Karim Bardeesy
Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park, Ontario · Liberal · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the continuing work of the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, the leader of the Green Party, on issues related to contaminants and leakage. I also want to thank her for the interventions regarding the work of the late Dr.”
“Mr. Speaker, treaty rights are sacrosanct to this government, as are the regimes that we have in place, including the regimes for non-compliance and the environmental damages penalties that we have under the legislation. Incidents such as the recent spill at Cold Lake are taken very seriously.”
“That work continues, with Environment and Climate Change Canada and indigenous groups working together through that working group to develop long-term, science-based solutions that will form recommendations to the minister . I think the hon.”
“It is a core responsibility of the current government, and, I would say, of government, both now and for future generations. We need to address risks associated with tailings management in a way that gives sustained attention and brings solutions grounded in sound science.”
“Mr. Speaker, we know that small businesses do well when consumer spending is up, and that is why we have made investments like the Canada groceries and essentials benefit. Wages are increasing faster than inflation, and we have cut taxes through measures like the superproductivity deduction to make it easier for businesses to invest.”
“I would add that, with some of the investments we have been making in science and research and some of the advances in technology, we hope this work can continue to accelerate and to inform policy-makers, government and hon. members in an even more timely fashion.”
The complete record
Every one of 513 lines we hold for Karim Bardeesy, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 11.
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's question, and I realize this is also a fuller response to my colleague, the member for Mirabel . I believe the source of this is an attempt to find opportunity. We have some good collaboration on some aspects of some pieces of legislation with the other side. We have had good conversation in the past about Bill C-5 . We have had conversations about Bill C-19 , the Canada groceries and essentials benefit act. However, the other side needs to find that thing to provide a wedge, to say, “We are with you, and they are against you. They are not with you.” I believe and I am concerned that the party on the other side is saying, “The Liberal Party of Canada is against you as a religious person. It is against religious organizations and religious freedom.” I just stand firmly opposed on that.”
“Mr. Speaker, of course, I have received emails and correspondence. I have had, and continue to have, conversations with people who oppose this bill. As my colleague said, these people have not had the opportunity to read the bill for themselves, and they have received misinformation and disinformation. They send me emails about things that are not in the bill. When I calmly explain what the bill does and does not do, they are reassured.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am speaking in my capacity here as an MP representing my constituents. The leaders I have been dealing with in my riding have not raised this as a concern that they feel needs an urgent response. The urgent response that they are raising is the fear and the potential fear that they know is being faced by them and their members and congregants. This piece of legislation, in a very targeted way, would do the job to respond.”
“It is time to pass the bill, to do our job as legislators, to be in receipt of the work of the committee and to bring the bill forward. It is a targeted piece of legislation that responds to the real needs and real concerns of our community, especially those who are vulnerable to vilification, hatred and detestation. We know who some of those groups are. They are asking us to act. My constituents are saying that we need more protection from hate, and we need to protect our right to free expression. The bill would do that.”
“It is important to be aware of the myths that are being propagated versus the very targeted interventions that we are doing here in response to a very evident rise in hate crime. I wish we did not need this legislation, but it is an extraordinary set of events that are coming together, witnessed as recently as this weekend in the greater Toronto area, where we need to assert, not just as a legislature and not just as lawmakers, but as a House collectively, that we stand against this kind of vilification and detestation and that, yes, reasonable, targeted amendments to the Criminal Code are necessary to do so. We have a programming motion that we are debating right now. The bill has seen over 30 hours of debate and over 30 witnesses at committee.”
“In recent weeks, I have had the chance to visit or be in conversation with leaders from the Jami mosque in Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park, Toronto's oldest mosque, along with the Albanian mosque on Annette Street and the Hamza mosque in Parkdale. I have also visited with and been in touch with the leadership of the Junction Shul on Maria Street, which I know has a special connection to the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith . I have been in conversation with faith leaders. (1715) I have not heard from them the kind of rhetoric that I hear from the other side. I do not hear any fear from them about their ability or opportunities to participate in the kinds of religious service and in the kinds of free speech that they continue to enjoy.”
