Justin Trudeau

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to let the supposed arguments of the Leader of the Opposition stand for Canadians to judge whether or not he is making any sense at all. I am not going to dignify that with a response.

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, for someone who prides himself on having spent as many years in Parliament as the Leader of the Opposition has, including having been the minister of democratic institutions, albeit under Stephen Harper, to demonstrate such little knowledge and respect for how Parliament functions in order to make a partisan attack is truly disgraceful.

The fact of the matter is, we will continue to stand for the principles and values that make our democracy strong, even as, and even because, we stand with Ukraine.

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, do members know who does not report to the Prime Minister in our parliamentary system? The Speaker of the House of Commons does not report to the Prime Minister.

It is well established that the independence of the Speaker is sacrosanct. If the Leader of the Opposition wants to change that, let him stand up to say that.

We will continue to defend the principles and the rights of parliamentarians, even as we stand with Ukraine against the illegal invasion by Russia.

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I just apologized on behalf of parliamentarians and Canadians. We will continue to be there to stand with President Zelenskyy and Ukrainians.

However, if members of the opposition want the help of security agencies in vetting their guests, if they would like, for example, for us to vet who three members of their team would have lunch with, when they are meeting with a far-right German politician, we would be happy to give them advice on who they should meet with and who they should not meet with.

Respecting Parliament and parliamentary privilege continues to be our—

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we apologized today on behalf of all parliamentarians. For the past few days, we have been saying how sorry we are about the mistake made by the Speaker of the House of Commons.

We will keep working not only to defend Ukraine but also to support the Jewish community, which has been facing a global rise in anti-Semitism for the past several years. We will always be there to defend the principles of the rule of law and openness toward others, and we will always fight alongside Ukrainians in order to do so.

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, for days now, we have been apologizing to President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people through diplomatic channels, and we continue to work hand in hand with the Ukrainian government to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine from this barbaric Russian invasion, from this violation of international law. We continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. That is the message I communicate regularly to President Zelenskyy when I talk to him.

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we all recognize that the former speaker of the House made a serious mistake.

As we consider the election of the next Speaker of the House, we will want to determine how we can ensure that mistakes like this never happen again. The government will always be there to work with opposition parties or the Speaker to check the background of anyone who comes to the House, but it should not be a government violating the fundamental rights of parliamentarians.

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, Conservative members are well aware that the independence of the Speaker of the House of Commons is critically important in our parliamentary system.

The government of the day has no veto power or control over the guests chosen by other parties or even by the Speaker of the House.

It is extremely important that we continue to unequivocally stand on the side of Ukraine and the international rule of law. We will always stand with the people of Ukraine and against Russia.

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that all parliamentarians agreed unanimously yesterday that the tribute to this individual would be withdrawn. That is what happened yesterday. We do not want that to stand in the future.

However, we also know that we need to continue to stand every day with the people of Ukraine as they fight against this illegal invasion by Vladimir Putin and as they stand for rule-based order and the principles of the UN Charter, which protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of us all. This government and this country will always stand unequivocally with Ukraine.

[Foreign Affairs, September 27th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, it was incredibly upsetting that this happened. The outgoing Speaker took responsibility and resigned, which was the right thing to do.

We recognize the deep pain this caused for Jewish communities and for all who were victims of Nazi atrocities, as well as their descendants. It was an embarrassment for Parliament and Canadians. It reaffirms the need to keep promoting and investing in Holocaust education, something our government has continued to support and always will.