- May/6/22 11:51:49 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we need some answers here, not talking points, so I will go with this “despicable” or “annoying” question, I suppose.
I have heard from Madison and Michelle. They applied on March 14 for travel on May 4. They could have an expedited passport for extra money, and being held ransom, they paid. After over 400 phone calls and hours waiting on hold, they travelled one hour and 10 minutes to Halifax and slept on the floor overnight.
The government is downloading its ineptitude onto the backs of public service employees. When will it clean up this mess and put the “service” back in “Service Canada”?
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his insightful thoughts around co-op housing and the experience he has had. That is a very important thing for us to hear in the House.
The question I would have is around the funding of all this. We know that the government has a burgeoning amount of deficit and debt that is accumulating for generations as we go forward. I look at my own personal situation, with three children and two grandchildren, and somebody is going to have to pay for this. I guess the question is this: Does the member opposite have a major concern with that? What is the plan going forward, and how does he think we are going to actually fund all of these wonderful examples that he has given today?
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- May/4/22 2:39:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that the mandates have served their purpose and the word “vindictive” is really what is left.
Dr. Theresa Tam said in the health committee that Canadians have a lack of trust and a complacency with respect to additional doses of the vaccine. This is of course not terribly surprising given the disparaging language the Prime Minister has used to describe those who disagree with him: misogynist, racist, taking up space.
We have also heard that the decision to end federal mandates is a cabinet-level decision. On which date will the Prime Minister release the benchmarks cabinet has used to make the vindictive mandate decisions?
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- May/4/22 2:37:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I spoke to Daniel and Sandra. They have a sick daughter in the United Kingdom. She is alone and she needs the help of her parents.
Sandra has begun her immunization process with Novavax, and she has been told that she needs to wait 163 days before she is able to travel, to continue her immunization schedule. This is in stark contrast to the three weeks between doses recommended in the monograph. Federal vaccine mandates are punitive to Canadians who have made decisions contrary to the Prime Minister.
Sandra's daughter needs help. When will the Prime Minister end the vindictive mandates and allow Canadians to travel freely?
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- May/3/22 3:20:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there has been consultation among the parties and I believe if you seek it you will find unanimous consent for the following, that the government allow public servants to return to work, regardless of vaccination status.
Some hon. members: No.
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- May/2/22 2:52:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at the health committee, Dr. Isaac Bogoch stated that this complicated science the Minister of Health keeps referring to with respect to mandates could be summarized in one page. We also heard again that there is going to be a regular review of these mandates. Where is it?
When is the Prime Minister going to be transparent and make us all aware of the scientific benchmarks and government reviews, and release Canadians who have disagreed with him from these vindictive and overly punitive mandates?
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- May/2/22 2:51:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, around the world there is consensus that we are moving into the endemic phase of COVID-19. Unfortunately, federal employees continue to be left behind. In Canada, federal mandates persist and many employees are losing their jobs because of their personal choice. This would include approximately 1,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces, who we now know cannot find housing, at a time when recruitment and retention are already at an alarmingly low rate.
On which date is the government going to give Canadians a federal plan to lift these mandates?
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- 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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- Apr/26/22 1:08:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there are a few things there. We do know that health care is very important. It is very clear that the government does not believe that. They did not increase the Canada health transfers at all, which, as I mentioned, was unanimously agreed upon by all the provincial premiers. That is a sad state of affairs.
In terms of other care, Nova Scotia does have a dental program, and I think, when we look at the details of the dental program and the pharmacare program, these are very wasteful programs. They really do not know how to administer things on the other side of the House. When one begins to understand the costs associated with them, there are probably better ways to do it. As I said previously, we would be more than happy to take that burden away from the country and take over as the governing party whenever we need to.
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- Apr/26/22 1:07:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think the interesting thing is that I did speak about climate change. Perhaps he does not know the geography of Nova Scotia. Canada is actually connected to us by an isthmus called the Isthmus of Chignecto, which I have raised multiple times in the House. It is in significant danger of being flooded from the climate change that is happening.
