- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Hastings—Lennox and Addington
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $121,555.68
- Government Page
- Jun/3/24 3:29:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour today to present, in both official languages, the 11th report of the Standing Committee of the Status of Women, entitled “Supporting Women's Economic Empowerment in Canada”.
I would like to thank all the witnesses who contributed to this study.
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
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- Jun/3/24 2:45:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, one in three Canadians can access the child care. The rhetoric needs to stop. Today, the government has an opportunity to vote for our common-sense Conservative motion to provide a temporary measure of relief for Canadians over the summer. It would help families, single parents, seniors, students and everyone in between. Pausing the tax on fuel would benefit all Canadians. In Ontario, this would mean the government would leave nearly $600 in the bank accounts of Canadians.
Will the Prime Minister vote in favour of the motion and allow Canadians to have a simple getaway, yes or no?
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- Jun/3/24 2:44:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister is planning his taxpayer-funded junkets to tropical Caribbean islands, last week, this health minister made the ludicrous statement that families enjoying road trips are somehow complicit in letting the “planet burn”. This is just another example of this government's golden rule: Do as I say, not as I do.
Canada's Conservatives have presented an option: remove the tax on fuel so Canadians can afford to put fuel in their tanks and food on their tables. Will this Liberal-NDP Prime Minister come out of the ivory tower and please vote yes so Canadians can afford basics and maybe even a summer getaway?
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- May/30/24 1:54:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to start by saying that perhaps caring is not always convenient. How people care and how people find solutions come in different silos. How they are interpreted is different for everyone.
Members across the aisle will probably agree with me that youth are the future of this country. Youth need to ask critical, informed questions. I know on this side of the aisle, we are giving them accurate, positive solutions.
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- May/30/24 1:52:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would suggest that our middle class is shrinking for a number of reasons. We have become a country of high taxation, dwindling revenues, big government, massive social programs and massive deficits. High inflation and high interest rates are making it so the middle class no longer exists. We need to move forward. We need solutions. We cannot continuously just say damn. The government is not working. Conservatives are offering a solution.
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- May/30/24 1:51:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will assure the member across the aisle that every single day I am listening to and working for the ordinary, hard-working Canadians in Hastings—Lennox and Addington.
I will also remind the member that, with respect to mental health, we should address the cause. The cause is the issue. If the symptoms are always the focus, we need to re-evaluate how we are looking at this. How did we get here? Where did these issues come from? People are in dire straits right now and they need serious help. People are hurting. People are dying. Conservatives are offering a bit of a solution.
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- May/30/24 1:41:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time this afternoon with the member for Langley—Aldergrove.
It is my pleasure to rise today to speak to our opposition day motion on removing the fuel tax until Labour Day. While many of my colleagues may focus on the immediate economic benefit that this proposal would have on every single financially strapped Canadian listening today, I would also like to complement the conversation with an element of mental health.
As we all know, mental health has been declining in Canada. A piece in the Queen's Gazette succinctly states:
A 2023 report from Statistics Canada has revealed that despite over half of Canadians reporting very good or excellent overall health, mental health is on a concerning decline. Anxiety and mood disorders, particularly among vulnerable populations, have surged, with a notable impact on adults aged 18 to 34 years. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, in any given year 1 in 5 people in Canada will personally experience a mental health problem or illness...
I do not think this is news to anyone. This is a real problem.
While the pandemic certainly played a large role in this worsening public disaster, it is not the only culprit. The mental health of Canadians is declining, nearly in lockstep with their financial health.
Two months ago, the Canadian Institute for Health Information issued a press release, suggesting “Canadians increasingly report poor mental health, cite growing economic concerns as a contributing factor.” Compared to the Commonwealth Fund average, Canada had higher percentages of its residents who worried about affording rent, about food security and about having a roof over their head at all. Its message is clear: Canada is lagging considerably behind its Commonwealth allies when it comes to economic stressors on mental health.
