- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- North Okanagan—Shuswap
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 69%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $117,514.07
- Government Page
- May/27/24 2:00:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this weekend we celebrated eight members of the Vernon Search and Rescue Group Society for decades of search and rescue service and community safety in North Okanagan—Shuswap and across Canada.
At the ceremony we recognized Robert Cross, for 28 years of service; Geoff Vick, 31 years; Robert Hurtubise, 34 years; Coralie Nairn, 35 years; Don Blakely and Leigh Pearson, 37 years; James Viel, 50 years; and Pete Wise, 60 years, the longest-serving search and rescue volunteer in Canada.
These volunteers have committed their time to assist and often lead in the search and rescue of many Canadians no matter the time of day or the weather conditions. They also assist emergency services during evacuations and disaster response. Their families make sacrifices and contributions by supporting them. Employers give them time away from work, while sponsors provide resources.
I thank these volunteers and the thousands more across Canada who embody the professionalism, sacrifice and courage to the search for and rescue of Canadians across the country.
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- Apr/19/24 12:22:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to present a number of petitions on behalf of residents of the North Okanagan—Shuswap and other Canadians.
The first one states that, whereas Canadians with mental health issues should be provided with treatment and support, and mental illness can be complex and include suicidal thoughts and symptoms, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call upon the House of Commons to reverse the law extending eligibility for MAID to people with mental illness as their sole medical condition.
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Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in the House as a representative of the amazing people and spectacular region of North Okanagan—Shuswap.
Before I speak to Bill C-57, I would like to acknowledge that many of us have returned to Ottawa today after spending Remembrance Day and last week in our ridings. I would like to thank all of the volunteers who gave up their time to organize and participate in the Remembrance Day ceremonies in 16 different communities and locations across North Okanagan—Shuswap and those who participated across Canada. Without those volunteers, the many ceremonies of remembrance would not have been possible.
It is especially heartwarming to see the large turnouts paying respect to our veterans and heart-wrenching to know that, at the same time, there are still battles going on around the world with soldiers and civilians losing their lives to war every day.
I rise today to speak to Bill C-57, an act to implement the 2023 free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine.
Conservatives have a long history of supporting free trade with other countries. My Conservative colleague, the hon. member for Abbotsford, served as Canada's longest-serving minister of international trade and worked on many successful trade agreements during his tenure in the portfolio, including Canada's existing free trade agreement with Ukraine, the agreement that this bill seeks to amend. In fact, he negotiated trade agreements with 46 countries in that time.
As we look at this bill and the agreement itself, we as legislators have a duty to ensure that the law and the agreement are in the best interest of Canadians. We are closely examining this bill, to ensure that this is the case. We as Conservatives and Canadians also believe in supporting our Ukrainian allies. Increasing trade between our nations is but one way of providing that support.
No one is debating whether we should have a free trade agreement with Ukraine. Indeed, we currently have free trade through the 2017 Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. In 2022, Canada's total merchandise trade with Ukraine was $420 million, $150 million in exports and $270 million in imports. Obviously, trade is happening between our countries. In fact, following the ratification of the original Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, non-coal exports to Ukraine grew by 28.5% between 2016 and 2019.
Canada's relationship with Ukraine is strong, with over 1.3 million people of Ukrainian origin living in Canada. Some of those are newcomers, who have come to Canada fleeing Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
I have had the pleasure of meeting some of those newcomers to Canada at special events in Vernon and Salmon Arm and other locations, where the outpouring of community support has made them feel welcome and eases the burden of fleeing their homeland, many with nothing more than what they could carry in their arms or on their backs. Meeting those newcomers from Ukraine and hearing their resolve to maintain their freedom and desire to return and rebuild their lives and their country has been inspirational.
This legislation aims to implement the 2023 free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine, which contains 11 new chapters. These include rules of origin, government procurement, monopoly, digital trade, e-commerce and more. The document is around 600 pages long. Proposed paragraph13.10(8) states, “promote the rapid transition from unabated coal power to clean energy sources”.
It also contains purposes, including “promote sustainable development” and “promote high levels of environmental protection”.
