Justin Trudeau

[Ethics, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect all parliamentarians to have the highest ethical standards and behaviour that is beyond reproach. It is essential that we maintain Canadians' trust and demonstrate an approach that is worthy of the trust that Canadians have in us.

[Standing Orders of the House of Commons, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about their future. That is why we are pleased to present a budget that invests in their future and that helps the middle class.

I look forward to answering questions about what we are doing for Canadians, because that is what our job requires, that is, serving Canadians to the best of our ability.

[Standing Orders of the House of Commons, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to welcome all the young people in the gallery. We are going to present a budget that will help the middle class and assure its future. That is the type of thing that we should be discussing. The fact that we are proposing—

[Standing Orders of the House of Commons, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder about the schoolchildren in the gallery who are wondering how effective this Parliament actually is right now.

We are proposing a way to discuss how to improve the quality of debate and allow the government to be held to account in a thoughtful, responsible way, and this kind of shouting is what they get. That is not worthy of this Parliament. It is not worthy of the people they serve.

[Standing Orders of the House of Commons, March 22nd, 2017]

Again, Mr. Speaker, the way we are going about this is by opening a discussion, having an open conversation with the members opposite about how to—

[Standing Orders of the House of Commons, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the previous government would not have put out an open discussion paper nor would it have engaged with the opposition in proposed months of discussion in committee on the best way to move forward.

We are happy to be launching an open conversation on how to improve the functioning of this Parliament in a way that meets the needs of Canadian families and Canadian members of Parliament. The fact is we are happy that we are launching in an open way an important conversation that apparently the members opposite really do not want to have.

[Standing Orders of the House of Commons, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to highlight that we are always open to improvements and ways to be able to hold this government to account. That includes looking at how things are done elsewhere, including in the U.K., where the prime minister has an entire question period devoted to answering questions.

[Standing Orders of the House of Commons, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am always pleased to be here in this House to answer tough questions, and easy ones like the member just asked me.

The fact is that we are always looking for ways to improve things, and today, as we reflect upon the seat of democracy in London, the fact is that we are putting forward a broad range of proposals, including one—

[Standing Orders of the House of Commons, March 22nd, 2017]

On the contrary, Mr. Speaker, we were pleased to put out a broad discussion paper on how we can make improvements to the functioning of this House of Commons so that members can better hold the government to account, so we can move forward on legislation, so we can make for a better work-life balance for the many individuals in this House with young families. This is so that members can do a better job of working efficiently here in Ottawa while serving their constituents back at home.

I am excited to be launching an open conversation for all members of this House to participate in. I encourage the members opposite to continue to contribute their thoughtful ideas to this process.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, March 22nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is extraordinarily fortunate because we have citizens who understand that a strong immigration policy is a benefit to the country, but also requires a rigorous process and protected borders. That is why we are ensuring that all Canadian laws are being followed. We continue to make sure that our police agencies and border services have all the resources they need to deal with situations that arise, as, for example, are arising in Manitoba and in Quebec. We continue to make sure that Canadians are confident that our system is strong and solid.