- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Liberal
- Mississauga East—Cooksville
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $103,294.29
- Government Page
- Jun/20/23 2:08:29 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour the life of Boleslaw Julius Fujarczuk, who passed away June 6, in his 99th year, after a long and remarkable life.
From proudly serving during the Second World War to earning notable commendations such as the Polonia Restituta Cross, the British Defence Medal and the British General Service Medal to becoming a successful businessman and prominent community leader, Boleslaw lived an extraordinary life.
Although he was involved in many Polish organizations in Canada, his most notable involvement was in the founding of St. Maximilian Kolbe church and the John Paul II Polish Cultural Centre in my riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville.
Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his loved ones and the entire family at this trying time, in particular with his children Richard, Teresa and Theodore.
On behalf of the people of Canada, I thank Boleslaw Julius Fujarczuk for his services. May he rest in peace.
156 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/19/23 4:36:25 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Outremont.
As a member of Parliament representing, in my opinion, maybe the best riding in all of Canada, Mississauga East—Cooksville, a riding with a thriving economic presence, a great region that people call home, where they work and where they raise their families, I am honoured to address the House on matters of great significance to my constituents, and to all Canadians for that matter.
Today's debate on budget 2023 and our government's fiscal plan is of great importance to the 800,000 residents of Mississauga and the 16,000 businesses in Mississauga. It is always an honour and a privilege to discuss issues that affect them and our communities. Budget 2023 is the government's plan to build a stronger, more sustainable and more secure Canadian economy, an economy that works for everyone.
The past couple of weeks gave me a wonderful opportunity to meet with residents and businesses in my riding to talk about budget 2023. The proposed budget aims to make life more affordable for Canadians when they need it most. This includes delivering a grocery rebate that would offer up to $467 extra for eligible families of four, so they can keep putting good food on the table and paying their bills. We would also be increasing assistance for students, cracking down on hidden junk fees and predatory lenders, and lowering credit card transaction fees for small businesses.
Together with provinces and territories, the budget proposes historic investments in health care, with conditions attached to ensure the delivery of improved services, such as more family doctors, better wages for support workers and mental health supports. This would ensure that Canadians get the care they need and deserve. To address dental care affordability concerns, we would be expanding dental coverage to millions of Canadians. Furthermore, the budget aims to grow the clean economy, fight climate change and deliver great jobs and great careers for now and for generations to come.
It is unfortunate that Conservative members opposite continue to stand in the way of all the progress we are trying to deliver and the supports for people who need them right now. They want to make reckless cuts, and the member for Carleton, the leader of the Conservatives, also encouraged people to invest their life savings in volatile cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, to opt out of inflation. I want to use parliamentary language as much as I can, so I will just say that the leader of the Conservatives is being reckless and irresponsible by giving out terrible advice. I feel sorry for Canadians who listened to that leader and lost much of their savings. The leader of the Conservatives should stand up and apologize to Canadians for his reckless messages for Canadians to invest in that cryptocurrency scheme.
We, as Liberals, will stay focused on supporting Canadians. My riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville is home to the largest population of Polish Canadians and one of the largest Ukrainian Canadian communities, my wife being one of those Ukrainian Canadians. My residents understand how Putin and his Russian crony oligarchs have driven up inflation in Canada and around the world. I wish that the official opposition and the leader of the Conservatives, the member for Carleton, would also understand that, like my constituents do.
Canada's economy has indeed made a remarkable recovery, well past what was imaginable. Inflation has fallen for eight months in a row, and the Bank of Canada predicts it will drop to just 2.6% by the end of this year. More Canadians of working age are employed than ever before. With 830,000 more Canadians working today than before the pandemic, 126% of the jobs lost to COVID have been recovered as of February. In February, the average wage for Canadians actually went up by 5.4%, and since 2015, the federal government has made significant investments to support Canadians and make life more affordable.
Inflation-relief payments are helping about 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians. With our enhanced Canada workers benefit, families could receive up to $2,461 this year, and a single Canadian without children could receive up to $1,428. Our Canada dental benefit has provided direct tax payments of up to $1,300 per child, over two years, to eligible families to cover dental expenses for their children under 12. As of early April, we have already helped about 260,000 children with this benefit.
With our one-time top-up to the Canada housing benefit, a tax-free payment of $500, we have helped low-income people who are struggling with the cost of rent. For our seniors who are 75 and older, a 10% increase in old age security payments is providing over $800 in new supports to full pensioners in the first year. Our tax-free Canada child benefit supports about 3.5 million Canadian families annually, with up to $6,997 per child under the age of six and $5,900 per child aged six to 17. It has helped 3.5 million families and lifted 500,000 children out of poverty.
