Laila Goodridge
Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, Alberta · Conservative · Canada
“Madam Speaker, we are seeing here a heavy-handed Liberal government that has decided that, because it is unable to manage the time of the House and because it is unable to bring forward legislation in a timely manner, it is going to use the hammer to curtail debate.”
“They measure success by whether they can afford a home. They measure success by whether their children have opportunities. They measure success by whether their communities can grow and prosper. For too many Canadians, the answer today is no. The consequences of inaction are profound. Canadians are tired of excuses.”
“The answer, I think, was nine, which is not speeds that had never before been seen. The Liberals promised to build 500,000 homes annually, yet according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation projections, housing starts could actually fall to approximately 212,000 units by 2028. That is not just a small shortfall.”
“That is not a space where Canadians want to be, but this is where we are careening down, because of the Liberals' mismanagement of the economy for the last decade. The decisions the Liberals make, and the decisions we make here in Parliament, have real-life impact on the lives of Canadians.”
“However, never was this more true than in the last decade when we had the Liberal government in place, which told people in my community that it would transition their jobs away, and that they should not actually be in that kind of industry.”
“Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, with whom I have the honour of serving on the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, as well as on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. The facts are crystal clear.”
The complete record
Every one of 195 lines we hold for Laila Goodridge, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 4.
“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and to speak to Bill C-12 . The bill is effectively the second attempt of the government at getting serious when it comes to public safety and dealing with our borders and with drugs. It is frustrating, because Bill C-2 was a giant omnibus bill that the government put forward. The Liberals effectively said, “Don't worry. Just trust us. It's fine”, within days of the bill's coming out, and it was the second piece of legislation the government put forward. It was one of its showcase pieces in the last session. However, civil liberty groups and Canadians came out from coast to coast to coast talking about the massive overreach of Bill C-2. Bill C-12 is effectively part of the Liberals' listening.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is typical that the Liberals blame everyone but themselves. They committed to building 250,000 new child care spaces in five years. Three years in, there are fewer than half. Worse yet, they do not know how many spaces are going unused and do not know how much unmet demand exists, all while they are using funky, inconsistent math. Provinces are warning that the $10 system could collapse when federal funding ends, with inflation and staffing shortages piling up. How can the Prime Minister justify blowing through billions of dollars with families waiting on waiting lists?”
“Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Auditor General delivered a scathing report on the state of child care. Despite the Liberal government's spending billions of dollars on its child care plan, the shortage of available child care has gotten worse over the last five years. StatsCan showed that the proportion of parents who use child care and reported difficulty finding it rose from 36% in 2020 to nearly 50% in 2025. Only Liberals could spend more and get less. Will the Prime Minister admit that his child care plan is yet another broken Liberal promise?”
“I also want to give a special shout-out to my friend Pam Cholak and tell her to keep on fighting. She makes the world a better place. I would say to all the ladies out there who are putting off getting a mammogram that they should talk to their doctor today. I would tell anyone out there in a battle with breast cancer to keep fighting. We are all cheering for them. Not today, cancer.”
“Mr. Speaker, breast cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian women. One in eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime, which impacts more than just the patients. It also impacts their families, friends and communities. We know early detection and treatment saves lives. Leading experts, including the Canadian Cancer Society, Dense Breasts Canada, Breast Cancer Canada and the Canadian Association of Radiologists, are all calling on the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care to revise its guidelines to start breast cancer screening at age 40 and to extend it past age 75. I thank all the brave women who are publicly sharing their journeys with breast cancer. They are not only raising awareness but also helping tackle the stigma associated with women’s health.”
“I fail to understand how members from the Liberal benches could somehow think that Ottawa feeding families is better than a family being able to put food on their own table.”
“Mr. Speaker, I know that members on the opposite side of the House think that if they yell and are really super angry about a bunch of things, maybe we will get intimidated or stop sharing facts. The facts are that food insecurity is up, and 25% of families are struggling. They do not know where their next meal is coming from. Food insecurity has gone up 128% in the last 10 years the Liberals have been in power. This means that families are struggling to put food on the table, and the solution from the government is to build more bureaucracy rather than bring down food prices so that families could have the autonomy of being able to put healthy, nutritious food on their family table.”
“Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest struggles, though, is that the government fails to recognize that when it doubles the deficit, it increases inflation, and that when it increases inflation, it creates issues where families cannot afford to make choices. The Liberals have created band-aid solutions like the school food program because parents cannot afford to feed their own families. Absolutely, children need to have healthy, nutritious food in order to learn; I do not think anyone in the entire chamber would argue for anything different. However, what the Liberals are doing is impoverishing families and forcing them to rely on big government. They fail to accept that deficits are causing the problem. Will the Liberals admit that their deficits are the problem and fix it?”
“Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, while I appreciate the member opposite, he spends a lot of time in the chamber and speaks a lot. He also knows the rules quite well, or should. He is not allowed to point out whether someone is in the House.”
“Madam Speaker, it is hard to know where to begin with the speech that was just delivered by the member from the Green Party, who took her entire time to just spread a lot of misinformation and untruths about Canada's driving industry. Canada has an abundant series of natural resources. We have an opportunity right now where we can choose either to continue developing our natural resources or to leave them in the ground. We know her opinion is that she wants to leave them in the ground. The challenge is that Canada is importing half a billion barrels of oil every day. The choice is this: Do we want Canadian oil or do we want dirty dictator oil? What would the member prefer?”
“Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her amazing speech and for her support of Bay du Nord, which is important to Newfoundland. Many people I grew up with have moved back home to Newfoundland as a direct result of the investment they have seen. However, they are concerned that it is going to be a one-and-done project. If this emissions cap stays in place, it tells investors: “Don't worry, we are closed. We don't want any more.” However, we are currently importing 500 million barrels of oil, half a billion barrel, into this country every single day. We cannot get our oil from the east coast to the west coast and from the west coast to the east coast because we do not have these things called “pipelines” that go from those two places. I was wondering if the member could speak to what she sees in her riding of Newfoundland.”
“Mr. Speaker, one of the things the member from Newfoundland so rightfully pointed out is that, for the last 10 years, the government in Ottawa has been telling the energy industry that it should not exist, that it should transition away to something else and that the Liberals were ashamed of it. Now, the Liberals are saying they are different, but they have not really done anything different. They have not gotten rid of the anti-energy laws. All they have done is created a new framework so they can bypass their own bad policies—”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Lakeland, just to the south of my riding, gave a very passionate speech defending people who work in the energy industry. As she very rightly pointed out, a cap on emissions is a cap on production, which will hurt with respect to creating jobs Could the member explain why there are so many concerns being raised by people in our ridings and throughout Canada about the constant attack from the Liberals? While Liberals appear as though they might possibly change their opinions, with what they are saying with words, we have seen no actual action. I am just wondering whether she could give her feelings on that.”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague's speech was enlightened. This weekend, I had the opportunity to go out to Fort McMurray 468 First Nation in my riding of Fort McMurray—Cold Lake. I got to see the fall fair. Part of the reason this large fall fair could be put on was the natural resource revenue the nation has because they have been partners in prosperity for generations in my region. It sounds like it is very similar to what the member has experienced in Kitimat Village. Can the member explain why, specifically, caps on emissions and caps on production are so detrimental to indigenous communities in their growth?”
“Mr. Speaker, Canada has the gift of abundant natural resources, yet for the last 10 years we have seen a government here in Ottawa telling this industry that it does not matter and that its jobs should not exist. While it has now started to change some of its tune and is admitting that government policies have caused this change, the reality is that we do not have proponents for pipelines because those laws still exist. What solutions does the hon. member have for Canadians who are struggling right now? They are struggling to put food on their tables. They are struggling to find jobs in these industries because of policies by the Liberals.”
“Mr. Speaker, families cannot eat the word salad served up by the minister, unfortunately. Food inflation is rising and one in four families is currently struggling to put food on the table. Meanwhile, Liberal deficits are fuelling inflation, driving prices even higher. Liberals are more interested in feeding bureaucracies in Ottawa than in tackling the serious problems facing Canadian families that are struggling to put nutritious food on the table and in their kids' lunch boxes. Food banks and school lunch programs are band-aids. We need real solutions to the real root cause of the problem: rising food costs. Will the minister cut the deficit so food—”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said Canadians would judge him on the cost at the grocery store. He is failing. Grocery prices are 70% above their own targets. Since the Liberals took office, food inflation has skyrocketed by 40%. It is another broken Liberal promise. Families are struggling to keep up. I do not know if the ministers shop for groceries themselves, so I will put this simply: Beef is up 33%, canned soup is up 26% and potatoes are up 16%. Will the Prime Minister admit that doubling the deficit will make food inflation worse?”
