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May/2/22 1:50:35 p.m.
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The amendment is in order. Questions and comments, the hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate), Lib.)

May/2/22 1:52:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking the House leader of the opposition for bringing forward this amendment because by doing so he is giving the member for Winnipeg North another opportunity to speak to this. I did not have an opportunity to hear what the member for Winnipeg North said on Thursday, so I am looking forward to hearing his thoughts on this one. He speaks again for the second time to this. My question for the opposition House leader is quite simple. He seems to be quite concerned about staff members right now and the impact that asking them to stay until midnight will have on them. I wonder where his empathy was a couple of years ago, when the Conservatives literally made this house vote for 30 hours straight, or a couple of years after that, when they made this house vote for 22 hours straight. They knew full well it would produce absolutely nothing with respect to a tangible result of improving this country; rather, it was just for the purpose of being destructive. Can the member justify for me the hypocrisy I am hearing from him when he talks about being so overly concerned about staff and the impacts on them? That party will force staff to stay here for 30 hours straight just to appease its own desire to see this place move as slowly as possible.

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Mr. John Brassard

May/2/22 1:53:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is an important question. Those were appropriation bills. If members recall, at one point we were very close to seeing the government fall. It was 4:30 in the morning and it was very close to actually falling. These are legislative bills and a failure on the part of the government to propose its legislative agenda. It is actually a massive failure on the Liberals' part. We have only had 19 pieces of legislation, and within that time only eight have passed. The government's inability or failure to push through its legislative agenda is not our fault, nor is it the fault of the people who work here. There is no need to expand beyond the normal course of business. That is already addressed in the Standing Orders for the last two weeks of June. It was agreed to by all parties. Most importantly, what this motion does is it creates a trap: It gives the government the ability to basically shut down this place if there is a scandal or if and when it decides to do that. We are here to work on behalf of Canadians and will continue to work despite the assertions from the other side.

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Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

May/2/22 1:55:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would like to hear his thoughts about how this government is rushing through things and failing to allow for in-depth studies into topics such as medical assistance in dying. There is a lack of seriousness in committee. I do not want to make accusations, but I am asking my Conservative colleague because, in this case, his party seems to be the one that is obstructing. Members can be for or against a given topic. However, I think that those who are against always benefit from studying it properly. Now the government has issued a gag order that, of course, puts off the final report until October. We will not have enough time to study this issue. I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on this.

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Mr. John Brassard

May/2/22 1:55:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague. The four House leaders jointly proposed extending the committee until June 23. We actually did that. As I hope the hon. member understands, this is another example of a failure of the legislative agenda. That committee was supposed to legislatively report back in May. It was not until the end of March that we actually started talking about it. We agreed with the May deadline, but we proposed to extend it until June 23, which we did. Now the government is going to put that off until October 17, and I understand there are very important issues around that. We just heard, in advance of my taking the floor today, that the medical assistance in dying committee is going to be cancelled today because of the government's plans to prolong or extend hours of debate. The Liberals cannot manage anything, and that is why we are in this situation we are in. We now have to deal with the government's failure to push forward a legislative agenda to manage the time of the House, and it is Canadians and all of us who are going to be paying the price for the mismanagement of their legislative agenda.

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Ms. Lindsay Mathyssen (London—Fanshawe, NDP)

May/2/22 1:57:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for bringing our attention to the incredible work that is done by the staff in the House. They are with us through all of this, and I am always so grateful for their support, their professionalism and their work. They do need additional resources, and I agree with the member that this is required. I know this will take conversations and agreements among the parties, so I am asking if he would support that move. Will he push on the government to ensure that additional resources are provided to interpretation, security and the staff in this place so that we can get the work done that we are elected to do?

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Mr. John Brassard

May/2/22 1:58:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, time and time again, as we have heard, the problem specifically with regard to the interpreters, which I suspect affects other parts of the operation of the House of Commons, is the issue of hybrid Parliament. Let us stop this. Let us stop hybrid Parliament and let us get back to normal. Let us do what other legislatures around the country are doing and return to being here in person. The interpreters have paid a dear price for this hybrid Parliament, and anybody who has read the reports understands that. We cannot just manufacture interpreters. There is a shortage, and a pool of resources is unavailable to us. My suggestion is that we get rid of hybrid Parliament, come back, deal with this and make it easier on the interpreters. We can make it easy on all the staff who work so hard to support this place. Let us do what other legislatures are doing. Let us get back to normal and not hide behind masks like the other parties are doing.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

May/2/22 1:59:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have to ask the hon. House leader of the official opposition to reflect on this: that the dysfunctionality of this place cannot be blamed on one recognized party. When the House does not work well, it is because we have brought the partisanship of election campaigning into the daily work of the House, which is not how it should be. It is not how it always was in the past. I think it would go away if we changed to proportional representation as our voting system to increase co-operation in this place. Since the Conservatives had more votes in the last two elections, are they ready to consider perhaps changing our voting system?

