- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $170,231.20
- Government Page
- May/6/24 10:04:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, on the subject of the violence being caused by the regime in Tehran, I also want to use this opportunity to highlight the case of Toomaj Salehi. He is a rapper who has been given a death sentence in Iran because of his participation in protesting. It is really horrific to see the number of people who have been killed who had simply wanted to raise their voice and express their ideas and hopes for a different political future for their country. They are people of all ages, including many young people, who are being killed or facing death sentences. In this case, it is a very well-known rapper. I want to add my voice to the many who have called for his release.
Cases such as this underline how utterly barbaric and inhuman this regime is and how critical it is that the regime has to go. The first victims of the Iranian regime are the Iranian people, brave young people such as Toomaj, who have spoken out and are now facing this horrific state reprisal. Our thoughts are with him and his family, and we continue to call for his release. Does my colleague have a comment on that?
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- Mar/20/24 11:15:20 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the discussion that is happening, particularly what was raised by my colleague from Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, is very important.
The global context we are in is one of a new global cold war where there are two different blocs. There is the bloc of democratic nations and a kind of anti-democratic bloc that is increasingly working together. I do not, of course, relish this reality. This is a tragic reality, but it is a reality and one that requires us to fortify our will, be strong and stand up to the opponents of democracy everywhere.
In particular, we see how the Burmese regime has been working with and assisting the Russian regime. The government has left a massive hole in our sanctions in the Burmese regime, an area where we are inconsistent with the Americans, and it is allowing the Burmese oil and gas sector to continue to fund the junta.
We have also seen failures of the government to hold the Iranian regime accountable. Drone technology from Iran is being used by Russia in the context of its invasion of Ukraine. We see these various other actors, such as North Korea, the People's Republic of China, Burma and Iran, that are engaged in supporting the Putin regime.
I would add my voice to those who are saying we need to strengthen our sanctions regime and hold anti-democratic actors accountable while fortifying our own strength to support the people of Ukraine.
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- Mar/20/24 10:45:51 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, let us be very clear about the precedent that was set by the Speaker's decision with respect to the member for Miramichi—Grand Lake. When there are regimes that are clearly deplored by all parliamentarians, by all Canadians, and that are subject in some way to sanctions by the Government of Canada, then casting those kinds of aspersions to say that members in the House are affiliated with or are supportive of those regimes has been deemed to be unparliamentary. Of course, it is the sort of the thing that someone has the freedom to say outside the House in the same way that someone has the freedom to call another member a “liar” outside the House. However, members do not have unlimited ability to say whatever they want while still being within the parameters of what is allowable under parliamentary procedure.
The Speaker ruled, and the Speaker has ruled in similar cases, that making the direct, clearly false claim that members of the House are affiliated with or supportive of regimes that are deplored by all parliamentarians and all Canadians, such as the Putin regime or Hamas, is deemed unparliamentary. The Chair is now applying the precedent that was set to the member for Etobicoke Centre, who claims to care about partisan unity on this issue but clearly does not. He is clearly trying to drive a partisan agenda for electoral purposes, not for principled reasons, which is unparliamentary. The member for Etobicoke Centre has rightly been called to order, and he should rethink the approach he is taking if he actually cares about advancing the cause of Ukraine.
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- Mar/20/24 10:25:58 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for his excellent speech and, certainly, for the wealth of wisdom and experience that he brings to the House.
I would like to ask him, based on his knowledge and expertise, what the best way to isolate the Russian regime is and to hold the Russian regime accountable for the crimes that they have perpetrated. We have seen crimes committed in terms of the abduction of children, systematic sexual violence and the crime of aggression in general. What steps does he see as necessary to hold the Russian regime accountable?
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- Jun/9/23 10:23:27 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have many questions about how this regime would work in practice, but we also recognize the urgency of having some kind of legislative framework that would allow urgently needed assistance to be delivered in Afghanistan.
This reflects what the Afghan Canadian community and development stakeholders are looking for. Sadly, we are a little behind the eight ball in Canada. Many other countries have been able to move much more quickly in responding to this situation.
I agree with the parliamentary secretary that the legislative process has worked. We were able to make substantial, meaningful improvements to the bill at committee through lots of discussion and painstaking compromise.
I wonder if the parliamentary secretary could speak a little more to the provisions around organizations asking the government if they need to apply. This is something that we added through an amendment, addressing the fact that there may be some cases where there is ambiguity about whether an organization needs to apply.
How does the parliamentary secretary anticipate that this regime would work, in terms of organizations asking if they need to apply? How long would the government response take in those cases?
