Mike Lake

[Accessible Canada Act, May 28th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to hear the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, the person in charge of the legislative agenda for the government, talk about the urgency of passing this legislation. Certainly we all share that sense of urgency. We have heard from stakeholders who almost unanimously want to see this legislation passed. All members in this House are committed to that, so stakeholders can rest assured that it will happen.

However, the current government has been in government for almost 30,000 hours. We are down to the last month that the House is sitting before the next election campaign, and finally we are getting around to debating this important piece of legislation.

I would ask my hon. colleague to reinforce, for stakeholders who are watching this debate today, his commitment and our official opposition's commitment to seeing this important legislation passed before the House rises for the election.

[World Autism Awareness Day, April 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday was World Autism Awareness Day and the anniversary of my son Jaden's diagnosis at age two.

Autism comes with no end of labels, and in Jaden's case, one of those labels is non-verbal. Ironically, I think Jaden's most important label is his name.

I say ironically because unbeknownst to us when we named him, Jaden's name means “God has heard.” There are few things I know for sure, but I know this. My 23-year-old non-verbal son has something to say. He says it in the simple words he types or writes. He says it with a sideways smile, a mysterious giggle, a whimsical look and sometimes with heartfelt tears.

If people have the patience to just wait on him, quietly be present with him, joining him in the moment, in his moment, he will touch their hearts in the most magical of ways. They will hear his voice and they will never forget what he has to say.

[Justice, March 22nd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, for 31 straight hours over the past three days, members of the House voted 200 times on essentially one question: “If nothing wrong took place, then why don't we waive privilege on the whole issue and let those who have something to say on it speak their minds and share their stories?”

That quote is from a current member of the Liberal caucus who inarguably was considered on all sides as one of the most respected members of the Liberal cabinet until she resigned her post this month, citing her lost confidence in her government.

The marathon vote taught us a lot of things: first, that the Prime Minister will go to extraordinary lengths to cover up this story; second, that there is constantly more to this story to uncover; and finally, that members of this Conservative team, and indeed all opposition parties, are resolved that Canadians will have the information they need to hold their government to account.

It has been said, “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” This is going to happen one way or another. Canadians will demand the truth.

[Interim Supply, March 21st, 2019]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am wondering if you could confirm for the House that the Liberal budget document is in fact a prop. Particularly in the hands of an Alberta member of Parliament, it is certainly nothing but a prop.

[Interim Estimates, March 21st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, this is the second time this has happened today. It is very predictable. The member has been able to hear every other time, except when this happens. We are adamant that it was very clear when you started the question. It was very quiet when you started the question, and you ought not start again. You can start where you left off when you called his point of order. I would respectfully request that, because this has happened before, and he is clearly playing games.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 27th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, the government members, as they often do, stand and say that Canadians elected them to blah, blah or in 2015 Canadians voted for blah, blah. However, the legacy of the government is going to be a government that said a whole bunch of things in 2015 and then did a whole bunch of different things in the three years following.

We hear that in questions from members of all parties regarding things that the Liberals said around closure, omnibus bills, electoral reform. Of course, in their 2015 platform, they said, “After the next two fiscal years, the deficit will decline and our investment plan will return Canada to a balanced budget in 2019.”

My question for the minister is clear. There is a very clear promise regarding a balanced budget in 2019. She has a lot of very rosy things to say about the Canadian economy, so what is the rationale, what is the reason the government would give to the Canadian people for the fact that it is running so desperately behind its promised projection for the balance it made just three years ago?

[Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services Operations Legislation, November 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, maybe the hon. member was preparing at the last second to make a speech today. He did not seem to be prepared to make a speech and may not have had the time or benefit of going back and seeing what he had said previously in the House about these things, but I did have a little time to look at a few things. Going back to March 13, 2012, he said the following about our minister at the time:

As I think she may be somewhat of a pioneer here, my question to the minister is this. Would she know if this is the first time that legislation to limit the debate on back to work legislation preceded that back to work legislation? Is she aware if this is the first time this has ever happened? She may be a pioneer.

On June 18, 2013, he called the use of closure “abuse of the democratic process in this House.” It is something he said repeatedly in the House during those years in opposition.

Does he think what is happening today is “an abuse of the democratic process in this House”?

[Resumption and Continuation of Postal Services Operations Legislation, November 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to the hon. member's speech. I appreciate that on an issue where there is so much passion, she delivered her speech with a lot of respect and constraint.

I listened closely to her talking about choosing a side in the interest of looking at Canada Post workers specifically and something that would be in their interests. As I perused the Canada Post pension holdings, the holdings of the pensioners of Canada Post, I noted that among those holdings the sixth highest holding is Canadian Natural Resources Limited, $100 million; Enbridge, the seventh highest holding, $98 million; Suncor, $92 million; and Trans Canada, $68 million. Those four companies alone represent $358 million.

As the member talks about choosing in the interests of Canada Post workers, I would ask that she consider working with her party to come to a position in the interests of those workers and support Canada's energy sector. I wonder if she would take that to heart in upcoming conversations in support of Canadian postal workers.

[World Polio Day, October 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, today is World Polio Day, a day to shine a spotlight on international efforts to end polio. On the subject of global polio eradication, Nelson Mandela said it best, back in 1996: “[O]ur aim is not merely to reduce the numbers afflicted - it is to eliminate the disease completely. No country can be safe from this disease until the whole world is rid of it.”

Today, we are closer to that goal than ever, and Canada has played a leading role. In fact, three Canadian prime ministers, Jean Chrétien, Stephen Harper and the current Prime Minister, have been recipients of the Rotary Foundation's Polio Eradication Champion Award. This is a testament to Canada's enduring commitment to this fight, working with equally dedicated partners, like Rotary International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Citizen, UNICEF and RESULTS.

Here, it is all too rare for us to find common ground, but in uniting around the efforts of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we have done so, and the world is a better place for it. Now we need to finish the job, once and for all.

[Carbon Pricing, October 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the parliamentary secretary answers a question that the minister refused to answer yesterday.

Given that support for the carbon tax, which forms the backbone of the Liberals' climate plan, is literally disintegrating around it and given that even in the best case scenario there are huge gaps between emissions projections and the Paris targets, how many billions of Canadian taxpayer dollars is the government projecting will have to be spent on overseas carbon credits in order to make up for the Liberals' climate plan shortfalls?