I know the other parties here today care about mental health. In its 2021 platform, “Forward. For Everyone”, the government had a page and a bit of its 89-page platform dedicated to mental health. It opened with:
In a typical year, 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental illness or addiction problem. And we know that over the last 18 months, nearly half of Canadians reported that their mental health worsened during the pandemic. Mental health is health. This is why we have made mental health a priority.
Our friends in the NDP had very similar overtures in their “Ready for Better” platform.
What I find troubling and confusing is that the Liberal government would engage in such dramatic inflationary spending and impose crippling tax measures onto cash-strapped Canadians. It is even more confusing as to why the NDP would play the role of the enabler for the Liberal government. It turns out that mental health as a priority in 2021 has given way, in 2024, to excessively taxing Canadians to the brink of financial ruin; mental health consequences be damned.
The fact remains that while, yes, mental health is health, economic stability contributes to mental health. Financially stable Canadians do not have the same economic stressors on them that non-financially stable Canadians do. Subsequently, there are less stressors on our already straining health care system, particularly on our mental health.
We only need to turn to the government's own numbers to validate the relationship between finances and mental and physical health.
In March 2019, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada released a report that showed financial concerns were a greater source of stress than relationships, workplace performance or their own personal health. Nearly half of Canadians have lost sleep worrying over which bills they will be able to pay. Forty-four per cent of Canadians say they would be in dire financial straits if a paycheque were late.
This is all part of a vicious feedback loop. Mental health issues make it more difficult to earn and to seek help, resulting in financial distress. Then people start to worry about where they will go to get their next meal or what valuables to sell to pay off their past-due Internet bill so that their service is not cut off or what side hustle they will find, adding additional stress and anxiety onto already existing mental health issues.
Rinse and repeat is the reality of too many of the constituents in Hastings—Lennox and Addington and people across this country. The absolute last thing they need is the government adding on to that financial burden.
This is an opportunity to alleviate the burden the government has placed on Canadians when it hiked the tax on gas. Vacations, road trips, a time to step back are all great ways to reduce stress, spend family time and come back to the workplace motivated, inspired and recharged. This is absolutely true. However, the reality here is that far too many Canadians may not be able to even consider taking a vacation because they are so destitute. This common-sense Conservative motion would put money back into their pockets, not necessarily to go on road trips, but to use for their grocery bill or for all the other pressing issues Canadians are facing.
A recent survey by Ipsos shows that while nearly 80% of Canadians really need a vacation, two-thirds are scaling back due to inflation and economic uncertainty, and three out of five Canadians are scrapping vacations entirely. Canadians are not thinking about Disney; they are thinking about dinner. A clear indicator of the government's failure is that not only is it not providing for Canadians, but it continues to take what little they have.
Today, we have an opportunity to provide a temporary measure of relief for Canadians over the summer. This would help families, single parents, students, seniors and everyone in between. Pausing the tax on fuel would provide benefits to all Canadians. If they choose to use those extra dollars for a road trip and support local tourism, that is great. If instead they want to use the dollars to pay bills and get groceries, that is okay too. The real kicker here is that we are not proposing to give tax dollars to Canadians; we are simply asking the federal government to stop taking from them.
I think this last point will really illustrate a dangerous mentality that far too many governments have. They view themselves as entitled to the money of taxpayers, as though it does not belong to Canadians, but to them, and they are going to collect it. This reminds me of a comment made by a former Liberal cabinet minister when he served as the CEO of the Mint. I think it encapsulates the mentality of the current Liberal-NDP government. He stated, “I am entitled to my entitlements.” This time I think even David Dingwall himself would have to agree that it is the taxpayer footing the bill.
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- May/29/24 2:12:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, experts from almost every single industry and sector across this country have now had the time to read through the Liberal-NDP budget spending spree, and they are nearly unified in their condemnation, especially over housing.
At the human resources committee this Monday, Conservatives directly asked industry experts how likely it is for the government to hit its housing targets. The response was, “Not a chance.” The Prime Minister's refusal to address the housing crisis has real-world consequences. One mother was recently quoted in the media, suggesting, “we're having to choose between paying a bill or getting food, and that can be really hard. It makes things really difficult.... And I just don't see any end in sight.”
