House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 76% of the vote.
Business of Supply February 16th, 2023
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Vancouver Kingsway for his presentation and for speaking on this. I know he is very well aware that there is a difference between federal and provincial health care. The majority of health care in Canada falls into the provincial jurisdiction.
He sort of alluded to this, but could he provide his thoughts on whether we need to sit down, look at the Canada Health Act and consider that section straight off the bat? Do we need to address that for Canadians?
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns January 30th, 2023
With regard to grants allocated by the Canada Greener Homes Initiative: (a) of the $69 million paid out between May 2021 and September 6, 2022, how much went to (i) appraisers, (ii) homeowners; (b) what is the breakdown of the funds paid out to date under the program, by province or territory; and (c) what is the breakdown of the number of recipients, by province or territory?
Questions on the Order Paper December 14th, 2022
With regard to cyberattacks on government departments and agencies since January 1, 2020, broken down by year: (a) how many attempted cyberattacks on government websites or servers were successfully blocked; (b) how many cyberattacks on government websites or servers were not successfully blocked; (c) for each cyberattack in (b), what are the details, including (i) the date, (ii) the departments or agencies targeted, (iii) the summary of incident, (iv) whether or not police were informed or charges were laid; and (d) how many and which of the cyberattacks were committed by, or are suspected to have been committed by a foreign state sponsored actor, broken down by country?
Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2022 December 6th, 2022
Madam Speaker, unfortunately, my speech will have to be curtailed, which is something that should have been thought of before the Liberals came up with Bill C-32.
The fall economic statement, which could have done so much to help people in need, does absolutely nothing to address the real crises that Canadians are facing, like inflation, the cost of living and more taxes. Where it could have stopped new taxes and tax hikes and stopped new spending and wasteful spending, it fails to do so and only adds to the inflationary economy. The people of Saskatchewan cannot afford these out-of-touch policies that take their hard-earned money out of their pockets and put it into government coffers.
Each and every household in this country is feeling the effects of the Liberal incompetence when it comes to managing inflation and the cost of living. This year alone, government revenues have increased to $41.1 billion. Where is that money coming from? It is coming from the single mother who is skipping meals to make sure that her kids have enough to eat each week. It is coming from the families who have to pick between putting gas in their cars or keeping the lights on that month, because they are all paying higher taxes.
These are things the Prime Minister does not worry about and has never had to spare a thought for in his entire life. He is completely out of touch with his inflationary deficits, which are now at half a trillion dollars. It is clear that he has no problem profiting off the backs of Canadians and leaving the issues for future generations to deal with. He does not have their backs. He is profiting off their backs.
As we all know, this is Christmastime and a festive season for many. People are trying to get out, celebrate and help where they can. However, they are concerned, especially when a report that came out yesterday said that the cost of their food is escalating and, in 2023, prices will be 5% to 7% higher. Families will pay $1,065 more for groceries in 2023.
My wife goes out of her way yearly to assist with baking for hospitals, charities and people who have lost loved ones, as well as my family. Yesterday, she was making some cookies and went to buy some supplies. One box of graham cracker crumbs, two small cans of Eagle Brand condensed milk, two oranges, two lemons, a small 125-millilitre bottle of artificial vanilla and two 450-gram sticks of butter, which fit into one bag, was a total cost of $82.54. That is a lot of money for cookies, and next year it is going to be closer to $100.
The Liberals are killing rural communities and are doing it without even batting an eye. Measures like the carbon tax are killing businesses both small and large, including farming operations that have stood the test of time for generations. It is a tragedy to see family farms having to sell off their operations just so they can pay the bills. Many ranchers and farmers are close to walking away from the industry because of these escalating input costs.
As we all know, the Prime Minister has a pattern of promising something and doing the complete opposite. Many years and many billions of dollars ago, he said that he would not exceed $10 billion of debt. How soon people forget. The Prime Minister has now added more debt than all previous prime ministers combined. Furthermore, an alarming 40% of all new spending measures, roughly $205 billion, has nothing to do at all with COVID.
Ultimately, it is going to come down to what I call the “heat or keep” principle. In Saskatchewan, winters get brutally cold with temperatures dropping down into the minus forties multiple times during the season. In fact, as I speak today, it is below -30°C. Thanks to measures like the carbon tax for the last few years, people have been wondering if they can afford to heat their homes, a concern that no Canadian should have to grapple with. Now, because of the ever-rising interest rates and inflation, they are wondering if they will be able to keep their homes. The Prime Minister could never begin to imagine the stress that is felt by those who have to decide to heat or keep, but this is what it has come down to.
