- Member of Parliament
- Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees
- Conservative
- Wellington—Halton Hills
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $120,269.09
- Government Page
- Oct/16/23 11:06:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I keep raising this issue in the hope that the government will respond. We know, as the member mentioned in his remarks, that both the Jewish and Muslim communities in Canada are living in fear of an attack. The government's integrated threat assessment centre has assessed Canada's national terrorism threat level at medium, where it has been since October 2014. Does he think that it would be a good idea for the Government of Canada's integrated threat assessment centre to give Canadians, including those in the Jewish and Muslim communities, an update tomorrow about the threat level so that Canadians can be assured the government is assessing the situation and ensuring the protection and safety of Canadians?
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- Oct/16/23 10:22:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the member, since he is part of the ministerial party, about a question I asked one of my colleagues earlier.
There is a lot of fear, as he has mentioned, in both the Jewish and Muslim communities across Canada, that they may be attacked individually or that their cultural, religious or educational institutions may be attacked. The government's integrated terrorism assessment centre has assessed Canada's national terrorism threat level at medium since October 2014. Does he not think it would be useful for the integrated terrorism assessment centre to indicate to the public if the level remains at medium or to assess it at a different level in order to reassure Canadians or better equip them to ensure their safety?
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- Oct/16/23 10:07:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows that the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre of the Government of Canada has a national terrorism threat level. When Parliament Hill was attacked In October 2014, which was the last terrorist attack here on Canadian soil, it was set to medium, which is that a terrorist attack could occur.
Does the hon. member not think it is a good idea for the Government of Canada to update Canadians about the threat level that communities like the Jewish community, like the Muslim community, might be facing and either to reaffirm the threat level at medium or to upgrade the threat level to high, a likely chance of an attack occurring, in order to either reassure Canadians or arm them with the information they need to protect their religious and cultural communities?
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- Oct/16/23 8:15:37 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we agree that innocent civilian lives need to be protected, and that is why we have called for three things.
First, we have called for the establishment of a safe zone in the southern part of the Gaza Strip to allow Gazans who are fleeing from the north, where a lot of the IDF is targeting Hamas infrastructure, to get to the south of the Gaza Strip in safety.
Second, we are calling for a humanitarian corridor to allow for food, water and medical supplies from outside the Gaza Strip to enter the Gaza Strip.
Third, we are calling for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate foreign nationals who are in Gaza, particularly Canadian citizens, who are trapped there.
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- Oct/16/23 8:13:12 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am not going to speculate on what Hamas might or might not do.
What I will say is that Hamas must release the some 199 hostages they are currently holding, three of whom may be Canadian citizens. We will be watching very carefully to see what Hamas does with these three missing Canadians.
I would further add that Hamas is a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada. As such, providing material support to this organization within Canada is a criminal offence, something that we expect our law enforcement to prosecute to the full extent of the law.
Let us be clear here, Hamas has been an organization in the Middle East that has created great misery, not just for Israelis but for Palestinians themselves. The elimination of Hamas will hopefully lead to a two-state solution that would allow the Palestinians to fulfill their aspirations to live in their own country, side by side, peacefully among the community of nations.
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- Oct/16/23 8:11:36 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I agree with my hon. colleague that we should not conflate the terrorist group Hamas with the Palestinian people.
We support the aspirations of the Palestinian people who aspire to an independent sovereign state, a two-state solution in the Middle East. We believe in the aspirations of the Palestinian people to live in peace and security in their own country, with their own self-determination, among the community of nations.
However, we must also be clear that Hamas is a terrorist group, and Hamas committed horrific war crimes, not just in attacking Israel in the first place, but in slaughtering over 1,000 innocent civilians in what were clearly war crimes and which were so systematic they might actually rise to the level of crimes against humanity.
At this difficult time in Israel's history, we must stand with the state of Israel, as we stand with other democratic nations, in their defence and security.
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- Oct/16/23 8:05:45 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, Canada must stand with the state of Israel. The events of October 7 were the biggest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. On that day, Hamas launched a terrorist attack and invaded Israel. Some two and a half thousand Hamas terrorists broke through the border, attacking Israeli military bases and massacring Israeli citizens.
The latest count indicates that 289 IDF soldiers were killed and over 1,100 Israeli civilians were killed. Thousands more casualties took place as IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians were injured. The over 1,100 Israeli citizens who were killed were not killed inadvertently or accidentally. These 1,100 civilians were deliberately and systematically targeted and murdered by Hamas.
They were gunned down execution style, just like the mobile killing squads of the Nazis, the Einsatzkommando, who executed some one and a half million Jews by firing squad during the 1941 Aktion campaign in Eastern Europe. It was the Holocaust by bullets before the Holocaust by gas chambers that murdered an additional four and a half million Jews.
