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Mark Gerretsen

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

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Feb/1/24 10:09:47 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have four petitions to present today. The first one specifically calls to the attention that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 2(b), protects freedom of thought, belief and opinion. It further goes on to discuss how the Canadian Bill of Rights, section 1, protects the rights of individual life, liberty and personal security, and enjoyment of property. The undersigned members of my community are calling on the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice to protect Canadians' right to advocate without fear of reprisal for Palestinians to live in peace and security.

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Context: House Hansard - 220 - Sep/19/23

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Sep/19/23 9:53:50 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I really enjoyed the speech the minister just gave, and in particular, how he referenced that, unless we are of indigenous descent, we have all come here over the last few hundred years. As a matter of fact, I am a first-generation Canadian, as both of my parents came from Europe after World War II. I think people have always sought to come to Canada because they are looking for a place where democracy is supreme, where we have the opportunity to thrive and where we have the freedoms that come with being able to express ourselves. Therefore, when we have a potential attack on that democracy and those freedoms, it seriously calls into question how we can see ourselves as Canadians moving forward and what we can do in order to protect that. Could the minister comment on that?

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Context: House Hansard - 80 - Jun/2/22

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate), Lib.)

Jun/2/22 12:51:03 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-14

Madam Speaker, I guess it is in true form that Conservatives and the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan would somehow blame the government for the motion that we are debating today. Nonetheless, during his speech, I heard him speak at length about the freedoms of democracy, and he mentioned that democracy is in decline in Canada. I would refer him to an organization called Freedom House. Freedom House has been around for 80 years now. It was developed toward the latter half of World War II. It is an organization that enjoys bipartisan support in the United States and it rates freedoms throughout the world, specifically political and civil freedoms. Of the 210 countries that it rates, Canada comes in fifth. Canada gets a score of 40 out of 40 for political rights and 58 out of 60 for civil liberties. How is it possible that the member is able to suggest that the freedoms in Canada and the democracy that relies on those freedoms is somehow in jeopardy, given that this organization—

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Context: House Hansard - 69 - May/11/22

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate), Lib.)

May/11/22 10:27:00 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-11

Madam Speaker, I am sure that Wilfrid Laurier would be very glad to hear that of all countries in the world, Canada is ranked fifth in terms of freedom, as found by Freedom House, which is an organization that has been around since 1941. They have actually rated our political freedom as 40 out of 40, and they have rated our civil liberties freedoms as 58 out of 60. We are ranked the fifth freest country in the world. Perhaps the member would like to reflect on the fact that maybe there is a little bit of manufactured outrage going on right now with the Conservatives trying to find a wedge issue, trying to find something to try to drum up some fear, and trying to score cheap political points. Maybe that is what is going on here.

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Member of the Board of Internal Economy Deputy House leader of the government

Mark Gerretsen