- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley
- Manitoba
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $99,486.97
- Government Page
- Oct/16/23 9:28:46 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I know the NDP likes to do it, but it is important not to conflate Hamas with the plight of the Palestinian people. With regard to the plight of the Palestinian people, all I can really say to the member is that if she truly wants peace for the Palestinian people, she will get behind international calls for the eradication of Hamas.
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- Oct/16/23 9:26:41 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, Conservatives have called for and support the idea of a safe zone in southern Gaza, humanitarian corridors to provide needed supplies of food, water and medical supplies in Gaza and of course to enable foreign nationals who are in Gaza to be safely removed and taken back home.
At the end of the day, Israel has a right to defend itself, and its mission is to eradicate Hamas. At the end of the day, that will be a good thing for not only Israelis but Palestinian citizens.
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- Oct/16/23 9:25:12 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for pointing out that Israel is perpetually singled out. It seems there is a unique obsession, not only in the United Nations but particularly in the United Nations, to hold Israel to a different standard and to say that Israel is not a supporter of human rights or even Palestinian rights. We see countries in the region, autocracies, that do not treat their populations with the same rights, and they cannot be allowed to stand.
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- Oct/16/23 9:19:25 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, on October 7 we woke up to an unspeakable horror. Hamas terrorists brutally invaded Israel, invaded homes, intentionally killing 1,400 Israeli civilians and taking hostage over 100 more.
We must stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel as it defends itself from the criminal and barbarous acts of Hamas. Among the dead are seven Canadians. May their memories be a blessing. At least one Canadian is still missing and presumed held hostage. All hostages must be released.
More Jews were killed in Saturday's attack than on any single day since the Holocaust. They were children, babies, men and women intentionally slaughtered in their homes. They were young people, just out listening to music at a dance party. This was an unprecedented, brutal, intentional attack.
As we speak, Hamas is threatening to execute innocent hostages. This outrage cannot and must not stand. Do not let anyone say that Hamas is the legitimate voice of the Palestinian people. It is not a government. Its members are not activists or freedom fighters. They are not a resistance movement. They are a genocidal, murderous and evil death cult, and they must be defeated.
Hamas has demonstrated, in an especially depraved manner, why it is listed as a terrorist entity by Canada and its western allies. There is broad consensus that the war on Hamas is a just one. Hamas is a sworn enemy of Israel, intent on its annihilation, but it has also betrayed the Palestinian population it claims to represent. Its goal is to maximize the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians. It serves as a fundamental impediment to peace and the goal of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinian people.
Make no mistake: Hamas is a direct proxy of Iran, and that is why Canada must list the IRGC as a terrorist entity. I have to say that all celebrations on Canadian soil of the evil, sadistic Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens are abhorrent. Shame on all those who participated.
Conservatives unequivocally condemn the invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists and the sadistic violence that Hamas has carried out against innocent civilians. Now is the time for moral clarity. There is no moral equivalency between democratic Israel and the butchers of Hamas. There is no response within the boundaries of international law that would be disproportionate to the crimes Hamas has committed.
Israel has the right to defend itself against these attacks and respond against the attackers, just as any other country would. Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, was famous for saying, “If you will it, it is no dream.”
In 1948, that dream became a reality, a homeland in Israel, the promised land. Working together, Israelis turned a desert into an oasis, an island of democracy surrounded by a sea of autocracy, a Jewish state where Jews could live in peace, free from fear and persecution.
Let there be no doubt: Israel is the ancient and indigenous homeland of the Jewish people.
Many politicians will stand with Israel when it is easy, but listen to what they say when it is hard. They will talk about both sides. I am here to say that there is only one side: the side of morality, the side of democracy, the side that Israel is on.
Too often we see politicians at the United Nations unfairly single out Israel for criticism. I will always stand against the unfair singling out of the Middle East's only democracy.
We call on the government to conduct an immediate review of all aid going to Gaza, to ensure it does not go to funding Hamas in its campaign of terror but rather to aid innocent civilians. Already there are calls for Israel to de-escalate. I cannot believe I am hearing this, even from the NDP. I ask, would any country de-escalate after having its people slaughtered in cold blood and still held hostage? No, they would not.
I wish the people of Israel and its brave soldiers Godspeed on their mission to defend the promised land from pure evil. As then prime minister Stephen Harper said, “Through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.”
Am Yisrael Chai.
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- Oct/16/23 7:39:10 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the Prime Minister earlier today said that the aid that was recently announced for the region would go to aid innocent civilians in Gaza and that there would be no possibility that it could wind up in the hands of Hamas. I am wondering if the member could comment specifically on what measures her government is taking to ensure that this money will not wind up with Hamas.
