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Context: House Hansard - 128 - Nov/16/22

Mrs. Salma Zahid (Scarborough Centre, Lib.)

Nov/16/22 2:12:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a pillar of Toronto's Filipino community and a great friend, Paulina Corpuz, who passed away recently. A proud Filipina, Paulina fought to bring recognition to her community and its many accomplishments in Canada. She led the push for Toronto to declare June as Filipino Heritage Month. It was the first jurisdiction in Canada to do so. Her efforts inspired my private member's motion to make June Filipino Heritage Month across Canada, which received unanimous approval from the House of Commons. I have seen first-hand how much this recognition means to the community and it all started with her. For Paulina, the goal was always to inspire the younger generation to get involved in public life and public service. She was undeniably successful in this goal, and her legacy will live forever. My condolences to her family and all those she inspired. Rest in peace, my dear friend Paulina.

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Context: House Hansard - 128 - Nov/16/22

Hon. Michael Chong (Wellington—Halton Hills, CPC)

Nov/16/22 2:46:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have been asking for years for a plan from the government to combat Beijing's meddling in our democracy, but it has failed to act, and now we have a situation where candidates are receiving illicit funds from Beijing funnelled through its Toronto consulate. Canadians deserve answers. Who are these candidates? Are they members of the House? Are they going to be candidates in the next federal election? Again, who are these 11 election candidates?

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Context: House Hansard - 128 - Nov/16/22

Mr. Kevin Vuong (Spadina—Fort York, Ind.)

Nov/16/22 7:07:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in my question on September 28, I pointed out to the government that in Restaurants Canada's annual report, over the last 12 months 43% more restaurants had closed than opened. Additionally, the Business Development Bank of Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada report that our nation’s small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, are responsible for 10 million jobs in our country. Like all SMEs, restaurants help to employ 88.3% of Canada’s private labour force. However, all is far from well. In August 2022, for the first time in history, there were over 180,000 client visits in one month to the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto. In prepandemic times, just to put it in context, it would have had 60,000 client visits. If we fast-forward to January 2022, with the increases in inflation, there were 120,000 visits and, as mentioned earlier, in the most recent reported figure in August, that number has tripled, from 60,000 prepandemic to 180,000 client visits in one month. There is serious hardship here. Many Canadians face a really harsh winter. This reality is not some partisan thing; it is a very serious situation. It is one thing for a senior minister to suggest that it is not going to be an easy time for Canadians, that it is not going to be an easy time for Canada and that we have to make do with today’s realities. Does the government have any other viable plan, and if so, what is it?

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