John Brassard

[Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 1, October 4th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member. I think he accurately portrayed the fear and anxiety that exist among not just businesses, but also residents. I travelled across the country this summer, and I talked to a lot of young people. They are neither fearful nor anxious; they are despondent.

How are young people in his riding feeling right now?

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I have more a comment than a question. I learned long ago to never argue with a fool because they will never know when I am right.

The Liberal platform in 2019 spoke about a carbon tax that was going to be about $50 a tonne. Surprisingly, just a year after that, the Liberals announced that they were going to raise that up to $170 a tonne, which is almost a fivefold increase. At a time when Canadians can least afford it because of inflation and the affordability crisis, here they are raising carbon taxes again.

We are saying, give Canadians a break right now and give Canadians a break in the future from an affordability standpoint. Young people are neither fearful nor anxious. They are despondent right now, because they do not feel like they have hope for a prosperous future.

[Taxation, September 22nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, what a week this has been sitting here listening to the Liberals justify their inaction to solve the inflation and cost-of-living crisis, which they created, and things are simply getting worse. Canadian families are on bended knees under the weight of trying to afford the necessities of life. What is the Liberals' solution? It is to pile on the misery with planned tax increases to gas, groceries and home heating through increasing the carbon tax.

For the sake of every Canadian family that is struggling, will the government cancel its planned tax increases?

[Taxation, September 22nd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government can misrepresent the facts on the carbon tax all it likes, but Canadians know it costs them more. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed that the carbon tax will cost families more than they get back, and when the Liberals triple the tax on gas, heat and groceries, it will cost an Ontario household $1,500 more. Given the PBO's credibility and independence, I believe Canadians and Canadians should believe him, rather than the spin from the other aside.

Again, for the sake of every family struggling, will the government cancel its planned tax increases?

[Car Accident in Barrie, September 20th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to six young people who died on August 27 as a result of a tragic car accident in Barrie.

Curtis King, River Wells, Luke West, Haley Marin, Jersey Mitchell and Jason Ono-O'Connor are being remembered as talented athletes and students who were figuring out their paths in life, as we would expect them to be at just 20, 21 and 22 years of age. They were friends, loving friends, loyal friends, and amazing young adults taken way too soon. As members can imagine, the entire community is mourning this tragedy, and this loss and the pain will be felt for a long time by many.

On behalf of the member for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte and myself, I express our deep and sincere condolences to the family and many friends of Curtis, River, Luke, Haley, Jersey and Jason. We would also like to extend sincere thanks to the Barrie police, firefighters and Simcoe County paramedics who responded to this horrific incident and are working hard to find answers for the families.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 20th, 2022]

With regard to COVID-19 vaccine doses procured by the government, and broken down by manufacturer (Pfizer, Moderna, etc.): (a) how many doses obtained by the government have been delivered to Canada but have yet to be administered as of June 15, 2022; (b) how many doses are set to be delivered between June 15, 2022, and the end of September 2022; (c) of the doses currently on hand in (a), how many are set to expire each month until the entire batch is expired; and (d) of the doses scheduled to be delivered in (b), when are those doses scheduled to expire?

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 20th, 2022]

With regard to communications between Dan Brien, the Director of Media Relations, Issues Management and Social Media for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Office of the Prime Minister, between April 18, 2020, and May 1, 2020: what are the details of all communications, including all verbal, electronic, written, or other communication, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) time, (iii) sender or initiator, (iv) recipient, (v) form (email, text, etc.), (vi) topics discussed, (vii) summary of what was written or said?

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 20th, 2022]

With regard to communications between Dan Brien, the Director of Media Relations, Issues Management and Social Media for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Office of the Minister of Public Safety, including the minister, between April 18, 2020, and May 1, 2020: what are the details of all communications, including all verbal, electronic, written, or other communication, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) time, (iii) sender or initiator, (iv) recipient, (v) form (email, text, etc.), (vi) topics discussed, (vii) summary of what was written or said?

[Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, September 16th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today. I know that much has been said over the last day and will continue to be said this morning in this place. I am glad and honoured to be here to lend my thoughts about the remarkable life and service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the people that I represent in Barrie—Innisfil.

I want to begin by expressing my deep and sincere condolences to the family of Her Majesty and to King Charles. I hope they are finding great comfort with the outpouring of love and respect on such a grand scale by all of her, and now his, loyal subjects in every part of the Commonwealth and, indeed, in all corners of the world.

The Queen's passing, frankly, has been like the loss of a family member, as it should. Her Majesty is the only monarch a generation-plus has known, and we have experienced every moment of her life, every joyous occasion, every triumph, every sorrow and every challenge.

I looked back at just some of the historical events that our Queen has presided over in her 70 years of reigning the Commonwealth, and they are quite remarkable. Much has been said over the last couple of days about that, but it is important to highlight that her service did not just start with her coronation in 1953. It started well in advance of that, in 1945, when the Queen joined the British military when she turned 18. She joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, ATS, as a mechanic during World War II. The Queen made a state visit to the United States, where she addressed the nations of the United Nations General Assembly, on behalf of the Commonwealth, and then she opened the 23rd Canadian Parliament, becoming the first monarch in Canada to open a parliamentary session. She was the first monarch to visit West Germany.