On October 7, whole families were executed, innocent babies were killed in their cribs and the dead were mutilated. Some of the dead were paraded through the streets of Gaza. The war that began October 7 is an existential threat to the state of Israel. The very state of Israel is threatened by this war, particularly if Hezbollah in Lebanon and the IRGC in Iran start participating in attacking Israel.
One of the belligerents in this war, Hamas, has targeted Canadian interests. Five Canadian citizens were murdered by Hamas and another three are missing, presumably being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. We, in this House, call for the immediate release of these hostages by Hamas. We will not forget about the five Canadians who were murdered by Hamas. We will not forget what will happen to the three Canadians currently held by Hamas.
There has been widespread condemnation from western democratic leaders of Hamas's barbaric terrorist attacks, including Canada's democratic leaders. There has been widespread solidarity expressed by western democracies for the state of Israel at this difficult time. This institution, the Parliament of Canada, projected an image of the Israeli flag on the Peace Tower as a sign of our solidarity.
The coming days and weeks will be a test of western condemnation of Hamas and a test of western solidarity with Israel. In the coming days and weeks, Israel will exercise its right to defend itself under article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which states, “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations”.
In the coming days and weeks, we should be clear that Israel has the right to eliminate Hamas as a threat from the Gaza Strip and to liberate the hostages Hamas has taken. As casualties mount, we should resist the temptation to call for a ceasefire until the Israel Defense Forces achieve its goal of eliminating this existential threat to the state of Israel.
This is a war. It is a legal war under international humanitarian law. Under the law of armed conflict, it is a justifiable war against a terrorist group, a group that the Government of Canada has officially listed as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada.
The state of Israel has the right to prosecute this war at the time and pace of its choosing until it has accomplished its goal of eliminating this existential threat. Israel has the right to determine, within the bounds of international law, how it will prosecute this war. It has the right to determine the pace of this war. It has the right to determine the timing of this war, including when the war ends.
Palestinians are also victims of Hamas. The suffering of the Palestinian people is a real tragedy. A million Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza. Every innocent human life, whether it be Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, Muslim or any other faith, is of equal precious value. We must do everything in our power to preserve this precious life and to minimize the suffering of innocent civilians.
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- Feb/28/22 9:02:30 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, our energy is vital not just to our economic interests and not just to our security interests, but to our environmental interests. The single thing that the world could do in the next decade to meet our Paris targets and to reduce global emissions is to replace coal-fired electricity generation with natural gas-fired electricity generation. It is the single biggest step we can take to reduce global emissions.
European countries, many of them in western Europe, still rely on coal and gas to fire their electricity plants. We should be working to replace that with natural gas, a more environmentally friendly way to produce electricity in the transition to a renewable, non-emitting future.
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- Feb/28/22 9:00:51 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I think China is watching us and our allies very closely right now to see what we do in response to Russian aggression in eastern Europe.
The actions taken by western democracies today are going to dictate the actions of the People's Republic of China for years to come in the Indo-Pacific region. That is why we have to get serious about our foreign policy. We have to get serious about our defence policy, and we have to get serious about our energy policy. If we are clear-eyed about these interests, I think we can defend our values both here and abroad: our belief in freedom, human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
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- Feb/28/22 8:58:56 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the most important role that Canada can play is to bring members of the NATO alliance more closely together. The single biggest threat that has created gaps between the positions of the various members of the alliance is energy. Russia has used energy as a weapon, as a hard power tool, to cow and intimidate central European democracies, particularly democracies like Italy and Germany, into not taking certain positions in defence of our collective security and our collective defence with the threat of cutting off the 40% of natural gas that Europe uses to heat homes, power industry, produce fertilizer for agriculture and so many other things.
If we in this country can understand that energy is essential not only to the economy but also to our security and get pipelines built to Atlantic tidewater, we can help replace Russian gas in western Europe with Canadian natural gas and bring the alliance more closely together. That is one of the two most significant things we can do to strengthen our collective defence and security.
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- Feb/28/22 8:52:51 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will share my time with the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
The attack on Ukraine by the Russian Federation, ordered by President Vladimir Putin, is the first European war since the Second World War and a serious violation of international law and our collective humanity. This attack threatens not only Ukraine, but also Canada, because our security has always been inextricably tied to that of Europe. Canadians know well the price we paid in two world wars in Europe. A hundred thousand Canadian war dead can attest to that.
This attack, coming on the heels of an autocratic pact between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, threatens the rules-based international order that has existed since 1945, an order that Canada helped establish. It is an order that has ensured the longest period of relative peace and prosperity in the modern period. It is an order that, if dissolved, threatens Canada’s peace and security here at home.