“We have good debates in the House about that. It is those symbols, displayed in those particular contexts, that then would rise to the level of this bill, whereby we would seek to criminalize the display of those symbols in those contexts. The charter rights would continue to be protected in all respects, but the display of these hate symbols, unfortunately, is something we have seen more of and, I think, requires this level of extraordinary intervention. I have just cited some of the statistics about the rise in hate crimes. We know that synagogues in the greater Toronto area in particular are being targeted.”
“Peaceful protest would continue to be protected by this legislation. On the other hand, I have heard on the other side of the House that a variety of forms of expression would be prohibited by this legislation. There is a very specific statement about hate speech in a recent Supreme Court decision, which we are merely bringing into legislation, around vilification and detestation. This is not about all those other forms of expression. This is very specifically about vilification and detestation. We have added the incorporation of hate symbols from organizations that are on the list of terrorist organizations, which is a list of organizations that I believe is managed with great care. When an organization is added to that list, it is because, in the expert determination of those who follow it, that organization is a terrorist organization.”
“There are a couple of provisions in this legislation that I think are really important in illustrating the myths versus what is actually in the legislation. For instance, I have been hearing from people in my riding of Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park that this legislation would, in their view, potentially impede their right to peaceful protest. The right to peaceful protest is a clear charter right and something that everyone on all sides of the House agrees with, and it would not be subject to this legislation. What would be subject to it are intimidation and physical obstruction in the very targeted places and manners laid out in the legislation, where an identifiable group is gathered and it is a specific act of intimidation and physical obstruction, not peaceful protest.”
“Statistics from Statistics Canada show that from 2022 to 2023, there was a 32% increase in the number of hate crimes. There were almost 5,000. There were 1,284 crimes targeting religion in 2023, which was a 67% increase. Nine hundred of them focused on Jewish people and 211 of them focused on Muslims. Hate crimes related to sexual orientation over that year, between 2022 and 2023, according to Statistics Canada, were up 69% to 860 such crimes. We are in a situation supercharged by social media, supercharged by, I believe, some of the postpandemic effects on people and supercharged by, yes, things that are happening in the world that are motivating people to express themselves negatively. However, this is not just about negative expression. This is about hate crime. This is about crimes that are at the level of the Criminal Code.”
“Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan . It is a pleasure to be speaking in this chamber today on this very important piece of legislation. It is one of a trio of bills that we, on this side of the House, committed to and campaigned on when this was put in our platform, along with the other pieces of legislation around intimate partner violence and other crimes against women and children, and our bail and sentencing reforms. It added up, in my experience, to be the most ambitious set of criminal justice proposals that we have proposed on this side of the House in not just one generation but several generations. The bill is coming from a place of real concern and need with respect to the growth in hate crimes in Canada.”
“On March 10, 1959, tens of thousands of Tibetans in Lhasa rose up in peaceful opposition to occupation and were met with a brutal crackdown, claiming countless lives and forcing His Holiness the Dalai Lama and generations of Tibetans into lifelong exile. Inside Tibet, Tibetans are suffering a new form of oppression through colonial-style residential boarding schools, which are depriving as many as one million young Tibetans from connection to their family, language and culture. Canada joins Tibetans and supporters around the world, guided by the Dalai Lama and his middle way approach, in steadfast support of Tibetans' right to self-determination.”
“Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate Penpa Tsering on his decisive re-election as Sikyong, or leader, of the Central Tibetan Administration, Tibet's government in exile. More than 51,000 Tibetans in 27 countries voted in this election, a testament to the strength of Tibetan democracy. The hunger of Tibetans for self-determination, a right unanimously recognized by this House in 2024, will also be on display on the streets tomorrow morning in Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park. Tibetan Canadian youth, students and women's activists will begin a walk from Parkdale to the Chinese consulate to mark the Tibetan national uprising.”