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Mr. John Brassard

May/2/22 2:00:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we can respectfully disagree on that.

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Mr. Ryan Turnbull (Whitby, Lib.)

May/2/22 2:00:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when Vladimir Putin senselessly invaded Ukraine, he attacked not only the people of Ukraine but Ukrainians everywhere, including those here in Canada. I was recently joined by the Minister of Public Safety to meet with the Durham Ukrainian Canadian Congress. We heard truly inspiring stories from people with family and friends on the ground fleeing violence or staying to fight and defend their country. We heard stories of the members of the Ukrainian community in the Durham region who wake up each day focused on helping those who have been affected. The Durham chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress is coordinating an extensive support system and has even set up separate committees to help with housing, food, clothing and much more as it prepares to support over 2,000 refugees, including the hundreds that it is already helping. I would encourage everyone who wants to provide support to visit supportukrainians.ca/durham to find out how they can assist. The dedication, level of organization and perseverance exhibited by the Durham UCC is nothing short of amazing.

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Mr. Bernard Généreux (Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, CPC)

May/2/22 2:01:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, many projects of all sorts in our ridings had to be shelved because of the pandemic. For over two years now, town celebrations, festivals, dances and many other events have had to be postponed or, in most cases, cancelled. Today, I am happy to say that, just as we are now seeing signs of spring, we are also beginning to see signs of a return to normal life. I am also pleased to announce that the Théâtre populaire régional theatre troupe will be putting on a play at the Salle André‑Gagnon in La Pocatière on May 27 and 28. Amateur actors and friends have been waiting for nearly three years to present George Dandin ou le mari confondu, a comedy by Molière. I know many of the actors and so I know that this play will make people smile. I invite everyone to attend to cheer themselves up as the pandemic draws to a close. Let us encourage our artist friends and celebrate our culture.

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Ms. Lena Metlege Diab (Halifax West, Lib.)

May/2/22 2:02:29 p.m.
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I rise today to recognize a pillar of the community, His Excellency Wadih M. Fares. Mr. Fares is an engineer, entrepreneur, innovator and community builder who has put his time, talent and treasure into a multitude of local, national and international boards and committees. His unwavering support of and commitment to society have earned him numerous awards, accolades and honours, including the Order of Canada. For the past 26 years, he has served as the honorary consul of Lebanon for the maritime provinces. At the end of May, under the patronage of Ambassador Fadi Ziadeh, the community will gather at the silver jubilee celebration, where the Order of Merit, Lebanon's highest order for civilians, will be bestowed upon him as a token of gratitude for his service to Lebanon and the Lebanese community in the Atlantic provinces. I ask all parliamentarians to join me in thanking and congratulating His Excellency Wadih Fares.

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Ms. Louise Chabot (Thérèse-De Blainville, BQ)

May/2/22 2:03:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, May 1 is International Workers' Day. It is an opportunity to recognize the many battles workers have waged to improve working and living conditions in our societies. The reason we have eight-hour work days and labour standards today is because there were workers who made a lot of sacrifices and stood up for their rights and those of future generations. When faced with repression and injustice, they chose to stand in solidarity and push the limits of what is possible. The theme yesterday was about ensuring health and safety as we come out of the crisis, and thousands of workers from Quebec marched in the streets to remind us of that. I salute all those men and women who fought and are still fighting. Happy May 1.

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Ms. Rachel Bendayan (Outremont, Lib.)

May/2/22 2:04:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to wish Eid Mubarak to the entire Muslim community back home in my neighbourhood in Montreal and across the country. As we mark the end of the sacred month of Ramadan, I am thinking of our Moroccan community, and in particular its patriarch, Abdelghani Dades. My friend, Mr. Dades, is the driving force of the Moroccan-Canadian community. He and I share the mission of bringing the Jewish and Muslim communities together, both here and around the world. Mr. Dades is most certainly wondering why I am paying tribute to him today. This year, we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Morocco. I would like him to hear his name in the House of Commons, and I would like him to know how much our government appreciates everything he has done and will continue to do to ensure this friendship lasts forever.

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Mr. Stephen Ellis (Cumberland—Colchester, CPC)

May/2/22 2:05:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, “If you build it, [they] will come.” I am certain that many, if not all, Parliamentarians recognize this quote from Field of Dreams. For almost 75 years, Amherst, Nova Scotia, has been the home of many incredible baseball players and volunteers, which has allowed this community to enjoy many championships and banners. Given its residents' incredible community spirit and desire to move to evening programming, the enrolment for little league baseball has soared. The community needed another T-ball field. The Amherst Little League Baseball association applied to the Jays Care Foundation's Field of Dreams program, and this year they are the recipients of a much-needed grant of $70,000. This is, of course, a testimony to the strength of their volunteers and players, and to the history of baseball in the community over the past 75 years. I send my congratulations to the Amherst Little League Baseball association and to the many young people who will benefit from their involvement in little league baseball over the many seasons to come. Let us play ball.