There were so many disasters, so many joys and so many triumphs. I am thinking back to 1966 and the Aberfan disaster, which led, eventually, to the 1969 Mines and Quarries Act.

In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, paid their first visit to Hong Kong. This was the first visit to Hong Kong by a reigning British monarch. As has been mentioned, she opened the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom, which meant that the people of Great Britain had, effectively, two iron ladies.

In 1982, on April 17, Queen Elizabeth II and then prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, as well as then minister of justice Jean Chrétien and André Ouellet, the then registrar general, signed the proclamation that brought the Constitution Act of 1982 into force. The proclamation confirmed that Canada had formally assumed authority over its constitution, the final step to full sovereignty, not far from where we are today.

In 1991, she addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, following the coalition victory in the Gulf War. In 2015, she became the longest-reigning British monarch, surpassing her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

There has been sorrow, much sorrow, including the loss of her beloved husband of 74 years, Prince Philip, in 2021. Of course, this year, the Queen celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, after a record of 70 years on the throne.

As the most widely travelled Commonwealth monarch, Queen Elizabeth II made 22 official visits to Canada and seven to Toronto. Her first was in 1951, as Princess Elizabeth, where she visited in place of her father, who was ill, and her last was in 2010.

Through everything, she did it with strong determination, grace, humility, wisdom, loyalty and, above all, selfless service.

She was also modernizing the monarchy, bringing it into the 21st century. Think for a minute how communication and technology changed over her lifetime and how she ably adapted to that, from that first radio address pledging herself to a life of service, to a recent video with Paddington Bear on the occasion of her Platinum Jubilee. She was always there to communicate and give comfort in good times and in bad.

We will miss her steady hand and her confidence that no matter how bad things are, they will be better. For me, Her Majesty's eternal optimism and humility is what I will miss the most.

I am sure by now, since the Queen's passing, millions of people around the world have seen that Paddington Bear video produced just three months ago for the Platinum Jubilee concert. It was one of the last times any of us saw the Queen before her passing because she was just not fit enough to attend the concert.

It is stated in a recent BBC article that the video was written by some of the people who worked on the Paddington films. They said, “We knew Paddington and the Queen stood for, and still do stand for, certain similar values—the idea that, be kind and polite and the world will be right.” That was said by co-writer James Lamont recently in a BBC Radio 5 interview.

He also said:

It just felt very natural that those two could share a space together. They would both welcome each other, because they're both cut from the same cloth.

We also thought there was some inherent comedy in the idea of Paddington, who we know is a bit of a klutz and a bit of a bull in a china shop at times—putting him in Buckingham Palace in front of the Queen, where etiquette and behaviour are obviously paramount.

Little did anyone know that the video produced through the magic of television would provide so much comfort to so many in this time of grief, but it has. There is a scene in the video where the clumsy bear, after squishing his lunch, reaches into his hat and offers Her Majesty his marmalade sandwich, his favourite, saying he always keeps one for emergencies, to which she replies, after reaching into her purse, “So do I...for later.” Today, so do I, for later.

At that moment, they came together and embodied so many of the values that the world needs right now: kindness, toleration, being kind to strangers and politeness, things that are about one's character. It is those values that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth embodied throughout her whole life, no matter how good or how bad things were. That is what made her so special and it is what we should all strive to be.

Today, I pledge my allegiance to King Charles III. As I conclude, I will leave everyone with the words of a clumsy, lovable bear who became an unlikely royal mascot, who has been a source of comfort and who has brought a smile to people around the world during this difficult time, words that many of us would have loved the chance to say to Her Majesty: “Thank you Ma'am, for everything.”

[Business of the House, June 23rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, you will be glad to know that I have been cleaning out my very messy desk and I am sure that the pages will be glad to hear that as well.

Before my Thursday question, I just want to say, on behalf of our entire Conservative family, how great it is to see you after what you went through. Your health is returning and your strength is returning, and certainly your voice is returning, which is good. We are glad that you are on your way to much better health.

I also want to thank your deputy and your assistant deputies as well, along with our clerk's staff, the Clerk himself, our administration staff and everyone who supports the work that we do here in Parliament.

I know that it has been a difficult couple of years, but I do want to say thanks to the cleaners, the cooks, the bus drivers, the PPS—everybody—for doing such a great job. Our thanks go to all of them.

Allow me some time to personally say thanks to my constituency staff back in Barrie—Innisfil, my Hill staff here, and also our House leader staff.

I took over this position at the beginning of February. I want to thank all of my staff in my House leader's office for supporting me and the work that we can do on behalf of our colleagues.

We simply could not do this without their help and certainly we could not do this without their guidance.

Here is my question for the hon. government House leader: Can he tell the House and tell Canadians what the business of the House will be?