Todd Doherty

[Public Safety, May 29th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, residents of Williams Lake are once again sounding the alarm about rising crime, street disorder, open drug use and repeat violent offenders terrorizing local businesses and families. Williams Lake city council is holding an emergency public safety meeting after RCMP reported more than 1,400 calls connected to the downtown core already this year.

The Prime Minister promised Canadians safer communities, but after 11 years, people in Williams Lake feel less safe walking down the street, less safe opening their businesses and less safe raising their kids.

Will the Prime Minister stand in the House today and finally admit that his soft-on-crime policies have failed?

[The Economy, May 29th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, this morning Canadians received deeply troubling news. According to the latest StatsCan data, Canada is now in a recession, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth. That makes Canada the only G7 country in a recession. In a global environment where all G7 nations are facing similar challenges, tariffs, war and global uncertainty, Canada alone has fallen into a recession.

How did we get here? It is because of the 11 years of Liberal policy choices that continue to stifle investment, block productivity and undermine confidence in our economy, choices like hiking the industrial carbon tax, maintaining antidevelopment legislation that discourages major projects and having a deficit that is double the size of Justin Trudeau's.

Canada deserves better than a Liberal recession. We need a change, one that restores competitiveness, creates jobs, unleashes resource development, supports investment and puts affordability first, because Canadians deserve results, not more Liberal excuses.

[Public Safety, May 26th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, the victim was run over, dragged down a road and left for dead, and the perpetrators are off scot-free. The victim now lives in fear that they are going to finish the job. He suffered broken ribs, flail chest and brain damage. He needed facial reconstruction surgery, and the perpetrators are free to do this again.

Under the Liberals, criminals face zero accountability. Canadians are fed up, and that is the government's legacy.

Will the Prime Minister stand up today to commit to calling this senior, who is afraid for his life, and explain to him and his family why the perpetrators are off scot-free?

[Public Safety, May 26th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, in the fall of 2024, a senior in Prince George returned home to find his house being ransacked and robbed. When he tried to stop the perpetrators, they ran over him, dragged him down the road and left him for dead. They were caught later that day and released just hours later. The victim's family has just been informed that the charges against the perpetrators have been dropped. They left him for dead, and they got off scot-free.

When will the Liberal Prime Minister finally put victims before criminals?

[Business of Supply, May 26th, 2026]

Get 'er done.

Mr. Speaker, it would benefit so many Canadians. I would stand up, and I think other colleagues would stand up, if the Liberals voted in favour of our motion, and applaud them. In the spirit of good faith and good nature, why does the government not do that?

I know what the Liberals are going to say: “We cannot trust the Conservatives, those dirty Conservatives." This is what they are going to say, but it is not true. There is one side that has been fighting for Canadians, and it is us on this side. It is frustrating that the Liberals stand up time and again and spew these talking points that somebody, short pants in the back room, has come up with. The colleagues across the way stand up and bring forth this stuff, and it is just maddening. It is just untrue.

The Liberals' policies have hurt Canadians, especially people such as those in my riding of Cariboo—Prince George, over 90,000 square kilometres where we do not have the benefit of O-Trains, the SkyTrain or other rapid transit. We actually have to drive for critical services. The Liberals have targeted rural and remote areas. They have actually forced rural and remote against urban in their policies, and that is unfair. They should support our motion, and I hope they will.

[Business of Supply, May 26th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, on that point of order, Conservatives would support, maybe, during that amendment, the government's changing it for the rest of the year. This is a novel idea. That is why we are here today. While the government is amending the proposal, why does it not just waive the taxes for the rest of the year and support this motion?

I have sat here and listened to the debate, and I apologize to all the people who are struggling to stay awake, not only here in the gallery but also at home watching, the 12 or 13 people who are watching on TV. This is so frustrating because the government says, “Surprise. Do not worry; we are here to help.” Then, of course, the real world sets in for those of us who live in rural and remote areas and know that everything the government has done, well, maybe not everything but most things it has tried to do, in the last 11 years has made life more difficult, especially for people who live in rural and remote areas.

Today in my riding of Cariboo—Prince George, a family pulls up to a pump to get gas. When they see the numbers ticking away, they start doing the math in their head. They wonder what they are going to forego. They cannot go to the grocery store anymore and buy just 100 dollars' worth of groceries. How far will that go? A hundred dollars does not buy even one bag of groceries, especially in rural and remote areas.

My riding is over 90,000 square kilometres. We do not have the benefit of jumping on an O-Train or other rapid transit to get groceries or go to medical services. In my riding, the one thing my constituents know is distance. We have to drive if we want to get groceries, sometimes for long hours. In my riding, it sometimes takes 12 hours for me to drive to a single meeting. Can members imagine someone trying to get medical services for their pregnant wife or a sick child? They have to make painful and hard decisions as to what they are going to do.

I remember when we had this debate in the last Parliament. When I was fighting for forestry and asking what I should tell the forestry worker who is now out of work, there was the audacity of the other side, saying to tell them to move and find another job. We do not have that luxury in rural and remote areas. My riding is resource-based and agriculture-based. Everything we produce in our riding is dependent on fuel and the cost of it. Who pays that price ultimately? It is my constituents. It is the consumer.

The government wants to stand up and say that it is giving a rebate and that, guess what, in June there is going to be a little bit more money in Canadians' pockets. However, while they are giving that money with one hand, they are taking it away with the other hand. The Liberals have made life so unaffordable.

