- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $170,231.20
- Government Page
- Apr/17/24 5:22:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, why did the government go to GC Strategies for this sort of advice?
How did GC Strategies become a favoured contractor and adviser regarding RFPs to the Government of Canada?
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- Apr/17/24 5:19:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Mr. Firth claimed today that it is common practice for clients to request and to receive suggestions about the content of RFPs from those who bid on them.
How many times, since 2015, has GC Strategies provided these kinds of suggestions to government clients regarding RFPs that it then bid on?
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- Mar/18/24 3:05:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the arrive scam scandal has made clear again that the NDP-Liberal government and the Prime Minister are not worth the cost or the corruption.
Liberals gave GC Strategies $20 million for arrive scam alone. Last week, Kristian Firth from GC Strategies revealed that he got at least $2,600 per hour for subcontracting. Canadians are struggling to put food on the table and Liberals are giving well-connected consultants multi-millions at $2,600 per hour.
I have a simple question: Do Liberals believe that $2,600 per hour was a reasonable rate?
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- Feb/27/24 6:35:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is truly incredible listening to that member talk.
This government has been in power for eight years. It has broken the procurement system in this country, and the Liberals speak about problems that happened as if they have no responsibility for what happens under their watch. This government is supposed to be in charge and it refuses to take responsibility for the costs, the corruption and the criminality that we now see as part of the ArriveCAN system.
The Liberals want us to believe that, well, it was an emergency and the ArriveCAN app was necessary. This app went through 177 different versions, it sent over 10,000 people into quarantine by accident and the versions were not properly tested. They hired two people with no IT experience. There are no excuses, and this government should take responsibility.
Again, will the government co-operate with the RCMP investigation into criminality, yes or no?
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- Feb/27/24 5:25:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is sad to see the desperation of the parliamentary secretary across the way.
Here are the facts: GC Strategies was incorporated immediately after the Prime Minister took office. The Prime Minister came into office eight years ago, promising sunny ways. Do members remember that? It sure was sunny for GC Strategies.
GC Strategies was incorporated as soon as the Prime Minister took office, and it did a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of business with the Liberal government. Even in the eyes of the Liberal government, it is actually real money we are talking about. A quarter of a billion dollars went to this two-person company. All it did was receive contracts, go on LinkedIn to find someone else to do the job, and—
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- Feb/15/24 1:56:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am struck with how, during this debate, we have heard so much technical and bureaucratic language from the government. It masks what is fundamentally an ethical and moral issue, that is, the just way to treat the most vulnerable within our society. This discourse about maybe we are not ready or maybe we will be ready masks the more important underlying question of whether we should ever have the state involved in facilitating the suicide of those with mental health challenges. On this side of the House, we say a firm no, not now, not ever.
I want to ask the member if he is concerned about the dramatic growth in the rates of those opting for MAID in Canada, opting for it perhaps under pressure or in other circumstances. We have seen, since this practice started in Canada, dramatic increases every single year. Is the member concerned about that, or is he totally fine with this idea of exponential growth in the rates?
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- Dec/11/23 3:36:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have enjoyed discussing these matters with the member. What I was advocating in my speech is that we can take a posture of non-interventionist intolerance in many cases. That is recognizing the limits we have in our capacity. We cannot be everywhere. We cannot be actively fighting with every opponent to freedom and democracy. However, that does not mean that we should tolerate their repression or we should ignore human rights abuses that take place.
There is a great alignment between our values and our interests. When we stand for freedom in the world, there is clarity about our position, and that allows us to build support and alliances among nations and also peoples who share our conviction. Very often, the advocacy for us to ignore our values for our interests actually ends up undermining our long-term interest. Standing for a set of convictions, being clear that our nation stands for something on the world stage, is consistent with both our values and our interests.
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- Mar/21/23 10:29:38 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think I did a panel with my hon. friend precisely on the Indo-Pacific strategy. I told him, at the time, that the Indo-Pacific strategy sounds, in certain respects, like the Liberals are trying to talk like Conservatives, but they are still acting like Liberals.
