Ken Hardie

[Committees of the House, October 18th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I honour the member for the service that he has provided. There is a week coming up in which we need to make sure we do that.

I want the member to reflect on something else that has been in the news, which is associated. The British government has warned ex-RAF fighters not to train Chinese pilots. In addition, we hear that former American service people, including senior officers, have been working with the Saudi Arabian government. I am wondering if he could reflect on what he may know about Canadian ex-military people off on these adventures and whether or not he considers this to be dangerous to the overall picture of world security.

[Committees of the House, October 18th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, there was very telling essay written not long ago, which stated in part, “liberal democracy has now exceeded many people’s capacity to tolerate it.” Let us think about that. Democracy is hard work and we live in an era when people are tired of hard work. They are tired of moving forward. One of the things that is making them tired is the growing distrust of government and institutions.

I would like the hon. member to reflect on that and to look at the dynamics in the House between the opposition, the government and the other parties. Are we driving people to distrust government by the way we behave here, and are there some things that we should be doing better to preserve democracy here at home and be an example for the rest of the world?

[Small Business Week, October 17th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, this is indeed Small Business Week and it is a great time to salute those small and medium-sized enterprises that truly are the foundation of Canada's economy.

It is just as great a time to recognize the people who work so hard to support those business, including people like Dean Barbour of our Fleetwood Business Improvement Association or Baljit Dhaliwal and Anita Huberman of the Surrey Board of Trade. Their tireless work has been backstopped by our government's pandemic supports, the Canada child benefit and so many other programs.

Our government's focus on supporting people who really need some help works, because that money is spent close to home at our local businesses. That is why, unlike the previous Conservative government, we do not send cheques to millionaires and that is why we have more small businesses open for business in Fleetwood—Port Kells today than before the pandemic.

All in all, we are a great team making a big difference for families, small and medium-sized businesses and a strong community.

[Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 2, October 5th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the hon. member that if there were restrictions in Saskatchewan or Alberta, most of those were provincial. The provincial government stepped forward and it did things to protect the citizens from catching COVID and overwhelming our already overwhelmed medical system.

I would like the member to reflect on the dolphin effect that Alberta and Saskatchewan and, perhaps, to a certain degree, Newfoundland and Labrador have gone through by depending so much on oil. There are times that are really good, and other times that are just absolutely atrocious for those provinces. We are seeing today that OPEC and Russia are getting together to cut the amount of oil they are producing to keep the prices high. It seems that we are under the thumb of some gangsters here by depending a lot on oil and oil revenues.

What would the hon. member propose to whatever government we end up with in Alberta and the Government of Saskatchewan to protect themselves and harden themselves from the variations in revenues they have seen from the oil patch?

[Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 1, October 5th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the hon. member's comments, particularly on the notion of regressive taxation, whereby a tax applied to somebody earning $20,000 a year is a bigger hit than the same tax applied to somebody who is earning $200,000 a year.

However, I want to ask the hon. member to reverse that and talk about tax cuts that would affect individuals. If we follow the Conservative line and cut tax, which they have tried to do in the past, and we look at the relative income and the relative impact on people, who would benefit the most on a personal income tax basis from across-the-board tax cuts?

[Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 1, October 5th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, our colleagues in the Conservative Party love tax cuts. I wonder if he could analyze the benefits that come from tax cuts. Who actually benefits if they cut taxes by let us say 5% across the board?

[Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 1, October 5th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to hear the recounting of the increase in the price of things the hon. member mentioned. I am wondering if she can reflect on the fact that there have been no tax increases, yet a litre of gasoline out at the coast is $2.40 or more right now. Food is up, but there has been no additional tax on food. However, the big oil companies are producing record profits and the big grocery chains are producing record profits.

Maybe she can tell the rest of us who is really responsible for the inflation we are seeing on the two key things that are driving the inflation rate: food and petroleum products.

[Business of Supply, September 29th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I must apologize to the hon. member because I will not attempt to speak French with the question I have.

We have seen a “back to the future” move from the Conservative Party. Stephen Harper thought that lowering taxes would promote the trickle-down effect, but what trickled down certainly was not much help to the Canadian economy or the Canadian people. We are hearing the same thing from the new leader of the Conservative Party. Given that they are cut from the same cloth, we should not be surprised.

I would like the hon. member to comment on the effectiveness he sees in the Conservative strategy to simply cut taxes as a way to help people through tough times.

[Business of Supply, September 29th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, the member for Chilliwack—Hope comes from a rural area, so he knows what a load of meadow muffins looks like, and that is what he has just delivered.

In British Columbia, the revenue from the price on pollution goes to reduce income taxes. We pay the lowest income taxes in the country in British Colombia. There has been no increase in taxes on gasoline, so how does he explain the fact that gas prices are $2.30 and headed for $2.50? I would suggest to the member that British Columbians and Canadians are facing the same situation as western Europe is facing with Russia. The oil companies are gouging us, and the sooner we cut these guys out of the equation, the better for everybody.