What we do know, again, as I mentioned very clearly, this is not mentioned in this budget, even though the government has chosen to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to study this issue multiple times, and the sad thing is that this is a very important link from Canada to Nova Scotia. It brings across many goods every day, and this would sadly be flooded by climate change. That is something that the government, again, has not addressed in budget 2022.
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- Apr/26/22 1:05:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if I cannot use the word “just”, I find it inappropriate that the member opposite can say that I am misleading Canadians by giving facts. That is a little bit rich, in my mind, and quite ridiculous, to be honest.
I think what is important is that on the Conservative side of the House, we hear about everyday Canadians. They talk to us. I am not sure that the other side really understands that, that we hear from real people who come in and cannot afford things.
I always find it fascinating, as well, that they continue to go on and on about the United States, France, Germany and other places that perhaps are worse off. If they cannot govern the country, and it is too darn difficult for them to manage a war and a COVID crisis while doing a proper budget that would help Canadians, I know a group of people on this side of the House that is more than happy to take over.
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- Apr/26/22 1:02:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we cannot use “just” anymore. I will try to fix that somehow. I will learn some new English.
One thing for certain is that it is inflation, and it is a huge problem that is at the highest levels in over 30 thirty years. These spend-DP-Liberals can go on and say that this is a global crisis and things like that, but it is a lot of foolishness. Quite frankly, I do not believe for one second that my constituents are terribly concerned about what is going on specifically in Germany, France or anywhere else that these spend-DP-Liberals want to talk about. That is nonsensical.
When they call me, email me or drop into the office, they are concerned about how they are going to put food on their tables here in Canada, which is the government's responsibility and the Prime Minister's responsibility, not just any other problem. They are concerned about the highest inflation that Canadians have seen in over 30 years. They are concerned about the prices of everything they see, from home heating fuel to groceries to gasoline for their vehicles, which go up on an almost weekly basis. To get to the question that Daniel would like answered, perhaps by the Prime Minister, what is the government going to do about the affordability crisis that Canadians are now facing?
Finally, Canadians ask me every day how we are going to pay the incredible debt that these spend-DP-Liberals continue to accumulate. I look back to August 1994 when my eldest daughter was born. At that point, an individual's share of the debt was $16,000, and today that has now ballooned to $31,255. Of course, if we want to use approximate math, that is double the amount in 28 years. As this number continues to climb, there is a major concern I hear from everyday Canadians with this out-of-control spending: How are we going to saddle these Canadians with that as they go forward in the future and cannot even afford a house?
To summarize, this budget has failed everyday Canadians like Daniel, important and vital industries such as agriculture, future Canadians like my eldest daughter, who are going to be saddled with this huge national debt, and, finally, all Nova Scotians. There was next to no mention of my home province in the budget and certainly nothing of substance for the constituents of Cumberland—Colchester. Therefore, it will come as no surprise that I have no confidence in the government and there is no way I can support the Prime Minister's budget 2022.
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- Apr/26/22 1:01:48 p.m.
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I thank the member opposite for this unusual intervention. I did not realize that “just” was a—
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- Apr/26/22 12:53:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always an extreme pleasure to rise here in the House of Commons to represent the good people of Cumberland—Colchester as we debate the spend-DP-Liberal budget of 2022. I think it is important to understand this budget in the context of my province, my riding and my constituents, and of course to understand the budget itself.
My home province of Nova Scotia is mentioned four times in the 300-odd pages of the budget and the gazillion other pages. There is a discussion about twinning parts of the Trans-Canada Highway, a reference to remaining project funding through the failed Canada Infrastructure Bank and a reference to a Nova Scotia agreement on offshore revenues. I am not sure the relevance of all those things. The final reference is about the shortage of doctors and nurses in Nova Scotia. We all know the Prime Minister promised 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners, whom he is going to create out of thin air, but that has not materialized. Sadly, 88,000 Nova Scotians do not have a family physician. We also know very clearly that we are short 60,000 to 70,000 nurses in the entire country. We have that burden as well.