Under many of these initiatives, our government has lifted over a million people out of poverty in Canada.
In Ontario, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Canada-wide early learning and child care agreement. This agreement will deliver, on average, $10-a-day child care for Ontario families by the end of March 2026. It is already saving thousands of dollars for families in my riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville, across Ontario and right across Canada. In addition, important benefits like the Canada child benefit, the Canada pension plan, OAS and the guaranteed income supplement are all keeping pace with inflation.
While we continue to talk about all the positive outcomes of our government's fiscal prudence through the most difficult few years, not only here but across the globe, we also know there is still much more work to be done, so what are we doing? We are cracking down on hidden junk fees such as higher telecom roaming charges, event and concert fees, excessive baggage fees and unjustified shipping and freight fees. We are also cracking down on predatory lending by proposing to lower the criminal rate of interest. For small businesses, we are lowering credit card transaction fees while protecting reward points for Canadians offered by Canada's large banks. Our proposed automatic tax filing for low-income Canadians will ensure they can easily file their tax returns in order to receive the benefits they are entitled to. Young Canadians will also be able to save for their first home. We launched the new tax-free home savings account on April 1. This is all good news.
With our new Canada dental care plan, our federal government is moving forward with transformational investments to provide dental care to all Canadians who need it. We are moving now to help families and seniors, with a dental plan for families with a family income of $90,000 or less, with no copays, and for individuals with $70,000 or less. Their coverage would begin by the end of 2023.
With budget 2023, we are growing a green economy. We are ensuring a clean Canadian economy that can deliver prosperity for the middle class and make more jobs and more vibrant communities right across our country. In my riding, Ukrainian Canadian families remind me every day that we cannot take our freedom and democracy for granted. Our country is filled with great opportunities. Our government has all these families, seniors, youth and businesses in mind, with timely supports. This is a great budget and I hope all members of the House will support it.
1306 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jan/30/23 2:19:24 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I sat with a force of nature two weeks ago: “Hurricane Hazel” McCallion, a dear friend, a mentor, a leader, someone who devoted her life to serving the people of Mississauga, Ontario and Canada. We are all overcome with sadness by her passing. Our hearts go out to her family.
She was always there to lead and to help: helping with the biggest mass evacuation in Canadian history, helping people through the pandemic at 101 years of age young, and helping to build Mississauga to the successful city it is today.
Hazel had great insight and vision, but her greatest strength was her connection with people. Loved by all who met her, with a big heart and a deep caring for community, she will always be remembered as the people's mayor. She was so proud of our country. The last thing she said to me was, “Peter, we live in the best place in the world, Canada.”
On behalf of the Parliament of Canada, we thank Hazel. May she rest in peace.
179 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/12/22 2:08:03 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, today is Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. We join the millions who are participating on this day by holding various events to raise awareness of fibromyalgia, an invisible and debilitating chronic condition.
In my riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville, Ms. Susan Monaco has been a strong voice for those affected by fibromyalgia. After being diagnosed in 1986, Ms. Monaco suffered quite a bit, just like more than 1.5 million Canadians, mostly women, who suffer from the fibromyalgia syndrome. Today, Ms. Monaco leads a local support group for all those suffering from fibromyalgia. I hear that the most frustrating thing for those suffering is that on the outside they look just fine, but in reality fibromyalgia can severely limit a person's ability to carry out ordinary daily activities.
In honour of the 30th anniversary of the International Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, I am pleased to share that the City of Mississauga Civic Centre clock tower will light up purple.
I would like to give a big shout-out to my constituent Susan Monaco and her Mississauga fibro group for their tireless advocacy to bring awareness to fibromyalgia.
188 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/10/22 6:24:29 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I know I speak for hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers, students, families, employers, communities and hard-working industrious community-minded people who long to be a part of our magnificent country of Canada. My friend and colleague, the hard-working member for Surrey Centre, with Motion No. 44, is the hope that all of these great people need, that our economy needs and that our country needs.
We have an economy that is leading the G7. With a strong plan to continue that growth, budget 2022 is all about economic growth, jobs, community and country building. That is why Motion No. 44 is vital at this time.
Every week at my office in Mississauga East—Cooksville, I have employers coming to let me know how much they are growing, how they are scaling up and how they need more workers. These employers are from all sectors: manufacturing, transportation, logistics, hospitality, health care, construction and trades. I could go on.
Statistics Canada shows us that our unemployment rate is the lowest we have seen ever. Since we started measuring unemployment in 1976, our unemployment is the lowest today, at 5.2%.
