- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Niagara Falls
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $102,468.80
- Government Page
- May/27/24 2:44:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are hungry and homeless. Two million Canadians are now visiting food banks each month. The Salvation Army just reported that one in four Canadians has skipped or reduced the size of at least one meal because they cannot afford to buy groceries. In Niagara Falls, Project Share served more than 13,000 people last year, or one in seven residents.
Instead of piling on more taxes and making life more expensive, when will the NDP-Liberal government axe the tax to provide the relief that struggling Canadians so badly need?
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- Apr/15/24 2:05:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is powered by tourism. That is the theme of this year's National Tourism Week. In my riding, the communities of Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie are definitely powered by tourism.
Niagara Falls alone is Canada's top leisure tourism destination, and the overall visitor experience is enhanced by the beautiful vineyards and wineries in Niagara-on-the-Lake and the rich cultural history, shopping experiences and trail systems found throughout all three communities.
However, Canadian tourism has not fully recovered. Tourism workers and operators can blame the Liberal government's high taxes and out-of-control spending for driving up inflation and the cost of travelling throughout Canada. As a result, recovery is slow and uneven, and Canada is losing its competitive edge.
Canada is powered by tourism, but tourism can be further powered by axing the tax so our tourism workers can once again bring home powerful paycheques and our tourism operators can once again thrive by welcoming the world to our magnificent destinations. Let us bring it home.
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- Nov/1/23 7:35:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, being in a border community, I can relay some of the examples we have from the four bridge crossings into my community and about our visitor base in terms of tourism in Niagara, which would be about 30% American. Those American visitors represented 50% of the spend.
On the ArriveCAN app and the terrible image it portrayed because of wait times and the glitches it caused, there were, for example, 10,000 Canadians who were told they had to quarantine, because of a glitch. It was incorrect. Those types of things halted any attempt at tourism recovery in 2022.
Why did it take the government until October to end the ArriveCAN app? People knew it was not working; it had never worked, from day one. On top of that, the government then spent, from January to August, $400 million on rapid testing capabilities when we knew infectious disease experts were saying that it was not needed. Again, the government was wasting money and denying us and the people in the tourism community the ability to recover, which they so badly wanted to do.
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- Jun/2/23 11:12:06 a.m.
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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.
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- Apr/27/23 8:34:20 p.m.
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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.
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- Apr/25/23 2:09:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is powered by tourism. That is the theme of this year's National Tourism Week. In my community of Niagara, some 2,800 tourism-related businesses employ 40,000 residents who rely on tourism for their paycheques.
In 2019, Niagara welcomed more than 13 million visitors, generating $2.4 billion in receipts. We are Canada's largest tourism leisure destination. However, Canadian tourism has yet to fully recover. Big Liberal tax hikes, like the carbon tax and the escalator clause, are hindering our once competitive advantage.
More troubling is the fact that while the Prime Minister was vacationing at a $9,000-a-night resort in Jamaica, six in 10 Canadians are now saying they are scaling back their vacation plans due to the higher costs being driven by the Liberal government. This needs to change.
A Conservative government would lower Liberal taxes and slash the costs harming our tourism industry and workers. It is time we create the conditions where our tourism businesses flourish so the world once again knows Canada is open for business.
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- Feb/14/23 4:46:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with him 100%. We should be supporting those energy sources that are sourced here in Canada, done by Canadian workers.
Just building on what he said about this notion of moving to a cleaner and cleaner economy, the Independent Electricity System Operator in Ontario estimated that it would cost $400 billion to get it to a carbon-neutral 2050 in Ontario.
How are we going to do that? We will need nuclear. We will need and continue to need natural gas and, of course, that clean hydroelectric power that comes from Niagara Falls, all 2,200 megawatts, done by the people of Niagara.
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- Nov/4/22 11:18:16 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the residents in my riding of Niagara Falls are suffering under 40-year high inflation caused by this government's reckless policies.
While the Liberals make more false promises for a better tomorrow to distract us from the issues of today, none of the problems they have created, which Canadians now face, are getting fixed. Immigration applications are jammed. Passport applications are delayed. New NEXUS applications have stalled. Despite a record number of federal workers, nothing seems to work anymore.