“Mr. Speaker, does my colleague have concerns about how Bill C-3 would create a bit of a two-tiered system when it comes to immigration, particularly with what is being proposed by the Liberals in that there would be no criminal record checks required for the in-perpetuity chain immigration?”
“Mr. Speaker, the member raised many important points, particularly around the changing work in our constituency offices. I know that many offices face issues similar to what he has raised where a vast majority of our work is doing immigration caseload. I was wondering if he could get into a little more detail on some of what he is seeing in his riding.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is a broken record of broken promises. He said that we should judge him by the price at the grocery store and that he is the man with a plan. He is failing. Since the start of this year, beef is up 34%, oranges are up 26%, apples are up 18% and baby formula is up 9%. This is making it harder for families trying to put nutritious food on the table. Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and table a budget that actually cuts taxes and reverses his inflationary policies?”
“Mr. Speaker, we know the Prime Minister does not buy his own groceries, but most families do, and what they are seeing at the grocery store is ever-increasing food prices. According to Canada's fiscal watchdog, the Liberals' newest broken promise is on their tax cut, with the average Canadian saving only $90 this year, well below the $825 promised. This is not even enough for a week's groceries. Did the Prime Minister mislead Canadians during the election? Is he misleading them now, or both?”
“Madam Speaker, as I listened to my colleague's speech, I noted that he began by wishing everyone a happy Saint‑Jean‑Baptiste Day. I want to point out that this holiday is celebrated by French Canadians across the country. I, too, want to wish a happy Saint‑Jean‑Baptiste Day to my Franco-Albertan constituents, since people in Quebec are not the only ones who celebrate this day. That being said, I have a question for my colleague: Why does he think that the Liberals are so afraid of being transparent and accountable to Parliament?”
“Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Cambridge for her well-thought-out and researched speech. One thing I found really interesting that the member brought up was innovation in the Canadian context. I know she is from an Ontario riding. I am wondering if she could further explain some of the innovation she has seen and why she thinks it is important to give consumers a choice as they inquire about this space, rather than removing any possibility of choice, which is what has been suggested by the Liberals. It leads Canadians to have a harder time when they are making decisions for their families when they have a limited budget.”
“Mr. Speaker, I, like the member, represent a rural riding, and people in my riding tell me on a regular basis that they want to have the choice when it comes to which vehicle they drive. Oftentimes, they pick vehicles based on safety and what is going to be best if they were to encounter a moose or something else that perhaps some of the people in Toronto are not necessarily familiar with seeing on a regular basis. I am wondering if the member can speak to some of what he hears in Regina—Qu'Appelle and if it is similar to what I hear in Fort McMurray—Cold Lake.”
“We need to scrap anti-energy Bill C-69 , the shipping ban, the energy cap and the industrial carbon tax to unlock our natural resources. We have the people. We have the know-how. We have the energy. What we need is for the Liberal government to get out of the way and let Canada flourish.”
“Mr. Speaker, despite having the gift of abundant natural resources, Canada is not meeting its potential. Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world, yet due to the lost Liberal decade and its anti-energy policies, we import nearly half a million barrels of oil a day. Liberals have preferred to support dirty dictator oil instead of our responsible Canadian energy. To many Canadians, Alberta represented a beacon of hope and prosperity, and an opportunity for a fresh start, but over the last decade, our economy has had the worst economic growth in the G7, and the hope is quickly fading. Canada cannot wait. We need Canadian energy projects, mines, pipelines, LNG, nuclear and so much more. Canada needs breakthroughs.”
“Madam Speaker, as a proud Franco-Albertan, I was very interested in what my colleague said about the vitality of the French language in northern Ontario. In Canada, there are many rural francophone communities that are really suffering as a result of the carbon tax. It has not been eliminated as the Liberals would have us believe; rather, it has simply been reset to zero. Could my colleague tell us about how it is affecting communities in his riding?”