Sadly, despite requests by all the premiers unanimously, there is no funding committed for an increase in the Canada health transfer. The Liberals did talk about loan forgiveness for physicians and nurses, but they must agree to work in rural or remote areas. Physicians can easily, as I well know, accumulate 250,000 dollars' worth of debt during their education, and the proposed loan forgiveness of $60,000 seems woefully inadequate.
Another major concern in my riding of Cumberland—Colchester is agriculture. Aside from the government's bungled creation of the potato wart problem due to its ineptitude in its relationship with the United States, there is no other mention of agriculture in budget 2022. In Canada, we have eight agricultural colleges, and in my riding we have one. The fact that there is no mention of agriculture in the budget and no funding for agriculture is just a sad misplacement of priorities.
We also know that this comes at a time when Canada could play a significant role on the world stage with respect to feeding the world. This great responsibility comes in relation to Russia's illegal war on Ukraine, which my colleague spoke about in depth. The opportunities that exist now for Canadian farmers come at a time when fuel prices are at an all-time high in the history of our nation. Of course, there is also an unfair tax on fertilizer that the government continues to place against farmers. This is a gross abuse of our farmers at a time when the potential for feeding the world is at an all-time high, and sadly we wonder whether Canada is going to be able to participate in that at all.
The budget speaks a bit about the environment and climate change. We are unsure of how this is going to relate to Nova Scotia, with the vague wording in the budget of “proactive management of marine emergencies and...more types of pollution”. I do have an idea of what that means, but certainly there is no proverbial meat on the bones to help people understand how that may relate to Nova Scotia.
There is no mention at all of climate change as it relates to the Isthmus of Chignecto, which I have had the pleasure to speak about here in the House before. We know this is a vital land link that links Canada to the great province of Nova Scotia. There is no mention of that and we know it is a climate emergency waiting to happen.
We also know in Nova Scotia, and hopefully my colleague from Winnipeg knows this as well, that seniors are important to all Canadians and certainly to those of us in Nova Scotia. The crisis that seniors are dealing with now, the affordability crisis, does not appear to be talked about in the budget either. There is no new financing added to the cheques of seniors. It is sad. The budget does mention undertaking another study, spending money that could easily be put in the pockets of seniors for a yet-to-be-named aging at home benefit. There does appear to be financing for seniors who need to make their home more accessible and for projects allowing seniors to participate in their communities more fully. However, as we know, this does not put oil in their tanks, gas in their cars or food in their bellies.
There is absolutely no financial relief for the seniors who helped build this great nation. Indeed, the budget has the audacity to say that Canadians who are seniors “do not have to worry about the value of their benefits keeping pace with inflation”. I find that hard to believe. It goes on to say, “the share of seniors in poverty is only about half that of the overall population”. Is that something to brag about? I am not entirely sure it is. Is that really the ambitious goal the government has set? Does it believe it is okay for our seniors or any Canadian to live in poverty? I should think not.
This leads me to speak, in a very personal way, about Daniel, who reached out and wrote to me about his budget. He really wanted me to speak about the affordability crisis in the House of Commons, which of course we know is ongoing for many Canadians. He came to my office last week when we were home on constituency week and gave me a budget for his monthly income of less than $800.
Daniel is a frugal guy. He has a mortgage of $547. He has life insurance on his home at $35, car insurance at $84, insurance on the house itself at $125 and bank fees of $20. Phone, cable and Internet are, shockingly, $230 per month, property insurance is $35, life insurance for himself is $100 and medical insurance is $140, plus $10 a month for each medication, and he is on eight of them. His power bill is $200 per month, and on top of all of this are groceries and gas. Without any food or any gasoline for his vehicle, Daniel is paying out about $1,596 per month. He is, of course, struggling to pay his bills on his $800 monthly income, but fortunately for him, his wife can work a bit as well to help support the family.
