- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Niagara Falls
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $102,468.80
- Government Page
- May/6/24 2:11:56 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, two million Canadians are using food banks each month. In my community alone, Project Share served more than 13,000 people last year, or one in seven residents, in Niagara Falls. This is a 97% increase over the past two years.
What has been the government's response? It increased the carbon tax by 23%, driving up the cost of food and making it harder to buy groceries, thereby sending more people to food banks. If that were not sad enough, a new report by Canada's food professor finds that nearly 60% of Canadians are deciding to purchase and eat expired food so they can lower their grocery bills.
After nine years of the incompetent Prime Minister, Canadians are deciding to run the risk of food poisoning because the price of food is so high. The NDP-Liberal government is not worth the cost of going hungry or getting sick.
It is time for a change in Ottawa. It is time to elect a common-sense Conservative government.
179 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/2/23 11:12:06 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I stand in the House today to add my name to those of residents in Fort Erie and Port Colborne who were shocked and disappointed by the decision of the Niagara health system to reduce the operating hours of the urgent care centres in both communities. What makes this decision so disappointing and frustrating is the fact that nearly 8,000 residents in Fort Erie alone are without a family doctor. When speaking with Niagara Health, they say this issue is not about money but is about a lack of the certified nurses and doctors needed to help staff these sites.
The Conservatives have been proposing a solution to help fix these health care staff shortages. It is called a blue seal certification program. Implementing a national certification testing standard such as this would mean foreign-trained health professionals would get a chance to take a test and receive an answer and a certification within 60 days. This would go a long way to helping solve the staffing shortages now plaguing Niagara Health, and it would deliver the improved health care services that Fort Erie and Port Colborne residents rightly deserve.
193 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/27/23 8:34:20 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's questions about the work that the colleague from Niagara Centre has been doing. However, the member for Niagara Centre has been working on that for eight years. Only now, and after pressure from the United States that it was going to stop funding certain aspects of that money that is included in that $420 million, has this government finally realized it needed to act. In fact, the government and its bureaucrats are still fighting with regard to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in effectively transferring it over from the Department of Fisheries to the Department of Global Affairs. Why is it taking two years for that to happen? That needs to be rectified, and rectified now.
124 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/22/23 8:13:53 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is going to have a tremendous impact. I probably have the largest number of wineries and grape growers in the country, as well as the largest manufacturing plant in the country, with Arterra. Now I am just bragging, but I have a lot to brag about. I would like to thank—
55 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/22/23 8:12:01 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, my colleague and I may disagree on other politics, but the one thing we can agree is that 100% Canadian-made wines are to the benefit of everyone throughout this country.
When the Conservatives were in power in 2006, they implemented an excise exemption for 100% Canadian-made wines. The sector grew from 300 wineries to over 700, employing 9,000 people. This new escalator tax puts those jobs at risk. The margins in the wine sector, as the member will know, are very slim. Why is the government putting those jobs at risk?
There is a replacement program. The government is going to be generating $390 million because of this new excise tax being applied to Canadian wines, and the government cannot assure the industry that those funds are for it. What are they going to do? Where is that $390 million going? That is what we want to know.
153 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/22/23 2:09:29 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of a Liberal government, groceries, gas and home heating are getting more and more expensive. If that were not bad enough, on April 1 taxes on gasoline are going up 14¢ a litre, while the escalator tax on wine, beer and spirits is also set to rise by 6.3%. That is no cruel April Fool's joke. In Niagara and across the country, these taxes will punish wineries, craft breweries, distilleries and anyone who enjoys consuming these wonderful Canadian-made products.
There are serious consequences to the government spending the cupboards bare while leaving Canadians with the expensive bills to pay. What will happen to the much-vaunted federal tourism growth strategy, and what of the wine sector support program? Our tourism operators, grape growers and wineries deserve so much better from the government.
It is time for the tired Liberals to step aside so a Conservative government can lead and create the changes needed such that Canadians can finally get ahead.
169 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, we can debate whose wine is better. One concern I mentioned in my remarks just now was the excise tax. In April it will be going up almost 7%. That will be hitting our wineries and our producers and hurting them tremendously.
Another thing happening at the end of March is that the two-year replacement program for the ending of the excise exemption will end. That was $166 million provided over two years for our wineries, and there is no certainty on what is there to replace it.
The government has to work and come forward with suggestions and ideas on how it is going to support our growers in the future.
115 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/16/22 2:52:35 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, two small vessel CBSA reporting sites in my riding have been closed since the start of the pandemic: one at Smugglers Cove in Niagara-on-the-Lake and the other at the Greater Niagara Boating Club in Chippawa. Their continued closure is causing all kinds of issues for Canadian and American boaters who use the Niagara River to cross between Canada and the U.S.
While there is one reporting station in Fort Erie at Miller’s Creek Marina, we need to meet the demands of our boating community by having all sites in Niagara reopened. When will this happen?
103 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/4/22 3:05:04 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, on July 1, wineries in my riding producing 100% Canadian-grown wines will now be hit with the excise tax. This is the result of the government's failure to protect the sector and the 2006 excise exemption the Conservatives provided to allow the industry to flourish. To help mitigate uncertainty, the wine industry is asking the federal government to confirm it will not apply the excise tax to wine products bottled before July 1.
Will the NDP-Liberals commit to not taxing 100% Canadian-made wine products produced before July 1?
94 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