The government has wasted $54 million on the ArriveCAN app and cannot tell us who got rich. The government paid out bonuses to Destination Canada executives when the tourism industry is desperate to recover, and it spent $400 million on random testing at the borders when medical experts said the policy was no longer needed.
Canadians deserve better. When will this federal government clean up its mess, fix its broken programs and put the service back in the public service?
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- Oct/20/22 2:08:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this morning I had the pleasure to meet with members from the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. Tourism matters. It enables economic development and job creation. My community of Niagara Falls is the number one leisure tourism destination in all of Canada, generating some $2.4 billion in receipts. More importantly, it employs almost 40,000 workers.
The recovery of Canada's visitor economy is key to Canada's overall economic growth, and I encourage all members of the House to meet with representatives of TIAC to discuss the impact tourism has, not only on this country but also in each of our communities. As they say, all politics is local, and so too is tourism.
As the newly appointed shadow minister for tourism, I am committed to working with our Canadian travel and tourism stakeholders, including members of TIAC, to find creative and innovative ideas to expedite and support the recovery of our tourism sector across Canada, including in my home communities of Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie.
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- Sep/23/22 11:49:47 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, because of the current government's actions, the workers in my riding have been left suffering with an affordability crisis. If three years of COVID were not bad enough, Liberal policies have only added to their pain: from the disastrous ArriveCAN app driving down tourism visits to new taxes and higher spending driving up inflation. The hard-working residents of Niagara are now earning less when they deserve so much more.
When will the government finally realize the error of its ways and end its planned tax increases on Canadians' hard-earned paycheques?
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- Sep/16/22 10:44:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise in this place during this solemn time to express my deepest sympathies and condolences to the members of the royal family and to all those in the Commonwealth as we collectively mourn the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As the member of Parliament for the riding of Niagara Falls, which includes the city of Niagara Falls and the towns of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie, it is my sincere honour to be able to stand in my place today to pay tribute to our beloved Queen after her death on September 8 at 96 years of age.
For 70 incredible years, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was Canada's head of state. In fact, her tenure lasted for 45% of Canada's 155-year history. Given this, she oversaw many of our country's most significant events of the 20th and 21st centuries. She reigned for an incredible period of time, and did so with dignity, grace, honour and a profound sense of duty and service.
For many, their understanding of monarchy and the Queen and her relationship to Canada is limited to such things as portraits adorning walls of government buildings or recognizing her face and her name on our currency, but in a real sense, it is much more profound than that.
Peter McNally, a retired McGill University information studies professor, recently spoke with CTV News and said, “Today, the monarchy is the living embodiment of Canada's parliamentary tradition.”
This parliamentary tradition is one which can trace its roots back over 800 years. The monarchy in Canada, as represented by the Queen for 70 years and as currently represented by King Charles III, is fundamental in our everyday lives and way of life in Canada, even if it is not explicitly apparent on a day-to-day basis. In fact, many Canadian leaders have acknowledged the importance and continued relevance of the Crown in our daily lives.
In 1993, the Hon. Mike Harris, former premier of Ontario, noted:
The Oath to the Queen is fundamental to the administration of law in this country. It signifies that, here in Canada, justice is done—not in the name of the Prime Minister, or the mayor, or the police chief, as in totalitarian nations—but by the people, in the name of the Queen. Rather than being offensive, I submit that it’s one of the hallmarks of our society that attracts people to Canada.
A year before that, the Right. Hon. Brian Mulroney, former prime minister of Canada, stated:
The Crown has symbolized a continuity in the values of decency, fairness and equality before the law that have made this country great. And no Sovereign has served her Canadian subjects with more grace, more concern and more goodwill than has Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen’s sense of duty, her courage, warmth and her honour are known and appreciated by all Canadians.
In an ever-evolving world and in a sea of constant change, we could always look to Queen Elizabeth II to find our balance, stability and our courage. She was always a beacon of hope in dark times, comforting and a calming presence. Her leadership was constant and steady, fulfilling the promise she made on her 21st birthday while on a trip to South Africa with her family when she indicated:
I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.
