House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2025, with 45% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 19th, 2022
Mr. Speaker, in listening today and in responding to the member's last comments, we have countries around the world that have lifted all restrictions, including the U.K., the U.S., Sweden, Norway and Mexico.
I am going to ask the parliamentary secretary a specific question. What specific advice are we getting from our health experts that is allowing Canada to make the decision to continue restrictions? What is the specific advice we are getting?
Business of Supply May 12th, 2022
Madam Speaker, the relationship with China is very complex and the member has touched on a couple of those issues. We have a large trading relationship that is very beneficial to Canada. It is $20 billion, up from $3 billion in 1992. However, as the member mentioned, we have human rights concerns. We have Huawei and we have concerns about that, etc.
When it comes to looking at these issues and dealing with them, we know it is tulip season and the Tulip Festival here in Ottawa, but why are we tiptoeing through the tulips when it comes to China and not putting a committee together that is going to deal with it, ensuring we treat that relationship with the utmost professionalism that it needs?
Business of Supply May 12th, 2022
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her intervention. I always appreciate hearing her in the House.
My colleague who brought this motion forward today talked about the need for this committee. He had many different, great reasons for that.
One thing that has been mentioned today is the foreign affairs committee, which is dealing with the war on Ukraine. China has a big role in that and it has not condemned the war. When it comes to relations with Russia and China, they are very amicable, at a time when our Prime Minister, who was in Ukraine this week, is donating $50 million more in taxpayer dollars to it.
Does that alone not warrant, notwithstanding the rest of the reasons, the establishment of this committee, apart from the foreign affairs committee?
Mother's Day May 9th, 2022
Mr. Speaker, Mother's Day is a day to be celebrated. I spent this last weekend in gratitude for, and celebration of, the women in my life. I am blessed to have my incredible grandmother, Audrey, with us. She has always been a pillar of strength for my family. My wonderful mother Heather and my wife Allyson make sure our children know they are always loved and supported unconditionally.
Mother's Day is a celebration, but for some it often comes with mixed emotions, including grief from a mother passing, from a relationship of estrangement, from infertility and longing for the opportunity to be a mom, or from the heaviness of losing a child of one's own. I think the hardest job in the world is mothering a child one can no longer hold.
I want to thank all the moms for everything they do. I want them to know that if grief or mixed feelings accompanied them this Mother's Day, they are not alone and we see them. Let us celebrate these amazing women this whole week and this whole year, and let them truly know that they deserve more than just one day.
Housing May 2nd, 2022
Mr. Speaker, housing affordability in Canada is so bad that it is now affecting our military families. It is so bad in CFB Trenton, Canada’s largest air force base, in my riding, that currently 360 families are on a waiting list for housing on the base. Military families that cannot afford homes in the community now do not have anywhere to live, and this is affecting our ability to retain and attract military personnel.
My question for the Minister of Defence is this: How much of the $15 billion in the budget for the military is going to create housing for our Canadian military families?
World Intellectual Property Day April 26th, 2022
Mr. Speaker, today is World Intellectual Property Day, or IP Day, and in Canada we are celebrating the importance of innovation, ingenuity and invention. Without Canada, the world would not have insulin, the snowmobile, the Sea-Doo, peanut butter or the zipper.
This year's international theme is “IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future”. Today we are celebrating our young innovators, like Chad Guziewicz from Belleville, who, at 34 years old, has already founded two successful companies, including Rentify, which provides an innovative new way to help landlords with their tenants. It is our young innovators who will develop new inventions in bioscience, clean energy, quantum computing and AI, better use Canada's existing natural resources, create wealth and new businesses and drive creation, which will kill inflation. Intellectual property is the currency of innovation, and we need to fully invest in and support the young innovators who are using this currency to innovate a better future for all Canadians.
Happy IP Day.
Questions on the Order Paper April 25th, 2022
With regard to the long term impact of using the Emergencies Act to freeze bank accounts of canadian citizens: has the Canada Deposit Insurance Company, the Bank of Canada, or the Department of Finance conducted any analysis on the potential impact of this measure on the long-term stability of Canadian banks, and, if so, what are the details, including the findings of the analysis?
Questions on the Order Paper April 25th, 2022
With regard to the Canada Pension Plan's (CPP) investments in Russian state owned enterprises, or enterprises with significant ties to Vladimir Putin or the Russian oligarchy: (a) what enterprises are currently owned by the CPP, and what is the value of each investment; (b) has the government directed or advised the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to divest such holdings, and, if so, what are the details including the date of the direction or advice; and (c) does the CPPIB have plans to eliminate all such holdings from their investment portfolio, and, if so, when will these holdings be eliminated?
Innovation, Science and Industry April 7th, 2022
Mr. Speaker, Canada has an intellectual property problem. Yearly, Canada produces $39 billion in intellectual property, the currency of innovation, while the U.S.A., in comparison, produces $6.6 trillion, or 169 times what Canada produces. What is worse, we are giving our IP away. This year the former Google chairman thanked Canada for IP that Canada had developed and which was commercialized in the U.S.
Will Canada, in this budget, have an intelligent budget to ensure Canada produces its own intellectual property, or are we going to continue to let the U.S.A. eat our IP for lunch?
Petitions April 6th, 2022
Mr. Speaker, I am also presenting a petition in support of Bill S-223, which seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. It would also make it a criminal offence for a person to go abroad and receive an organ taken without the consent of the person giving the organ. It is my honour to present this petition on behalf of my constituents.