Mike Morrice

[Privilege, May 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we are fortunate to have debate in this place like we just heard from the member for Vancouver East. We are lucky that we can reflect on the words she shared with us this morning.

I am deeply concerned to hear about the double standard that exists for members in this place when it comes to foreign interference, and I would really appreciate hearing more from her. I understand that she wants to see Bill C-70 move ahead quickly. However, my concern is that the government is going to say that it is no problem at all, that it will all be solved, that Bill C-70 will fix the issues we have shared when it comes to foreign interference.

Could the member share with us the extent to which she feels that is or is not the case? Could she also share more, elaborating on the question from our colleague, the member for North Island—Powell River, on the extent to which she would like to see the government do more, and do it faster, to address the deep concerns she shared with respect to foreign interference?

[Petitions, May 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise this morning to present a well-timed petition, given the debate last night, calling for a guaranteed income.

The petitioners call for a guaranteed livable income for every Canadian with a social insurance number. They note that this could establish an income floor below which no Canadian would fall; that it would establish a national framework that would replace the current provincial and territorial patchwork system; that it could reduce poverty, of course, thereby reducing the demand on social services, law enforcement and health care, resulting in additional cost savings for government and for taxpayers; and, most importantly, it would provide a financial social safety net for all Canadians. As a result, the petitioners call on the Government of Canada to implement a guaranteed livable income for all Canadians.

[Petitions, May 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present a petition today noting that a guaranteed livable income would guarantee a livable monthly income to every Canadian with a social insurance number. It would establish an income floor below which no Canadian could fall and reflect regional differences in cost of living.

The petitioners note that a guaranteed income could replace the current patchwork of federal and provincial income assistance programs with a single universal national benefit. It could be progressively—

[Petitions, May 8th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition that I am honoured to present on behalf of folks who note that, first of all, Statistics Canada makes it clear that there are 4.8 million Canadians who do not have a regular doctor. The petitioners go on to note that this is a number that has remained stable over a number of years. It is even worse in rural communities, although it is quite bad in urban centres as well.

The petitioners have a very simple recommendation. They are calling on the House of Commons to ensure that the Government of Canada works with all provinces and territories across the country to come to a holistic and fair solution to Canada's family doctor shortage.

[Climate Change, May 8th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it should not need to be said that the climate crisis we are in requires a reduction in oil consumption. One would then think that, when the government speaks of a “great national project”, it would be speaking of fully electrified, high-speed rail. Instead, sadly, it is proudly celebrating $44 billion of our money being wasted to accelerate the crisis by building a pipeline to export some of the world's dirtiest oil. When will this PM realize that climate leaders do not build pipelines?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1, May 7th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, division 38 of Bill C-69 is where the Liberals have put in some amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with respect to sending detained immigrants to federal penitentiaries. Not only are jails the most expensive way to house a person in this country, but human rights groups like Amnesty International have been sounding the alarm about this. At a time when all 10 provinces have already committed to ending their immigration detention agreements, instead of following the provinces' lead and working to end immigration detention, why is the federal government planning to use federal prisons for immigration detention?

[Foreign Affairs, May 6th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I want to start by agreeing with my friend from Milton. Yes, we condemn Hamas. Yes, Hamas must release all hostages. Yes, from his own personal experience, he knows better than most, having seen from his time in Gaza, that things have only gotten worse there in the time since.

It is also true that it has been six weeks now since this Parliament passed a motion calling on the government that he is a part of to take further action. It has been three months since the International Court of Justice called on the State of Israel to take six immediate steps to prevent acts of genocide.

It is critical that the Liberal government call on Israel to follow through on that ICJ ruling. Can the member speak, particularly on this night, as we know the invasion of Rafah has begun, to what can and will be done by the current government to call for the ICJ ruling to be followed?

