44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 19, 2022 07:00AM
- Feb/19/22 5:24:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I listened to the member and many times we may not agree. One thing she talked about is respect. I listened as she sat there and said the party I belong to is misogynist, white supremacist and all of these great names. We are in a place where we are not supposed to gaslight because we know it is happening outside. I listened to the member talk about the party I belong to and degrade each and every one of us. We have the right to a difference in thought. I do not agree with the occupation, but, like her, I do agree with the right to protest.
Is the member going to hold the Prime Minister responsible, or is she going to continue blaming the Conservatives when it is the Liberals who are in government?
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- Feb/19/22 11:14:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank anyone who is watching this now, at 11:15 p.m. We have been on this debate since 7 a.m., and I can say that, from participating in the debate and listening in since seven o'clock, I have heard a whole bunch of stories. Some were facts. Some were not facts. We have heard a lot of things.
The fact today is that it is my mother's birthday. To my mom, I would like to say “happy 81st birthday”. I am sure that she loves that I have shared her age with everybody, but this is why I am here. I am here because of my family. I am here because of the families and the people across Canada. I will speak about the reasonable people I also represent.
I looked earlier at Twitter. My husband told me weeks ago to get off Twitter, because it never lets me sleep. To any of the members, to anybody out there, get off Twitter. If they want nightmares, just read Twitter.
I found one tweet today. It is from Aaron Wudrick. If anyone has been watching the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, he is a person I follow when we are talking about what is happening in the economy. Today, he talked about what is happening in the House of Commons. He said:
When I say I'm sympathetic to the goal of ending mandates, I get called an apologist for Nazis and insurrectionists. When I say that in spite of that sympathy I support the rule of law, I get called a globalist totalitarian libtard.
I apologize for any inappropriate language, but the fact is that no one is finding a side on this debate to land where they cannot look at the other person and say that they have a good point. Many of my colleagues today have made good points. Some of them I absolutely disagree with, but I believe that they have the right to their opinions, whether it is right or wrong. That is the fact.
I have been down here throughout this period of time and the biggest thing that I have found, even in trying to prepare my speech today, is that we cannot say anything right and we cannot say anything wrong without someone jumping on us. Every single parliamentarian here, every single politician or any leaders, every time we say something there is going to be somebody who will smack us down.
It was interesting, because prior to the protesters coming here on January 31, five days before, I did an interview with our local radio station. This would probably have been January 23. It was a month ago when we started talking about what this might look like. I said that I supported the trucker convoy and I supported the right to protest. However, we cannot question the fact that there are characters and actors out there who are not going to behave. We all know that. I do not think that anyone has seen a protest that has a large group of people where there has not been one small infraction.
We have talked about what these infractions look like. Being from Elgin—Middlesex—London, I can tell you that the last two years have been very difficult. It has been difficult for everybody, regardless of where they are living. We have seen this type of stuff happening in my riding since 2020. I think about things that happened in 2021, when the Prime Minister had gravel thrown at him by one of the protesters. We all agreed that it was wrong. That individual was apprehended and taken in.
This same protester was on our streets just a few days ago. I know him personally. What do I say about this protester? If he was listening today, which I do not think he is because I think he is in holdup, I would say to him that he has to step back and he has to listen. He has to be part of the conversation.
That is what I would like to say to the protesters who are going past that next step. If they want change, they will have to be part of the change. It is not always about getting exactly what they want.
That is the exact same thing that I have to say to the government. This is about finding a place of balance. We have listened to people. I have been called a racist, a misogynist and all of these wonderful names. When I called one of the members of the NDP out for that, she doubled down. That is not democracy. That is not the way we should be talking to other people. We are sitting here talking about what these “vile people” are saying outside, yet the same members of Parliament who are complaining about them are saying the exact same things inside this chamber today. They are calling us racists. They are calling us Nazis.
We will not get anywhere until we stop bullying one another and calling each other names. That is the bottom line to this.
No one planned to find a plan. I heard one of the guys, one of the members for whom I have great respect, and watched him open his arms and say that we thought the motion to say that they had a plan was going to fix everything.
It was not going to fix everything, but it was going to give a plan. It was going to give hope. The fact is that I saw an entire bench of members of Parliament of the government get whipped, instead of representing their people and saying, “My neighbour Johnny called me, and Johnny is tired. His son is tired and has missed two years of school. My sister is a mother, a single parent. She teaches kindergarten and has her own children.” We are forgetting about those people when we are in these discussions. We are forgetting that people are tired and that people do want hope.
