Rob Oliphant

[Foreign Affairs, June 13th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I will begin by saying Israel has the right, absolutely, to defend itself within the bounds of international law. At the very same time, we have a responsibility to de-escalate this situation. Our minister has been very clear that this escalation will not help.

We have several priorities. We want to ensure hostages are released. We want to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered. We want an immediate ceasefire. Canada will exercise every diplomatic tool we have to ensure that peace, in our ability, is brought to the fore.

[Foreign Affairs, June 13th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the member has raised several issues at the same time. Let me just say the G7 is a huge opportunity for Canada to exercise leadership on the world stage. Our sovereignty, our security and prosperity are tied to global security.

At the same time, Canada is a country of the rule of law. We have cases before the RCMP. We will continue to have those investigations. We will continue to ensure that Canadians are safe at home and abroad.

[Public Safety, June 13th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's question is important on two fronts. It is important to remember, always, that Israel has the right to defend itself. Israel has the right to continue to make sure that it is safe and secure.

At the same time, the government is committed to taking action against the scourge that is anti-Semitism every day in our world. We will continue to stand up and defend Jews in this community to make sure they are safe.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, May 29th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the member on her recent election. I know that she brings an engineering background to the position. She brings an expertise in robotics and artificial intelligence that I think we desperately need in the House of Commons. It is the kind of capacity, the kind of intelligence and the kind of creativity that we will need.

Canada's economy is changing. Not only are we under siege from a threat from the Americans, the American government, at this particular time, but we also need to retool to address the issues of the 21st century. Those sorts of programs about innovation, creativity, increasing productivity, and using and capturing artificial intelligence are critically important for the success of every Canadian.

I wish the member very well in the coming Parliament.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, May 29th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I think we need to look at all of Canada's realities. We need to learn from Quebec when it comes to things like that.

I hope my words about Africa are not lost. Once again, people of the House will dismiss our need to recognize Africa. Half my speech was spent talking about Africa, yet neither of the opposition parties actually wants to engage in this discussion. It is to our benefit that we all engage on it, quit the petty politics of the place and actually talk about some real topics, such as engaging with African countries and with the African diaspora in this country for the betterment of Canadians, so we can pay for the social programs that Quebeckers want us to engage with.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, May 29th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, what I heard overwhelmingly at the door was that the taxpayer needs to know that his or her money is being well used. Taxpayers do not want more spending; they want more investing. They want to invest in projects that are of a national character, that will build the identity and character of this country. They want us to continue the social safety net to make sure all of these programs continue, like the Canada child benefit and the dental benefit.

To do that, we need a strong economy. We need to invest in the energy sector. We need to continue to invest in artificial intelligence. We need to invest in small manufacturing in Ontario. We need to continue to invest in all these ways, in infrastructure and housing, to make sure that we build our country.

We will never apologize for spending money when it leads to good investment.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, May 29th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate you on your appointment as Deputy Speaker. I have great confidence in you in the chair; the chair becomes you. I am really looking forward to it. The support will not be unconditional, but I offer my sincere best wishes.

I also want to begin by thanking the electors of Don Valley West for their support in sending me back for the fifth time to this place. They sent me back with a really good mandate, and it is one that I take on not only with humility but also with empowerment. With the platform our party presented, confidence was expressed in our new Prime Minister, and the thought that Canada's sovereignty may be threatened, which needs strong leadership, is very real for the people in Don Valley West.

I also want to thank the people who did not vote for me. I want to thank the people I met at many doors who have concerns about this country and who expressed those concerns. When we knock on thousands of doors, it is as important to listen to those who may challenge us as it is to listen to our supporters.

I want to talk particularly about some young people who talked to me about affordability and housing costs and about how their lower incomes were not meeting the challenges they faced every day to pay their rent or get a mortgage. I listened particularly to young people in the Yonge and Eglinton area who are paying other people's mortgages and want a chance to own a home themselves. I have listened and our government has heard them, and I believe in the Speech from the Throne we heard Canada's most ambitious housing project ever. I will continue to work on that.

I also want to talk about people who have been worried about crime. Particularly in the Don Mills area, I heard regularly that people are worried and that our government needs to take stronger steps to ensure their streets and homes are safe and that they are personally safe as well. Again, we have listened, and our government will continue to take strong steps against crime to make sure appropriate punishments happen while we continue to build a safer society all around us.

I also want to talk to newcomers. Some newcomers in my riding are very concerned about the ongoing issue of professional accreditation, getting ahead without Canadian experience and making a living in their own communities. I have listened to this as well and will continue to work on that project.

