44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 17, 2022 10:00AM
- Nov/17/22 2:00:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have wonderful Canadians in every part of the country who work every day to make our communities an even better place to call home.
That is why, like many of my colleagues, I have been pleased to present a Queen's Platinum Jubilee medallion to outstanding local Canadians who are making a difference in the name of service. In our service clubs, in our faith communities, in arts and culture and in our local events and festivals, these leaders often work quietly behind the scenes without seeking recognition.
I want to pay tribute to one medallion recipient specifically today, my friend and Cornwall's number one ambassador, David Murphy, who lost his battle with cancer at the age of 50 this past week. I was honoured to present him last month with the well-deserved medallion, joining several other groups who recognized Murph for his service to Cornwall throughout his life.
Simply put, David Murphy was a great man and a great Canadian. I ask that my colleagues join me in recognizing all medallion recipients. From my community, I want to say thanks and well done to these great Canadians.
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- Nov/17/22 2:02:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, cancer is a disease that affects the lives of countless individuals and their families. In Canada, two out of five are diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Due to increasing numbers of patients, staffing shortages in health care and lengthy wait times, too many people living with cancer worry that they might not get the care they need at the right time.
I began to understand the gravity of the situation upon meeting a truly inspirational constituent of mine, Ms. Jag Kaur Takhar, a single mother who, at the young age of 37, was diagnosed with breast cancer. In Jag’s recent book, entitled Now’s the Time, we can read about the struggles she went through with our health care system.
It is also important to point out that Jag is not alone. Breast cancer peaks in Black and Asian women much earlier, and these racial disparities are still not taken into account in Canada today. These women are 30% to 40% more likely to die of breast cancer, simply because we fail to diagnose them in time.
The journey with cancer can be a very difficult one, and it is on all of us to work with all levels of government in taking concrete action so Canadians can get the care they need and deserve.
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- Nov/17/22 2:03:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since 1997, this organization has been helping the people of Saint‑Eustache and Deux‑Montagnes retrace the history of their ancestors, their place of origin, their date of arrival in the country, their occupation, the descendants, and so forth. It offers different workshops on things such as mastering research tools for paleography, where you learn to read notarized documents of the time. Every month, it organizes conferences and outings to historic sites. Although it had far more members before the pandemic, today the society is 200 members strong and remains one of Quebec's most dynamic.
As activist Marcus Garvey famously said, “A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”.
In Saint‑Eustache and Deux‑Montagnes, our roots run deep and if we have any knowledge of our roots it is thanks to the Société de généalogie et d'histoire de Saint‑Eustache.
I thank them and wish them a happy 25th anniversary.
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- Nov/17/22 2:04:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, noting that Canada has over one million people of Filipino heritage, I had an opportunity to recognize the very special relationship between Canada and the Philippines. Last week, I was able to travel to the Philippines with my local MLA, who happens to be my daughter, and it was a wonderful trip.
We had numerous planned meetings related to helping people come to Canada. We met with the local embassy officials on a wide variety of issues, which included aid, trade and, of course, immigration. I appreciated the discussions and the support from the Philippines embassy here in Canada, the department of foreign affairs at the embassy and, in particular, former ambassador Robles.
I would like to give a special thanks to Mayor Honey Lacuna. She was wonderful, as were her talks, and I appreciated her recognition of the nine Canadians who lost their lives in servicing the Pacific theatre during World War II. We had a special celebration on the grounds of Manila's city hall.
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- Nov/17/22 2:05:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker,
“Get up!” the caller calls, “Get up!” And in the dead of night, To win the bairns their bite and sup, I rise a weary wight. My flannel dudden donn’d, thrice o’er My birds are kiss’d, and then I with a whistle shut the door, I may not ope again.
This was, of course, written by the pitman poet, Joseph Skipsey.
As the snow has begun in Canada, I thought it appropriate to highlight the “blood on the coal” tartan. It commemorates the coal miners who lived, worked and died in the designer's hometown of Springhill, Nova Scotia, in my riding of Cumberland—Colchester. Coal has been mined in Canada since 1639, and most of the mines in Nova Scotia have been since abandoned.
Miners Memorial Day is also known as Davis Day in honour of William Davis. Davis was killed in a riot in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, in 1925 during a confrontation with company police. There was a targeted campaign to break the miners' union.
There are four colours on this tartan: black is for the coal and the darkness of the mine; yellow is for the miner's lamp; red represents the blood on the coal of the miners' lives lost; and white represents the remembrance of their lives. Miners Memorial Day is an occasion to remember and mourn all miners killed in provincial coal mines.
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- Nov/17/22 2:07:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and I want to highlight the amazing work that is being done to help children who are diagnosed and live with type 1 diabetes, particularly the work done by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Canada and its Kids For a Cure advocacy programs.
This week, I met with two incredible youth in my Ottawa office who have lived with type 1 diabetes for much of their lives: Max and Molly. They both gave fantastic PowerPoint presentations in which they explained their diagnosis, how it impacts their day-to-day lives and how they continue to thrive with the resources they have available to them, including how supportive their families and their puppies are in their journeys.
