- 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/18/22 12:41:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately I only have a few seconds and there is so much I could say. The bottom line is that Canada needs to show leadership. That is what I said in my speech. We should take a page out of Prime Minister Harper's experience and speak directly to Mr. Putin to say that it is time to get out of Ukraine.
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- Oct/18/22 12:30:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am delighted to speak to this motion today. Earlier today, I was listening to the debate and heard the member for Winnipeg North say that it is not the right time to be speaking about Ukraine. The fact of the matter is that under the present circumstances, it is always the right time to be speaking about Ukraine. I point out that this motion is properly and procedurally before the House this morning.
The people who are watching know what we are debating, but I am going to read the motion into the record. The motion before us that we are debating right now calls for us to do the following things:
(a) condemn the continuing attack on Ukraine ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin,
(b) recognize that a growing proportion of the Russian people are bravely resisting and opposing this attack,
(c) call on the Government of Canada to develop measures to support Russian dissidents, human rights defenders, and conscientious objectors within the military who are seeking to urgently flee Russia, while ensuring that necessary security precautions are taken.
First and foremost, we need to understand that since World War II, the world has organized its affairs around maintaining international global peace and security. Many institutions were created, starting with the League of Nations after World War I. That organization was ultimately supplanted by the United Nations. Other organizations, like NATO, were created to maintain world peace. For most of the last 70 years, including the last 30 years after the end of the Cold War, the world has benefited from the peace dividend that these organizations have created the environment for.
That all changed on February 24 of this year. Mr. Putin's actions have been a wake-up call for democratic nations like Canada that believe in peace, democracy and human rights. That is why we are all so horrified by Mr. Putin's actions.
Throughout this time, I have had cause to reflect on our amazing democracy here in Canada. As Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of Government except for all the rest.
In Canada, the official opposition performs a fundamental role in ensuring good government. I know that sometimes my colleagues on the government side may find a strong opposition to be a bit of a nuisance. However, I think about countries like Russia, where there is no real opposition and where dissidents who oppose Mr. Putin suffer great penalty, from imprisonment to torture to being murdered, just like the mob makes people disappear. In Russia, there is also no free and fair media. What people see on television and on their social media feeds are the lies and propaganda disseminated and fed to them by the state.
I understand the power of propaganda. Earlier, my colleague mentioned that he visited a concentration camp. Back in May, I was in Berlin and I visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. When one walks up to the gate of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, like all of the concentration camps, there are three words written in German on the gate. Those three words are “Arbeit Macht Frei”. What do they mean? They mean “work makes you free”. Why were those words on the gates to the concentration camps? It was to propagandize those who were being imprisoned there to think they had hope and to provide them with false hope. That is the power of propaganda and that is what Mr. Putin is doing right now to his own population in Russia.
There is another reason this motion is so important. Yesterday in this House, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, during question period, said that we have done a lot for Ukraine but that “we have to do more”. Well, here is the opportunity to do more by voting for this motion. All this motion asks for is for the “Government of Canada to develop measures to support Russian dissidents, human rights defenders, and conscientious objectors...who are seeking to urgently flee Russia”. Frankly, I am surprised that the government has not already taken steps to help these people, who are fighting their own government and supporting Ukraine.
Where is the leadership from the Prime Minister? I remember when Prime Minister Harper told Mr. Putin to his face to get out of Crimea. Where is this Prime Minister? Why is he not saying the same things?
One area we have to address is energy and Canada's complete and utter failure to support the energy needs of our friends in Germany and Europe. The fact of the matter is that after seven long years of the government's failed energy policies, Canada, one of the largest natural gas producers on the planet, is completely unable to help our allies in their time of need.
Putin is using energy as a weapon of war against our allies in Europe, and what does this country do instead? We send turbines back to Russia to help them sell their blood natural gas to Europe. It is shameful. It also stands in the way of LNG here in Canada at the same time. It is obvious that these permits for the turbines should be cancelled. The Ukrainian ambassador has made a compelling plea for cancellation and it is time for the government to act.
Regarding the issue of dissidents, Vladimir Kara-Murza is a Russian patriot who fights against this tyrannical state for basic democratic rights. He puts his life on the line every day for the basic human rights that we here in Canada simply take for granted. Do members know what Putin did to him? Vladimir Kara-Murza is in prison. That is how Putin deals with opposition. Again, where is the leadership of the Prime Minister? Vladimir Kara-Murza has been in a Russian prison since April. They accused him of spreading fake news and he has been charged with high treason, yet the government does nothing.
