Peter Julian

[Public Safety, October 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we are asking for consultation. We cannot let this event divide us. Canadians believe in our country, and we have built an inclusive country that finds its strength in tolerance and diversity.

Canada's Muslim community joins all Canadians in condemning the cowardly and despicable acts of this disturbed individual. We must ensure that no community or group in Canada is targeted with hate or violence.

Can the government inform the House about its efforts to reach out to our Muslim friends and neighbours across Canada?

[Public Safety, October 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the government for its response, but I would like to be clear. When it comes to responding to this week's tragic events, we have to proceed carefully and thoughtfully, and in the spirit of co-operation. We must take advice, of course, from security authorities, and we must engage Canadians, but we must ensure that our actions protect both public safety and civil liberties.

Will the government agree to meaningful consultation with all parties in the House, and will the government ensure that we preserve fundamental Canadian values?

[Public Safety, October 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we were all affected by this week's tragic events.

In responding to those events, we must take an approach that protects both the civil liberties and the safety of Canadians. Those are our Parliament's two basic responsibilities.

What is the government's plan to deal with this challenge?

[Business of the House, October 23rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, each and every week it is a real privilege to rise in my place here in the Chamber of the House of Commons to request of the government what will fill our agenda for the subsequent week.

I must say that it is also a very real privilege to do so each and every week with absolute freedom from fear over the safety and security of this place.

This place is the cornerstone of Canada's democratic institutions. Preserving its openness and transparency, as well as its safety, is of incalculable importance to our democracy. Accordingly, I will echo the gratitude that has been pouring in for the brave men and women who ensure the safety and security of Canada's Parliamentary precinct. Our Sergeant-at-Arms, Kevin Vickers, more than deserves all the thanks and praise that he and his team of security services have received.

I would like to highlight, Mr. Speaker, that the thoughts of the House, of course, as you just mentioned, are with Constable Samearn Son, who sustained a gunshot wound to the leg during the commissioning of his duties to bring yesterday's attack to an end. I was glad to see in Mr. Vickers' statement today that he is in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you and your team, the team of clerks and the procedural staff for doing everything in their power to ensure that we could get back to work this morning on schedule.

With that, and perhaps with a more profound sense of the privilege to do so today, on behalf of all members of Parliament, and indeed all Canadians, I would like to ask my honourable colleague, the government House leader, what to expect on the agenda of the nation's legislature for the remainder of this week and the next.

[Parliament of Canada, October 23rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, after what we have all experienced in the past 24 hours, I believe we have made Canadians proud today.

I think we should thank everyone here for both the questions and the answers. Today, we asked about public safety, child care, small businesses, first nations, and cuts to Canada Post. Would the government House leader not agree that this was an excellent example of the House of Commons at its best?

Did we not just show the world that Canadian democracy stands tall and that it proudly continues?

[National Defence, October 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the plan to combat the Islamic State armed group here in Canada is not the only problem. For the past few days, we have been asking questions in the House about whether the Conservatives plan on engaging in combat operations in Syria. The government refuses to answer simple questions.

The Conservatives did not have to include Syria in their motion, but they did nonetheless.

Why does the Conservatives' proposed combat mission include Syria if they have no intention of going there? Why this total lack of clarity?

[Public Safety, October 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, let us take a simple example: the government boasts about protecting Canadians from the Islamic State armed group, but we saw in committee that that is not true. The government showed that it was unable to combat the radicalization of some individuals.

How come 130 individuals were able to leave Canada to participate in terrorist activities without triggering any action by this government? Why did this government not do anything?

[National Defence, October 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are ending this week with as many questions about the government's ill-defined combat mission in Iraq as they had at the beginning of the week.

One thing has become clear: the Conservatives are forcing Canada into this combat mission with little planning and no real answers about our goals or exit strategy. This sets up an impossible situation.

How can the Department of National Defence produce a plan for a mission that has no clear direction from the government?

[Business of the House, October 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, today we are debating the NDP opposition motion that is based on the notion that it is not good for the economy or the environment to build a big oil terminal with raw unprocessed oil right smack on top of a beluga nursery. We are saying that is not a good idea for the Canadian economy. What we are saying is good for the Canadian economy is green energy.

We are talking about a $1 trillion investment globally in the boom we are seeing in green energy. In the next few years, that number will go up to $3 trillion. This translates into hundreds of thousands of jobs. Unfortunately, because of this government and its lack of knowledge on the subject, we are missing the boat when it comes to green energy. That is what we are debating today.

Obviously, I will ask my colleague, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, what the government is planning for the period following Thanksgiving.

I would like to wish all my colleagues in the House and all Canadians a happy Thanksgiving weekend. We hope everyone will share this time with family.

[Military Contribution Against ISIL, October 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we are seeing from the Minister of Foreign Affairs the same kind of imagination that he used in inventing the idea that the UN resolution in some way justified the government's intervention in his trying to pretend that the NDP had agreed to a certain time tonight for debate and a vote. The point I was making earlier and the point that I stress again is that there had been broad consensus in terms of a vote tonight, though not in terms of the exact time.

However, the issue here is the use of closure, which will take well over an hour out of the debate today that members of Parliament wanted to be engaged in. Certainly the government has shown a profound disrespect yet again, 79 times, to Parliament by invoking closure at the drop of a hat rather than discussing with opposition parties or establishing the kind of consensus that is needed.

My point back to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the question is very simple. Why does the government never seek consensus or discussion and always seek to impose its view?