[Foreign Affairs, May 6th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, as we speak tonight, Israel is launching its long-threatened ground invasion of densely populated Rafah in southern Gaza, and 1.4 million civilians are braced for what the United Nations warned could lead to a bloodbath. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's government has rejected the terms of a ceasefire agreement, 132 hostages remain held by Hamas, and the UN World Food Programme says that northern Gaza has entered full-blown famine.

Even before tonight, over 35,000 Palestinians had already been killed in Gaza over the past seven months, including more than 15,000 children. This is all happening two months after the International Court of Justice called on the State of Israel to take six immediate steps to prevent genocide. The Canadian government must press Israel and the Netanyahu government to follow the ICJ ruling and avoid further civilian loss of life.

I should not have to call for this. We already did it. In mid-March, Parliament passed a motion that called on the Government of Canada to take 10 actions. The terms of the motion are the will of Canadians as represented by a large majority of MPs in the House, and the parliamentary secretary and all but three of his Liberal colleagues supported the motion.

We have now given the government plenty of time to demonstrate that it deserves the trust of Canadians in following through on the critical terms of the motion One of the actions, restoring funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, was followed. Disappointingly, however, many actions seem to have been ignored, including ending arms exports to Israel and placing sanctions on extremist settlers. Another action that seems to have been ignored was supporting the work of the International Court of Justice, and to support the ICJ, the Government of Canada must press the State of Israel to follow its ruling.

One of the ICJ's six provisional measures issued in late January called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza, yet just over a month after the ruling, on February 29, we learned of the Flour Massacre, in which 118 Palestinians were killed and 760 were injured after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians seeking food from aid trucks in Gaza City. At the time, I had risen to press the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the ICJ measures to be followed, yet it got worse.

Just over a month later, Israel said it mistakenly struck a World Central Kitchen convoy, killing seven aid workers, including dual Canada-U.S. citizen Jacob Flickinger. Two weeks later, a Canadian humanitarian aid organization, the International Development and Relief Foundation, IDRF, had its water truck bombed. The water truck was paid for entirely by Canadian donors, and thousands of people have been without water as a result of the bombing. No humanitarian aid worker should be killed in a conflict zone, yet according to the UN, more than 200 workers have died since October 7, 2023, in Gaza.

Ensuring that humanitarian aid flows in Gaza is just one of six measures. As Greens, we continue to call for the government to press for all six measures to be followed by the State of Israel to prevent acts of genocide; for a ceasefire, as we have called for since October 8, 2023; for all hostages to be released by Hamas; for a two-way embargo on military equipment to Israel; and for sanctions on extremist settlers.

The government should be doing everything possible to protect innocent civilians, including aid workers and the hostages, yet with the ground invasion of Rafah now under way, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has become all the more dire. Urgent action is needed from the Canadian government.

Therefore, my question to the parliamentary secretary is this: What is his government doing in response to the invasion of Rafah, and what specifically is the government doing to call on the State of Israel to follow the ICJ ruling to prevent acts of genocide?

[Pharmacare Act, May 6th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, these are obviously not points of order. I think the member should continue her speech.

[Petitions, May 6th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to present a petition on behalf of folks who note, first of all, that thermal coal, the kind used to generate electricity, is the world's dirtiest fossil fuel. They note that thermal coal is responsible for half of the world's carbon footprint. They note that the world needs to rapidly move away from thermal coal if we have any hope of holding on to the 1.5°C target set in Paris to limit global warming.

Petitioners go on to note many of the physical effects of the climate crisis, from permafrost melt to drought and wildfires, much of which we are seeing across the country and even more so around the world. They also note that Canada's greenhouse gas emissions are actually the worst of any G7 country since the 2015 Paris Agreement, and certainly since 1990.

Petitioners go on to then call on the Government of Canada to do two very specific things. The first is to add thermal coal to the priority substances list of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and as soon as possible to the toxic substances list of CEPA and, as a result of doing that, to go on to regulate the mining, use, export and import of thermal coal in accordance with our international commitments, effectively banning the export of thermal coal.