- 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
- May/6/24 5:18:59 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I find it funny that the Conservatives were laughing when the member said that we are investing while they are spending. They laugh as though it is some kind of joke. Let us not forget that Tony Clement had money to spend on the G8 and used it to build gazebos in his backyard. Conservatives' memory is so short-term.
The reality is that the member is absolutely correct. We are investing in Canadians. We are investing in the future. We are asking those who make the most to pay a little bit more in order to keep those investments going. Would the member agree with me on that?
111 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Nov/28/23 3:37:03 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, toward the end of her intervention, the member commented on fossil fuel subsidies and government investment. I would like to remind the member that, over the time of the current Liberal government, we have seen those go down significantly. They are on track to be completely removed, I believe it is by the end of this year or next year.
The problem is that there are still certain investments that have to occur in the oil and gas sector, such as cleaning up orphaned oil wells, for example. Unfortunately, the programs were not in place 30 or 40 years, or more, ago, when these wells were created, to ensure that there was a fund to deal with them afterwards. We cannot just totally turn our back on that now. I see, every once in a while, the conflation of government investment with doing the right thing, in my opinion, which is to deal with the orphaned wells, because we allowed people to get away with leaving them like that, but it is a reality of the situation. In terms of investing and providing fossil fuel subsidies that direct investments to those companies, that is certainly almost completely eliminated at this point, and it will be within the next year or so.
213 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/30/23 4:27:12 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I find it very interesting that the individual who moved this motion, the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka, has seen a significant number of investments in his riding with regard to affordable housing over the years. I will read the numbers to the House, as I think it is important.
In the riding of Parry Sound—Muskoka, the national housing co-investment fund helped provide 99 units for a total of $23.3 million. For the on-reserve shelter enhancement program, there were 17 units for $3.7 million. For the rapid housing initiative, there was $2.6 million for seven units. For the SIF and legacy programs, there was $6.7 million to assist with 321 units.
These are just five projects that have been started in the riding of Parry Sound—Muskoka through this program, yet he is now critical of it, and they have just put forward an amendment to basically wipe the entire report clean of any further investments. This program, which he voted against, has seen significant investments in his riding.
I wonder if the parliamentary secretary has an explanation as to why the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka would be so against a program that has delivered a lot to his riding.
214 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I will start where the last comment left off. I should remind the hon. member for Northumberland—Peterborough South that it was the Harper government that saw 40,000 auto sector jobs leave this country over a 10-year period. That was 40,000 people and their families who had to make very difficult decisions about what to do next.
Since then, the government has been working with other partners throughout the world to attract investment here, and now we have attracted new investments to this country. This is what I will get to in why this legislation is so important, but in the process of attracting investment, we are now seeing, in a riding neighbouring both his and mine, a brand new manufacturing facility for raw minerals, to make electric vehicle batteries. It will produce enough materials to make 800,000 cars a year. There will be a piece of my riding, his riding and, indeed, Hastings—Lennox and Addington and a couple of other neighbouring Conservative ridings in every vehicle in North America in the future. This is great not just for our ridings but also for our country.
Therefore, I took great exception when the member said in his speech earlier that jobs are leaving. On the contrary. Despite the fact that some other members of the House think they are all going to catch on fire, with respect to manufacturing specifically and the vehicles of the future, we are going to see, in the future, that Canada is a leader in those manufacturing jobs. That is why bills like this are so important, because what we are talking about is protecting the interests of Canadians at the forefront. The bill is about modernizing the legislation, to give the minister and those responsible the tools they need to be always watching out for the best interests of Canadians.
This is another one of those bills where I would think it would go without saying that all members of the House would support it, and the indication I am starting to get is that they will. I am lost, because I was actually supposed to speak to this much earlier in the day but did not get the opportunity because, instead of talking about very important things like this, once again we saw the same old Conservative delay tactic of introducing a concurrence motion on a report. Again, these reports from committees come in abundance to this place. Typically, they are just tabled and dealt with, but Conservative members thought that this would be a great way to burn three hours of government time today. I am forced to speak to this later, and they know what they are doing; they are basically pushing everything down the line. The next time my good friends from the Bloc or the NDP stand up and ask why we need a time allocation motion, this is why; it is because of what is happening in the House today.
The legislation before us is so critically important in order for us to be able to protect intellectual property, investments and, quite frankly, Canadians. What the bill would do, specifically, is authorize the Minister of Industry, after consultation with the Minister of Public Safety, to impose interim conditions on investments in order to prevent potential national security injury from taking place during the review. It would also authorize the Minister of Industry, where they consider that the investment could be injurious to national security, to make an order for further review of the investments under the national security provisions of the act.
I think that why this legislation is so important now is that we are getting to a point where investments are flowing freely in and out of countries and where this government has brought in more trade agreements than every other government in the past, in terms of working and trading with other nations. There was a time, many decades ago, when, believe it or not, Liberals were not in favour of trade. Where have we gotten to now? We have gotten to the point where it is now Conservatives who are questioning trade.
Before our eyes, we are seeing exactly what is going on in the United States of America. Republicans who are supposed to be pro-economy and pro-trade have now turned into isolationists. I hear Conservatives heckling me, but it was just yesterday or the day before that the member for Cumberland—Colchester asked me a question and referred to the trade agreement with Ukraine as woke legislation and questioned whether or not Canada was taking advantage of Ukraine.
All the Conservatives who are currently heckling me are going to have to explain to me why a party that is in favour of trade so much would start questioning a basic trade relationship with a country that we see as an ally, a country that we are supporting during a war. They are going to have to explain that to me, because I can say with a great degree of confidence that we will not hear that MAGA terminology used on this side of the House.