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- Feb/28/22 11:14:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in my brief time here, I was elected in 2019, I have never seen the House come together in such a way. It is really wonderful to see. I sit on the foreign affairs committee. We have been working together as a team to promote Magnitsky sanctions, sanctions under the SIMA legislation, and the whole world has come together to work in lockstep to do the same thing.
We recognize that this is a fight for freedom over tyranny and it is a line that simply cannot be crossed.
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- Feb/28/22 11:13:10 p.m.
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Madam Chair, again, President Zelensky has shown us all what true leadership is. We have to give him all the support we can and wish him well in his endeavours to protect his country.
I only hope that if Canada ever faced a similar situation that our Prime Minister would act in the same vein.
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- Feb/28/22 11:12:01 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what we all recognize here today is that we have woken up to the tyranny of Putin's Russia, and that affects the entire world. Canada is not immune to that.
We share a border with Russia. Mr. Putin, just the other day, spoke about raising his nuclear arsenal's alert. We have to wake up to the reality of Putin's Russia and do whatever we can to protect ourselves, protect all Canadians, including protecting the sovereignty of our Arctic.
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- Feb/28/22 11:11:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, let me be perfectly clear: Mr. Putin's word is not worth the paper it is written on.
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- Feb/28/22 11:05:03 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I rise today with all members of the House to join in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. This unwarranted attack on a free and democratic country highlights how our security is inextricably tied to that of Europe. NATO and its allies understand the danger of a belligerent Russia that seeks to redraw the international borders of Europe by force. Might cannot make right. Those dictatorial thugs who think they can take other countries by force now know the price they will pay. Canada must strengthen its own defences and renew its commitment to the NATO alliance.
Let us take pause and note the extraordinary courage of the Ukrainian people. They have galvanized the spirit of the entire world. They will never give up and we will always be with them. Defying the expectations of its collapse, Ukraine has kept going. Its people keep on fighting as we speak here at this very moment. History has found the Ukrainian president, and his courage is remarkable to witness. President Zelensky has been subjected to the most intense stress test of character.
Putin, in his hubris, has made a tremendous error: Never underestimate the strength and courage of those who fight for freedom over tyranny, never underestimate the will of the free world to defend those who fight for freedom, and never assume that citizens would support a leader who would reign such terror on their Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
This is a conflict entirely of Putin's own making and every drop of blood is on his hands. Now it is clear he craves war and fears freedom and democracy. Putin thought that in seeking an invasion, NATO would just hand over Ukraine, yet even in that scenario all he could have gotten was internal chaos and civil strife.
I support our leader's call to expel the Russian ambassador. The ambassador should be expelled right now, and the government should recall our country's envoy in Moscow. Our leader is also correct that Russia Today needs to be taken off the airwaves. Foreign state-controlled broadcasters have no business spreading their misinformation in Canada, and I commend Rogers and Bell for making the decision to remove them.
Parliamentarians cannot ignore what is literally and figuratively fuelling Putin's power: oil and gas. We cannot ignore that. The Liberal government has failed to recognize that Canadian oil and gas are vital to Canadian and European security. We need to get new pipelines built to tidewater to displace Russian natural gas. Russia supplies 40% of Europe's natural gas. If supplies are cut, people will not be able to heat their homes, industry will shutter and Europe's GDP will plummet.
In buying Russian oil and gas, Europe has been filling Putin's coffers, paying him the money he needed to build up this brutal army that he is now using to savage his neighbour. No more, I say. No more can Putin impose tyranny and expect to enjoy the economic spoils of the free and democratic world. No more can a leader who has behaved as irrationally as Putin has have that much power over his neighbouring states. No more will we idly stand by.
Canada is the world's fifth-largest producer of natural gas, but we cannot export gas to Europe to assist European democracies because we cannot get pipelines built. The current Liberal government must get serious and realize our energy sector is not only vital to our economy, but vital to our security and the world's security. Moreover, Conservatives are calling on the government to step up for freedom and democracy by allowing visa-free travel from Ukraine to Canada.
Our red lines must be clear. NATO must stand fast. Article 5 must be sacrosanct.
I would like to close with the words of President Kennedy as he addressed the nation on October 22, 1962. He said:
My fellow citizens: let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out... But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.
...The cost of freedom is always high—but Americans have always paid it....
Our goal is not the victory of might but the vindication of right—not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.
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- Feb/28/22 10:50:06 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in 2014, after Putin invaded Crimea, Russia was expelled from the G8.
Should Canada seek Russia's removal from the G20 and possibly the OSCE? What is the member's view of that?
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- Feb/28/22 9:18:41 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, many stakeholders have called for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador from Canada. I am wondering if the hon. member could give us his thoughts on that measure.
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