There is something the Prime Minister can do. He can allow his caucus a free vote on our common-sense Conservative housing plan to build homes, not bureaucracy. After nine years, the only question left is whether the Liberal-NDP government prioritizes practical public policy over partisan politics.
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- May/23/24 2:12:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of this Liberal-NDP Prime Minister, more Canadians are hungry and homeless. The Parliamentary Budget Officer agrees. According to his report, the government is failing to meet its target of ending homelessness. In fact, it is getting worse, increasing by 88% between 2018 and 2022, with nearly 80% purely based on affordability reasons.
Since then, with the help of its NDP enablers and grocery store lobbyist connections, food inflation is at a 40-year high. This is a direct result of a government that has refused to take responsibility for its actions. The response is always the same on its failures: “It's not our fault, but don't worry, we will fix it later.”
The alarming stats on homelessness are outright insulting. These are not just numbers; these are people. After nearly a decade of having the Liberals in power, Canada is not recognizable. It looks more like it did in 1934, not like it should in 2024, nor like it will under a common-sense Conservative government.
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- May/21/24 2:50:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine summers, Canadians know the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. His carbon tax has hiked up the prices of everything. Canadians deserve relief, not taxes. Unlike the coalition of convenience, Conservatives have a solution: It is to cancel all federal tax on gas from now until Labour Day, keeping nearly $600 in the bank accounts of Ontarians to spend on basic needs and maybe even visit family.
Would it be too much to ask for the Prime Minister to lend a helping hand to Canadians and take the tax off their summer road trips?
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- May/2/24 2:20:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are way past their breaking point. It is so bad that the CEO of Food Banks Canada now says that food banks are becoming unsustainable. Canadian food bank usage is at an historic high, two million people per month. Food banks cannot meet this demand.
For people who have not been forced to the food banks and still utilize their local grocery store, let us consider some facts from a new report by Canada's food professor. Sixty per cent of Canadians are so desperate that they are eating expired or spoiled food. Twenty per cent of households with the lowest incomes use over 20% of their disposable income just to buy food.
After nine years of short-sighted policies of the Liberal-NDP government, families are sliding deeper and deeper into debt. This is not the Canada that I grew up in and this is not the Canada in which we want to raise our children. Common-sense Conservatives would rebuild our economy and bring home lower prices for all Canadians.
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- Apr/30/24 2:05:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the following quote is tragic. These words should never be spoken, yet far too often this sentiment is shared: “I’m not angry with my sweet boy, I’m not angry with those who caused him extra suffering. I’m saddened for those people because they don’t understand mental illness and I hope they become aware. I’m heartbroken and frustrated we don’t have the resources needed for people suffering mental [illness] and for those people watching loved ones suffer. I struggle daily with the fact that my best wasn’t good enough. I was unable to keep my son alive.”
Faced with the worst situation a mother could imagine, Louri decided to honour the memory of her son Mark by raising awareness of the terrible disease that took her son.
Mental illness, mental health and suicide affect all ages, all professions. These things hit home and touch all of us, often when we least expect it.
It is incumbent on each and every one of us elected to this place to give the tools necessary to our health care providers to combat mental illness in all its forms.
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- Apr/18/24 2:41:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, they are completely out of touch.
There is debt, chaos, hardship and stress hitting Canadians, and the policies of the Liberal-NDP government have directly contributed to the pain they are feeling.
The reality is that the family budget has shrunk, and family vacations are a thing of the past for many. It was $1.80 for gas this morning.
Will the Prime Minister cancel the carbon tax and take a permanent vacation so Canadians can afford a small summer road trip?
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- Apr/18/24 2:39:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, before the government came into power, road trips used to be a staple vacation for many Canadian families. However, gas prices in Ontario skyrocketed overnight, pushing $1.80. This is the highest price in two years.
The Liberal-NDP Prime Minister's carbon tax is now at 18¢ a litre for gas, and when he quadruples the carbon tax, it will shoot up even higher. After nine years, Canadians are convinced that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost.
