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Context: House Hansard - 333 - Jun/17/24

Jun/19/24 4:40:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded division.

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Context: House Hansard - 331 - Jun/13/24

Jun/17/24 11:48:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to request a recorded division.

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Context: House Hansard - 331 - Jun/13/24

Jun/13/24 4:16:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unlike the cabinet retreats that the member opposite's government takes at the expense of the Canadian taxpayer, we know that not a dime of taxpayer money was spent on that trip. It was a very important trip to understand the U.K. point of view, which is much farther ahead of us with respect to reversing its changes on carbon tax, and to have the incredible opportunity to meet the Hon. Tony Abbott, who also fought a carbon tax election. It is no surprise that when Australians were running out of money, as Canadians are, Tony Abbott won that election handily, as we expect to happen here as soon as the frightful and running-scared coalition is able to call an election in this country. We know that, when the carbon tax election comes along, it will be no problem for the Conservatives to have power in Canada and reverse the incredible, costly and ridiculous charges that the government has foisted on Canadians now for nine long years.

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Context: House Hansard - 326 - Jun/6/24

Jun/13/24 4:08:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, before I was so rudely interrupted without precedent, I was getting to the point about the Parliamentary Budget Officer and his good nature once again being besmirched by the government. Certainly, we know that on June 3, the Parliamentary Budget Officer appeared before the finance committee to say, “the government has [an] economic analysis on the impact of the carbon tax itself.... We've seen that—staff in my office—but we've been told explicitly not to disclose it and reference it.” This is another cover-up from the costly coalition. It is no surprise to Canadians that the government wants to keep its dirty laundry hidden. This is something it does regularly, to me and all Canadians. It does not want Canadians to know the true cost of the carbon tax. Why? It is because it is a tax on everything. It is causing hardship, misery and a constant state of anxiety for Canadians, who are simply trying to live their lives and put food on the table. In the wonderful place in and around Truro in Cumberland—Colchester, which I represent, the Colchester Food Bank served 482 more households this May than it did in January 2023. It is mind-boggling when we think about it, but what do we hear from the caustic coalition? Yes, I did say “caustic”, not “costly”, but they are equally appropriate. We hear that another $1,800 to $2,000 per household is nothing, that they should not worry about it. Food banks across Nova Scotia saw a 27% increase in visits in 2023. Last winter, it was reported that the food bank in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, where the housing minister lives, was busier than it has ever been. What is certainly mind-boggling is that we get calls from the member for Central Nova's constituency frequently, and we have to explain to them why their cost of living is much greater than it is. The CBC reported that folks in Louisbourg, many of whom are seniors, have been going days and even weeks without a proper meal, and some children have not been attending school because they do not have food. The members opposite would just say that they would create another program to feed the children for them. Why do we not give their parents an appropriate job, an appropriate paycheque, stop taking money out of every pocket that they have and let them feed their own kids? What a common-sense idea. Of the Canadians who went to the food bank last year, 61% were first time users. They are real people, and we know they deserve better. We also know that Canada's Food Price Report in 2023, from Dalhousie University, reported that a family of four would see their grocery bills rise by $700 this year. Perhaps the costly coalition does not think that is a lot of money, but I grew up in a trailer park, in very humble circumstances. As my dad would say to me, and I know this is not proper grammar, “Son, those 20 dollarses do not grow on trees.” We certainly know that they do not; it would be great if they did. We know that one in five Canadians is out of money, skipping meals or accessing charities, such as food banks, for their basic needs. Two million Canadians visited a food bank in a single month last year and, very sadly, one-third of them were children. We also know that the members of the costly coalition are the kings and queens of cover-up. Where should we start? Interestingly, it would seem that maybe it is an accident that they are covering up or forgetting things. A former minister testified about the green slush fund and had a sense of dementia. Everybody who testified there could not remember anything. It appears that this is a foundational feature of the costly coalition, not a glitch; this is how it wants things to be. There are cover-ups such as the top secret lab in Winnipeg. We had to have four orders of Parliament, which were all denied, to produce some documents. We had the president of PHAC brought here, in front of the bar, to be embarrassed in front of all Canadians. We talked a bit about the green slush fund. We know that the chair of the green slush fund approved $200,000 to her own company. That is absolutely shocking. Of the projects that were approved, 10% were ineligible. In 90 cases, reporting $76 million of funding, these projects did not even qualify for funding. It is not shocking, but we see this over and over again. We hear about meddling in our elections. We hear from NSICOP that there are members of Parliament who have befriended other governments. This is, of course, another cover-up that we are trying to allow Canadians to see. In summary, what do we see? We see, again, a cover-up and a costly coalition that is costing Canadians right out of their lives. They are unable to afford their basic necessities of food, shelter and, in many cases, of course, in the rural area where we live, gasoline for their vehicles to even get to work. We hear cases where people are taking on two and three jobs to try to pay their bills. Of course, with the coalition that allows criminals to go free, they lose their car. What happens then is they have to take on another job to pay for that car. It is time the truth were told; it is time it became known that the carbon tax costs this country billions of dollars. It is time for the Minister of the Environment to resign.