Blue is the colour to flaunt this November to show our support for kids who live with juvenile diabetes and to support their campaign to look forward. The theme for the month is to reflect on the mission to cure, prevent and treat type 1 diabetes and its complications.
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- Nov/17/22 2:08:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to honour the life and legacy of Paulina Jocelyn Balisi Corpuz, a devoted and tireless Toronto-based community leader and advocate for the Filipino community. Paulina arrived in Canada in 1993 and was a champion for advancing community causes. She co-founded Philippine Advancement Through Arts and Culture and worked with many organizations, such as the Filipino Workers Network and the Canadian Cancer Society.
Paulina is best known for her advocacy to have the City of Toronto recognize the month of June as Filipino Heritage Month. Her work and efforts at the city level paved the way for provincial and federal legislation bodies to follow suit.
Paulina was an inspiration to all of us, leaving a legacy behind her in the community. Paulina was a devoted wife to Ben and loving mother to Belinda, Isabella and Benson. I extend my deepest condolences to her family, friends and the entire community.
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- Nov/17/22 2:09:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this past week, Germany inaugurated its first liquefied natural gas terminal. Germany started construction after the war in Ukraine began on February 24 to get off Russian gas. Before Russia's war on Ukraine, Germany had no LNG terminals. It took Germany 194 days to approve and build this new LNG terminal in the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven. It took 194 days, and four more are on the way shortly.
Germany has a stronger set of environmental standards than Canada, and Germany has reduced greenhouse gas emissions more than Canada. Germany is also led by a left of centre Social Democratic chancellor, and its minister of economic affairs and climate action is a Green Party minister. Our government needs to ask itself how Germany can approve and build a new LNG terminal in 194 days, while it takes a decade or more to approve and build a single LNG terminal in this country.
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- Nov/17/22 2:10:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, British Columbia will be welcoming David Eby as our province's next premier on November 18. During this time of transition, I want to recognize and thank Premier John Horgan, who has served British Columbia since 2017.
Premier Horgan has been an advocate for the environment and an ally to our government on this important issue. Our governments have also found common ground on child care, with our government providing $3.2 billion to create more child care spaces to implement the $10-a-day child care in British Columbia.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, our governments have worked together to ensure all British Columbians have access to vaccines. Premier Horgan has done well in advancing relationships with indigenous peoples based on respect and with the recognition of indigenous rights.
Recently, our governments partnered up by announcing improvements to the Glover Road crossing. This Highway 1 widening project is valued at $345 million, with $96 million coming from the federal government.
I want to wish Premier Horgan all the best in his future endeavours, and I want to extend my congratulations to David Eby on becoming B.C.’s next premier.
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- Nov/17/22 2:11:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here are some sobering numbers to show how much Canada has been broken financially by these Liberals.
Government debt in Canada has doubled since 2015 to $1.13 trillion in 2022, meaning the Prime Minister has spent more than all previous prime ministers combined. The total cost of servicing that debt is roughly $42 billion per year and growing, exceeding the cost of yearly health transfers to the provinces.
Each man, woman and child in Canada owes $56,000 as their part of the national debt, and it is having an impact. Inflation is at a 40-year high and affordability anxiety is a major problem. There are 1.5 million Canadians who visited a food bank in September. Half of Canadians are $200 away from not being able to meet their monthly obligations, and 30% say they cannot meet their monthly obligations.
These Liberals, aided and abetted by the NDP, are causing Canadians to lose their jobs, their hopes, their dreams and their dignity. It is time to stop wasteful spending, eliminate the carbon tax and give Canadians a break, which is what they need the most.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians who have been shut out by Canada's traditional media gatekeepers are finding their voices on places like TikTok, Spotify and YouTube. It is amazing. I am talking about creators like Oorbee Roy, a South Asian mother from Toronto who shares her skill in and her love for skateboarding on TikTok. I am talking about Vanessa Brousseau, an indigenous woman who shares her artistry and her passion as she advocates for missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada.
These creators leverage digital platforms to share their uniquely Canadian stories with the world. Despite this, the government wants to kill their success and actually silence their voices. Through Bill C-11, the government would pick winners and losers by determining which content gets to be seen and which content has to be hidden.
As for everyday Canadian users, we are out of luck too, because whatever we post online, see online or hear online would be censored by the government. Hello, state censorship, and goodbye freedom. It is time for the government to read its notifications, because if it did, it would see there is a massive thumbs-down.
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- Nov/17/22 2:13:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, organizations and their volunteers are the heart of community life across Canada. They help to make our lives better, ensure a social safety net and strengthen community ties.
Today, I want to mark the anniversaries of two wonderful organizations in my riding of Châteauguay—Lacolle.
First, I want to wish a happy 20th anniversary to Les toits d'Émile, which was named in honour of poet Émile Nelligan. This organization has spent two decades providing people with mental illness with supervised apartments and activities to break their isolation.