Will the Prime Minister cancel the carbon tax on gas this summer so that Canadians can afford a family vacation?
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- Apr/9/24 2:17:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as Canadians know all too well, the Prime Minister has abandoned any pretense of fiscal stewardship, with his government racking up more national debt than all previous prime ministers combined. His record-shattering tax and spend agenda has driven up inflation and interest rates, increasing the cost of food, fuel and housing. It has gotten so bad that leading economists are warning that the record-high spending may delay interest rate cuts.
The common-sense Conservatives have a simple solution that could be implemented in next week's NDP-Liberal government budget: The government ought to find a dollar in savings for every dollar spent. This is a reasonable and simple lever they could use to get their inflation under control.
After eight years, Canadians are in debt, exhausted and looking for relief. Let us axe the tax, build the homes, cap the spending and fix the budget. Let us bring it home.
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- Mar/18/24 2:09:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are in a grim situation as the affordability crisis gets worse. The prices of groceries, rent, mortgages, heating, medication and everything have increased to unmanageable levels under eight years of this Liberal-NDP government.
At CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick, upwards of 50 military families are forced to use the local food bank. Instead of delivering relief to struggling single parents, families, students or seniors, the Liberals want to hike the carbon tax by 23% over the next six years.
The independent Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed that most families will pay more in tax than what they receive via rebate. This is not partisan noise; this is fact.
Canadians can take solace in knowing that, when the Liberal-NDP government is finally defeated, the common-sense Conservative government will axe the tax and bring fiscal stewardship home to Ottawa. Let us bring it home.
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- Feb/29/24 2:45:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the evidence speaks otherwise. After eight years, the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister is worth neither the cost nor the cover-up. He cannot be trusted to keep our people safe.
Yesterday the entire nation was shocked to learn that the government granted two People's Liberation Army assets full access to secret research in a top secret Canadian lab. This represents the biggest security breach since the Cold War, and it happened under the Prime Minister who famously said he admires China's basic dictatorship. How can Canadians trust this Prime Minister, who fails to take national security seriously?
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- Feb/27/24 2:10:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my dad loved this place. He loved the role. He loved the rush, the responsibility and the privilege to represent. He loved the history, the relationships, the potential and the people. I miss my dad. I am heartbroken and so sad that he is no longer here, but also grateful for the beautiful impact he had on me and countless others.
With an infectious optimism and innate ability to lift others up, Daryl Kramp raised the bar for everyone around him. He was an extraordinary man, a respected member of Parliament for 11 years, MPP, business owner, police officer, fastball pitcher, husband, papa and dad. He was an avid reader, writer, leader and patriot. He was an empathetic, generous man who valued character over pedigree. His unwavering drive for success was matched only by his kindness and humility. He was a true mentor.
My dad died February 8, leaving behind a legacy of love and strength. My amazing mom, my sisters and I were all blessed to be by his side. The bond that my dad and I shared is unbreakable, and although he has taken a step back, I know he remains an integral part of my journey, smiling and cheering me on every step of the way.
God bless.
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- Jan/30/24 2:44:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, those are more empty words while Canadians are spiralling out of control. It is not only home ownership that the Liberal-NDP government has managed to turn from a dream into a nightmare but also rent. In the last two years alone, rents have increased by 22%. That is nearly $400 a month. After eight years of its war on affordable housing and rent, the government is forcing Canadians out from the suburbs and into tent cities in parking lots.
When will the government stop the photo ops and actually fix the housing and affordability crisis that is hammering Canadians?
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- Jan/30/24 2:42:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for far too many Canadians, the dream of home ownership is dead, and it lays squarely on the Liberal-NDP government. After eight years, mortgages have doubled and a staggering three out of four families cannot afford a home.
Canadians know that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, a cost brought about by a truly impressive mix of arrogance and indifference to the suffering of many Canadians.
When will the government take a break from its Jamaican junkets and actually address the housing hell in Canada?
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