World Teachers' Day  Mr. Speaker, today is World Teachers' Day. Teaching is an occupation I am quite familiar with, having taught at both the secondary and elementary levels since 1995 in Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge. I want to thank all teachers across Canada for pouring out their hearts and souls to

Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, there is another medical crisis happening at the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic. It is made far worse by the pandemic in major cities such as Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto, and in small towns and indigenous communities. I am talking about the opioid crisis. In

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Calgary Centre. The opioid crisis continues to spiral out of control, with 170 deaths in the month of May alone in British Columbia. That is about equal to how many people have died of COVID during the entire pandemic. O

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Mr. Speaker, a month ago, in this committee, I raised the issue of Canada summer job applicants who have been denied. The minister kindly asked for more information, which my office provided to her. Six organizations, including Maple Ridge's downtown business association, are s

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters  Mr. Speaker, with the alarming rise in new COVID cases in the U.S., people in my riding, which is not far from the border, are worried about the abuse of border loopholes. Writing people tickets will not stop the spread of the virus. What measures are in place to ensure that Ame

Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I am anticipating that the Conservative Party will be supporting the bill, but there is a lot of concern with the dithering of the Liberal government. We were basically taken to the cleaners. The U.S. was never really focused on Canada. It was focused on Mexico. We

Citizenship Act  Madam Speaker, I was an MLA for eight years prior to being elected, and today was the first time, as I was telling my colleague who was sitting next to me, that I have been involved in heckling. I was just so infuriated with what I am seeing, with how the Liberals are using indig

Government Priorities  Mr. Speaker, Canada has grounded to a halt because of a weak Prime Minister. The Liberals are kowtowing to a few radical protesters. They are paralyzed. They are legitimizing these illegal blockades that are costing us hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs. In Pit

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I would like to make a point regarding the statement that was just made about how rare it is for crimes to be committed during parole and how things are getting better. The Liberals' own records, which the minister has provided, contradict the member's statements.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, one challenge is that we believe this needs to go beyond the Parole Board examining the Parole Board. There needs to be outside examination by the committee so we can look at what led to this. I would like to bring up a couple of points. The first is the watering d

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is important because lives are at stake. There needs to be a real evaluation of our Parole Board and how criminals are being released oftentimes way ahead of even what the judges have said is not only a minimum sentence, but the minimum time before parole. Therefo

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, why is it that tragic crimes keep happening with criminals on parole? Madam Levesque has paid with her life. What is going on that we are putting our public at risk? Perhaps it is because of the changes the government made to the Parole Board in 2017. It is not just

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will be speaking in support of the motion and sharing my time with the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. It is a motion that would not be necessary if public safety had been seriously considered. We are facing a tragic situation, which we simply cannot t

Baseball Hall of Famer  Mr. Speaker, I join the people of Maple Ridge in congratulating our hometown hero, Larry Walker. There are over 19,000 former major league baseball players. Larry is only the second Canadian to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Larry's family has a long history

House debate  Madam Speaker, salmon fishing and salmon runs are extremely important. I think it is very important that we conserve the salmon runs. I have advocated a fish ladder on the Alouette River toward Alouette Lake, which is very important. I did that provincially and I will as a memb