We support the actions taken to date by the Government of Canada, but more needs to be done. The government should expel Russian Ambassador Oleg Stepanov and recall Canadian Ambassador LeClaire from Moscow. It should seek Russia’s removal from multilateral fora such as the G20 and OSCE.
Diplomatic isolation is needed because diplomacy did not work. In fact, President Putin used diplomacy for his own purposes to disinform and distract.
The government should direct the CRTC to adopt a new policy to terminate licences of state-controlled broadcasters that spread disinformation and propaganda, so that Russia Today, RT, can be removed from Canadian airwaves, as should other authoritarian state-controlled broadcasters operating here in Canada. We must get serious about the disinformation and propaganda spread by proxies of Russia and China here in Canada.
The government should also immediately implement visa-free travel for Ukrainians wanting to come to Canada, as member states of the European Union already have done.
We must be clear-eyed about these proposed measures. We must be clear-eyed that these proposed measures are not going to stop the invasion in Ukraine. We must be clear-eyed that the measures announced to date by the Government of Canada are not going to stop the invasion in Ukraine. We must be clear-eyed that a middle power like Canada can only do certain things to counter the threat from Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation. If we are clear-eyed, there are two things we can do.
First, we must understand that energy is vital not only to our economy, but also to our security. Russia understands this. Canada has not. Russia supplies 40% of Europe’s natural gas and uses this to intimidate Europe and Ukraine, threatening to cut off supplies. If supplies are cut, people will freeze, factories will shutter and Europe’s economy will plummet.
Canada is the fifth-largest natural gas producer in the world, but we cannot get gas to Europe to assist European democracies, because we cannot get pipelines built. Getting natural gas to Atlantic tidewater is vital not only to our economic interest, not only to our environmental interest, but it is also vital to our security interest. We were an arsenal for European democracy decades ago. We can be energy for European democracy today.
We must understand that Russia considers the Arctic its most important region. It has spent considerable resources there in recent years. Canada, like Ukraine, shares a border region with Russia, the Arctic Ocean. We no longer can afford to take our security for granted. We need a robust plan to defend Canadian Arctic sovereignty and security that includes purchasing F-35 jets, modernizing NORAD’s early warning system, fixing our national shipbuilding program, joining ballistic missile defence, and closer co-operation with Scandinavian and American allies in the Arctic region.
The world has irreversibly changed in the last week. We must get serious about the threats presented by China and Russia. That starts with treating energy as vital not only to our economy, but also to our security, and treating seriously the Arctic as crucial to our sovereignty and to our security.
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- Jan/31/22 9:52:03 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I just have a comment for the member, whom I have known for a number of years now.
Russia's military is not the only hard power tool that it has to intimidate Europe and Ukraine. It can also use energy as a weapon. It supplies 40% of Europe's natural gas, and if it cuts off natural gas supplies to Europe, people will freeze, industries will shut down and European GDP will plummet.
The Biden administration has been talking to countries around the world about increasing natural gas supplies to Europe in the event that the Russians cut off gas to Europe, except for Canada. Canada is not mentioned in any of the reports coming back about supplying natural gas in the event that this happens, even though we are the fifth-largest natural gas producer in the world.
When will the government see that energy is not only vital to our economy, but vital to our national security and to those of Europe and Ukraine?
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- Jan/31/22 9:24:29 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I could not agree with my colleague more. In fact, what is going on right now often reminds me of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s where the duly elected and recognized government of Spain, the republican government of Spain, was under threat from the nationalists, from a civil war and a coup d'état that had erupted, led by Spanish generals. Spanish republicans pleaded to western democracies to provide lethal defensive weapons, lethal military weapons, for the defence of Spanish republicans, but democracies in the 1930s turned a blind eye and refused those military weapons. Germany and Italy, being fascist powers at the time, sent plenty of weapons to the nationalists who eventually triumphed, leading into the dark events of the war of 1939 to 1945.
When I hear about governments and democracies refusing to send lethal defensive weapons to a fellow democracy under threat from another authoritarian regime, it brings me back to that period of time in the 1930s where we as democracies turned a blind eye to rising authoritarianism in Europe and paid a very high price over the subsequent six years to 1945. That is the lesson we have failed to heed from the situation that is currently unfolding in eastern Europe.
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- Jan/31/22 9:22:21 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the answer to the question is simple. For centuries Canada's security, the safety and security of our citizens and the safety and security of our borders have been inextricably tied to that of Europe. If democracies in Europe are being threatened with an attack, with invasion, then Canada must stand up not only for the security of those nations in Europe but for the security of Canadians here at home and provide all assistance necessary to ensure that happens; assistance including diplomacy, humanitarian aid and assistance including the threat of use of force and lethal defensive weapons as the Government of Ukraine has requested.