Next, I want to wish a happy 30th anniversary to Club des ornithologues de Châteauguay. In addition to birdwatching, members of this group also support biodiversity, rally together to protect natural environments, and set up birdhouses for nesting.
I hope these organizations will be around for many years to come.
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- Nov/17/22 2:15:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians have the right to know the health risks of what they are consuming, yet when looking at the bottle, one would never know that alcohol is a class one carcinogen.
Last week, constituents in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith gathered to talk about this exact issue. Many were shocked to learn that alcohol is linked to cancers, including breast, colon, larynx and liver, as well as other health impacts, such as dementia. Despite all this, alcoholic beverages still do not have warning labels.
This is a health and safety issue. It should not be left to rich CEOs to decide what information Canadians deserve to have access to. We need a national strategy, similar to those for cannabis and cigarettes, to ensure the risks are clearly communicated.
The Liberal government needs to take federal leadership today and support the motion I tabled to implement a national warning label strategy for alcoholic beverages, ensuring all Canadians have the information they need to make informed decisions.
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- Nov/17/22 2:16:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in 2020, according to a report on homelessness in Quebec, nearly 600,000 people, or 7% of Quebec's population, experienced hidden homelessness at some point in their lives. The census identified 6,000 individuals experiencing visible homelessness.
Members can see why I would want to highlight the essential, monumental work of a vital player in my riding, the Table itinérance Rive-Sud, which is marking its 20th anniversary today, November 17, 2022.
Table itinérance Rive-Sud's mission is to bring together organizations that address homelessness. These organizations work both upstream and downstream of the issue to create a continuum of services that support the dignity of people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness.
Again, I am deeply grateful to the Table itinérance Rive-Sud, and I wish the organization a happy 20th anniversary.
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- Nov/17/22 2:18:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, CMHC, the federal government's housing agency, has spent $4.5 billion and committed another $9 billion to tackle homelessness, but it has no idea if anyone is benefiting from their work.
It has no idea. How can there be no accountability for billions of dollars when more Canadians are living in tents or cars and inflation is skyrocketing? This is absurd. If any member in the House takes a walk through their downtown, they will see the homeless crisis is getting worse every single day.
Lynn, a senior in her mid-60s, is homeless because she cannot afford rent in Toronto. She lived in her car for seven weeks before finding a place in a shelter system. Sage lives in a tent. She is 23 years old, from Portage la Prairie, and has been homeless for two years. These are not data points on a graph. They are people.
The Liberals plan to announce large amounts of funding that no one can access with zero accountability is not working. Canada needs leadership. It needs a plan. It needs accountability. It needs housing.
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- Nov/17/22 2:19:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, we honoured our veterans, who served proudly to preserve those freedoms. The responsibility of remembrance falls on all of us, and we recognize and appreciate the peace that we have today.
Each year the Royal Canadian Legion holds a literary contest to engage our youth in acts of remembrance. Julia Mederak, a student at John Sweeney Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener submitted a poem entitled “Remembrance Day” and won first place. She shared her poem on Kitchener’s CBC morning radio show, and I would like to read the last stanza of her award-winning work.
We celebrate Remembrance Day We honour the vetOur heads bowed in silenceLest We Forget.
I send my congratulations to Julia. We thank her for her contributions in guiding our next generation as we continue to remember.
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- Nov/17/22 2:20:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 10 months ago, our security and intelligence services informed the Prime Minister of allegations that a foreign government had interfered in our elections through illegal donations. The Prime Minister should have informed the Commissioner of Canada Elections so that the matter could be investigated.
Did the Prime Minister inform the commissioner of Canada Elections to instigate an investigation after he became aware, almost 10 months ago, of allegations of illegal foreign funding?
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- Nov/17/22 2:21:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government understands that some of the world's dictatorships are actively trying to undermine democracies around the world.
As a university student, I lived and studied in an authoritarian communist regime, the Soviet Union. I have no illusions about the nature of that political system. Our national security agencies have stepped up their efforts to counter threats from foreign actors.
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- Nov/17/22 2:21:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the world's wealthy gather for the COP conference, burning massive amounts of jet fuel to get there, what is becoming clear is that the government does not have a climate plan; it has a tax plan. Its plan has failed to reach a single solidarity greenhouse gas emissions target and Canada now ranks 58th out of 64 countries on climate performance. This is after it has hit Canadians with high taxes. It plans to triple the tax, tripling down on failure.
Will the Liberals cancel the carbon tax and come up with a real environmental plan?
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- Nov/17/22 2:22:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all Canadians know that the Conservative leader does not have a plan to tackle climate change, and that means he does not have a plan to grow the Canadian economy.
The reality today is that our most important trading partners, the U.S. and the EU, are all taking serious climate action. These are our allies and these are our customers. That is why in the fall economic statement, we invested heavily in the green transition, and we are going to continue to do that.
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