- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 64%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $115,195.70
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- Oct/16/23 9:18:14 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, quite obviously, my colleague is absolutely right.
There has been a lot of talk about an attack on Israel. Now, it is true that some people are trying to downplay the reality of what happened and the disgusting way Hamas attacked Israeli citizens. Canadians died. Some victims were from the United States. There were people at a concert. Young people were there to have fun and listen to music. Paratroopers came in from all sides and started shooting. It does not make any sense at all.
That is why we always have to think of the act that was committed, whether it was against Israel or against people from any other country who were there that day and were attacked by 1,500 Hamas commandos. These terrorists did this simply to spread terror. That is what terrorism is. It is about spreading terror and scaring people.
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- Oct/16/23 9:16:16 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, sadly, my colleague just informed me that two more Canadians died as a result of Hamas's unspeakable attacks. That is why I took the time in my speech to describe Hamas. I think that is worth repeated reminders.
We often tend to hear people say they are against Hamas, but there is always a “but”. There should be no “buts”. We must be 100%, unequivocally, behind Israel in fighting Hamas and destroying every last one of its members.
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- Oct/16/23 9:15:06 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, as we have indicated today, we are in favour of establishing a humanitarian corridor and providing support in safe zones. We also support the evacuation.
As a priority, we obviously call on Hamas to release the three Canadians being held hostage and to allow the evacuation of other Canadians in the Gaza Strip or elsewhere in Israel who want to leave. Obviously, we support those calls.
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- Oct/16/23 9:10:33 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley.
First of all, we are having a lot of trouble clearly identifying who we are dealing with when it comes to Hamas. Last week, for example, I was flabbergasted to hear that CBC/Radio-Canada had asked its news anchors not to use the word “terrorist” to refer to Hamas. Last night, on the program Tout le monde en parle, news anchor Céline Galipeau answered a question from Guy A. Lepage by saying, “Out of concern for remaining neutral, we prefer to use more specific and neutral language, but we can speak of combatants, armed men or hostage-takers. That's what we prefer.”
I am going to use the time I have left to talk about Hamas in more detail, because I think some people may not understand exactly who we are dealing with.
Hamas emerged in late 1987, at the beginning of the first Palestinian intifada. The group's charter calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the place of Israel and rejects all agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Hamas has a military branch that has led many anti-Israeli attacks in Israel and in Palestinian territories since the 1990s. Hamas continues to refuse to recognize Israel or to abandon its violent resistance against Israel. It proactively encourages and leads terrorist attacks and does everything it can to sow hatred against Jews. As a result, the American government designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in 1997, and Canada followed suit in 2002.
Hamas's explicit mission is to murder Jews and to eradicate Israel and replace it with a Taliban-type theocracy. Videos distributed primarily by Hamas and posted on social media document acts of torture, sexual violence, violence against children and desecration of corpses. Even Palestinian officials have recognized that the missiles fired by Hamas constituted war crimes. A Palestinian envoy to the Human Rights Council said that every missile launched against Israel constitutes a crime against humanity, whether or not it hits its target, because it was directed at civilian targets.
On October 7, 2023, over 1,500 Hamas terrorists attacked the Israeli border around the Gaza Strip and went on a murderous rampage in the southern regions. Over 1,300 people were killed and thousands more were wounded in this bloody attack, which was accompanied by a barrage of 5,000 rockets launched indiscriminately on Israeli towns and villages.
Why deny reality? The members of Hamas are terrorists. There is ample evidence of that. It is time to tell the whole truth about these violent criminals. This is not merely a conflict between two peoples. These are acts of terrorism and war crimes. What is more, I think it is despicable that anyone in Canada can express support for Hamas knowing that at least five Canadians are among the victims, including Alexandre Look of Montreal.
Israel has the right to defend itself and to exist. We will always unequivocally the terrorist acts without mincing words. We will always stand by the Israeli people. Hamas must be destroyed. Hamas has provoked something irreparable, and it must pay the price.
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- Feb/28/22 9:12:27 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that is actually a major and recurring problem at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. The government wanted to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada, but it barely managed to bring 5,000 to 6,000. We have just learned that the Taliban has decided that no one else will be leaving Afghanistan. It is impossible.
It will now take resources and, above all, a sense of urgency. Everyone in the House of Commons has this sense of urgency. Therefore, I am asking the government to instill this sense of urgency in the public service so that everyone will work more quickly and react like the people in Europe are doing in wartime. Our contribution to the war effort is to help as many as people as possible by picking up the pace.