“Mr. Chair, “From everything I've read about the Teck Frontier project, I don't think it should go ahead” were the words of the minister back in 2020 when she did think it was her place to pick a project. This mine would have created 7,000 construction jobs and 2,500 operational jobs. Is climate change more important than Alberta's economy?”
“I remember back to my time with the Fort McMurray fire, or even just last summer, when I could not make a flight to get out of Fort McMurray because the highway had to be shut down to allow people to evacuate. We get these people. We are here for them and we are going to work diligently to make sure they have what they need. I am thankful for this opportunity to speak. I wish a great night to everyone, and I thank Allan.”
“He did it with grace and dignity, looking out for seniors and elders in a way that was truly remarkable. Lessons that Allan and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo deployed last summer are things I would like to see the federal government doing. There is so much we can do to make sure people understand that we are here for them. We can go beyond the blame game, which is not important right now. What is important right now is that people have a safe place to stay, have food and know that someone loves and cares for them. If someone is not in their home right now, if someone is struggling because they do not know if they are going to have a home to go back to, understand that there are politicians in this place who understand what they are going through.”
“That is when communities really struggle with this. I am going to take this opportunity, because this is one of the first opportunities I have had to give a speech in this chamber in this 45th Parliament. I want to give a shout-out to possibly one of the only people who is listening at home here tonight, at nearly midnight. He is a good friend of mine, a local councillor in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, otherwise known as Fort McMurray. He is my good friend, Allan Grandison. Allan is always there in my corner. He has always been there, supporting me and cheering me on, and he is a very brave individual. (2355) Allan has had to navigate, in his time on council, many evacuations, which included us welcoming evacuees from the Northwest Territories last summer.”
“We heard a bit earlier that the Species at Risk Act prevents firebreaks from being built in certain places and communities, so it puts northern and isolated communities at risk, because we cannot do those firebreaks. Furthermore, the Migratory Birds Convention Act is another federal act that comes up regularly that is an impediment to doing adequate firebreaks and fire-smarting around communities, because people have to wait until after all the birds have nested and all the eggs are gone. Those are challenges. In Fort McMurray, it was unseasonably warm. We could see that there were risks. We could see that there were going to be problems. The challenge was that we could not do anything until there was a local state of emergency. Until that point in time, we could not do that preparation that we knew was important. That is the challenge.”
“My colleague highlighted that fire-smarting is incredibly important, but it goes a lot further than just fire-smarting the yard and choosing the right trees, because it can go down to asking, are people fire-smarting their home? Are they putting non-combustible materials on the outside of their house? What does that look like in terms of the non-combustible materials on their roof? Have they moved debris and combustible materials away from their home? What have they done to perhaps install sprinkler systems that can be deployed remotely? These are all conversation spaces, and I really appreciate the member for Calgary Confederation for talking about fire-smarting, because it has such an important role here. However, there is so much more than just cosmetic fire-smarting.”
“When we experienced the fire in Fort McMurray, there were people from coast to coast to coast coming together to support Fort McMurray. That was spectacular and wonderful, but what happens after the fire? We are now here in an emergency debate. This is the time to be having these conversations about a hotel or lack thereof in Winnipeg. These conversations pinpoint crisis challenges to make sure that we are addressing those issues, that everything that could be done by the federal government is being done, and that perhaps best practices are being shared. One of the things that I want to get on the record here is the concept of having conversations about what long-term mitigation looks like. Fire-smarting is a lot more than just getting rid of dead leaves.”
“This is the challenge. We are dealing with multiple fires happening in multiple communities, so to all of those people who are fighting the fires, I say a sincere “thank you”. That goes especially to a lot of the local politicians. When politicians are elected, they put their name on a ballot, but they do not necessarily anticipate that they are going to be dealing with a large evacuation. This is something that many of our local councillors have had to do. They have had to make choices in places that they did not think they would be making those choices. I sincerely thank those politicians; the grace and leadership they have been able to demonstrate is remarkable for their communities. When we have fires like these, there is a lot of outpouring of support from right across the country.”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise and add my voice to this important emergency debate. I want to start by thanking all of the firefighters, the first responders and the agencies, organizations and people who have opened up their hearts and homes to people fleeing the fires, as well as all those who are helping preserve communities right across western Canada. It is remarkable work that these people are doing. Earlier today, I had the opportunity to talk about some of the Alberta wildland firefighters who ended up trapped in the community of Chipewyan Lake, which is one of the northwestern chunks of my riding, in a very isolated area. They had lost radio communication, but luckily they were able to re-establish access into the community and those firefighters were able to get safely out of the community.”
