Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I too am going to rise to table a petition in support of the Senate bill, Bill S-223, which seeks to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking, and make it a criminal offence for a person to go abroad to receive an organ taken without the consent of the person giving the organ.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages  Madam Speaker, frankly, without bilingualism, I would not be here addressing the House in French. I believe that it is truly an asset for Alberta's francophonie to have francophones who are bilingual. It is an asset to have people like me who are anglophones who learned French at school.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages  Madam Speaker, I mentioned in my speech how Alberta attracts immigrants. I believe it is very important that we do more to encourage francophone immigration. It could be a solution to the French teacher shortage in our country. I do not believe that the federal government is doing enough to support francophone immigration and to encourage francophone immigrants to move to Canada.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages  Madam Speaker, I did not really hear a question, so I will take this opportunity to share some facts about Alberta's francophonie. Alberta has over 268,000 French-speaking Albertans. Since 1996, enrolment in French schools has risen by more than 270%. That is a significant increase and significant growth.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, to continue the tradition, it is with great pleasure that I address the House in French today to speak to Bill C-13, which seeks to modernize the Official Languages Act. I think it is important to explain how an anglophone like me is now able to deliver her speech in French in the House of Commons.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, the fact is, we have francophones outside Quebec who have been francophones for centuries. The first European language spoken in Alberta was French. It is not only people like me who choose to speak French; our francophone heritage is very strong. My colleague emphasized that education and immersion schools are important.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, most parents want to leave a legacy for their children. I know so many parents who save and go without luxuries so they can pass something on to their kids. However, under the current government runaway inflation is making saving nearly impossible, and out-of-control spending is saddling our children, like my seven-month-old son Eoghan, with debt they will never be able to pay off.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, effectively, on this side of the House, we believe that Canadians need to be able to afford to make ends meet. Right now, with inflation at a generational high, families are having a hard time making ends meet. We have asked, time and again, for simple solutions to help families make ends meet, whether reducing the GST on gasoline, removing the carbon tax increase or doing other simple things that would make a difference in average Canadians' lives today or tomorrow.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising that issue. She highlights the fact that a huge disparity exists between rural and urban Canada, in this and so many other ways. One of the things we have not seen from the Liberal government to date is that recognition and understanding that rural Canadians have a host of different challenges.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, I believe my colleague pointed out one of the problems that we have here in Canada, specifically the fact that we do not have enough affordable housing. However, we cannot build more affordable housing when it is more expensive to build. Inflation is having a real impact on people who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, it is an absolutely wonderful opportunity to be able to rise today and deliver some remarks on Bill C-8, the economic and fiscal update implementation act, 2021. It is kind of ironic, as I was reflecting on this over the weekend, that I am delivering remarks on the fall economic statement in the spring, but calendars are clearly difficult, and perhaps calendars are hard for the government as well.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to the federal government’s actions to increase hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) capacity across Canada since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic or March 2020: (a) what is the total amount of all federal government funding provided to provinces or territories meant to increase the permanent hospital and ICU capacity; (b) broken down by province or territory and by month, how much did each receive to permanently increase hospital and ICU capacity; (c) what was the total hospital and ICU capacity in Canada as of March 1, 2020; (d) what is the total hospital and ICU capacity as of February 14, 2022; and (e) what is the breakdown of (c) and (d) by province or territory?

Official Languages Act  Madam Speaker, my colleague pointed out that this bill really needs to be scrutinized from top to bottom in order to ensure that it promotes the French language. There are francophones outside Quebec, living in every part of Canada, including my riding of Fort McMurray—Cold Lake.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, Khrystyna was nine months pregnant when this war broke out and she had her baby in an underground bomb shelter. She now needs to make her way through a war zone to get biometrics in Poland, with a brand new baby and a toddler in tow. Liberal red tape is delaying people fleeing war.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to the mandate letter of the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the commitment in the letter to create 3,300 new child care spaces for Indigenous children: (a) how many new child care spaces have been created for Indigenous children since the letter was received by the minister on December 16, 2021, broken down by province or territory; and (b) how many new spaces for Indigenous children will be created by the end of (i) 2022, (ii) 2023?