When I consider what this could mean, I find great differences in what the government promotes and what it actually achieves. I say this because Canada has some of the largest reserves of natural gas for producing liquefied natural gas, LNG, in the world, and yet when Canada was approached to supply LNG to Germany, a neighbour of Ukraine, to help break Europe’s dependence on gas from Putin’s Russia, Germany was told there was no business case. Not only would the export of Canadian natural gas have helped defund Russia’s war machine, but it would also have helped transition Europe away from coal-fired power generation.
So here we have a free trade agreement that is to promote a high level of environmental protection and a government that refuses to acknowledge how much Canadian energy could do toward that goal if we were able to export it to replace energy from regimes with lower standards for production and disregard of human rights.
The government has denied the opportunity for Canada to export clean-burning natural gas with its burdensome, red-tape strangled regulatory process. Rather than promoting a product that would help Ukraine build and rebuild, and transition to a cleaner energy source, the Prime Minister said there was no business case for it. This is a loss of opportunity for Canadians and a loss of opportunity for Germany, Ukraine and other European nations. Canada could help displace dirty coal-fired electricity generation with cleaner LNG. There is a reason that this should be done expediently as Ukraine suffers from the ravages of war, requires energy to rebuild and can no longer obtain LNG from Russia. Canada could be helping.
I will go back to remind the hon. members here of the number of free trade agreements that were completed or negotiated under the previous Conservative government and the work that Canada, under a Conservative government, accomplished on the world stage. It is also worth noting that Canada supported democracy in Ukraine when we sent 500 observers to Ukraine to monitor the presidential elections in 2014.
Before I close, I would like to raise the matter of another item that should be addressed through a different free trade agreement, one affecting British pensioners living in Canada. These pensioners from the United Kingdom receive retirement pensions, but those pensions have never been indexed to the cost of living increases for U.K. pensioners living in Canada. This is an issue I hear about from U.K. pensioners living in the North Okanagan—Shuswap and I hear about how it is causing them to lose thousands of dollars in their retirement. While this government is negotiating a trade agreement with the U.K., I urge the government to press for indexing of U.K. pensions in Canada, just like Canadians retiring in other countries, including the U.K., have their pensions indexed.
As we continue debate on Bill C-57, an act to implement the 2023 free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine, I urge this government to focus on what will be good for Canada, good for Ukraine and good for the people of our two countries by ensuring that our laws and trade agreements benefit both nations and do not unduly hinder our energy sector and the progress that could be made in both countries by promoting it.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola for the question and for his support on something that I am passionate about, the prevention of aquatic invasive species into the Okanagan, Shuswap or any waters in B.C.
On the three points the member mentioned, the current government has certainly failed. We are seeing taxes at higher levels than they have been in years. Inflation is incredibly high. The investment attitude in Canada is not good. We need a common-sense Conservative government that will re-attract business to Canada and allow businesses to profit and prosper.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay is correct. We need to do everything we can to ensure the safety and well-being of our senior citizens, especially those who are in care homes and do not have families to support them.
With respect to the technicalities of exactly what the current government can and cannot do, I would not want to be quoted on that. I believe it is a bit more of a legal decision. However, I agree with the member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay: We need to ensure that there are measures in place to protect against foreign overtake of Canadian companies that serve our citizens. We must make sure that they are well protected.
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- Oct/31/23 10:10:54 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present four more petitions signed by residents of North Okanagan—Shuswap who are concerned with the Liberal-NDP government's attack on natural health products. The petitioners call on the Minister of Health to work with the natural health products industry, adjust Health Canada's cost recovery rate to accurately reflect the size and scope of the industry and only implement changes once the self-care framework has been adjusted, backlogs have been cleared, operations are run efficiently and policies and procedures are in place to ensure that stable operations continue.
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- Oct/6/23 12:22:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present four more petitions from concerned citizens of North Okanagan—Shuswap. These petitions call on the Minister of Health to work with the national health products industry and adjust Health Canada's cost recovery rates to accurately reflect the size and scope of the industry, implementing changes only once the self-care framework is adjusted.
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- Oct/7/22 12:13:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to present a petition on behalf of residents of North Okanagan—Shuswap and other Canadians.
The petitioners note that the government should focus on increasing support for mental health care and improving access to supports instead of offering medical assistance in dying for those with a mental illness. Therefore, the undersigned citizens call on the Government of Canada to stop the expansion of medical assistance in dying for those with mental illness.
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