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Context: House Hansard - 321 - May/30/24

Jun/6/24 4:53:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, standing here in the House of Commons is important on behalf of all Canadians. Canadians really want to know where the $123 million in the green slush fund is. Will the NDP-Liberal government commit to handing over the documents and allowing the investigation to go forward with the RCMP?

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May/30/24 8:42:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with respect to all Canadians such as physicians, nurse practitioners and pharmacists who are listening and who are out there prescribing medications this evening, I find it fascinating that the member would be suggesting that their appropriateness is actually inappropriate and that we need the government now to tell physicians what to prescribe. Think about someone with hypertension, sitting in their family doctor's office if they are fortunate enough not to be one of the seven million people without a family doctor. What is the family doctor going to do? Are they going to call the “1-800-who-cares” phone number provided by the people who cannot even get them a passport, and wait on hold while they say which medication should be prescribed? I find that to be an absolutely terrifying prospect for Canada's incredibly well-trained frontline prescribers in this country who have the independent ability to make those decisions, the best decisions on behalf of the patients, many of whom they have known for an incredibly long time. Maybe the member could answer this: Would they now be setting up a 1-800 number for doctors to ask which medication should be prescribed? Perhaps, as I mentioned, they could call it “1-800-who-cares”.

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May/29/24 11:36:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, would the minister reject further licences for MDMA, or Ecstasy, cocaine and heroin?

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May/29/24 11:36:07 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is untrue. In January 2024, they were allowed to manufacture up to 20 kilograms of Ecstasy. How many applications for a dealer's licence are currently pending?

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May/29/24 11:35:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is absolutely untrue. Sunshine Earth Labs was granted a license in November 2022. How about Ecstasy?

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Context: House Hansard - 315 - May/22/24

May/29/24 11:32:16 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what was the average street price of Dilaudid in Ottawa before so-called safe supply was introduced?

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May/22/24 5:13:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think part of the difficulty is that the costly coalition fails to recognize that their continued spending on behalf of Canadians is costing Canadian lives. We know that, under the health care system that exists under the government's watch, between 17,000 and 30,000 Canadians die every year because of a procedure or a consultation they cannot get. The government still continues to spend money in a hand-over-fist fashion. With the support of the costly coalition partners behind me, what we are seeing is another bill being rushed through, much like the botched dental care plan, which we know should have taken several years and is now failing Canadians. The other misconception that the government wants to peddle to Canadians is that this is a free plan that already exists. We already know there is no plan. This is a simple pamphlet or idea, again for photo ops, that is going to cost Canadians money. The minister spoke already about how the government is going to set up a specialist committee to talk about it a bit more. After that, it is going to create another Canadian drug agency, which is going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. What we need is a responsible government. Whenever the Liberals are ready to allow us to take over, we are more than happy to.

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Apr/16/24 3:08:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, interestingly enough, the Minister of Health of the NDP-Liberal government has been singing the praises, in photo ops, of this program for months now. Their plan is lacking and it is failing Canadians. I have one simple question, once again, for the minister. How many dentists in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. have signed up for the botched dental care announcement? I will actually give him the answer. It is eight out of 1,107.