I recognize that this is a critical mass. I recognize that with health care measures, we have to make sure they are measures. I am asking the government to show us the metrics, show us the measurements and give us some idea of what the long game looks like, because everybody is tired.
Last Monday, when we asked that question and we were denied it, the fact is that people were just looking for answers and solutions. That is where I am today, and I know that half of the members of Parliament in this place today are looking for the exact same thing. Unfortunately, I am saying only half, because I have listened to some of this crap that is being said to us today. I will be honest: I am ashamed when listening to some of this rhetoric. How can we expect people to be better?
I listened to the member of Parliament for Pickering—Uxbridge wanting to read out a horrible email she got because it was so visceral. I welcome that member to politics, because we always get those. I have had people tell me to grow a thick skin. I do not believe in having to grow a thick skin when in politics. It is about being a good person, for goodness' sake. Therefore, when somebody starts reading something into the record to say how badly they were treated, they are not trying to say “look at me”. They are trying to pour on the gas and tell all the stuff they have been called.
I am concerned about where we are going. I am concerned, because I have been standing up for the rights of people. I am triple-vaccinated. I am proud of it, but I have been standing up for people in my riding, like a young woman I know who is 50 years of age. When she was young, she did have an interaction to a vaccination. She is scared of having another vaccination. I know her very well. She is scared of getting sick and missed Christmas with her family because there was somebody who was sick, and she did not want to make others sick. That is called personal responsibility, and I think that if we granted personal responsibility back to Canadians, they may just do that.
I look at my mom, who is 81 today, and I think of the fact that, when I come home from Ottawa, I have been sitting in an airport around hundreds of people and I have been on an airplane around hundreds of people. I take the first step and I choose not to go see my mom, because she is vulnerable. That is what Canadians do when they are given that sense of responsibility. We are losing that right now. We are losing this. The government has to tell us not to go see our moms. I am pretty sure this 50-year-old knows whether it is right or wrong to go see her mother, but we are being told by the government that this is the case.
I am going to end this with a simple story. I like to walk the streets of Ottawa. I do not mind walking by myself. I will not walk the streets of parts of my riding by myself, but when I am in Ottawa, I feel safe. My first week, when I was here, I dressed up every day, so I just looked like everybody else. Members would never find me all dressed up, but I wanted to look like everybody else because I was scared. I was worried about walking. Last week I started dressing normally and went back to being myself. Yesterday when I stopped and spoke to a guy who was in front of my apartment building, we talked for a few minutes. I finally asked him where he was from. He said he was from a little place outside of London. I said I was from London, and I asked him where. He said he was from Fingal. Fingal is where my brother plows the roads. Fingal is where my son has gone to see his friends.
We have to remember there is a whole bunch of regular people out there. We have to stop pushing them. We have to find solutions, and we have to do it now.
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- Feb/19/22 11:26:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have just proven that we can actually have conversations, because I just heard a question from the member without being called any names. I thank that member.
The fact of what he is referring to, when we are looking at this, is that there is nobody here saying that we approve of the blockades. It is just being said we have. When I say there are regular people out there, I have never said that everybody is regular. I am saying the majority of people out there protesting, or that were out there protesting before these new measures came in, were just absolutely normal people.
There are always going to be those people. No matter what kind of protest, there are always going to be those individuals. That is something I am very concerned with.
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- Feb/19/22 11:27:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is exactly what she has asked. One of the biggest questions I had today was about how I was going to write my speech without just pointing my finger in blame. It is really easy to blame people in this situation.
We know things should have been done 23 days ago. We know that the intel was there over 30 days ago. I spoke to a person that I have great respect for today. The police are doing a job, not because it is violent out there and there is criminal activity. They are doing a job because we are in a political crisis right now. That is the job they are doing. We have angry Canadians out there, and we are in a political crisis because of the leadership.
What would I do? I would start being a leader. That is what I expect from the government.
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- Feb/19/22 11:29:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is easy to say I absolutely agree with him. This is what we should be doing. We should be working together and looking at solutions. I would sit down with that member any day, as part of representing our caucus, and everybody else, to move forward.
I know there are members on all sides who want to just see peace in this country again. It should not be about beliefs. It should not be about being vaccinated or unvaccinated. That is not what we should be doing. We should be worrying about the safety of all Canadians and the security of this country, not what the Liberal government has created.
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