Disaster Assistance  Mr. Speaker, Canadians were shocked to learn that the government failed to engage the Americans through the International Joint Commission to find a solution to repeated flooding in British Columbia. The flooding of the Nooksack River in Washington state has spilled over into Canada, resulting in billions in damages to British Columbians.

Flooding in British Columbia  Mr. Speaker, since the flooding began in British Columbia, Canadians have stepped up. The heroic efforts of first responders, members of the Canadian Forces and just regular people have helped save lives and protect property. Faith groups and civic organizations have also stepped up in a big way to provide food and shelter to evacuees.

Business of the House  Mr. Speaker, my grandmother works at the hospital. We have seen the intimidation during these protests. Could the member speak to the importance of ensuring that we stand behind our health care workers during this very difficult time?

Agriculture and Agri-Food  Madam Speaker, the price of everything is rising under the inflationary policies of the Liberal government, and few have been harder hit than Canadian farmers. The prices of fuel and drying grain have skyrocketed because of this escalating Liberal carbon tax. Now the Liberals are proposing a whopping 30% decrease in fertilizer emissions.

An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19  Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the question, and I am well aware that he comes from one of those real estate markets in our country that has been the most impacted by foreign investment. In a lot of places in the country foreign investment has been a blessing, but we have seen the terrible, negative consequences when we have so much foreign investment, speculative foreign investment, lead to rapid price increases that price out folks who live and work and want to raise their families in this country.

An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19  Madam Speaker, there is a lot of uncertainty in the world today. We have had a new variant of the COVID-19 virus, the Omicron variant, come up, which is now public knowledge. We do not know what the next few months will bring. In principle, I would say that there may be a need for further pandemic benefits to support businesses if we do see a strong resurgence of this virus.

An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19  Madam Speaker, we all respect and treasure the artists in our country. I know that members of the Bloc Québécois particularly cherish their Québécois cultural sector, and I think all Canadians cherish the very unique, strong and beautiful cultural sector of Quebec. That is why it is important that these artists were able to access benefits at a time when we were not having concerts or opportunities for new artists to emerge or perform at local venues.

An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19  Madam Speaker, today I rise to continue debate over Bill C-2, the government’s inaugural post-election spending bill, targeted to support businesses and those impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns. This $7.4-billion piece of legislation may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the spending that was approved in the last Parliament, but we know our nation’s finances are increasingly in precarious shape.

Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  Mr. Speaker, I find it ironic that the party in the House that claims to stand up for the rights of workers and organized labour is suggesting that we need to create a system to ensure that sick people continue to work. Sick people should be taking time to get better, not forced to show up to work.

Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member and his party for largely collaborating with Conservatives on what we both agree is a very fundamental issue for Canadian democracy. The fact is that the Board of Internal Economy met and imposed a set of rules, and those rules are in place right now.

Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his re-election. It is well deserved. I am very confident in the House administration and the safety protocols that we put in place, and I think we should keep them going forward. There may be cases where COVID-19 comes up, but we know that vaccination rates in this country are high and thankfully getting higher every day, so we can look forward.

Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  Mr. Speaker, it is not surprising to me to hear a Liberal talking about how they could benefit. That is what Liberals like to do. When we have these members talking about these provincial legislatures, the fact is that there are a number of provincial legislatures that are also sitting, and there are a number of parliamentary bodies across the world that are sitting.

Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  Mr. Speaker, I actually anticipated that the government would be bringing up a point of order on that subject. I am not referencing the absence of any members who are in Parliament today, and this is substantive to the debate that we are having here over the quality of Zoom virtual Parliament versus in-person Parliament.

Order Respecting the Business of the House and its Committees  Mr. Speaker, congratulations on being in the chair. It is great to see you there. I hope, together with the Speaker, you will vigorously defend the rights and authority of parliamentarians in this Parliament as much as he did in the last Parliament. I will be splitting my time with my esteemed colleague from Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

Flooding in British Columbia  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that my colleague has a real heart for his constituents in the region. We have had a lot of talk about climate change tonight. We know that climate change is a large factor in why this flooding happened. However, we also know that we have not been putting in the effort to ensure people are kept safe, whether it be through building infrastructure or through better emergency preparedness.