- Member of Parliament
- President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada
Minister of Emergency Preparedness
Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada
- Liberal
- Vancouver South
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 57%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $65,993.28
- Government Page
- Feb/9/23 3:11:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Humanitarian Coalition, a group of Canadian NGOs that do this amazing work.
Yes, we have announced a matching fund of $10 million. This is in addition to the $10 million we have already committed. Our needs assessment is currently ongoing and all options are on the table, including additional matching funds. We will even consider direct funding to the Humanitarian Coalition to help the tremendous work that it is doing on the ground.
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- Feb/7/23 3:11:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government stands ready to support those affected by these devastating earthquakes. This is why today I authorized an initial emergency humanitarian response of $10 million to support the people of Turkey and Syria. This is in addition to the $50 million in funding that we provided for disaster response in Syria, and our international partners on the ground have already initiated emergency response activities. We are also conducting need assessments because we will be doing more.
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- Feb/7/23 2:50:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our hearts go out to all those affected by the devastating earthquake. Our initial response of $10 million is a start. We are conducing a needs assessment to look at more. Yes, we are looking at a matching fund as well.
I was just speaking with the head of UN OCHA regarding our response and we are looking at all avenues of support. We will have more to say on this.
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- Sep/26/22 2:48:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada remains deeply concerned about the critical and worsening humanitarian situation that is unfolding in Afghanistan. This is why I announced that Canada is providing an additional $50 million for a total of $156 million in 2022 to help support the people of Afghanistan, particularly women and girls. The funding will allow Canada's humanitarian partners to provide life-saving assistance to ensure that humanitarian goods are dispatched and that workers continue to be able to support the Afghan people.
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- May/30/22 3:08:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to making sure that Ukraine has the humanitarian support that it needs. We will work with businesses. My team will contact the member's staff, look at the details and see what we can do.
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- Apr/4/22 3:07:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for Laval—Les Îles for his strong advocacy for the Afghan people.
Afghanistan is suffering from a humanitarian crisis. That is why last week I announced that Canada is providing an additional $50 million, for a total of $143 million in 2022 to help support the people of Afghanistan. This assistance will be delivered through our partners and will provide life-saving assistance such as food, nutrition and medical support to the Afghan people, particularly women and girls.
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- Mar/23/22 2:59:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I respectfully disagree with the member. In fact, I and other members were actually on the ground as well, where I visited Poland, Moldova, Romania and other countries involved.
In fact, we not only have a team on the ground coordinating with the U.S.A, the EU and the United Nations, we have been having daily conversations to make sure humanitarian support is getting to the right people.
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- Mar/3/22 2:51:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Mississauga—Streetsville, who is also the first Filipina in this chamber.
Today, I am announcing that Canada will provide an additional $2 million in funding for life-saving humanitarian assistance to the Philippines to help the most vulnerable people affected by typhoon Rai. This funding builds on the $3 million of humanitarian assistance announced last year that Canada provided to the Philippines.
Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this typhoon.
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- Feb/28/22 3:01:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Etobicoke Centre for his strong leadership and for advocating for the people of Ukraine. Canada is deeply concerned by the deepening humanitarian crisis in Ukraine that has been caused by President Putin, and we are monitoring the situation very closely on the ground. This is why our government has provided $50 million to support developing humanitarian aid and over $620 million in loan offers. Just on Friday, we announced that we would match, up to $10 million, the generous donations of Canadians to support Ukrainians through the Ukrainian Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and we will do more.
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- Feb/28/22 2:43:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all the Canadians who made generous donations to the Red Cross to support the Ukrainian people.
We will do more. We are monitoring the situation very closely, getting an understanding of what is needed and then providing appropriate support. This will be in addition to the $50 million for humanitarian and development support that we have already provided.
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- Feb/1/22 3:14:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and we will be there to support the people of Afghanistan, not the Taliban. That is why I recently announced that Canada would provide $56 million in humanitarian funding in response to the appeals from the United Nations and the international Red Cross. This funding will allow Canada's humanitarian partners to provide life-saving assistance to ensure that humanitarian goods are dispatched and that workers can continue to be able to support the Afghan people. We will look to do more with our partners.