I know we will not hear it from my Bloc colleagues and I know we will not hear from my NDP colleagues, but now we are getting a new faction of the Conservative Party that is openly questioning why we are supporting Ukraine and why we would even think about trading with Ukraine. That is where we have gotten to in this country. That is where we are now. This is not the Brian Mulroney Conservative Party. This is the new MAGA of the north. That is what we are looking at across the way.
I am not saying all Conservatives are like that. They are? Some of them are nodding. I could be wrong, but they come into this House and start making wild claims, like electric car batteries spontaneously burst into fire, like we heard a couple of days ago. The member tried to substantiate that claim on a number of points of order, as she is trying to do now.
1027 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/24/23 2:53:27 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, Canada is already well on its way to becoming a global leader in the production of electric vehicles and EV battery manufacturing. Unfortunately, the Conservative Party has its eyes closed to this. Just last week, the Conservative member for Sarnia—Lambton repeated the absurd myth in this House that EVs routinely catch on fire and do not work in the winter. Meanwhile, in eastern Ontario, we recently saw one of North America's largest investments in EV battery manufacturing.
Can the minister tell us why the government sees these investments as being so important for Canada?
99 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/1/23 12:23:51 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, land claims are under provincial jurisdiction, and Canada continues to work with its provincial counterparts to further Canada's national interests in this area.
Canada welcomes foreign investment as a means to stimulate economic growth, create jobs and increase innovation, competitiveness and long-term prosperity. However, the government also ensures that significant foreign investments by non-Canadians encourage economic growth and employment opportunities in Canada and that all foreign investments are consistent with Canada's national security.
Foreign direct investment supports Canada's trades, skills and innovation ecosystems by expanding trade, advancing environmental co-operation, linking firms to global value chains, increasing access to global markets and attracting talent. In 2020, foreign-controlled multinationals contributed directly to Canada's long-term prosperity by being responsible for 20% of the jobs in Canada's corporate sector, 25% of the capital investment in 2019, 59% of the merchandise exports and 24% of global GDP of the corporate sector.
Foreign direct investment is critical to the success of Canadian mining. It provides access to capital for natural resource projects and infrastructure; helps diffuse technology, knowledge and intellectual property; increases innovation through competition; and opens global value chains to domestic firms. Canada's abundance of natural resources, clean energy, global market access, as well as its commitment to emission-reducing technology, make it a prime investment location for forward-thinking companies in the minerals and metal sector.
The mining industry is an important employer of indigenous peoples, providing jobs to over 16,500 individuals. Indigenous people account for 12% of our mining labour force, among the highest representation by industry. Canada is committed to advancing opportunities for meaningful engagement on potential projects at the earliest possible stage, in a culturally aware manner, among industry, indigenous peoples, and federal, provincial and territorial governments.
One of the priority themes under Canada's critical minerals strategy, launched in December 2022, is advancing reconciliation with indigenous peoples. Another priority under the strategy is enhancing global security in partnership with allies. This includes efforts to strengthen the global supply chain resiliency, recognize that critical minerals are a strategic asset and contribute to Canada's prosperity and national security.
When it comes to China, Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy clearly outlines the government's understanding of China as an increasingly destructive global power. We are not blind to China's pattern of using large-scale investments to establish its presence globally and tip the scales in its favour, creating dependencies in supply chains. This government has made it clear that Canada will always unapologetically defend our national interests. Canada's interests come first, and this applies to foreign direct investments as well.
Canada has a robust foreign investments review process under the Investment Canada Act. It requires prior approval of significant foreign investment for likely economic net benefit. More importantly, it also calls for a multistep review of all investments by non-Canadians that could be injurious to Canada's national security. Certainly, types of investments, such as those in critical minerals, receive special scrutiny in accordance with the current policy.
On October 28, 2022, the Government of Canada issued a policy to provide additional clarity regarding the application of the ICA to investments by foreign state-owned enterprises and private investors assessed as being closely tied to, or subject to influence from, foreign governments.
557 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I listen to my colleague's discussion on Bill C-34, and I cannot help but think of some of the incredible investments we have seen just recently in a neighbouring area to where our ridings are. In particular, in Hastings—Lennox and Addington, I think of the incredible work the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry did in attracting Umicore, a multi-billion dollar operation to build electric vehicle batteries right in a neighbouring riding to both of ours.
Would he not agree that the types of investments we can see through the modernization of this act would continue to benefit not just our ridings but Canada as a whole?
114 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
I apologize, Madam Speaker. It is not my first day. I should not have let that happen. I apologize to the interpretation staff, through you.
Getting back to what I was saying, in order to maintain that autonomy which we must have as a country, we need to make sure that the proper investments are in place to do that. The member indicated there would need to be a major investment. My own personal perspective is that we should spare no expense to ensure that security is absolutely robust.
Will there be penetrations or will there be times when it might be challenging to maintain that? Yes, but we learn from those. With regard to his example from 2011, I believe we learned from that and we made our systems even better as a result.
135 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/31/22 4:45:31 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, there is a lot to unpack in the question.
However, specific to the member's comments about CPP, it is a program that people are investing in for the long term. In theory, the people who are investing in it today will not be making withdrawals from it for several years, depending on how far they are from retirement, and we need to make sure that the investments continue to remain up so that when those individuals look to retire 20, 30, 40 years from now or whatever it might be, they have an opportunity to have economic security when they retire.
The member brought up a couple of other points that escape me right now, but perhaps one of his colleagues will ask them and I will be able to answer them then.
136 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
