Indigenous Affairs  Mr. Speaker, I want to use my first statement in the House to acknowledge that my children and I have the honour to live on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. It is our collective responsibility to work closely with indigenous peoples in our communities and

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my friend from Carleton on his remarks today. It felt like I was hearing a leadership speech from him. I have had the chance to work with him for many years. He talked about family; there was a little humour and a lot of French. This is a goo

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Milton. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to speak on the throne speech. I will start by thanking the residents of Ottawa Centre for giving me this incredible honour and opportunity to serve them in t

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I share the member's passion to fight homelessness. I am sure all of us in our respective communities have very important projects that could be supported, so that we can help those who are marginalized. I am very excited that finally we have a federal government th

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, yes, as an immigrant living in Ontario I had to first work on my English, but I am absolutely committed to learning French. It is very important for me to learn and speak this language. I also work in French with my colleagues across the way. Seniors were really im

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I wish it had ended yesterday, but we have a lot of work to do because we are trying to address a huge backlog that was left from some time ago when all three levels of governments did not work together to address this really important issue. As I mentioned, I work

Business of the House  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Minister of Justice along with the Minister of Labour for bringing forward this very important piece of legislation. I think a lot of us can recount horrible incidences that we saw during the peak period of vaccination, when our hospitals that ar

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member's support, with a caveat, for this bill. I agree with him that, and I think we all know, mental health and addiction issues are health issues and as such we need to treat them in that manner. However, there is a fair bit of debate as to wha

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to discuss Bill C-5. It proposes important reforms to reduce the over-incarceration of indigenous people, Black Canadians and members of marginalized communities. I am going to spend my time primarily talking about conditional sentence orders

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, the member has read the bill and knows that serious violent crimes are not included in our removal of mandatory minimum sentences. What is interesting here is that the Conservatives, in their opposition, are the ones who continue to create this straw man argument t

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, it is a very valid point the member opposite is making. As I said in my remarks, this is a first and important step forward, but there is far more work that needs to be done. I agree with the member, and I support her and look forward to working with her. When it

Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  Madam Speaker, I was not advocating at all that everybody be released into the community. I think we have to look at the circumstances of individuals. I encourage and invite members to go visit jails in their local communities. The reason our jails are not fulfilling the purpose

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I was listening intently to the member opposite, and I really cannot believe what my ears were hearing, this vehement defence of the failed Harper, so-called “tough on crime” policies that have failed Canada over the years. They have resulted in nothing but over-inca

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon for allowing me to provide a more fulsome response on this very important issue. The recent flooding in British Columbia was a nearly unprecedented disaster for the people of the Lower Mainland. It devastated

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, I again want to thank the member for his advocacy on behalf of his constituents. This is obviously an unprecedented circumstance, but I want to make it very clear that the government will be there for the people of British Columbia. We will work with British Columbia