John Nater

[Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act, February 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is obviously with great regret that this House has learned of the passing of Canada's 18th prime minister, the Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney.

Obviously, all members join us in wishing the Mulroney family our deepest sympathy at this time as they deal with the loss of this great statesman, who has done so much for our country. I join all Canadians in offering our condolences. Out of respect, I would like to seek unanimous consent for the following motion. I move:

That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the House:

(a) the motion respecting Senate amendments to Bill C-35, An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada, be deemed adopted; and

(b) this House do now adjourn.

[Memorial Park in Listowell, February 28th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, February 28, 1959, would come to be known as Listowel's darkest day. It was a Saturday morning, like any other, and the town's peewee hockey team was on the ice, but at 9:27 a.m., the arena's roof collapsed, killing seven boys and the town's recreation director. The town came together and supported those who were injured, grieved with the families of those lost and pledged to remember the eight lives lost.

Today, 65 years later, the land where the arena once stood is now vacant, but not for long. The Friends of '59 and the Memorial Arena Park 59 Committee are working to create a permanent park where the arena once stood. The memorial arena park would ensure that Listowel's darkest day is never forgotten and the light of the eight lives lost will always be remembered.

[Committees of the House, February 27th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to table the Conservative dissenting report to this report.

Conservative members on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts demand action be taken, given the incompetence of government ministers when it comes to building a hydrogen industry in Canada. The commissioner found that the government's plan is not transparent or clear and that it relies on policies that have not been announced and are not in effect. The truth is, the Liberal government does not have a real plan or real strategy to make hydrogen a greater part of Canada's energy supply. Instead, both departments relied on unfounded assumptions, incomplete modelling and faulty data to present an ideal scenario that is not realistic.

Our Conservative dissenting report provides five recommendations that demand accountability through accurate costs, a consistent framework and a real long-term plan. Aspirations are not a plan.

[Carbon Pricing, February 15th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister easily found $60 million for his ArriveCAN app, but he still wants to quadruple the carbon tax on gas, groceries and home heating. While the typical Canadian family will pay $700 more to put food on the table this year, the Prime Minister is raising the carbon tax by 23% on April 1.

After eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, more and more Canadians are struggling to make ends meet and pay for food, heat and housing. The Prime Minister is not worth the tax or the cost.

Will the Prime Minister give Canadians some relief and axe the tax?

[Committees of the House, February 12th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, for two years, parliamentary committees have been investigating the cozy relationship between government officials and highly paid insiders.

Documents tabled at committee showed that the two-person-in-a-basement firm GC Strategies was hosting dinners and whiskey tastings for the same government officials who were giving multi-million-dollar contracts, all while government officials were getting mighty high bonuses.

Could the chair of the mighty government operations committee inform the House of when the committee will next meet and when we will get answers for all Canadians?

[Committees of the House, January 29th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am troubled by it. I am troubled by the entire situation. We ought not to be in a situation of removing Speakers prior to the end of a term. One of the reasons we elect a Speaker at the beginning of the term is that they ought to be there for the entirety of the Parliament, so we can build the trust that they are there from a non-partisan perspective for the entirety of the Parliament.

What we have seen now is that it did not happen. Normally, a member would run at the beginning of a Parliament and be able to express their platform and their ideas. That did not happen in this particular case, because of the mid-session removal of the Speaker.

This ought not to become the norm. It would certainly be my preference if we elected one Speaker at the beginning of the Parliament and they had the full trust of the House to serve out the entirety of a Parliament.

[Committees of the House, January 29th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from Regina—Lewvan is unfortunately correct that the current Speaker is the only one to have broken the ethics law and to have been found in violation by the Ethics Commissioner for past actions, so that is a concern, and this ties into some of the concerns we all had when we tried to provide him with the benefit of the doubt, when he was first elected, with respect to his past partisan activities. We remember him rising in the House of Commons immediately after the Prime Minister physically elbowed a member from the Bloc Québécois. The current Speaker rose in his place to try to dismiss it and say that the member was diving like a soccer player. There was a real concern in the past activities we have seen from this particular Speaker in the time leading up to his taking on this current responsibility.

[Committees of the House, January 29th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the member for North Island—Powell River made the comment that the Speaker should be above partisanship, and I would hope that all of us in the House can agree that whoever is the Speaker of the House of Commons has to not only be above partisanship, but also be seen to be above partisanship. I think the unfortunate case we have seen here is a series of infractions by one Speaker, the current Speaker, that have led us down this path, and we have to deal with this issue, first and foremost.

Before we go to a broader study of the role of the Speaker and the office of Speaker, we have to first agree with the exigencies of the current situation, in which we have a seen a Speaker, on multiple occasions, undertake actions that have seemed to be partisan and outside the scope of what the impartiality of a Speaker ought to be. First and foremost, we need PROC to deal with the current Speaker before any further studies are undertaken on the more broad question of the office of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

[Committees of the House, January 29th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. Bloc Québécois whip for that great question.

I agree that we need to know why the Speaker did not provide all the information to the committee. Why did he not say that he had attended a partisan event in Pontiac hosted by the Liberal Party of Quebec, with Liberal supporters from Quebec, and that donations were solicited by people at the event? That is a big question.

We even have information showing that he asked a former MP to write an article condemning the opposition parties here in the House of Commons.

These facts are new to the committee. They were not brought up during the committee meeting, and we need to ask the Speaker of the House these questions.

[Committees of the House, January 29th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is very clear that this is a pattern of abuse by this Speaker, by this Liberal-appointed Speaker, in his robes and in his tricorne hat.