I take the Minister of Foreign Affairs at her word when she says she will do more. Well, here is her chance. Here is her and her government's opportunity to do just that. It is time to show leadership. It is past time for the Prime Minister to learn from Mr. Harper's example and tell Mr. Putin to get out of Ukraine. It is past time to support the energy needs of our allies in Europe and it is past time for the government to take real actions, support this motion and help Vladimir Kara-Murza and the brave Russians like him.
Vladimir Kara-Murza provides real opposition to Putin's tyranny and is currently subjected to monstrous police and judicial pressure from authorities. He and his family live under constant pressure. Putin's mob-style government will stop at nothing to destroy those who threaten his totalitarian control through terror, acts of violence and fear. Mr. Kara-Murza is not the only one. We know what Putin has done to Alexei Navalny. We know what he did to Sergei Magnitsky. Again, where is the leadership?
The Prime Minister and the government must support this motion now, show leadership and help these brave Russian dissidents and our friends in Ukraine.
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- May/12/22 12:12:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the question touches on a couple of important areas. When it comes to food security and energy security in Europe, the world changed in February when Mr. Putin invaded Ukraine. That is a really important point. It should not be lost on any member of the House that food security affects countries everywhere, including China.
This is just another reason why we need to have this committee: so we can have a good analysis and understanding of the geopolitical implications of China's position on a whole host of issues.
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- May/12/22 12:11:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what is laughable is that the member seems to want to live seven years in the past. The world has changed substantially. As I said in my speech, we need to be taking the role of China in the world extremely seriously, particularly in the context of Mr. Putin's invasion of Ukraine, how President Xi Jinping views this aggression and how it might impact his decisions as they relate to Taiwan.
What is laughable is that the member is living in 2015 when he should be living in 2022.
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- May/2/22 7:53:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, from the outset I want to say that it would warm my late Baba Gertie's Yiddish heart to hear my colleagues use Yiddish proverbs. In fact, I think she would be schlepping nachas right now if she were watching this wonderful debate.
Most Canadians take for granted that politicians always seem to be at each other's throats over something or other. I often get asked why our party is so critical of the government, why we are always opposed to everything the government does. My response is usually something like that it is actually the job of the official opposition to oppose the government and to hold the government to account. It is an extremely important role in a parliamentary democracy.
We see, time and time again, that countries without a strong political opposition often take a dark path. We see this happening right now before our eyes as Vladimir Putin wields the full military might of Russia against the freedom-loving democratic state of Ukraine. Mr. Putin has no real political opposition to hold him to account, and we know what happens if somebody actively speaks in opposition to his government: He punishes them.
We are lucky to live in a country where we are free to speak our minds and where the official opposition operates as a check and balance in a system designed to hold the Prime Minister and his or her government responsible for the decisions they make. The Prime Minister in our system has tremendous power, and our job as the official opposition is to keep the government in check. In fact, Michael Ignatieff, the former Liberal leader of the official opposition, said, “The opposition performs an adversarial function critical to democracy itself.”
This is why we are concerned about this motion, as it limits the ability of Her Majesty's loyal opposition to keep the government in check. Here is why. Motion No. 11 says, among other things, “after 6:30 p.m. the Speaker shall not receive any quorum calls”. Quorum is vital to a properly functioning government. Taking it to its extreme, let us imagine that only one MP is in this House. In the absence of a quorum requirement, that one member could have unlimited power to introduce motions and laws, literally in the middle of the night, without proper parliamentary oversight.
Under the Constitution Act, a quorum of 20 members is legally required “to constitute a Meeting of the House for the Exercise of its Powers”. Any member has the constitutionally entrenched right to make a quorum call and to bring this to the attention of the Chair, except after 6:30 in the evening if the NDP-Liberal coalition passes this motion. This is unprecedented. This is unconstitutional. Quorum rules exist to ensure that a small number cannot take matters into their own hands.
Another thing about quorum is that it can be used by democratically elected opposition members to make a point. Quorum busting is a tactic that prevents a legislative body from attaining a quorum and can be used by opposition members seeking to block the adoption of some measure they oppose. For instance, Abraham Lincoln, during his time back in the Illinois legislature, actually leapt out of a first-storey window, in a failed attempt to prevent a quorum from being present, as the doors of the capitol had been locked to prevent legislators from fleeing.