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- Jan/31/22 9:16:26 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Lakeland.
Canada's security is inextricably linked to that of Europe and it has been for centuries. Once, the conflicts between the French and British empires had a direct impact on us here on this continent, and conflicts between the Spanish empire and other empires have had a direct impact on the security on this continent. Today, our security is inextricably linked to that of Europe.
In the last century, in the First and Second World Wars, Canada's security was inextricably linked to that of Europe. We all know the names of places where Canadian blood was shed in defence of this country and its values, names like Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge and the Battle of the Somme. We can think about the Second World War and the names that are indelibly etched into the minds of Canadians, names like Juno Beach, Normandy and Arnhem. In fact, it was Canadian soldiers who, in 1945, liberated the Netherlands. Some 7,000 Canadian soldiers died in the canals, the fields and the villages of the Netherlands liberating the Dutch from the tyranny of Nazism.
In the 20th Century, some 100,000 Canadians died defending this country in two world wars: 60,000 Canadians died on the battlefields of France in the First World War and some 40,000 Canadians died around the world during the Second World War, most of them in Europe. Almost all of those Canadians are buried in graves that dot the Normandy coastline, the fields of Normandy, the Netherlands, Italy and many other places throughout Europe.
After the First World War, because of the blood that had been shed, Canada began to gain her independence. The Balfour Declaration led to the Statute of Westminster and eventually to Canada's independence from the United Kingdom.
After the Second World War, because of the high price we paid, we were a founding member, in 1949, of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Canada played and continues to play a key role in peace and security across Europe. In fact, Canada has contributed to every single NATO mission since the alliance’s inception in 1949. We are one of only two countries that are non-European members of the NATO alliance, and now NATO is being threatened. An estimated 130,000 Russian troops are built up on the Ukrainian border, and we have a government that has failed to take any real action to support Ukraine.
We are facing a situation today of grave consequence. While the government, on January 21, announced a loan of $120 million to Ukraine, and while it recently announced the extension and expansion of Operation Unifier, it has failed to grant the key request of the Government of Ukraine, which is to provide lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine for its defence. The United States has provided some $650 million in defence equipment, $200 million of which is lethal aid for Ukraine. The United Kingdom has supplied lethal aid and lethal weapons in the form of anti-tank weapons. Others, such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the Czech Republic, have also provided lethal weapons.
Diplomacy that is not backed up by credible threats to use military force, and in limited and rare circumstances the use of that force, is naive talk and empty rhetoric. That empty talk and rhetoric will result in damage to Canada's security and the security of Europe and Ukraine. That is what a previous generation of Canadians understood in 1945 when they created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization out of the bloodshed that had happened in the previous 50 years. That is not something the Prime Minister understands. He has said this will only be solved through diplomacy, not through the threat of force to defend democracy.
I urge the government to get off of its naive position, defend the rules-based international order and ensure that lethal defensive weaponry is provided to a democracy, to Ukraine, in order to uphold that order.
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- Dec/7/21 6:34:59 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the government joined the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2018 and it is now a member. Last June, the bank left the door open to funding the military junta in Myanmar.
As a member of the bank, has the government voiced its opposition to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to funding the military junta in Myanmar?
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- Dec/7/21 6:34:15 p.m.
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Madam Chair, on the Olympics, last week, the U.K. government indicated no ministers would be attending the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. Yesterday, President Biden indicated that the administration would be implementing a diplomatic boycott of the games.
Is the government going to do the same? When will it make a decision?
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- Dec/7/21 6:33:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will move to questions on China. The government has started to use the term “Indo-Pacific” recently. It is reported that the government is coming forward with a new policy on China.
Could the minister tell the House when that new policy will be forthcoming?
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- Dec/7/21 6:32:50 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I believe two weeks ago today, the most powerful senator, in my view, in Washington, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, called on the President to reverse his decision on Keystone XL in light of the President's desire to see more oil enter the United States.
Has any member of the government contacted Senator Manchin to discuss his statement on this issue two weeks ago and his desire to see Keystone XL completed?
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- Dec/7/21 6:31:51 p.m.
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Madam Chair, President Biden has said in recent weeks that the U.S. needs more oil. In fact, he has called on OPEC on several occasions to pump more oil, even threatening consequences if it does not. He has recently authorized the release of 50 million barrels from the strategic reserves in the United States, and has coordinated with Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, India and even China to see those countries release more of their reserves.
In light of the fact that Canada is the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, did the Prime Minister or the government raise this issue when they met with the White House two weeks ago?
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