I also want to speak very specifically to the Jewish community and to Jews in my riding who have great concerns about the rise of anti-Semitism and about their personal safety as they gather or even as they walk down the street. I will continue to support zero tolerance for any anti-Semitic comments and slurs or any attacks on either the Jewish community or Jews themselves in my riding, across this country and around the world.

I also want to talk about those who raised the issue of Gaza and Canada's support for the Palestinian people. I will continue to be a strong advocate for peace in the region and for the aspirations of the Palestinian people to eventually have their own state and to find a way to express their statehood in the world. Canada needs to help rebuild Gaza as we bring back a peaceful solution to an ongoing conflict.

All of these concerns were echoed by fiscal Conservatives in my riding. They are worried about our overspending. They are worried about not investing enough. I believe that our new Prime Minister and this new government will be the biggest problem the Conservative Party has. We have listened to those words and have heard them. Our Prime Minister, through the Speech from the Throne, talked about spending less and investing more, and we will continue to do that so Canadians can regain confidence in our ability to manage their money, because it is not our money.

Going to those doors has been extremely important to me. The people have given me a strong mandate, the largest mandate I have had in five elections, and I hope I will continue to earn the trust of those who did not vote for me.

One part of the throne speech I want to draw attention to today in the House is on page 8, which says:

...the Government is working to strengthen its relationships with reliable trading partners and allies around the world, recognizing that Canada has what the world needs and...the world respects.

Canada is ready to build a coalition of like-minded countries that share its values, that believe in international co-operation and the free and open exchange of goods, services, and ideas. In this new, fast-evolving world, Canada is ready to lead.

The reason I want to focus on that part of the Speech from the Throne, which the King so eloquently delivered in the Senate earlier this week, is that just before the election, in the early part of March, I was able to launch, on behalf of the government, Canada's new strategy related to Africa. It is called “Canada's Africa Strategy: A Partnership for Shared Prosperity and Security”. It was two years in the making, with over 160 consultations with groups, individuals, academics, business groups, Africans in their own continent and African Canadians here. Extensive conversation and extensive consultation have led to what I believe is a new approach to Canada's working for and working together with Africans: the whole continent, regional economic communities and individual governments.

The strategy itself is based on “The Africa We Want”, which is Agenda 2063, the strategy of the African Union. It took years to develop Africa's strategy, and Canada has listened to it and taken it to heart to say that the primary concern we need to have in our relationship with Africa is a mutually beneficial partnership. We need to absolutely have a way to look eye to eye with African partners to recognize that the future of Canada rests in a strong social, economic, cultural, trade relationship with the African continent.

Canada has an aging population. Africa has the youngest population in the world. Africa has tremendous opportunities for Canadian markets. We need to find a way to continue to invest in Africa to develop the middle class, to take the burden of having one principal trading partner, which may not be reliable for us, away and to allow ourselves to have trading relationships around the world. We can easily go to Europe. We can easily go to the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions. We can go to Latin America and the American states. We also need to go to Africa.

We need to listen, and this strategy has five principal points. It is about people-to-people ties. It will absolutely engage with the African diaspora in Canada as our cultural, linguistic, trade and economic partners to help us interpret Africa and understand it better. We will begin with a formalized mechanism to do that in our government to ensure that African Canadian voices are heard in every decision we make.

Those people-to-people ties will continue to be important as we expand our diplomatic footprint in Africa to ensure that Canadian businesses have vehicles and mechanisms to get into and understand African markets, which are there for them to engage with. We will continue to work with academics, trading groups, unions, schools and universities to ensure that we have partnerships that will continue to not only benefit Africa, but benefit Canada.

Canada's future is tied to a successful Africa, so we will be involved in peacekeeping and reconciliation of past difficulties. We are going to engage with Africa in such a way that it will say Canada is its preferred economic partner, its preferred trading partner and its preferred partner in agri-food businesses, energy, transportation and small manufacturing. That way, we can help build the African economy, not as a charitable exercise, but as an exercise that will benefit Canadians.

Young Canadians are looking for opportunities. Those opportunities may be found in engaging in business with African countries. We will continue to work with them to ensure that their voices are heard on the international stage. African voices should never be silenced. They should be encouraged.

Canada is in every club that is important: the G7, which is meeting very shortly; the G20; the United Nations; the Organization of American States; La Francophonie; and the Commonwealth. These are groups of countries that Canada needs to help welcome the African Union and African countries into so that they become our strategic partners, our key allies and those with whom Canada can engage with every day, always faithfully, to ensure that our future and their future are tied together.