This is the problem. If we read the Indo-Pacific strategy, sure, there are some pieces in there where Tibetans are mentioned and that is good, and Uighurs are mentioned and that is good. There are a few things in there that we can nod along to, but in terms of the substance of what the government has done, before and since it released that strategic document, the government is not following through.
What I care much more about, and what Uighurs care much more about than what is written in a strategic document, is whether products made with slave labour are being prevented from getting into Canada. That is what really matters, and the rubber has not hit the road.
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- Dec/6/22 2:08:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker,'Twas the night before Christmas and no one could afford a house. Some people were blaming a fellow named Klaus.The Prime Minister said he would have people's backs. But it turned out his real plan was to triple the tax.The holidays are here. There is a gift shopping tradition. But things are more expensive, thanks to the costly coalition.So instead just rest, stay home and take a nap. Try to forget about the ArriveCAN app.If you hear the sound of a reindeer's hoof, then it is Santa, not Stephen, up on the roof.Santa reaches down inside of his sack. He knows what the people want is to have their freedoms back.But if you hear the sound of a convoy truck, then the message for Liberals is: end the mandates.Jesus was born with a hope to save every sinner even the ones who attend the press gallery dinner.At Christmas we celebrate the joy that we find and proclaim peace and love to all “peoplekind”.This might be not as a good as Cuzner's last riff. I just hope it will not get me shot by journo Dale Smith. 'Twas the night before Christmas. Inflation is the worst. The Conservatives have a leader who will put the people first.
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- May/2/22 12:01:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is rare moment indeed when I find myself agreeing with the member for Winnipeg North, but from what I see of what is on the agenda today, I will have plenty of opportunity to disagree with him for many hours to come.
Today, we are debating Motion No. 42, which is a motion to establish Hindu heritage month in Canada. Canada's Parliament has by now an established tradition of discussing and generally unanimously passing bills or motions to designate a particular month for the purpose of recognizing and celebrating the contributions of a particular community. I think this practice originated with the recognition of February as Black History Month.
Canada now has recognized many months to celebrate a number of communities, including the Tamil community, the Jewish community, the Dutch community, the Mennonite community, the Irish community, the Asian community, the Italian community, the Filipino community, the Portuguese community, the German community and the Sikh community. I may have missed some. I know there are lots, and I did my best to find them all. I also believe there are some other months recognized at the provincial level, which may be different from the ones that are recognized federally.
There are lots of opportunities to celebrate in this country. These initiatives might not reflect the number one priority of the community in question, but they do constitute a valuable opportunity for us to recognize and appreciate the substantive contribution of people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and that practice contributes to a sense of national inclusion and pluralism.
It is noteworthy that we have shifted recently from previously only recognizing ethnocultural communities to now also recognizing religious communities with these months. It is important to reflect on this because religious traditions and religious diversity by their nature bring something different to our national life than ethnocultural traditions and ethnocultural diversity do.
One's membership in a particular ethnic group may be very important to one's identity and can be associated with a broad range of cultural practices, but religious identity reflects an individual's voluntary choice. It is a choice to believe in and associate oneself with a community that believes in a particular system of thought that seeks to answer fundamental questions about the ends to which life should be directed.
Many people embrace a religious identity as part of membership in a community and see a close tie to their cultural identity, but these things are conceptually very different. I see great value in recognizing the contribution of religious traditions, specifically, as well as ethnocultural traditions.
We cannot pass the first hour of debate on this without recognizing the contributions of the great Deepak Obhrai, the first member of Parliament of Hindu origin elected to this House and a former Conservative leadership candidate. I believe, if he were still alive today, he would be running again, and no doubt would have been a juggernaut in this one. It is therefore important to recognize Deepak Obhrai, and I will have much more to say on the subject of Hinduism and its contribution to Canada at a subsequent time.
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- Mar/21/22 5:39:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, objectively, what the member said was inaccurate. I would invite her to withdraw her comments, and I would be pleased to withdraw mine in the spirit of a similar withdrawal.
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