The chief government whip said that he did not say this, but everybody heard him say it, or something like it: He will not vote for a motion that benefits the unbelievably rich.

Here is the reality of what we are asking for in this motion. Let me remind the people who are in the gallery and others who are listening. The motion says:

That, given that,

(i) gas prices are 13% higher in Canada than in the United States, equating to 22 cents more on average per litre,

(ii) gas now costs 50 cents more per litre today than when global oil prices were at the same level in 2014,

(iii) the Minister of Finance and National Revenue told Canadians on May 19, “We have already acted”,

(iv) Canadian families are still paying more to live due to a decade of Liberal credit card budgets, waste and mismanagement,

the House call on the government to offer Canadians immediate relief by ending all federal taxes on gas and diesel for the rest of the year, including the GST, and permanently scrap the Clean Fuel Standard.

If they were really for Canadians, they would just scrap it. It is a common-sense motion. However, they will not. They say that Conservatives are bad and that the government has done a lot for Canadians already. Man, the government is so out of touch. This is my first time back in a number of weeks, due to a surgery, and I cannot say how maddening this is. In my recovery, I sat screaming at the TV because we hear the Liberal gobbledygook every day. They spew it.

What is funny is the hypocrisy of it all. When they had Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, they were all for the carbon tax, but now they have seen the error of their ways. Now all the people on the other side have found a new messiah whom they are following. It is just maddening.

The Liberals are so out of touch. Many of them, not all, have constituencies they can drive across in literally minutes. They have the benefit of rapid transit, such as the O-Train or SkyTrain or other rapid transit, but this is not true for those of us in rural and remote areas, where the Liberals' policies are absolutely punishing us.

Do not even get me started on their “jail, not bail” and their catch-and-release policies. That is coming a bit later.

In rural and remote areas, we are facing the wrath of Liberal policies, and the Liberals just do not get it. It is so frustrating. I believe there are good people on all sides of the House, even though I am getting scorned and mean-mugged right now by somebody on the other side who is staring at me. I do not care. He can laugh all he wants. He is laughing at the hardship of Canadians, and that is disgusting. Canadians should be angry and frustrated at this.

Right now, my staff are probably pulling their hair out because they created a beautiful speech for me, but as members can see, I have not opened even one page, because I am so infuriated by what the Liberals are saying and doing.

The reality is this: After 11 years, a decade, of Liberal mismanagement, the Liberals say they are going to do one thing, but then they do another thing. They apologize and say they will do better. Today their hon. colleague stood up and said, “Oops, we made a mistake in rushing”, and they probably forced closure on it. In rushing the bill through, they made a mistake and want to amend the bill. Here is a simple amendment: When they are opening the bill back up, just eliminate the tax for the rest of the year.

[Criminal Code, May 25th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to stand and ask for a UC, but I would request a recorded division.

[Criminal Code, May 25th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, I started off by saying I wanted to thank our colleagues who have all spoken on the bill, specifically the member for Barrie South—Innisfil, for his service, and the member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies. Through a tremendously hard time in our nation, his leadership on the ground within his community of Tumbler Ridge has been really remarkable. He has been there for the families. He has been there for the community. He has been there for the nation. I thank him.

Why are we here? Why are we here if we cannot stand up for those who actually stand up for us and fight for us? We are here for the 500,000 nurses in our country, the 40,000 paramedics, the 100,000 firefighters, the 25,000 correctional officers and the hundreds of thousands of first responders who put on their uniforms every day, not knowing what they are going to endure in their service to our country, to members' families or to mine. They are all asking for one thing, to pass Bill S-233, to put protections in place so that they know that if they face violence when they respond to an incident, we have their backs.

For 10 years, the IAFF has been asking for this. It has been their number one lobby ask. For seven years, we have been fighting to get a piece of legislation through.

I am embarrassed that we are here at this point. We had a bill that passed unanimously in the House and that passed in the other House but, because of the dissolution of Parliament, it did not become law. I want to thank Senator Housakos and Senator Yussuff. Senators from both sides came together last fall, saw the importance of the bill and passed it on all sides in the Senate.

I want to thank my friend Paul Hills, from the Saskatoon Paramedics Association and the IAFF, who has tirelessly worked to get a piece of legislation through, a piece of legislation that would protect his colleagues in the hospitals and on the front lines as first responders. They face unbelievable acts of violence.

The bill has already been studied twice. It is born of the 2019 HESA report, entitled “Violence Facing Health Care Workers in Canada”. It was studied in the last Parliament at both levels, the Senate and the House. Amendments were made that are reflected in the bill that we have today, Bill S-233.

It is so frustrating for me that we are here at this point. Last fall, the gallery was full of firefighters and health care workers. We thought that we had support from the House to pass this. Before I stood to ask for it, I was told it was not going to happen. I literally stood in front of the House leader, who is in the House right now and I begged and said that I do not care who asks. It could be from their side, our side or anybody's side. I do not care who asks for unanimous consent. All I care about is that the bill passes and that we can tell the firefighters, the first responders and the nurses that we have their backs. That is what we owe to the hundreds of thousands of first responders.

I will just end with this. I carry a coin with me. It says that heroes are human, service before self and to never give up. I firmly believe and hope that when this comes to a vote in two days, all members will support the bill.

[Criminal Code, May 25th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, it is indicative of what we faced with this bill, which is the disrespect for the hundreds of thousands of first responders, nurses and health care workers—

[Criminal Code, May 25th, 2026]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps I should wait until government members can settle down and listen.