During her life, Her Majesty visited Canada more than 20 times between 1951 and 2010. She visited Canada more than any other nation in the Commonwealth. In fact, her first visit to Canada included a visit to my beautiful riding of Niagara Falls just three months before she would ascend to the throne. At that time, given her father's declining health, her tour carried an official proclamation should the King pass away while she was on tour.
According to the Niagara Falls Public Library archives, during her visit to Niagara, she described the views of Niagara Falls as “magnificent” and “tremendous” as she stood at the railing of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. It is estimated a crowd of 150,000 people in Niagara Falls cheered the royals throughout their visit before they boarded the royal train to continue their tour across Canada.
In February 1952, her father King George VI passed away and Princess Elizabeth immediately assumed the throne as our Queen, and she has been our Queen ever since. For millions upon millions of Canadians, myself included, Queen Elizabeth II was the only head of state we had ever known, until now, upon King Charles III assuming the throne.
Queen Elizabeth's next visit to Niagara Falls took place in 1973. This was her first visit as Queen. She was on tour with her husband, Prince Philip, to open the renowned Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake and to visit nearby Fort George, an important military post from the War of 1812.
One constituent recently shared with the St. Catharines Standard his memories of the Queen's Niagara-on-the-Lake visit in 1973. Ken Bridgman of St. Davids in Niagara-on-the-Lake wrote that he was the general manager of the Pillar and Post inn at the time of the royal couple's visit. Mr. Bridgman, along with MPP Robert Welch and John Drope, the owner and founder of the Pillar and Post, met with the royal couple as they entered the inn. They both had the privilege of escorting the royal couple to their rooms.
During the walk, Mr. Bridgman recalls the royals expressed interest in the origins of the old building, the impact of the Shaw Festival on tourism and employment in the town, the history of Niagara-on-the-Lake, and other current events. He called the royal couple "engaging” and noted that they were “most complimentary” of their rooms.
In the same article of memories and recollections of royal visits to Canada, my predecessor, the Hon. Rob Nicholson, also made a submission that was published. Mr. Nicholson served as the member of Parliament for the Niagara Falls riding for over 24 years. He wrote that he and his wife, Arlene, and their daughter, Christine, had the privilege of meeting the Queen at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto in June 2010, while he was serving as Canada's justice minister and attorney general. They had a beautiful picture taken. He noted that the Queen was genuinely warm and friendly and it was quite evident that she loved being in Canada.
Given its immense beauty and rich history in nation building, Niagara has had a strong track record of attracting royalty to the area. Other visits happened long before Queen Elizabeth was even born. The first visit was as early as 1860, when the first planned illumination of Niagara Falls took place in honour of the visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII . Nineteen years later, in 1879, Niagara Falls was illuminated again in honour of a visit of Princess Louise and her husband, the Marquis of Lorne, the fourth Governor General of Canada.
In the fall of 1901, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, the future King George V and Queen Mary, visited Niagara Falls. Since that time, Niagara Falls has been pleased to play host to visits by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII, in 1919 and 1927; Their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939; the Duchess of Kent in 1954; Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret in 1958; Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry in 1991; and Her Royal Highness Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, in 2012.
Queen Elizabeth made her final trip to Canada in 2010 at the age 84. While Niagara is a popular destination for the royals, we are all going to greatly miss the visits from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her memory will always live on and be treasured by all those who appreciated her.
Through the remainder of the 10-day mourning period, between 10:30 and midnight in the eastern time zone, Niagara Falls will be illuminated in royal blue in tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This tribute will happen nightly and conclude on the date of her funeral, September 19. I invite all Canadians and international visitors who are able to come and witness it as a way to pay their respects in her memory.
Niagara Falls holds many important connections to the royal family and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We will always remember her, and we will always treasure those memories of her and her devoted service to the monarchy, the Commonwealth and to Canada. It has been a great honour for me to pay my respects to all those mourning our great loss through this tribute to Queen Elizabeth II.
May you rest in peace, Your Majesty. Long live the King.
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Madam Speaker, one of the things I have been doing in my role, for example, is to bring forward the concerns of those residents in my community of Niagara Falls.
They are telling me that they need us to scrap the ArriveCAN app. I have 40,000 people who work in the tourism sector in Niagara alone, and they need to go back to work. One way we could help them is to get rid of the ArriveCAN app.