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Mr. Chandra Arya (Nepean, Lib.)

May/2/22 2:06:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to all my Muslim brothers and sisters, Eid Mubarak. I would like to congratulate Senator Salma Ataullahjan on her being honoured by the president of Pakistan with one of the highest civilian honours, the Sitara-e-Pakistan, in recognition of her humanitarian work. She is the chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights and is working hard to help Afghan families desperately trying to come to Canada. I would also like to recognize Dr. Anis Ur Rahman, Sadaf Ebrahim, Dr. Syed Aziz and Syed Kashif Alamdar of the Canada Pakistan Association. I also appreciate Faheem Affan, Iftkhar Mirza, Mashooda-Lubna Syed, Mobeen Khaja, Moinuddin Siddiqui, Muhammad Zulfiqar Bangash, Qamar Masood, Tawahar Rana and Uzma Khan. All these community leaders are working hard for the Pakistani-Canadian community and beyond in Ottawa. I would also like to recognize the important contributions the Pakistani community has made to the socio-economic development of Canada.

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Mr. Maninder Sidhu (Brampton East, Lib.)

May/2/22 2:08:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Canada summer jobs program provides youths with great opportunities to develop their skills and gain valuable experience. This year, the CSJ program has over 140,000 federally funded summer jobs across Canada. In Brampton East, there will be more than 400 summer jobs available with organizations such as the City of Brampton, TRCA, Wet ’n’ Wild Toronto water park and many other organizations. During the early days of COVID-19, youth were hard hit by pandemic related job losses, and our government has stepped up with more support through increased investments across our youth programs, which will provide young Canadians with additional opportunities. Youth will be able to build upon their confidence and leadership skills and gain from positive work experiences through the CSJ program. Our government understands young people are the future of tomorrow. If someone is between the ages of 15 and 30, they can check out the Government of Canada job website. There are thousands of amazing opportunities for young Canadians now posted at www.jobbank.gc.ca/youth.

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Ms. Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough—Kawartha, CPC)

May/2/22 2:09:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, can members imagine a place where everyone is included, regardless of gender, religion, political or socio-economic status. Can they imagine a place where children learn the value of teamwork and hopefully learn that tough losses are often the best lessons. Can they imagine a place where communities are strengthened, relationships are built, fundraisers happen and important stories are shared. If members have not guessed yet, this place does exist. It is called a community centre. I grew up in Douro, Ontario, home to one of the best community centres in this country. It was recently named as one of the four finalists for Kraft Hockeyville, where $250,000 is up for grabs. Douro Minor Hockey is hoping to use the money to meet the needs of its growing and diverse community. This is how inclusion and empathy start, at the grassroots level, with a community centre saying it invites and includes everyone. I am very proud of my progressive community of Douro-Dummer. Voting happens on only one day, May 6, so I encourage everyone to log on to krafthockeyville.ca and vote as many times as they can.

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Hon. Kirsty Duncan (Etobicoke North, Lib.)

May/2/22 2:10:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, [Member spoke in Scottish Gaelic and provided the following translation:] May is Gaelic Awareness Month in Nova Scotia. This is a good time to celebrate Gaelic language and culture. Since the 18th century, thousands of Gaels from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland came to North America. The early settlers did not come with much, but they built many communities in Canada. When I was young, I heard Gaelic in Cape Breton, Glengarry and at the Gaelic Society of Toronto. Children learned Gaelic from their parents. They learned stories, songs, piping and Highland dancing. Today, Canadians are learning Gaelic in Nova Scotia, Toronto and across Canada, joining a million learners from around the world. Up with the Gaelic. [English]

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Mrs. Anna Roberts (King—Vaughan, CPC)

May/2/22 2:11:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge and recognize my constituent Angela, who lives in my riding. Angela's son Luka was diagnosed with autism at the age of four. The mental health stress on Angela's family, as well as on many other families across our country, is compounded by many challenges. They are navigating the many disconnected services and long wait-lists for much-needed care for their children, as well as very expensive therapy treatments. This is taking a toll on Canadian families. Parents of children with special needs often have to work a second job in order to pay for the services and care their children require. Families in Canada are struggling and, with the increased inflationary pressures, the federal government needs to acknowledge the challenges they face. It is our responsibility to assist Canadians who are struggling to balance family obligations with personal mental health difficulties.

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