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- Apr/25/23 10:17:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives are deeply concerned about the situation in Sudan. For 30 years, Sudan was led by a genocidal dictator, Omar al-Bashir. In late 2018 and early 2019, the Sudanese people came together in heroic resistance against that regime and succeeded in forcing al-Bashir out of office. At the time, as we continue to do, we saluted the courage of the Sudanese people. Just like in Iran, the people of Sudan came together and took to the streets to demand the recognition of their God-given human rights.
Since the removal of al-Bashir from office, the people of Sudan have struggled to realize the transition to civilian rule. This transition has been repeatedly interrupted and delayed and has been punctuated by horrific violence. Canada must stand with the Sudanese people in their pursuit of the recognition of their fundamental human rights. We call on the Government of Canada to be actively engaged with the situation in Sudan, both in response to the current crisis and in the push for a complete transition to civilian democratic rule as soon as possible.
Today, we are seeking an emergency debate in response to the immediate crisis on the ground. The Sudanese Armed Forces, or the SAF, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, are fighting over territory. This is effectively a civil war within the military, as far as we can tell from this distance. Canadian diplomatic personnel have been withdrawn. We need to ensure the safety of all of our staff, both diplomatic and locally engaged. Sudan is a country of over 46 million people, which, like Ukraine and Iran, is on the fault line between democracy and authoritarianism. Its people continue to struggle for freedom and human rights.
Conservatives call on all members of the House and the government to remain closely engaged with these events and to stand with the people of Sudan in this ongoing struggle. We think an emergency debate is an appropriate format for discussing these issues.
I note, in closing, that I understand there is an agreement regarding debate happening this evening on the budget, so I propose that this emergency debate be scheduled for tomorrow evening.
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- Oct/4/22 7:38:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the midst of this important discussion about including Taiwan in international organizations, we are seeing an increasing belligerence and aggression from the Xi Jinping regime. Many observers have noted that there is some risk of an outright invasion attempt by the Xi Jinping regime, and it is my view that Canada needs to contemplate that possibility, be prepared with a strong response and work with the community of democratic nations to send strong deterrent messages to try to avoid that from happening.
I would appreciate the member's comment on what Canada should be doing to, in particular, support Taiwan and deter an invasion.
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- Oct/4/22 7:09:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for what is clearly a passion for our relationship with Taiwan.
Just to pick up on the last point he made, I think we see something like a global competition emerging between democratic countries with a belief in pluralism and inclusion and, on the other hand, those with a rigid authoritarianism. Of course, there are different kinds of regimes in Russia, Iran and China, but there is the common belief, in a way, that centralized control instead of individual freedom is the best way to govern a society.
As we recognize that competition, we need to work to deepen partnerships and collaboration in research, trade and all kinds of other areas with other like-minded democracies. We should not fail to co-operate with a democratic partner to supposedly appease an authoritarian country. That would be nonsensical and would mean missing an opportunity to work with a country like Taiwan, which can be and is a true friend to Canada. It is a friendship that is rooted in shared values, not just in a narrow, short-term identification of interest but in deeply shared democratic values. We should grab those opportunities to collaborate while being clear-eyed and realistic about the emerging authoritarianism and the threat it presents to our democratic values.
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- Jun/16/22 9:21:53 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in terms of companies that are continuing to do business with Russia, there are two possible circumstances. We could speak about those that may be violating sanctions, and we could also speak about cases where the sanctions are not preventing them from doing that.
We need to continue to push for tougher sanctions, and we also need strengthened sanctions enforcement. The member has talked about how we respond to this food crisis. There are many different actions that are required, and part of it is ensuring that victory, supporting our farmers and supporting international development. A lot of work needs to be done, and I hope we are prepared to do that work and have the resolve.
On his second question about how long the sanctions should be in place, very clearly we need to be committed to sustaining these sanctions until the Putin regime withdraws from all of Ukraine's sovereign territory, as was recognized by the government of Russia in the Budapest Memorandum.
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- May/12/22 4:28:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I mentioned a number of items in my speech that we should address, but the member mentioned at the end of her question an important point that I did not address directly: the issue of forced labour in our supply chain. The government has been behind on action on this. We could be doing more to collaborate with other countries. There are other countries that have stronger regimes in place.
Personally, I am very supportive of something like the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act that has been passed in the United States, which seeks to designate the area of East Turkestan. Perhaps we could envision a framework where regions could be specifically designated as being of particular concern, where there are high levels of slave labour.
There are various bills before the House right now that seek to deal with issues of slave labour. I see we are going to be debating Bill S-211 in this place very soon. These are important pieces of legislation for us to discuss and move forward on, but as well we should consider frameworks that are a bit different from that framework: frameworks such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, where we specifically identify regions with high levels of slave labour and place particular restrictions around trade involving those regions.
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