Leah Taylor Roy

[Committees of the House, November 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I will continue.

I was talking about things that matter to all of my constituents and that matter to Canadians, and right now, the behaviour of the Conservatives is something that most Canadians should be very concerned about. It is not just about what they are doing in the House and the personal attacks, but about the fact that the Leader of the Opposition will not get a security clearance. I believe “ignorance is bliss” is their basic motto right now. They try to put their heads in the sand and just ignore what is happening—

[Committees of the House, November 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I did not hear the retraction. I am sorry, but it is important. I just heard an apology.

[Committees of the House, November 5th, 2024]

I would like a ruling on this, Mr. Speaker, because this is not the first time this has happened to me in the House. The Conservatives are making a point of attacking me personally about things that have nothing to do with the business of the House. Personal attacks are not permitted in this place.

[Committees of the House, November 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, that was a personal attack. It had nothing to do with what I was talking about. I would like to see some rulings about the Conservatives attacking people personally as opposed to talking about politics—

[Committees of the House, November 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Kingston and the Islands.

I am proud to rise to speak in this place on behalf of the constituents of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill. However, I am not proud of the behaviour of the members of the official opposition, who are wasting taxpayer money on filibusters, feigning concern for issues they otherwise dismiss, such as environmental progress, and preventing real progress on issues that matter to Canadians. I will try to address some of the disinformation that has been put forward by them as they use up the time available in this place to avoid doing the real work that needs to be done for Canadians.

Let me start with one fundamental flaw in the Conservatives' arguments, and they do it repeatedly. It has been done since I have been in this place. They have an inability to understand the difference between correlation and causality. This is from a first-year statistics course that perhaps they missed. They continue to say that because something happened during the same period of time as something else, it was caused by that. We know that is not the case. Many things happen during the same period of time but are not caused by that thing.

Today, we heard a member opposite state that Canada's economic challenges are caused by the price on pollution program. The Conservatives constantly state that food prices are higher because of the carbon levy. It is simply not true. The misinformation they continue to spread has turned many Canadians against fighting the great fight against climate change, an existential threat.

Young people are discouraged. They hear us talk in this place in a way that does not address the concerns that are giving them great anxiety. Trevor Toombs, an economist, the Bank of Canada and many independent studies have indicated that this program is not responsible for the high inflation we have experienced. At most, it accounts for 1%, and much less by most studies.

Economists know and I believe the Conservative Party knows that the COVID pandemic, the post-COVID economy, supply chain issues and the conflicts around the world have caused global inflation. The inflation we saw was not just in Canada, but around the world. Although I wish that every country around the world had a price on pollution program, that is not the case.

[Committees of the House, November 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for that very impressive speech. I share his views.

We are sitting here and debating this because the opposition is feigning concern for the climate crisis and for what is happening. I am very curious as to why the NDP is continuing to allow this filibuster to continue, and I wonder why it continues to support the Conservative Party and what that party is doing to actually prevent us from moving forward and taking real action on issues such as Bill C-73. I am sure the member would agree with me that this is an incredibly important bill to fight climate change and to protect our environment. Could the hon. member comment on that?

[Women and Gender Equality, October 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, last week, we found out that an ex-Conservative MP left his party after seeing the increase in the number of anti-choice MPs in the caucus. Anti-choice organizations that support those MPs use deceptive tactics to push women away from making informed choices and accessing a full range of reproductive care through so-called pregnancy crisis centres.

Could the Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Youth please share with the House what our government is doing to require more transparency from pregnancy crisis centres that encumber a woman's right to choose by providing biased and unscientific counsel?

[Privilege, October 24th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite, and many members opposite, have continually referred to the chair and board of SDTC as Liberal insiders. I am just wondering if the member opposite knows anything about Annette Verschuren. She was the past chair of the board, and she was an adviser to Harper, Flaherty and others in the Conservative Party, as well as a major donor to the Conservative Party.

If that is not a friend to the Conservatives, then I am wondering who the member considers to be a friend to the Conservatives.

[Privilege, October 24th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I find it really interesting that the member opposite is talking about putting up another committee to look at an issue. There is a suggestion that the papers he wants to have examined can go to a committee, that we can move forward on this issue by actually following the suggestions of a committee already in place, as was suggested by the Speaker. He seems to be suggesting quite freely that people's information, including their names and the allegations against them, as well as any personal information that might be in those business documents, could be released to whomever asks for them.

While I realize this is our right and our privilege, we need to exercise that right with some discretion. I would maintain that our Charter of Rights and Freedoms actually supersedes our right to do whatever we want in the House.

[Sexual and Reproductive Health, October 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, women and gender-diverse Canadians deserve to know their government has their back. With the recent passage of the Pharmacare Act on October 10, we will soon see nine million women and gender-diverse Canadians have access to free contraceptives if they need it. This will change millions of lives for generations to come, and we will look back at this critical moment for women and gender-diverse people across Canada and be proud that our government stepped up to make the Pharmacare Act a reality.

Having family values means valuing and supporting families. The latest policy, through the Pharmacare Act, gives access to free contraceptives; this joins universal child care, the Canada child benefit and many others in supporting families. Our Liberal government does not just talk about family values; we invest in them through progressive policies, such as access to free contraceptives.