- Member of Parliament
- Member of the Board of Internal Economy
Deputy House leader of the government
- Liberal
- Kingston and the Islands
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $112,228.33
- Government Page
- Apr/18/24 10:09:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will summarize the next petition.
This petition is on behalf of individuals who work for National Defence, in particular, those in the Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services.
I have met with these petitioners prior to their assembling this petition, and they draw attention to some very important observations—
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- Mar/22/24 2:02:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I genuinely hope we can get answers on behalf of Canadians out of this, not political theatre, not dragging somebody there just for the purpose of showing a nightly clip that shows another individual being brought before the bar in such a manner. We are doing this so we can actually get the answers to the questions that were not provided in committee.
To the point of the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, it is to show Canadians that there is an obligation when people are summoned to committee to come and provide the truth, and if they do not, there is recourse to that.
I do not disagree with the manner in which the member has put it forward. I just want to make sure our objective here is going to be to get to the bottom of this issue and that we have the right tools in place to do it. I genuinely think this is the correct way. It is the way that Canadians would expect us to do it, and it would be the responsible way that would provide the proper due diligence.
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- Mar/22/24 1:56:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, we need to ensure that taxpayers get what they deserve and that they are being treated fairly in terms of money being spent on their behalf. Whenever an issue arises through government like we have seen with ArriveCAN, we need to get to the bottom of it on behalf of taxpayers.
To that end, I am definitely supportive of what the member for New Westminster—Burnaby has indicated. However, I do want to stress that the reason I put forward the amendment is my concern as to what we will actually get out of the process of having the individual here. That is why I stress that rather than having a debacle, and everybody perhaps not really knowing the procedure and how we are going to deal this because we have not done it in over 200 years, we lay it out clearly and that it is set up so we have a process in place to do that. That is what my amendment is about.
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- Dec/5/23 1:58:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, actually, could the member bring those to me? I feel so incredibly proud to represent a community and be able to tell constituents that I have stood up on their behalf so many times in the House of Commons. If the member would like to perhaps do a joint householder with me for our communities, to compare how many times I have stood up versus how many times she has stood up, it would be a great opportunity for us to celebrate how we are able to represent our constituents. I get a kick out of it every time when Conservatives stand up and say that so-and-so has spoken so many times—
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- Mar/29/23 4:06:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I present a petition on behalf of residents of my community. It states that whereas every Canadian has a right to a safe and affordable place to call home, whereas the Canadian government legislated the recognition of housing as a human right—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
Mr. Mark Gerretsen: It is the first time I am being heckled during a petition.
Whereas the Canadian government—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Mar/20/23 4:10:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member has indicated that the government has been trying to hide at every turn, which could not be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, we have had two ministers already come and answer questions by committee on this. We have told Canadians about a number of different measures we are going to take. The issue for me is inviting staff and requiring them to come to a committee, when at the end of the day, ministers are responsible, not staff. The member does not have to take this just from me; she should listen to her boss, the member from Carleton and the Leader of the Opposition. In 2010, he said:
...ministers answer questions on behalf of the government and not staff. We are not going to be changing 300 years of history all of a sudden at the behest of the coalition parties. We are not going to have the staff members appear in question period to answer on behalf of the government. We are going to do it the old-fashioned way, the way it has always been done right up until the last several months. We are going to keep ministers, the guys in charge, responsible for their duties.
That was the member for Carleton, the Leader of the Opposition, who said that not staff but ministers come to committees. Why is it okay now to do this, but it was not for the member for Carleton back then?
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- Feb/16/23 6:18:26 p.m.
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What is most important, Mr. Speaker, is for the government, with the agencies that we have, to act on behalf of Canadians to ensure that we are dealing with these matters in a way that is in line with the legislation and in a way that is in line with the mandates given to those authorities. I am sorry if we cannot satisfy the member's curiosity by providing him with the specifics that he wants, but it is very clear that we cannot discuss certain issues. However, he should know that if anybody he comes into contact with or anybody he is aware of is experiencing this, they need to report it and then that will be dealt with by the proper authority within their jurisdiction.
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Madam Speaker, I was just wrapping up. I am happy to take some questions now before question period.
However, I am pleased to support this legislation. I hope that all parties can work constructively together at committee to improve the legislation so that we can offer the best, on behalf of Canada, to other international companies seeking to invest here.
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- Jun/17/22 12:28:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, perhaps now would be a good time to remind members, including seasoned members, that during petitions we are supposed to be presenting on behalf of those who have petitioned the government and Parliament, rather than providing our own personal commentary, which is unfortunately what the member for Carleton strayed into.
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- Apr/26/22 11:21:48 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think that dental care was the natural transition from health care. I believe we are long overdue in terms of bringing forward dental care.
I recognize this member, in particular, is very passionate about dental care. He has brought it up before. What I would say to the House is that I believe this place is about coming together and putting forward ideas on behalf of Canadians, not on behalf of who gets to take the credit for those ideas.
Certainly, as members heard in my speech, I am very passionate about electric vehicles, electrifying our fleet and anything that can relate to getting us to net zero. This member is very passionate about dental care in particular. The member from the Conservatives who asked me a question is very passionate about his private member's bill that is now apparently in this budget.
I think we should all take great satisfaction in knowing that ideas can come forward from all different parties and that we can work together on behalf of Canadians, as opposed to on behalf of trying to get political wins.
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- Apr/26/22 10:47:23 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his intervention today.
At the beginning of his speech, the member talked about the desire of the NDP to work with the government in order to see some of its priorities advanced and moved forward. Indeed, I would suggest, in a minority Parliament, that is exactly what parties within this House should be doing. I think that NDP members have seized on the opportunity to advance some of their own objectives, and it is in line. They are looking out for the best interests of Canadians, as opposed to just strictly trying to score cheap political points by criticizing the government at every single opportunity. However, as he indicated in his speech, he will still hold the government to account when he and his party see fit.
I wonder if the member could comment as to whether or not he sees this opportunity that NDP members have put themselves in as an opportunity to genuinely advance things on behalf of Canadians.
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- Apr/5/22 3:34:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was very clear in my speech that my position on ballistic missile defence was my own position. Does the member wants me to commit the government on behalf of something? I am certainly not going to do that, nor am I in the position to do that, and he knows that. More importantly, to the rhetoric we just heard there, he said the Conservatives would actually do what they said they were going to do and that they walk the walk as well as talk the talk. They should explain how, at the same time as Stephen Harper went up to Vladimir Putin and told him to get out of Ukraine like a big tough guy, he was spending less than 1% of GDP on national defence. Does that sound like a government that is walking the talk and doing exactly what it says it is going to be doing?
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