Rona Ambrose

[National Defence, June 1st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, our troops are doing extraordinary work in the fight against ISIS, but the Liberals have put them into a more dangerous mission, tried to call it training, and have withdrawn our CF-18s that are a key pillar to degrade the enemy.

Make no mistake, if our troops come under fire, they should always respond with overwhelming force, but what the government should not do is mislead Canadians about the nature of this mission. It is more dangerous and it is combat.

Is the Prime Minister finally prepared to admit that Canada's mission in Iraq is combat?

[National Defence, June 1st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that Canadian special forces recently came under fire in a battle near Mosul in Iraq. This directly contradicts the Prime Minister's claims that Canada is only doing training. On this side of the House, we have been clear that Canada should be taking the fight to ISIS, but it was the Liberals who, for purely political reasons, claimed that all we would be doing is training, insinuating that this would be much safer.

How can the Prime Minister claim this is just a training mission when our troops are under fire?

[Democratic Reform, May 31st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the evidence keeps piling up that the Liberal plan to change the way Canadians vote is completely rigged.

We now know that the Prime Minister has hired a former activist for the ranked ballot system, the very system the Prime Minister says he prefers and that experts say would rig the system in his favour. Canadians are not buying it. They know that this Liberal process is a complete sham.

When will the Prime Minister admit that he cannot change something as fundamental as the way we vote without a referendum?

[Democratic Reform, May 31st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are bent on changing the electoral system no matter what Canadians want.

This approach is an insult to the intelligence of all Canadians. A stacked committee and Twitter do not provide Canadians with an opportunity to share their views.

Will the Prime Minister trust Canadians and let them have their say in a referendum?

[House of Commons, May 31st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are learning that when it comes to this Prime Minister, his instinct is to shut down debate.

With Motion No. 6, he tried to take complete control of Parliament, and he has repeatedly shut down debate in the House of Commons. Just last night, the Prime Minister rammed through the assisted suicide legislation by refusing to accept any amendments from any of the opposition parties.

Does the Prime Minister respect that each of us has a job to do here and that Parliament actually belongs to Canadians, not the Liberal Party?

[Physician-Assisted Dying, May 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court decision is one decision, but Parliament also has a voice, and that is the voice of every Canadian.

Shutting down a debate on a conscience issue is unprecedented, so I will ask the House leader again. We know the Prime Minister has shut down debates time and time again and continues to treat democracy as an inconvenience, but he has two choices here. One is that he can side with us and Canadians and give them a voice. Will he show members of the House and Canadians that he respects them?

[Physician-Assisted Dying, May 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, that is a great start, showing all of the members in the House and Canadians that the Prime Minister respects them.

In that spirit, I am going to ask him this. Will his government also allow every member who wants to speak on the issue of assisted dying, which is a conscience issue, the opportunity to speak?

[House of Commons, May 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, last night the Prime Minister's temper got the best of him, but his behaviour was just an extension of his government's approach to the House. Increasingly, Liberals treat the House and the voices of Canadians with arrogance and disrespect, and nowhere is that more clear than in Motion No. 6, which would strip the opposition of all of its tools to hold the government to account.

Will the Prime Minister put the words of his apology this morning into action and withdraw this offensive motion?

[Privilege, May 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Prime Minister's apology, but he is saying he wants to move forward and he wants us to do that responsibly and together. I do not know how we can do that unless he removes the motion he has on the Order Paper.

He would strip the opposition of our jobs. We have a job to do in the House, and we take it seriously. If he truly respects the role of opposition, and the role of every member of the House, then he has to withdraw the motion.

[Privilege, May 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, thanks to you, that is why we are having this debate, and people are having an opportunity to speak, and that is right.

Nothing can change what the Prime Minister did last night. However, how he conducts himself moving forward from this point can be changed. I spoke about some of the actions he might take such as allowing members to speak to issues. It is unprecedented that a debate on an issue of conscience, like assisted dying, be cut off in the House. He might want to revisit that.

I also implore the Prime Minister to remove the motion that he placed forward in the House which would strip the opposition of our tools to do our job. Our job is to be the opposition. We are proud of that. We have a role to play in our democracy. Therefore, there are things that he can do. I ask him to do that. It is up to him to fix this.