I want to be very clear so that government members do not ask me if I am endorsing this. I am not endorsing this. Please, no one go and jump out of a window to avoid a quorum. However, we do have the right. We are maybe more civilized as to how we approach quorum busting, but we have a right to call out lack of quorum. One of my hon. colleagues from the Bloc made the point earlier that it is very difficult right now with the hybrid Parliament to know whether we have a quorum, and that is another issue that we need to settle here at some point. We do have lack of quorum as a legitimate tool of accountability. Motion No. 11 would take this away.
Regarding dilatory motions, Bosc and Gagnon state that dilatory motions do not require notice, are not debatable or amendable and, if in order, are to be put to a vote by the Chair immediately. Motion No. 11 says the Speaker shall not receive any dilatory motions. In fact, the motion says, “a minister of the Crown may move, without notice, a motion to adjourn the House until Monday, September 19, 2022” and, ironically, that motion can be “decided immediately without debate or amendment”. That sounds to me an awful lot like a dilatory motion. On the one hand, we have the motion saying no dilatory motions, and then we have the motion saying that here is a dilatory motion and that is okay.
The motion gives a procedural right to a minister of the Crown that is unavailable to any other members to avail themselves of. This seems inherently unfair to me, and I would go so far as to say that a matter of privilege could be considered as to whether it is in order.
Motion No. 11 seeks to tie the hands of the official opposition while expanding government authority. It is clear that the government wants to give itself an escape hatch: the ability to prorogue. I know hon. members across have argued that this is not prorogation. They say they will put the motion and there has to be another House leader and it is going to be put to a vote, but the reality is that in this place we cannot do indirectly what we cannot do directly. That is the effect of this motion: the ability to avoid the scrutiny of the opposition, which, as Mr. Ignatieff said, is “critical to democracy itself”.
To be clear, the government wants to give itself the power to stop opposition motions, to prorogue whenever it wants, to avoid accountability, to stop important committee work in its tracks and to govern without a quorum. That is what this motion would do. What this motion would also do is neuter Parliament, plain and simple. It is a brazen power grab.
About working until midnight, I hear government members, particularly the member for Winnipeg North, my colleague from Winnipeg, claiming that members of the Conservative Party have a problem working late. With respect, I believe all members in this House have always worked hard. In fact, we cannot get here without working hard. I am happy to work as long and as late as it takes, as are my colleagues. Therefore, let us show a little respect and stop inferring that somehow some hon. members do not want to work. That is just not true at all.
The problem is not working late; the problem is the last-minute nature of the decision. The motion would allow the government and the NDP House leader to decide at 6:29 p.m. to sit until midnight. I know the NDP claims to care about workers. There are hundreds of staff members who run this place: the clerks, the cleaning staff, security, kitchen staff, the interpreters, the good folks who drive the shuttles we rely upon to get around the Hill, and our young pages. How is it fair to them to say at 6:29 p.m., after working since 9 a.m., that they will have to stay until midnight? Perhaps their unions will take this up. If not, I think they should.
I am looking forward to seeing the Liberal-NDP coalition members in the House with us as we all work late into the night for the betterment of Canadians. I take them at their word that they will be here. If they unilaterally choose to extend hours and do not show up for debate, perhaps we need to rethink the standing rules that currently prevent us from commenting on the presence or absence of a member.
The goal of this motion is to limit the opposition parties' ability to hold the government to account, plain and simple. The motion erodes our ability to hold the government to account and erodes the trust that Canadians have in our institutions. How can a government that claims to want to work across the aisle ever be taken seriously when it pulls stunts like this? The Prime Minister is giving himself the power to shut down Parliament until September, as well as the power to disrupt the work of parliamentary committees. We should not be surprised, though. It is part of a pattern of behaviour where the Prime Minister runs from accountability and transparency.
Last week, the Liberal and NDP members on the foreign affairs committee voted against the member for Wellington—Halton Hills' reasonable motion for the production of the Winnipeg lab documents. Ironically, this is the same motion the NDP voted for in the last Parliament. In addition, the Prime Minister is withholding documents related to the invocation of the Emergencies Act. He may be the subject of an RCMP criminal investigation. The list goes on and on.
I will close by saying that this motion is an affront to our democracy and, if I have not made it clear so far, I am voting against it. In the meantime, Canadians can rest assured that Conservatives will fulfill our constitutional obligations and continue to hold the government to account.
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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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