“This is not about trying to get political wins, but there she is yet again, having a political win rather than getting to the bottom of this.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is really hard to sit here, as the member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, as the member from the Green Party decides to disparage my community and put out inconvenient untruths. It is the reality that during the Fort McMurray fire, when people were giving outpourings of support, she blamed it on climate change rather than having compassion. Many of her speeches tonight have been very pointed and not trauma-informed. Many of these people who are fleeing fires are literally escaping, sometimes, with the clothes on their back. This is not something to be politicized. We can have those conversations later. Right now, we are in an emergency debate to talk about what we can do right now to help these people.”
“What is his government going to do to build resiliency into communities so they do not have to evacuate and have fire protections in place?”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for his speech. As a fellow Albertan, it is sometimes wonderful to hear some of those thoughts, processes and pieces. He highlighted the Fort McMurray fire, how he came into the office of the NDP premier of Alberta shortly thereafter and that many failings happened, in large part because there was not as much communication happening among the different levels of government. Coordination was missed. There were 80,000 people being evacuated. I think sometimes it is really easy to look at things in isolation and play on those pieces. Since that time, we have learned a lot of things. One thing that is really frustrating to me as someone who has experienced wildfires since she was a kid, as I have lived in Fort McMurray my entire life, is that these are not new, but we are not building resiliency.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is wonderful to have another speech delivered by a member from a Toronto area riding who is not necessarily impacted by these fires. While I appreciate her sharing the department-written speech that was prepared for her, which had some good information, she talked about a lot of things the government has committed to do but has not actually done. We have heard promise after promise, since 2021, yet we have not seen the results on the ground. We see communities that are being left to falter. My question for the member opposite is this: When are we going to see action and not just empty promises?”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to welcome the member opposite to the chamber, and I appreciate the information she shared. It is an important time to recognize some of these facts. While we are here in an emergency debate discussing fires in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, there are fires burning in other provinces, including in Alberta. Earlier this week, a crew of firefighters in Chipewyan Lake actually lost radio contact and had to shelter in place before access was eventually restored to the community, allowing those firefighters to safely evacuate. It is important to make sure we are sharing some of this information, so I would ask if the member has any further information to share as to how people can gain access if they have been evacuated or are at threat of being evacuated.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is truly wonderful to see an Albertan in the Speaker's chair. As the member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, I am absolutely, unfortunately, quite familiar with the devastation of forest fires and what an impact they have on communities. In his speech, the member touched on the fact that many members in Manitoba have been able to open up their hearts and their homes to the evacuees. I was just wondering whether he could talk a little more about some of the supports that are available, because people who are evacuating from fire perhaps are tuning in tonight to listen here—”
“Mr. Speaker, fentanyl is 100 times more potent than heroin, and as little as two milligrams can kill a person. Through the lost Liberal decade, Canada has become a fentanyl manufacturing hub, with Breaking Bad -style superlabs popping up across the country. Mass fentanyl production is mass murder, but Liberal laws let the monsters who traffic the deadly drugs walk free. The Conservatives are proposing mandatory life sentences to those involved with the trafficking, production and distribution of more than 40 milligrams of fentanyl. Will the Prime Minister take real action and give life sentences to the drug kingpins committing mass murder?”
“Mr. Speaker, failed liberal drug policies flooding the streets with dangerous drugs and causing crime and chaos in our streets are making the addiction crisis worse. Every day, 22 Canadians die from drug overdose. During the lost Liberal decade, we have seen more people die from addiction than we lost in the Second World War. We have heard heartbreaking stories of young people becoming addicted to drugs labelled as safe, only to later lose their life to addiction. The Conservatives want to see investment in treatment and recovery. I have a simple question: Will the Prime Minister reverse course and put an end to the deadly, unsafe supply program today?”