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- Feb/28/22 9:10:35 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I do know a little about this because I have operated various anti-tank weapons, among others.
I would like to remind my colleague that the Conservative Party has been asking for several months that Canada provide weapons to Ukraine. Before the invasion, people were too scared to say the words “lethal weapon”. However, now that Ukraine is under direct attack by Russia, no one is afraid to use these words.
At a bare minimum, Canada could have helped Ukraine by providing anti-tank weapons, C7 rifles, C6 and C9 machine guns, sniper rifles and ammunition. That is all that is needed to wage war. The Conservative Party has been saying for a long time that Canada must support Ukraine by sending it the weapons that we have available. I am pleased that we are doing so. We must continue to do so and to provide what we can.
We must also think of the Canadian Armed Forces, which have an urgent need for equipment here at home to defend our country if required.
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- Feb/28/22 9:08:26 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I see where my colleague is going. I think we need to open our eyes to what is going on in Europe and Russia. The Russian threat was there before, but people were reluctant to really acknowledge it. We see it now.
Canada has natural resources. Yes, we must combat climate change, but in the coming years, we will still need natural gas, a resource that happens to be much cleaner than coal-fired plants.
Europe would benefit from more Canadian natural gas to replace coal. That benefits everyone and the planet. We, and especially Europe, must cut ties with Russia. This would benefit Canada economically and would help Europe.
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- Feb/28/22 9:03:26 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I rise in the House this evening to add my voice to those of millions around the world who now see just how dangerous Vladimir Putin is.
I spent years in the Canadian Forces learning the structure of the Warsaw pact by heart, studying and memorizing Soviet tactics, learning to recognize vehicles, such as T-80s, BRDM-1s and BMPs, and various types of aircraft. I can say for sure that one thing I hoped for all those years was to never come up against the red army.
In the 2000s, international terrorism became the enemy. All the while, Vladimir Putin was getting ready.
I would like to start with a quote from Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's Moscow correspondent who said, “Many times I’ve thought: 'Putin would never do this.' Then he does it. 'He’d never annex Crimea.' He did. 'He’d never intervene in the Donbas.' He did. 'He’d never launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.' He has.”
He added that he has concluded that the phrase “would never do” does not apply to Vladimir Putin, and that raises an uncomfortable question: He would never press the nuclear button first, would he? This is not a theoretical question. Putin has just put his country's nuclear forces on special alert, complaining of “aggressive statements” about Ukraine by NATO members.
It is not playing petty politics or partisan political games to be worried about this situation. Now more than ever, we need to come together as a country to ensure that Canada plays its part with its allies. Canada is not and never has been a military superpower, but we can still exert influence to pressure Putin to back down and withdraw from Ukraine.
In the short term, we can and should declare the Russian ambassador to Canada, Oleg Stepanov, persona non grata and expel him from Canada. We should recall Canada's Ambassador LeClaire from Moscow and bring her home. Canada should isolate Russia internationally by seeking to remove it from organizations such as the G20 and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Canada should also implement a visa-free travel system between Ukraine and Canada.
Vladimir Putin is a dangerous man. He has long shown us that he is ready to do anything to hold onto and increase his power. After all, early in his career, he worked as a KGB officer for 16 years. It is not for nothing that every one of his critics dies under suspicious circumstances.
In the long term, Canada can truly be a superpower in our own way to our friends in Europe. For example, we must build new pipelines that reach the east coast to replace Russian natural gas. Russia provides 40% of Europe's natural gas and uses that to intimidate Europe and Ukraine, by threatening to cut off the supply. If that supply is cut off, people will freeze, European industry will cease to function and Europe's GDP will collapse. Now that the Russians have invaded Ukraine, the Liberal government may finally acknowledge that Canadian oil and gas are essential to the security of Canada and Europe. Let us open our eyes to that reality.
It is also time to take Canada's Arctic security and sovereignty seriously. Russia shares the waters to the northwest of Canada. We can no longer allow ourselves to take our peace and security for granted. The government must propose a solid plan for the Arctic that will help modernize NORAD's early warning system, improve the ailing military procurement system, speed up the national shipbuilding program, buy F-35 fighter jets, and work in close collaboration with the Scandinavian countries and the United States to ensure peace and security in the Arctic.
In closing, we must equip the Canadian Forces to a professional level with equipment worthy of the 2020s. Let us build our capabilities so we can be proud and effective.
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