Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 2.  Madam Speaker, I have a question for the member opposite, and I will put something to him that is fairly straightforward. The official opposition is consistently concerned with fiscal prudence, and that is a fair concern. However, would the member agree with me that if dental care descends to the point of dental disease or if tooth decay results in things like gum disease for young people, it results in concomitant knock-on costs for our publicly funded health care system?

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, that is a really important question. What I have noted in the seven years that I have been serving in this chamber is, first of all, an aptitude toward enacting Magnitsky sanctions, for example, strengthening the Special Economic Measures Act and then seeking to apply it.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for his comments today and on many days on this issue, among others exposing international human rights violations. In terms of the motion that was before this chamber, the member opposite knows that I voted very much in favour of that motion.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Pierrefonds—Dollard. Today is Diwali. I want to first of all wish my wife and two boys, who are celebrating tonight in Toronto, a happy Diwali. Diwali is the festival of light. It is the triumph of light over darkness. When we talk about light over darkness, I think that is actually an apt metaphor for what we are talking about today.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for her contribution to this very important debate. I want to touch on something that she mentioned at the start of her comments, which is her work on the Subcommittee on International Human Rights. We know it has received a lot of evidence over the past few Parliaments.

Ukraine  Mr. Speaker, the war Russia commenced in February against Ukraine is unjust, unlawful and unacceptable. Now, evidence clearly shows that Putin's war is also criminal. UN investigators, after visiting 27 towns, meeting with 150 victims and inspecting sites of destruction and mass graves have concluded, “Based on the evidence gathered so far...that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine”.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, I welcome that question from the member opposite. First of all, in terms of making Canadian businesses competitive, we are aggressively pursuing trade agreements around the planet to diversify our supply chains. Second, what we are doing with respect to small businesses is empowering inclusive trade, which means supporting women entrepreneurs with a $6-billion program.

Taxation  Madam Speaker, that question is critically important because we know small businesses are drivers of the economy. What we have been doing consistently on this side of the House for the past three years is proposing measures that support our small business entrepreneurs, help keep their employees well paid and remunerated, and help them keep the lights on.

Small Business  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for this important question about the small business entrepreneurs that are at the heart of the Canadian economy. What we have been doing in the past three years is supporting small business entrepreneurs through the pandemic, with targeted support for wage subsidies and access to finance to support them and their employees.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for her persistence on this issue about supporting small businesses. We share that persistent prioritization. What we have been doing for the past two and a half years is supporting small businesses through the pandemic with targeted wage supports and supports for rent.

Small Business  Mr. Speaker, let me outline what we have done for small businesses during the past two and a half years. We have supported small businesses throughout a pandemic. What we have also done, a matter that I am sure the member opposite is very concerned about, is support small businesses in their inclusivity with the women's entrepreneurship program.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a)(i), 23070 businesses have registered their interest with Grow Your Business Online, GYBO, intermediaries as of May 31, 2022. In addition, 632 of these businesses submitted a completed application to the intermediaries. Data is reported on a monthly basis and cannot be broken down by a specific day or week; so the number of businesses that have applied is reported as of May 31.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, it is lamentable. What I recall is actually being with that member at the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in the last Parliament and doing a study on acts of coercion and acts of aggression. Witnesses came from all parts of the country, including witnesses invited by the Conservative Party.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, obviously we have a very strong philosophical and principle difference on this issue. As a basic proposition, I would put to him that Canadians' safety is improved when we restrict the number of firearms in circulation. Any efforts in that regard, of which this bill is one, will benefit Canadians' safety.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, I appreciate my Bloc Québécois colleague's question and her work on public safety. Among the possible options, we decided to proceed through regulations rather than a bill, because this approach is sometimes faster. I understand my colleague's impatience and why she is eager to see regulations on assault weapons.