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- Jan/31/22 9:05:18 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, our government's response is comprehensive. I have had the opportunity to visit Ukraine on many occasions. I am very proud of the time I had there. I had the opportunity to attend President Zelensky's inauguration, and I took my daughter to an event in Toronto where he spoke because this is an all-Canadian effort.
Yes, we are very proud of the work that we are doing with Operation Unifier and trade, but also of the development of support that is needed right now. We will continue to evolve our support as the situation changes.
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- Jan/31/22 8:55:02 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the hon. Minister of Tourism.
It is essential that we continue to support Ukraine in the days ahead and that we remember that we are not only supporting a nation; we are supporting its people. These are people who are living with the uncertainty of a potential invasion, who continue to struggle to build their democracy in the shadow of Russian threats and who continue to be affected by the humanitarian impact of the ongoing conflict in eastern Europe.
Canada has been a consistent supporter of the humanitarian response in Ukraine since 2014. Our humanitarian assistance provides support to the people most affected by this crisis, including those in non-government-controlled areas where restrictions have separated the population from the rest of Ukraine, many of whom are underemployed or elderly and find themselves cut off from social services such as health care and their pensions.
Through our experienced humanitarian partners, including United Nations agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Canada has sought to address the basic needs of the Ukrainian people, to protect civilians living near the contact line and to respond to increased needs due to COVID-19. Since 2014, Canada has provided over $49.5 million in humanitarian assistance funding to the Ukrainian people, making us the fourth-largest single-country donor of humanitarian assistance funding to Ukraine.
This funding is having a real impact on the ground. In 2020 we helped support 69 health centres, provided water and shelter assistance to over 1.4 million people, increased food consumption for over 220,000 people and boosted food production for over 32,000 people. We are prepared to do more. Last week, our government announced that we will provide $15 million in new humanitarian assistance to support humanitarian partners to respond with the flexibility that Ukraine requires.
Our assistance will focus on priorities that matter to the people on the ground, ensuring people's access to basic services such as health, water, sanitation, shelter and food security. The increased assistance will also strengthen protection, including for the almost one million individuals who remain internally displaced. We will provide advocacy and support for freedom of movement for the families that remain separated by the contact line, who in many cases are unable to even communicate with family members cut off from them because of the conflict.
Our support for the immediate humanitarian needs of those affected by the conflict in Ukraine is complementary to other long-term development and security support that is also supporting Ukraine's resilience in the face of a continued escalation of Russian aggression. Since 2014, in addition to our support of humanitarian assistance, Canada has provided over $250 million in bilateral development assistance to support Ukraine to advance democracy, the rule of law, gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls, and sustainable economic growth. Through this development assistance, we have supported rural women entrepreneurs to improve their agricultural production and business financial management, generating economic opportunities for the most vulnerable people living in rural conflict-affected areas.
We have fostered a vibrant and diverse civil society landscape in Ukraine that can play a vital role in building functioning democracies, upholding the rule of law and access to justice, and promoting and protecting human rights. We have ensured that women's voices are heard by helping local women's organizations and networks to promote women's rights and their advancement.
Now, in the face of this aggression, Canada is increasing development assistance by up to an additional $35 million. This support will fund strategic peace and security initiatives that respond to the evolving needs on the ground. These initiatives will work to strengthen community resilience and mitigate the drivers and impacts of instability. Our increased development assistance will help improve the crisis management and emergency response capacity in Ukraine. It will also allow some of our departmental partners on the ground to scale up programming to help Ukraine respond to the evolving needs of its citizens and ensure it has the capacity to continue to deliver services and provide help to people if the situation deteriorates even further. It will also enhance our support to civil society, including independent media and human rights activists.
Our development aid does not exist in isolation, but is part of a consolidated Canadian effort to help the government in Ukraine build its economic capacity. Our offer of a sovereign loan of up to $120 million, announced on January 21, will also help the Ukrainian government reinforce its economic resilience.
It remains Canada's hope that the situation in Ukraine does not deteriorate, but this depends on Russia. We will continue to seek a diplomatic resolution. With our allies and partners, we will continue to call on Russia to de-escalate and engage in a meaningful dialogue in good faith. We will do so not only because it is in the best interests of the people of Ukraine, but also because it is the only viable path forward for Russia. Whatever comes, Canada will stand alongside the people of Ukraine. Our humanitarian development support will be there to help them meet their daily needs and to help them as they fight for an independent future.
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