fail on multiple fronts in delivering multiple projects and multiple bills.

What concern does the member have as far as delivering on this bill?

[Telecommunications Act, December 1st, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I honestly thought the member for Timmins—James Bay dyed his hair Arctic chill. I did not realize, but there is a Clairol product that he can get at the—

[Public Safety, November 28th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, it feels like everything is broken in Canada because of the Prime Minister and the Liberal government. Why should anyone be surprised? It is part of the Liberal playbook not to unite Canadians but to divide them.

The Prime Minister has been very effective at pitting Canadians against each other. Imagine a prime minister calling his own citizens racist, misogynists and extremists for not agreeing to his political ideology or his politics. Canadians are losing their hopes, their dreams and their dignity.

Does the Prime Minister not realize that he is here to serve and unite Canadians, not divide them like he has been doing for the last seven years?

[Public Complaints and Review Commission Act, November 25th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I request that it be agreed to on division.

[Petitions, November 25th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand to present a petition from Single Seniors for Tax Fairness. This petition was signed by 35 Canadians but could effect change that would better the lives of thousands of single seniors in Canada.

The petition calls for the government to make changes to the current tax system for seniors, which currently favours couples with numerous ways to lower taxes, while single seniors have none. Of the six million seniors in Canada, over one-third are single, and many of those are women. This petition calls on the government to offer tax benefits to single seniors equal to those now in place for senior couples.

I support this petition and thank Jane Robertson and Katherine Cappellacci from Single Seniors for Tax Fairness for meeting with me and many other MPs from all sides of the House, a large majority who support the need for tax fairness for these single seniors.

[Democratic Institutions, November 25th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, on a Quebec radio show this week, former CSIS director and national security adviser to the Prime Minister, Richard Fadden, questioned the Prime Minister's denial that he was briefed on Chinese government interference in the 2019 election.

He said, “I would have a hard time believing that no one would have spoken to [the Prime Minister] about it.”

If the former CSIS director and national security adviser does not believe the Prime Minister's story, why should Canadians? After all, he has denied things in the past that have been proven to be true.

Did the Prime Minister receive any briefings, verbal or written, on foreign election interference, yes or no?

[The Economy, November 24th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, last weekend, I attended a church Christmas bazaar. I stood behind a senior who was putting raffle tickets, at five for three dollars, into a cup for a $50 grocery store gift card. She turned to me and said that she hoped she would win because she could not afford groceries anymore. What a sad indictment of how the Liberals and the Prime Minister, helped by the NDP, have broken our country in so many ways.

Inflation is at a 40-year high, 1.5 million Canadians rely on food banks since September and housing affordability and rental costs are out of control. Young Canadians feel they have been lied to and let down by the Prime Minister and are despondent about their future.

The problems that exist are structural. They are self-inflicted wounds created by a government so blinded by its ideology that it is impossible for it to come up with the solutions needed, and one-time bribe payments will not solve anything.

The only solution is a change in government to give Canadians control of their lives, to restore their hopes, to restore their dreams and to restore the dignity of that senior who stood in front of me last weekend.

[Committees of the House, November 23rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, entitled “Device Investigative Tools Used By The Royal Canadian Mounted Police And Related Issues”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

While I am standing, I would like to thank all the witnesses and committee members who participated, as well as the clerk and analysts. In particular, I want to thank the member for Calgary Rocky Ridge, who chaired the majority of this report.