Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, under normal circumstances, Commons committees have the power to summon witnesses or to send for documents, but the Liberal chair of the health committee has ruled that right now, when his committee needs these powers the most, these powers have been taken away under

COVID-19 Pandemic  Madam Chair, on February 26, the Standing Committee on Health passed a motion stating the following: That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a), the committee order all documents, including briefing notes, memos and emails from senior officials, prepared for the Minister of He

COVID-19 Pandemic  Madam Chair, they were not so busy that they could not busy themselves with redacting the documents, a task that in the committee's motion was to be left specifically to parliamentary counsel. I ask again: Will the government submit the same documents unredacted so that parliam

COVID-19 Pandemic  Madam Chair, part of the request was that all such redactions “be made by the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons.” Will the minister and her government respond and respect that request?

COVID-19 Pandemic  Madam Chair, one gets the impression the answer to that is no. The minister is certainly reluctant to say so. It is worth noting that in the special order that was adopted by the House on April 11, the health committee is set up to proceed, but only to receive evidence. It is no

COVID-19 Pandemic  Madam Chair, the health committee and all the other committees, including the indigenous affairs committee, do not have the ability to make reports or to pass motions, and there is no reason in the world that they should not be able to do so. I note that on the April 11 motion, t

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to preparation and response to COVID-19: (a) which provinces and territories have signed the Multi-Lateral Information Sharing Agreement (MLISA), and on what dates were each of their signatures provided; (b) which provinces and territories have declined to sign the ML

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I too am rising on the issue of the ongoing genocide in East Turkestan or Xinjiang province. Three million Chinese Uighurs are being imprisoned in concentration camps, rounded up, taken away from their families in what is clearly an act of genocide. The petitioners

Defibrillators  Madam Speaker, the tragic death of Robert Dziekanski, tasered by RCMP officers in the Vancouver airport, was caught on video. The result was a media sensation and a commitment to install defibrillators wherever the police use tasers. However, when the very same RCMP officers arri

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am presenting two petitions today. The first petition regards the situation of the Uighurs in China and calls on the House to recognize this as a genocide, something I note the Subcommittee on International Human Rights did recently.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, the second petition is on the subject of sex-selective abortion. The one thing that has not been mentioned by the previous speakers on this topic is the fact that sex-selective abortions are inevitably of female unborn babies or fetuses.

Petitions  Madam Speaker, this petition is close to my heart because I am a member of the international human rights subcommittee. The petitioners request that Bill S-204 be moved through the Senate and then to the House as quickly as possible. The goal of that piece of legislation is to

Petitions  Madam Speaker, today is the 20th anniversary of my first election. I will not say that it gives me pleasure, but it seems fitting and appropriate that I am once again returning to a subject that I addressed in my very first address to the House 20 years ago, which at the time was

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, I know my colleague has been following the debate. I saw her on the screen earlier, so she would have heard everything. One of the arguments that has come up in the course of the debate was a suggestion from the government benches that the bill is being introduced

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, in case the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands is listening, I loved her S.O. 31 about the night before Christmas and I encourage her to listen to mine tomorrow. I am presenting a petition on the same subject the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan presented. It