[Election of Speaker, May 26th, 2025]

Mr. Chair, thank you for presiding with the expertise and sense of humour we have come to know. I think you have a promising career ahead of you.

I want to start by congratulating each and every member on their election, especially if it is their first win.

I remember when I was first elected. I walked into the chamber, which was then in Centre Block. It was in 2008. I am a minister of the United Church of Canada, so neo-Gothic buildings, the stained glass and the ceremony were hardly new, but I was still overwhelmed to be in the Parliament of Canada with honourable colleagues, from all parties, doing our best to live up to the lofty expectations of those who sent us here.

I still feel that sense of awe, but after 17 years, it has dimmed. It has become more difficult, and sometimes even painful, to be in here. Dignity has diminished, and decorum has declined. Respect for one another and this institution is woefully lacking.

Canadians have noticed. This was confirmed for me at the many doors I knocked on recently. I suspect that everyone in this room has had that experience in the same way. Canadians are watching.

That being said, knowing we have a colossal task ahead of us, it is with great humility and some trepidation that I have decided to put my name forward to become Speaker.

My first Speaker was the Hon. Peter Milliken. I did not know he would be in the gallery today. For me, he embodied what it means to be a parliamentarian. I was in opposition, and in a moment of passion, I once went a little too far with a comment. Speaker Milliken rose. He then dropped his head, raised his eyebrow and asked me to withdraw the comment. I am a politician. I love debate. I love spice in the House, but I felt, at that moment, that I had disappointed the Speaker. I had disappointed him. I withdrew the remark, as I did not want to let down my colleagues in the House or the people who had sent me here to represent them. It was the raising of an eyebrow.

I say this because the Speaker's authority, the ability to provide leadership, maintain order, protect members' rights and privileges, and have credibility inside and outside of the House, comes from members having trust and respect in not only the office of the Speaker but also the Speaker herself or himself.

It takes more than just the appearance of impartiality. The Speaker must be truly impartial. They need to have served on both sides of the House and held several roles. They must be familiar with the kind of pressure that members face, regardless of their party or position. The authority of Speaker cannot be given to a person just because they understand parliamentary privilege. They must uphold that privilege every day.

Authority is, of course, rooted in competence, credentials and character, but it is more than that. It comes from being calm in the midst of chaos and dispassionate in the heat of debate. It comes from humility, accountability and empathy. It comes from having a sense of humour that cuts through pretense and posturing, and calms the moment.

A Speaker should not be elected just because they respect both official languages but because they live in both of those languages every day. My partner of 33 years is a proud Quebecker who was born and raised in Rimouski. Not only does he teach me French, but he also helps me understand what an asset the French fact in Canada is for all of us.

As a parliamentarian, I hope to preside over Parliament with dignity, and I will say, zero tolerance for behaviour that diminishes any one of us with consistently applied consequences for unparliamentary behaviour, no matter where it comes from. As a former accountant, I hope to excel as a chief administrator of this place. As former parliamentary secretary to the the minister of foreign affairs, I hope to represent Parliament faithfully and carefully around the world and in Canada. I believe I can do all three of these key roles.

In my role as another kind of minister, I led congregations across Canada, leading people in good times and bad, breaking down barriers that divided people and attempting to lead them in common purpose. People have often asked what the difference is between being an MP and clergy. I pray more now.

However, I do not want to pray. I want to do something about it. I would like to be your Speaker. I would like to be the custodian of the chair that belongs you.

Thank you in advance for your support.

[Christmas, December 13th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as we stand on the threshold of this holy season, I want to wish all those celebrating in Don Valley West and around the world a very happy Christmas.

The promise of Christmas is that love can and will break through all of the cynicism, disappointment, pain and despair that continues to this day, long after Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine. Christmas did not happen just once. It happens every time someone lights a candle to make the way a little easier for another person. It happens every time someone welcomes a refugee or a broken person into their community. It happens every time we lift another person up, giving them more love, more hope and more success.

Christmas is a hard time for many. This Christmas welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, give hope to the lost. Let us make Christmas happen again.

[Carbon Pricing, December 6th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the people of Canada had their say on carbon taxes in the last election. In fact the Conservative Party, when it was in power, passed the fixed-date election bill. They keep calling. They want us to break the law. We will not break the law. You can break the law. We are not that kind of people.