- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Health
- Liberal
- Ajax
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $134,982.00
- Government Page
- Feb/26/24 3:07:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the short answer is imminently. It is going to happen right away.
I want to thank all parties, because it is through co-operation and working together, the mechanism that we set forth. Remember that it is the Public Health Agency of Canada that makes decisions around redactions. We set forward a collaborative process that all parties participated in. As a result of that, this is exactly why additional information will be deposed before the House, and that additional information was exactly the intention in setting up that committee. That means Canadians will have additional views on the information therein.
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- Jun/12/23 7:02:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I very much appreciate my hon. colleague's question.
That is the case every summer. Parliament sits later than usual. It is normal to sit until midnight before rising for the summer. However, there has been a major change: It is now possible to work virtually. With the hybrid system, it is easier to manage the situation that the member opposite described.
Second, there is something very different about the current situation. It is possible for a majority government to change the rules, but in the current situation, another party, the NDP, supported the amendment.
Also, the change to the Standing Orders was originally supported by all parties. In fact, every party uses this system every day here in the House.
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- Apr/18/23 2:56:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, more games. This serves the parties across the way. It is partisanship. It is obvious. They keep asking questions on things that have nothing to do with reality.
That is the case for CBC. Attacking the independence of the CBC is totally unacceptable. It is an attack on an independent institution that is very important for our country.
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- Nov/15/22 3:34:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do not know whether the member has had an opportunity to consider the application of constitutional law on this matter, but I can certainly say that the House is in absolutely no way, in its normal conduct of business, being interfered with. As is the normal procedure when we are talking about after 6:30 p.m., this motion would mean that there cannot be the opportunity to play all sorts of different procedural games.
The motion would allow, after 6:30 p.m., and after the normal conduct of business, for debate to continue and for that debate not to be interrupted with procedural tricks. I understand the Conservatives are disappointed about that. I understand they would like the opportunity to be able, in the wee hours of the night, to play games and do different things because it is not their objective to actually give speeches or to have speakers put up. Their objective is to block legislation and block the other parties from being able to do the critical work that the government, and not just the government but also the House and every party in it, needs to do, which is to focus on the priorities of Canadians and make sure we adopt legislation.
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- Nov/15/22 3:25:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague is 100% right that the times we are in right now demand that we put shoulder to wheel and do more.
I do have to say that I cannot speak for the motivations of anybody else, but let me be very clear of the motivation we are coming to the table with and that, I believe, the hon. member is coming to the table with as well in asking his question, which is that every time we ask how many speakers there are going to be or how much time the party opposite needs in order to be able to adjudicate their arguments with respect to legislation, we are frustrated in that and given no answers. Even on the bills they support, the Conservatives will not tell us how many speakers they have. It is a never-ending cascade of obstruction.
Canadians do not expect for Parliament to have one party stand in the way of all the other parties being able to do their work when there is essential legislation that we must pass.
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- Nov/14/22 12:30:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.
My hon. colleague opposite is a very reasonable person. She is her party's whip, and when I was the Liberal Party whip, it was a great privilege to work with her because I found her to be extremely reasonable. Today, I am taking the same approach and doing things in the same spirit.
Unfortunately, with the Conservative Party, it is often absolutely impossible to obtain basic information, such as the number of speakers who will rise when debating a bill or the time that the party needs to pass a bill. When that sort of information is not available, it is completely impossible for me to manage our legislative agenda. We then need to get a majority vote on a motion to extend sitting hours.
If not for that and if we could have a reasonable conversation, then I would have no need at all to extend the sitting hours. I understand that this raises concerns about committees and the use of our administration. I understand all that very well, and I want to work with all of the parties on that issue.
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- May/3/22 2:26:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I realize that the Conservatives want to spend time talking about things that happened six years ago, but I would ask them about this instead. Right now we have a Bill C-8, which has been debated for 12 days in the House. That was introduced in December, so that is five months of obstruction. I would say that, while they do not want to talk about the economy, while they do not want to talk about the environment and while they do not want to talk about the issues that are important to Canadians, will they at least let the other parties in this place do their work and get the business of this nation done?
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- Mar/23/22 2:26:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was there for three minority governments with Stephen Harper, and what we saw was a complete railroading of the opposition and no interest in working with other parties. Not only that, but over that period of time we also saw the most stagnant, dead economic growth that the country had seen historically. What we see now is Canada leading in economic growth, leading in job creation and leading in climate action. What we are focused on is working with any party that is willing to work with us to get the business of the nation done.
I would suggest to the Conservatives that there is an opportunity to break from their usual mould, which is attack, attack, attack—
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- Mar/23/22 2:24:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it was clear in the last election what Canadians wanted as a priority: action on growing the economy, expanding the middle class and making sure that people can join it, ensuring affordable child care and expanding health care services. All of these things are at the core of what, when we came to power six months ago, we said we wanted to work with other parties on.
I know, because I was there, that when the Conservatives were in a minority government, they did not work with other parties. It is an unusual concept for them, but there is the opportunity that they have today to work collaboratively in Parliament to get things done. That is our objective.
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- Mar/2/22 4:27:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to tell my hon. colleague from the Bloc Québécois how great she is. I often had the opportunity to work with her when I was the whip for my party, and it was clear to me that she is very reasonable.
I was hoping that the same could be said for the Conservative Party, but unfortunately not. For over a week, I tried to come to an agreement with that party, but it stuck to its guns.
The Conservative Party was hoping to get two of the co-chair positions for this committee, one from the Senate and one from the House of Commons. It was proposing that it have one MP on the committee and that the government have only one seat. That was unreasonable, so it is an awkward situation.
Unfortunately, a solution had to be found with all the other parties to foster the most neutral situation possible. That is why it has been proposed that one of the co-chairs come from a party that supported the emergency measures and that the other come from a party that did not. That is reasonable.
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- Mar/1/22 2:42:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am confused. The party opposite will have three members of their caucus, and they are cheering that. They are very happy that they will have the same number that the government has. The opposition, unfortunately, decided to cheerlead the illegal activities that were happening outside. It would be entirely inappropriate for those who were cheerleading the type of activities that we saw, the illegal blockades and the illegal occupation, to be chairing.
What we said instead is that two opposition parties will chair the process, one who is against the act and one who is for the act. That is being reasonable. That is being fair.
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