Rona Ambrose

[Taxation, April 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, millions of parents appreciate the children's fitness tax credit, which helps them to pay for soccer, hockey, or football fees. It is impossible for them to go to New York to play their favourite sport in front of the cameras.

Instead of promoting himself, why does the Prime Minister not promote physical activity for young people by keeping the children's fitness tax credit?

[Taxation, April 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, families relied on the children's fitness tax credit to help offset the cost of their kids' sports and fitness programs, but unfortunately the Liberals scrapped it.

Now the Prime Minister can use those same tax dollars of families and fly to New York to work out in front of TV cameras, while families are struggling to pay for their kids' sports. Instead of focusing on self-promotion, will the Prime Minister focus on promoting children's fitness and reinstate the child fitness tax credit?

[Presence in Gallery, April 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Earlier today the House of Commons in the United Kingdom voted unanimously to recognize that Christians, Yazidis and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria were suffering genocide at the hands of ISIS. On March 15, U.S. House of Representatives also unanimously declared that genocide was taking place in Iraq and Syria by ISIS.

In light of this and after discussions that have taken place among all parties, I hope you will find unanimous consent, Mr. Speaker, for the following motion: That the House declare that ISIL is responsible for atrocities such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, against ethnic and religious groups, namely, but not limited to, Christians, Yazidis and Shia Muslims in Syrian and Iraq, and that it strongly condemn these atrocities and call for an independent investigation and for perpetrators to be brought to justice.

[Natural Resources, April 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I met with mayors from British Columbia who are struggling with high unemployment in their communities. These families want to get back to work. The B.C. LNG industry could create $175 billion in business investment and up to 100,000 new jobs, but these projects need to move forward. So far, all we have seen is uncertainty from the Liberals.

Will the Prime Minister stand up and tell these families that he has their backs and he supports LNG?

[The Economy, April 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the surplus is real whether the Liberals want to admit it or not. Frankly, it should not take an expert in quantum computing to recognize that fact. The budget has been called the least transparent in 15 years and the Liberals' deficit and job creation numbers are way off the mark.

If the Prime Minister will not acknowledge basic facts, how can Canadians have confidence that he will protect their jobs?

[The Economy, April 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the independent parliamentary budget officer confirmed what the finance department and leading economists have been saying, that in fact the Conservatives left the Liberals a surplus. However, instead of celebrating this achievement, the Liberals are playing politics and pretending like it did not even happen.

Why does the Prime Minister continue to mislead Canadians on basic facts?

[The Budget, April 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, today, on the budget, the Prime Minister's commitment to transparency has gone from a principle to a buzzword.

The current parliamentary budget officer has said, “When you don't see the details, usually somebody is trying to hide something,” and today he confirmed two more things: first, the Liberal budget does not add up; and second, good news, the Conservatives did leave a surplus.

My question for the Prime Minister is, why does he insist on this continuation of misleading Canadians on these basic facts?

[Ethics, April 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister should reread his own ethics code, because this is not about the Ethics Commissioner; it is actually about his own code that he put in place for his own minister. There has been a clear violation of that code. Why is the Prime Minister ignoring a blatant violation of his own code of conduct?

[Ethics, April 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, that is not true. In the entire tenure of our government, in a fundraiser that was similar to the one in question, a mistake was recognized and the money was given back. Why is the standard different with the current government?

[Ethics, April 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I want to quote from the Prime Minister's own guidelines for ministers when it comes to fundraising:

There should be no preferential access to government, or appearance of preferential access, [given] to individuals...because they [may] have made a financial contribution to [a politician or a political party].

Given that the justice minister's fundraising activities at a top Toronto law firm are in direct violation of the Prime Minister's own code of conduct, when will he direct the Liberal Party to give the money back?