“We can, in this new order, work anew to stop impunity and to use the existing regime to curb the shipments of arms through enforcing the current legislation and working with our allies to establish new international rules to hold countries accountable for their actions. In doing this, we honour civilians, Canadian sovereignty and Canadian values.”
“The Prime Minister recently spoke eloquently at the World Economic Forum about how middle powers such as Canada need to stand together to hold the large powers accountable. Arms proliferation is one area where Canada's moral authority has already led to effective multilateral action to prevent lethal weapons from targeting civilians. In 1997, the Ottawa Treaty was implemented to prohibit the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, which largely maimed and killed civilians over the 20th century. Over 160 states signed that treaty. The result has been astonishing, with over 48 million stockpiled land mines designed to kill humans having been destroyed.”
“If Ukraine falls, it would lead to a catastrophic security crisis in eastern Europe, including the possibility of a wider war that could end up on Canada's doorstep in the Arctic and would bring grievous concern to millions of Canadians. The legislation would undermine these efforts and make both our countries less secure, with greater threats to our sovereignty and stability. I want to stress that I am deeply concerned that weapons of war from Canada and around the world can and do end up in the hands of fighters who use them against civilians. It is a problem that can be solved only by adherence to the Arms Trade Treaty, legislation such as our current legislation, and further international co-operation and engagement.”
“Our allies in NATO and Europe are facing actual threats to their mere existence, especially in Ukraine. Ukraine's struggle for freedom from its Russian invaders is our struggle. In my riding of Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park, we have a large and vibrant Ukrainian community whose friends and relatives back home have been living a nightmare since the 2022 invasion. Canadian firms work with those in other countries, including the United States, to fill production orders for items such as artillery rounds for the Ukrainian armed forces. The bill would disrupt such cross-border supply efforts that Ukraine relies on for its survival.”
“If that were to happen, tens of thousands of Canadian jobs in the defence industry would be put at risk, our defence industry's access to North American supply chains to provide critical material to international allies would abruptly end and Canada would be frozen out of other trade partnerships in retaliation. Instead of working with our allies, we would be turning our back on them. Every single one of these impacts would lead to a body blow to our sovereignty and our economy, further isolating us from our allies in North America and Europe at a time when, for the first time in living memory, Canada faces actual threats to its own territorial and economic sovereignty. In this moment, we need to build up Canadian sovereignty, not give it up.”
“The examples of loopholes that my colleague, the member for Vancouver East , mentioned in the previous debate were mostly before Canada's accession to the ATT and before Bill C-47 of the 42nd Parliament. Indeed, our regime is stronger than the ATT, with its focus on weapons used against women and children, yet this war and other wars have killed many civilian women and children. Does that mean there is a loophole? It is a tragedy, yes, but it is not due to a loophole in Canadian law. At its heart, the bill seeks to end legitimate trade and deny export permits with a single country, the United States. That would not be closing a loophole; that would be blowing up a critical defence and trade relationship with a NATO ally.”
“In particular, the provision in the bill under clause 6 that would require an end-use certificate in certain cases, as recommended by the minister of foreign affairs, could be a valuable addition to our regime. We can also do more to sanction, and to seek justice for the victims using the International Court of Justice process and ensuring that it does its work in a timely fashion, and considering extending sanctions to more people who are responsible for war crimes. (1130) However, the bill is mainly about something else. It is about curbing arms exports to the United States. Canada already has robust arms export restrictions under the Export and Import Permits Act and the Arms Trade Treaty.”
“I am under no illusions; this solution has been put at risk by both the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7 and Israel's attack on Gaza civilians in reprisal, but, and more importantly, we recognized the State of Palestine last September, joining other leading democracies in that recognition. We can draw a direct line between that recognition and the ultimate ceasefire, a ceasefire that, while by no means perfect, has at least slowed the killing. As we know, arms exports can sometimes evade restrictions, and there are tools available to the federal government in the current regime to help curb this. As I said to my community in July, if Canadian weapons are being used in this war despite our embargo, then our arms embargo needs to be strengthened in a targeted way.”