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Apr/16/24 3:07:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the costly NDP-Liberal coalition has announced another poorly conceived federal idea. Its dental care debacle is failing Canadians. I have one simple question. How many dentists in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. have signed up for the dental care debacle?

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Apr/16/24 11:49:00 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we know that the NDP-Liberal coalition wants to create federated programs that are going to reduce choices for Canadians and push those who do have access to the beloved care they now have into programs that will cover much fewer medications. For instance, we know at the current time that public programs cover about half of the medications that privately funded plans do. That will reduce choice for Canadians. What incentive will there be for employers to continue to provide plans for their hard-working employees in the future if a federated plan with a few old medications on it is what is being offered “for free” on the backs of all Canadians? Of course, we know that does not account for the bloated bureaucracy that it will take. As I mentioned, just to create a new Canada drug agency, in and of itself, will cost at least $90 million. Even though my great colleague suggested that perhaps 70% of dentists may support it, we know from the figures now that only less than 10% of the 26,500 dentists in Canada have signed up for this program, which is severely limiting access for Canadians. Indeed, last week, in one day, four great supporters in Cumberland—Colchester showed up at my office and said they have a shiny card for the dental care program, but they cannot find a dentist to provide the care because of the terrible nature of this program, which was created without consultation with the great dentists who provide care to millions of Canadians across this country. It is a shame. Liberals should be ashamed of their program and should be ashamed of the fact that they want to introduce another bloated federated program on the backs of hard-working Canadians.

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Context: House Hansard - 288 - Feb/29/24

Apr/16/24 11:09:21 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, those were interesting comments from the Minister of Health. He talked about the incredible results that he thinks he is getting with these new programs. Oddly enough, the backlogs for care in Canada have never been worse: It is 27 and a half weeks from the time of seeing a primary care provider to getting treatment from a specialist, the worst it has been in 30 years. With regard to the Canada dental care program, he wants to talk about how many people have signed up for it. Although we know he will go on with the fantastical speech he has made here in his incredibly fact-devoid fantasy, the question that would remain for his great dental care program is this: How many dentists have actually signed up for the program? Very specifically, how many dentists in Atlantic Canada and, specifically, how many in each province of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and P.E.I. have signed up for the dental care program?

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Feb/29/24 2:24:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister's comments are reckless and untrue. Before March 31, 2019, the PRC did not have a containment level 4 lab. How can I be so specific about the date? It is the date on which a scientist at Canada's top lab, the National Microbiology Laboratory, shipped dangerous pathogens including the Ebola virus to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This scientist had a history of visiting and collaborating with the PLA since 2016. When did the Minister of Health and the Prime Minister know about the espionage and blatant violation of our sovereignty, and when did they decide to cover it up?

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Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24

Feb/27/24 3:12:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us make a contrast again. Two scientists at our only high-security lab collaborated with the Beijing government. At least one Beijing military scientist was allowed in the lab. Members of Parliament, including Liberals, have said that it is essential for the government to release the documents. Why are the Liberals still covering up the scandal? Are they afraid of the embarrassment? The Liberal government needs to release those lab documents today for all Canadians to see.

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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24

Feb/13/24 4:31:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what the constitutional right to MAID is that the member across referred to. He wants more time to discover this legislation. The difficulty of course is the concept of irremediability. The Liberal government can take the next thousand years to consider this legislation, but it is clear from experts across this country that the issue of irremediability with respect to mental illness is not going to be resolved. How is he going to resolve that with the voters who are going to send him packing in the next election?

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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24

Feb/12/24 1:04:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think it is very important that Canadians understand that the vagueness of the language does not demand that it be a psychiatrist who would be making the determination of irremediability. As I clearly pointed out in my speech, the majority of psychiatric care in this country is and has been, over the last 50 years, delivered by primary care physicians. We must understand that this is where a person will primarily receive their diagnosis, that they will receive multiple different treatments if they have an illness that is very difficult to treat, and, again, that many Canadians, especially adults, will have more than a year's wait to see a psychiatrist. Therefore, depending on psychiatrists to provide intervention, along with diagnosis and treatment, is failing in this country. To go on and expect that they would suddenly be MAID assessors is folly.

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