44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 25, 2021 10:00AM
- Nov/25/21 4:26:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, following up on the question from my hon. colleague, the member for Timmins—James Bay, if it is deemed relevant, I would like to ask my hon. colleague from the Liberal Party why his leader did not denounce the activist David Suzuki for threatening to blow up pipelines in regard to the protests?
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- Nov/25/21 4:41:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to stand in this House, as always, and add to the debate.
I first want to send my heartfelt thoughts and prayers to my community of Vanderhoof, because literally 20 minutes ago a warning came across that there was an active shooter in the community. I meant to stand up and say to please stay safe and stay inside, but my understanding is that the shooter has been caught.
Ladies and gentlemen, and colleagues, it speaks to the debate that we are talking about today. This person, for reasons unknown, shot into our RCMP detachment. Thankfully, as far as I know, no one was wounded. The person was taken into custody.
Our country is divided. We have all just come through probably one of the most divisive elections we have seen in a very long time. We have colleagues from the government's side and colleagues from our opposition side who faced intimidation, threats and vandalism. Our family has received threats of violence and threats of death, and I know some of my colleagues have faced the same.
I want to bring us back to just two days ago, when we all convened in this House for the first time. There are pictures out there on social media. We are all sitting there, glad-handing each other and patting each other on the back. Some people even gave hugs, fist bumps and elbow bumps. There is a happiness in our being back here. I know I speak for many of us who have gone through the last six years, and at least for myself, when I say it is good to see members and it is good to be back here.
Last night I hosted the National Diwali on the Hill, Parliament's national Diwali, which was started by our great former colleague, the hon. Deepak Obhrai, 21 years ago. He started it here because he wanted to bring light to Canada. He wanted to bring a beautiful ceremony right here to Canada.
I think about this debate that we are having right now and I think about that significant event. Diwali is about the banishment of darkness and the bringing in of light, hope and peace. That is what Canadians need right now: light, hope and peace.
When I think about my riding of Cariboo—Prince George, there are residents who have been severely impacted by COVID and who have lost everything, including loved ones. I think about my friends and my family and our colleagues down in the Lower Mainland, who are battling the worst natural disaster in our country's history. I also think about my friends in Atlantic Canada, who are now receiving some of the worst weather patterns they have seen. I think about our good friend who spoke yesterday in a member's statement about losing two young members of his community.
The gentleman I am splitting time with, the hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester, is going to speak about the impacts in his riding as well, and he is a physician.
It is time we got back to work here in Ottawa. I know there are important things, and I know that just because we were in a hybrid setting, our days did not stop. I know that we were all faced with probably more meetings than we could count, because it made it easier in some sense. However, it also made it easier for some on the front bench to obfuscate and get away from their responsibilities.
Our friend from Kingston and the Islands is a good soldier. He said that said that maybe once or twice in question period a minister could not answer the question. I would hazard a guess that it happened more often than once or twice, but at least he was admitting it.
We saw that during the WE scandal. Does everybody remember the WE scandal when we were having committee meetings? All of a sudden there were technical difficulties or, guess what, the meeting had to be called because the translators were having a hard time, or we did not have translators, or the room was booked for that full length of time or there were technical difficulties.
Think about the cost merely to put on hybrid. Think about the cost that we just went through for an unnecessary election, and that we are downloading onto the backs of Canadians.
We were all elected to be here. I will remind everyone, and those who are new, that it is not one of my speeches if I do not remind members that this House does not belong to us. It is not our House. It is the House of electors. It belongs to Canadians. They elected the members to be here to represent them and to bring their voices to Ottawa, not the other way around.
I have heard some of the arguments, such as, it is just in case somebody gets sick. I will bring members back to 2018 when I had a very serious illness and I was at home. I still managed to do my job. I got incredible messages from members that kept me in touch with what was going on with the fisheries file, because I had that at the time.
We need to get back to work. We need to hold the government accountable.
It is shameful that we have our NDP colleagues, many of whom I count as friends, who have partnered with our Liberal colleagues here. I know that many of our Liberal colleagues probably do not share the feelings of the front bench in pushing this forward, and they would like to be right here doing the work that they are doing. In the last session, in the last Parliament, 622 days ago, it was Friday, March 13 and I remember taking a picture of the calendar when we rose and we went into hybrid.
I have heard somebody saying again that Conservatives have not taken this pandemic seriously. I will bring them back to that last session in January 2020. I was the first person to raise the questions. Should we not be doing something; should we not be taking this international threat seriously; should we not be talking about perhaps closing our borders, perhaps limiting flights from those destinations that have high cases? I will remind members that I was told that I was fearmongering, that perhaps I was racist. Yes, we have taken this seriously all along the way and we have worked tirelessly with our colleagues from all ends of this House to make sure that we have a team Canada approach.
It was 349 days ago that members of this House stood together unanimously and passed my motion to bring 988 to Canada as a national suicide prevention hotline right here for our country. It was 349 days ago, yet, we still do not have that.
There is something to be said about being present in person, and looking across the way at the minister or being able to have those sidebar conversations with our colleagues, and those personal relationships to be able to get things done. It is much different than texting and zooming and video conferencing. Personal relationships are what get things done in this House, and we all know that. We need to get back to work, and our work is right here in Ottawa.
I will end with that. I look forward to the great questions from my colleagues.
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- Nov/25/21 4:52:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is my first time standing in the House. Yesterday I was so concerned with sending my condolences to the town of Vanderhoof that I forgot to thank the residents of Cariboo—Prince George for once again electing me. I also forgot to thank my rock, my wife, and our family for all their support. Without them, we cannot do what we do.
First off, in answer to my colleague's question, if he wants to hug me he can. I am double-vaxxed. We all want to be back here. We do not need unanimous consent. It is that side of the House that needs to be convinced. It is down there that need to be convinced.
Let us get back to work. Let us be here and let us show Canadians that light, peace and hope are possible.
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- Nov/25/21 4:54:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is exactly what I said when I said that this House does not belong to us, it belongs to the electors. They elected the 338 members of Parliament to stand, be counted and bring their voices to Ottawa, not the other way around, to represent them, do that work and make sure that, at least on the opposition side, we are holding the government accountable.
On the government side, the members' constituents elected them to be here, do their job and be accountable.
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- Nov/25/21 4:56:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, first, let me send my heartfelt condolences to my colleague for the loss of her loved one. My son lost one of his best friends to COVID, a young gentleman just in his twenties.
To the best of my knowledge, it sounds like this is about a member's privilege. The reality is that it is not about a member's privilege. It is about the jobs that we were all elected to do.
We can all find ways to get our job done and get here. We can get COVID from going to the grocery store. We can get COVID from going to other places. It is about being here, being accountable and doing our job.
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