For my grape and wine sector, the government proposed last year to provide $101 million when the excise exemption is repealed on July 1. The government forecast is showing $135 million. What is it going to do—
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- May/19/22 12:43:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, earlier I mentioned the general manager from the Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority. He wrote to us on May 10 and shared some statistics that are staggering. Even after COVID testing requirements to enter Canada were lifted on April 1, auto traffic for the month of April was down 52% at the bridges of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission and 43% at the Peace Bridge compared with prepandemic—
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- May/19/22 12:40:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am here today to speak on behalf of my constituents: the 40,000 people who work in the tourism sector. Situations like ArriveCAN are harming the tourism industry. There is no need for the tourism sector to continue to arrive at situations that disincentivize travel.
The federal government has ended all support programs for the tourism sector, and this past budget contained no support for the tourism sector. It has tied the tourism sector's hands behind its back. It should allow it to do what it does best, which is to welcome people from throughout the world to enjoy all that Niagara has to offer. It is time to do so.
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- May/18/22 2:03:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize four outstanding individuals from my beautiful riding of Niagara Falls who have made significant contributions in our communities and in this country. They are as follows.
David Mostoway, better known as Duff Roman from his broadcasting days, from Niagara-on-the-Lake, was appointed to the Order of Canada by the Governor General for his significant contributions to the Canadian music industry.
Peter Warrack, also of Niagara-on-the-Lake, was recently awarded the Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General in recognition of his significant work to combat human trafficking in Canada and abroad.
Steve Ludzik, from Niagara Falls, was awarded the Meritorious Service Decoration Award in the civil division from the Governor General for his work in establishing the Steve Ludzik Centre for Parkinson's Rehab at Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre.
Aaron Tate, of Niagara Falls, was awarded the Ontario Medal for Firefighter Bravery by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario for putting his own life at risk by rescuing a distressed teenager in the raging waters of the Lower Niagara River.
Congratulations to these four constituents for their incredible work, sacrifices and commitment to bettering the lives of those in our communities and our country.
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- May/16/22 2:52:35 p.m.
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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?
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- May/5/22 2:49:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, recently I received a very concerning email from the general manager of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority. He warned that the continued use of the ArriveCAN app would result in much longer processing times and lengthy border wait times as we approach the summer tourism season. Further, these border delays will discourage cross-border travel, and will continue to adversely impact the hard-hit tourism sector in Niagara.
When will the federal government help the tourism sector in Niagara and in Canada by ending the use of the ArriveCAN app?
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- Apr/4/22 12:53:59 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, to the hon. member's point, the government has spent the most to achieve the least when it comes to the housing issue here in Canada. It is simply a fact that the average price of a home has now doubled from when the Liberals were elected in 2015, making it more unaffordable for Canadians and people in my riding of Niagara Falls to find a place to live.
The Liberals talk about returning all those jobs back to the economy, which is great to see, but in a tourism community such as mine there are still labour shortages that exist. Stats Canada, in its January report, still found over 900,000 jobs were left unfilled in this country. We have to do a better job of getting those people back to work and allowing them to earn money so that they can once again afford a place to live.
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- Mar/25/22 12:03:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my riding of Niagara is the number one leisure tourism destination in the country, yet since April 2020 there has been zero representation from Niagara on Destination Canada's board of directors. This means that, through the whole pandemic, which has hit our national tourism sector the hardest, Niagara has been without a voice at the table, despite there being two vacancies right now in need of appointment.
Does no one in this NDP-Liberal government understand the significance of Niagara to Canada's tourism economy? When will they reappoint someone from Niagara to Destination—
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- Mar/24/22 4:13:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have asked consistently. Last year, we had a motion before the House asking for a plan to be put forward to end the restrictions and the mandates. We have done so again, and we continue to be told no by the government and its supporters in its coalition.
We need a plan to get out of COVID. The people of Niagara Falls, those tourism workers, simply want to go back to work. They want to get back to their jobs. They want to welcome those millions of visitors who come to our community and make it the vibrant tourism community that it is. That is being denied by COVID, and we need to get back to those days.
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