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

Madam Speaker, as we rose yesterday to observe a minute's silence marking the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, it struck me that it was such an honour and a privilege to be in this place at such a historic moment. I hope that is something we all realize here in the House.

I had not intended to speak, but my thoughts made their way to my family and the connection I have with them now, especially my grandson James, and the connection that being in this place forges for each of us with the descendants who will only know us by the memories we leave.

The memories that our Queen, whose entire reign I have witnessed, has left for us give us an opportunity to reflect on what we too will leave, not only for our families but for our country, given the contribution to our national history that each of us has been privileged to offer by virtue of being here. I know that what we have an opportunity to offer in this moment will be captured as long as there is a Canada. This can be as enduring to our families as that part of unforgettable history our Queen has given to all of us.

My reflections will begin with the fact that our new King, Charles Ill, is of my time. I will reflect more on this in a few moments. King Charles, in fact, is two years younger than I am. Just as he grew up in the realm of the royal family, I grew up in the glow and influence the royal family had on post-war Canada.

Both my grandfathers served for King and country in World War I. Both my parents did likewise in World War II. I was around when King George VI was King and on the throne, and when Sir Winston Churchill and Mackenzie King were prime ministers.

I remember the Queen's coronation, and I remember Canadians' love and affection for her and her love of horses and steam locomotives, not to mention the grease under her fingernails as a mechanic and truck driver during the war. This established her place in our hearts long before her coronation, and learning of her love for Canada only made the bond stronger for my family. I remember my mom getting teary-eyed so many years after the fact whenever she spoke about the abdication of King Edward VIII, and I remember going to the movies where, at the end of the film, the Union Jack would come on the screen and we would all stand for the Queen.

There are a couple of moments I would like to share. One of them starts in 1939, even before my time, when King George and the Queen Mother visited Vancouver to officially open the Lions Gate Bridge and the Hotel Vancouver. The hotel celebrated its anniversary 60 years later by offering amnesty to anyone who had lifted something from the hotel over the years. There was a prize for the most unique item.

Members can imagine my shock and embarrassment to see in the Vancouver Province newspaper that the winner was a relative, my uncle, George Daws, who presented the hotel with a beautiful little sherry glass from which the Queen Mum had sipped. Uncle George hastened to inform all that another uncle, his brother Danny, served the Queen Mum at the hotel during the royal visit, and that it was Danny who pinched the sherry glass. Only now do I reveal the family connection.

For the other moment, we need to fast-forward to the American bicentennial in 1976. At that time, I was working at CFOB, a radio station in Fort Frances, Ontario, right across the river from International Falls, Minnesota. I had the privilege of interviewing photographer John De Visser, who had contributed photos from our region to Canada's bicentennial gift to the United States, Entre Amis, a wonderful collection of photos from along our world's longest, undefended border. John's photos, by the way, grace the National Gallery of Canada and many other places across our country.

During our broadcast, John mentioned that he had been commissioned by the royal family to photograph Prince Charles's 1975 visit to the Canadian north. This was the one where our future King dove underneath the Arctic ice for half an hour to the great worry and wringing of hands everywhere from Ottawa to London. He, by the way, also sampled raw seal liver, which cemented his reputation, at least with me, as either a fearless adventurer or at the very least a very good sport.

There was a big dinner thrown for the Prince of Wales. The whole community was there and they dined on all of the exquisite delicacies that people in the north are fortunate to enjoy. As the story goes, and as John De Visser told it because he was there taking pictures, after the main course, a young Inuit lad was clearing away Charles's dishes. The boy leaned across the table and whispered, “Lick your fork, Duke; there's pie.” If members are fans of Canadian literature, they will see this story recounted in Mordecai Richler's novel Solomon Gursky Was Here.

I would like to end with a reflection about the young fellow who grew up with me and who mourns his mom as I did mine, but who now takes on the enormous mantle of responsibility and history as King Charles III.

Here is someone who has been educated, mentored and shaped his whole life to fulfill a unique constitutional roll as a monarch. He represents the kind of continuity of experience, values and perspective that republics, at least the democratic ones, lack. There is something valuable in that, and it provides our nation with a foundation that serves us well.

Charles III carries with him the values that he and I grew up with, shaped, though, by the monumental changes and challenges human affairs have presented us over our past 70-plus years. He, like most of the generation he and I come from, has had to developed a certain resilience of perspective and adaptation to change.

He will do well, and his son Prince William, the Prince of Wales, will in time benefit from the hand-off he receives from his dad. The education and mentoring William receives, added to the rich history and continuity of the monarchy, will be uniquely placed to offer our nation, and the whole world, the perspective and wisdom that he will be able to provide, plus his modern perspective on the world. This will prove invaluable to everybody around the globe, God willing.

This is not just nostalgia talking. It is projecting the unique strengths Canada has enjoyed, thanks to the royal family, off into its future as one of the world's great and strongest democracies. It is with an eye to that future that many of us with longer life experiences say with great fondness, “Thank you and God bless Queen Elizabeth II” as she, her prince, her corgis and her horses all enjoy their eternal peace.

We will also add, with conviction and hope, God save the King.