Canada has always been a beacon of hope for people fleeing from wars, persecution, fascism, dictatorships and totalitarian states. Waves of immigrants have come to Canada for its democracy, peace and freedom.
I have a Ukrainian intern, Olha Louise Boleyn, who just arrived here in Canada a couple of weeks ago. She is working in my office. She is a courageous young woman of 22 years old. On February 24, when Putin started the illegal, illegitimate war against Ukraine, a sovereign state, this woman's world changed. All of a sudden her family had to flee. Her home and her building were hit by a missile and they lost power. She knew she had to move her family. Her mother and three siblings have gone to Poland to find refuge, her father is still in Ukraine and she has come here to Canada, having helped her family find safe haven. This young woman speaks English, French and Ukrainian.
I thank our Minister of Immigration, our Prime Minister, our Deputy Prime Minister and all parliamentarians here, because I know we all stand together strong for Ukraine. We are here to help Ukrainians find safety, find help and build a better life.
There is a legacy of Ukrainians coming to Canada, and they have farms right across our Prairies. My wife Christina Yaremczuk's family is from Ukraine. Her parents had to flee World War II. They went to a displaced persons camp and then were brought here to Canada. Her grandfather worked at a factory and her mother worked in health care, helping to build our country. Her father went to school here and became a citizen and dentist.
Let us consider stories like the story of my wife's parents. I could tell colleagues a bit about my story and my parents. This is about Portuguese people, Italians, Filipinos, Polish people, Ukrainians, Asians, South Asians and the entire world, because outside of our indigenous people, Canada has been built on immigration. We have brought people here from all over the world and given hard-working industrious people an opportunity to succeed.
This is all true for our temporary foreign workers and our foreign students. Many of them have come to my office, as I am sure they have visited many of my colleagues' offices. They love their adopted community and country, and want to stay here.
Their employers want them to stay, but they have barriers in front of them. They are looking for, and need, a pathway to permanent residency. That is what Motion No. 44, brought forward by my colleague from Surrey Centre, is about. Permanent residency for temporary foreign workers is a comprehensive plan to address many of our labour shortages. It would continue to build our country, to build Canada.
Motion No. 44 builds on the success of our Atlantic immigration program, our temporary resident to permanent resident pathway program, rural and northern immigration programs, agri-food immigration pilot and provincial nominee programs. We have learned a lot from all of these programs, including what works and what does not and how to best address our labour shortages, all while working with our partners, provinces, employers, businesses, stakeholders and communities.
Temporary foreign workers know our culture, our work environment, our standards, and our health and safety standards. They have enough language proficiency to do their job, whether driving a truck, understanding our rules of the road or being able to get the licences they require. They also have to be proficient when working at construction sites, in terms of health and safety, or working in food processing or agriculture, and understanding how to work on a farm.
They have settled, and they have already contributed. They pay taxes. They want an opportunity to grow deep roots, to raise their families and become a part of the Canadian family, not just temporarily for the season, and not just for a couple of years, or four or six years, while having to renew their temporary foreign status year over year. They want to stay here permanently, and we want them to be here. Motion No. 44 is the road map to that.
I have spoken to so many temporary foreign workers. Tears come to their eyes because they want to be here to be a part of Canada and to grow their families here. However, there are barriers when it comes to language proficiency and formal education, be it high school or higher education. Some may say that those are low-skilled jobs. I would suggest that those with Ph.D.s, and there may be some in the chamber, to try to frame a home, put a brick wall together through masonry, or put up a piece of Sheetrock or drywall. These are skilled professions. they take a lot of work and a lot of skill. All of these workers are able to do these jobs so well, and we need them.
We talk about what we are achieving here in Canada. As we continue to grow with our population, people need a place to live, a place to call home. It takes these construction workers and those transporting all of those construction materials to make that happen. As we build, over these next three or four years, 100,000 more new homes, we will do it through our many temporary foreign workers. Why would we not want to keep them here permanently? This is what Motion No. 44 is all about.
It is about continuing to grow our country the way it has from its inception, through waves of immigration, and with people who roll up their sleeves, who are here to work hard and who have the spirit of Canada, of building our country. I thank my parents, Maria Fonseca and Joaquim Fonseca for coming here. Mom worked in health care while Dad worked in a factory after they had left a fascist dictatorship in Portugal. I am so proud that they worked hard.
Unless Motion No. 44 gets done, people like my parents would not be able to come to Canada. Let us all support Motion No. 44 and make sure we help our great country and those who want to be part of it.
1236 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