If we take a look at the numbers, the outlook is grim. Families who are financially on the brink who bought a typical home five years ago with a typical mortgage that is now up for renewal will pay $7,000 more a year. This is completely unsustainable and has the potential to financially devastate many hard-working homeowners who are just trying to live the life that they have earned and deserve. For example, someone with a mortgage of $400,000 amortized over 25 years with a monthly payment of $2,400 is not eligible for the relief that the Liberals are touting as the solution to the problem.
Speaking of the carbon tax, this could be a great opportunity for the government to actually help Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet. The Liberals could make the decision to cancel the tripling of the tax, but they will not.
Another big issue that I have with this economic update is that it fails to adequately address the Inflation Reduction Act that the U.S. passed in August, specifically with respect to investment in emissions reduction technology here in Canada.
The fact is that the Liberals have missed every single emissions reduction target they have set, yet they are still not doing enough to incentivize investment in clean technology. That is shameful. The United States has a 45Q tax credit that is straightforward, easy to understand and provides industry with certainty over things like regulation prices and timelines. By contrast, the measures created by the Liberal government are largely ineffective due to the high level of bureaucracy involved, with a mess of programs and credits layered on top of each other that create confusion and lack clarity.
We have already seen projects worth billions of dollars choose to operate in Texas over Alberta because of the ease of doing business in the U.S. The Liberals are choosing not to listen to industry experts who are prepared to assist and advise on clean tech like carbon capture and storage, or CCUS, because they do not want to be associated with the word “coal”. Is it the industry they are trying to kill, or is it the emissions?
Surely it is the emissions and the fact that CCUS can do it is something that we should be investing in. It is something that this economic statement does not move forward on and assist all Canadians by investing with private money, not public money.
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns November 30th, 2022
With regard to reports that some files related to requests made under the Access to Information and Privacy Act (ATIP), which have received lengthy extensions and are not being worked on, broken down by government entity subject to the ATIP: (a) how many outstanding ATIP requests have received an extension in excess of five years; (b) for each request in (a), what are the details, including the (i) date received, (ii) length of extension, (iii) anticipated completion date, (iv) subject matter; and (c) for each request in (a), what specific work was conducted on the file, broken down by year since the request was received?
Questions on the Order Paper November 30th, 2022
With regard to Order in Council P.C. 2020-903 and the coming into force of Section 292 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1 (S.C. 2019, c. 29): (a) on what date did Section 292 of the act come into effect; (b) who, in the Office of the Prime Minister, signed the order fixing the date for the coming into force of Section 292 of the act, which was published on December 9, 2020; and (c) what are the details of any government website entries related to the coming into force of the Order in Council, which have been modified in any way since January 1, 2021, including, for each, (i) the website which was modified (ii) the date it was modified, (iii) what was modified, (iv) the manner in which the information was modified, (v) the reason for the modification, (vi) who ordered the modification?
Public Complaints and Review Commission Act November 22nd, 2022
Madam Speaker, there are five CBSA crossings in my riding, and over my seven years as a member of Parliament, I have heard many times from my constituents about both positive and negative issues with the CBSA, and even more so lately with COVID and the shutdown of borders. In particular, the issue right now is when they are going to go back to their regular hours, but that is another conversation. It is not the conversation today.
The Liberals have been saying for the past seven years that this is going to happen, yet it has taken this long just to get here. Why has it taken so long to get the bill to this stage, and why is it being rushed at this point?
Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2022 November 14th, 2022
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his analogies about sports. It was so nice to hear him talk about that. It brings some excitement into the House.
The member talked a little about what this economic statement is, and it is really just a reannouncement of spending. It was interesting to hear the Liberals use the word “spending” today instead of the word “investments”. I also appreciate the member mentioning the word “inflation”, because I did not realize it was used only 115 times in the economic statement.
However, the members talked about a senior he had seen and looked straight in the face. I would like to hear more of how that senior responded to the inflationary cost of their home heating, which is anticipated to be coming this winter.
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns November 14th, 2022
With regard to the National Parole Board and offenders who have been granted parole since January 1, 2016: (a) how many offenders granted parole were the subject of an arrest warrant following their release from custody; (b) of the offenders in (a), how many are still the subject of an arrest warrant or otherwise unlawfully at large; (c) what is the recidivism rate for violent offenders granted parole since January 1, 2016; and (d) for violent offenders who reoffend after being granted parole, what is the average and median amount of time between being granted parole and reoffending?
Business of Supply November 1st, 2022
Mr. Speaker, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “accountability” as “the quality or state of being accountable”, and further says, “especially: an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions”.
Does the member not think the Canadian public is expecting us to be accountable for the money that was spent on the ArriveCAN app? Who is better than the Auditor General to look into that?
I would also like her thoughts on how the present Liberal government has been lacking in accountability over the past seven years.