As members can imagine, in this household there is no money left over for any extras. There is no frivolous spending. There are no extras at the grocery store. He has reduced his trips to town for groceries and other essentials to once a month, which saves on his gasoline bill since he is not going to town as much. There is no mass transit where Daniel lives, and I am not entirely sure, when I look at this meagre budget, where he might cut things out.
We are all beginning to realize that this is “just incredible”. It is really “just inconvenient”, and for some it is “just inconceivable” how we are now in a life affordability crisis.
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- Apr/8/22 11:43:53 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, every day I get calls about the cost-of-living crisis that Canadians are undergoing. They have raised concerns about the price of chicken, beef, bacon, milk, coffee, sugar, maple syrup, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, ice cream and potato chips. The list goes on: heating fuel, gasoline, electricity, cellphone bills, home repairs, clothing, alcohol, beer, wine and of course the price of a home. We know the price of everything is increasing at a pace that is much greater than their paycheques.
When will the spend-DP-Liberals admit they are failing Canadians, which leaves them falling further and further behind?
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- Apr/7/22 3:11:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, imagine being a victim of Canada's worst ever mass shooting where 23 lives were senselessly taken, including that of a baby. The federal government has promised an advocate. For seven months the position of the federal ombudsman for the victims of crime remains unfilled. It has not been filled in due time as promised by the Minister of Justice. Despite the efforts of the Mass Casualty Commission, affected families have nowhere to turn because of this unfilled vacancy.
When will the minister do right by the families, all Nova Scotians and many others affected, and appoint a victims advocate?
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- Apr/7/22 2:11:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an incident that sadly will live in infamy, and in the minds of the citizens of Portapique, Nova Scotia, and indeed of all Canadians. I refer to the incidents of April 18 and 19, 2020. Over this less than 24-hour time span, 23 lives, including that of an unborn baby, were senselessly taken.
The families, community members and all of us continue to mourn. This unfathomable act of violence occurred in small-town Canada. All of us continue to question the whys and the hows of this mass tragedy. Our feelings continue to be raw. The questions continue to be great. The sorrow experienced continues to be, at times, overwhelming.
My comments today will not provide great relief to those who are suffering; however, they will know that their loved ones and their terrible grief have not gone unrecognized. They are remembered and shared by those of us in the House of Commons today and, as the anniversary of the tragedy looms ever closer, by all Canadians.
Let us forever remember those families and all of those affected in our thoughts and in our prayers.
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Madam Speaker, I too rise to present a petition on Bill S-223. We all know now that it is to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking, making it a criminal offence for a person to go abroad and receive an organ taken without the consent of the person giving the organ.
Certainly, as a former family physician this bill would strike to the heart of the matter for me. We all know that this is vastly inappropriate and sadly a burgeoning event happening in countries to people who are not quite so lucky as to be Canadian.
Again, I would like to honour a colleague, who is not a colleague of mine but of everybody else here it appears, David Kilgour, a great champion not only of this issue but of other human rights issues.
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- Apr/6/22 3:05:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Prime Minister has not met his commitment to Canadians for 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. Oddly enough, at the health committee, we heard from the College of Family Physicians of Canada that we need at least 3,000 to 4,000 family doctors alone. Also, the Canadian Nurses Association states we are short about 60,000 nurses.
In this budget, will the spend-DP-Liberal Prime Minister admit he is failing Canadians from Springhill to Tidnish, to Stewiacke, all of Nova Scotia and all Canadians, and commit to sustainable and predictable health care funding?
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- Mar/31/22 4:40:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order, the member across the way seemed to refer to the Air Miles program. I believe that is a copyrighted program, and I am really quite certain that was not part of the Conservative plan. I think the member probably should correct himself on that.
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