“When it became clear that Canadian-made lethal munitions were potentially finding their way into the armouries of the Israel Defense Forces for use in Gaza, our government took action to stop this with an arms embargo. No lethal weapons or ammunition exports to Israel have been permitted since January 2024. This is a sign that our regime, our current legislation and our participation in the Arms Trade Treaty are working. We have been playing a key role in opening access to aid, including $300 million in humanitarian aid. We also know that a two-state solution with a reformed democratic Palestinian Authority guaranteeing the security of Israel is the only path out of this long, deadly struggle, and our government intends to push for this result at every chance.”
“The indictments of members of the Israeli war cabinet at the International Criminal Court on charges of criminal conduct in this war are richly deserved, and it is my hope that they and the surviving Hamas leaders will be held accountable for their actions. We need justice for the victims. Canada cannot stop this war alone nor stop the killing alone. A well-intentioned vote for the bill may feel good. It may even feel right, but it would weaken our sovereignty without changing the facts on the ground in that war, and it would not prioritize what has the best chance of affecting the facts on the ground. Our caucus and our government have been acting to affect the facts on the ground.”
“Some members of the Israeli war cabinet clearly intend to go further, with the widespread and illegal expansion of settlement activity in the West Bank. The question is how to slow or stop it and how to get justice. After all, these leaders have used not just weapons and bullets but also starvation, torture, arbitrary collective punishment, denying of aid and preventing civilians from leaving the war zone. The killing continues on occasion, even after the ceasefire agreement last year. At least 75,000 people, most of them civilians, have met violent deaths in Gaza. On top of the deaths on and since October 20, 2023, an additional approximately 2,000 Israel Defense Forces soldiers have also been killed in action.”
“It would limit Canadian sovereignty at a time of great conflict, while playing no meaningful difference on the conflicts that are of such justifiable concern to those who support the bill. First I want to acknowledge one source of the bill: the horrifying war on civilians in Gaza perpetuated by the Israeli war cabinet. It is a war that was started by Hamas, killing and kidnapping almost 2,000 innocent Israeli civilians, who still need their own justice, but a war that has resulted in a disproportionate response by the current Israeli government and its military: a prolonged attack on a vulnerable and defenceless population, in which access to aid and food was itself weaponized. Both Hamas and members of the Israeli war cabinet have been very clear that they do not just dehumanize the other side but that they also want to wipe it out.”
“When I read the bill, Hansard from the fall debate on the bill, correspondence from my constituents on this matter, and the outside research and advocacy on it, both for and against, I hear a real concern about the proliferation of weapons of war, especially those that are used against civilians. I share the concern, especially when those weapons are used by leaders from countries to which we are closely allied. While there are few good ideas in the bill, it is so broad in scope that it would fundamentally damage a regime that is already functioning at a high level to honour Canadian values, a regime that we strengthened when we signed the Arms Trade Treaty and passed further legislation to go further than the treaty. The bill would limit and even damage Canada's ability to confront the many defence challenges facing us and our allies.”
“Madam Speaker, Canadians have not seen this level of global chaos and instability since the Second World War, with a level of death and suffering due to the conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan that is staggering and horrifying. Right now, civilians in a dozen countries in the Middle East are facing daily air attacks from drones and missiles. Every member of the House has a duty to join with their colleagues to encourage the protection of civilians in these conflicts. In that spirit, I want to salute the member for Vancouver East for her concern not only in these conflicts but more generally for those who fight for justice and protecting the most vulnerable.”
“The project is the brainchild of a powerful group of women, including Karen Carter, Claudia Pensa Bowen and Joséphine Denis. During renovations, people can check out A Kind of Order , curated by Joséphine Denis, at Toronto's Union Station, which includes work by Timothy Yanick Hunter, a member of our riding's community. On this 30th Black History Month in Canada, it is Black storytelling that brings Black culture to life.”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to honour a few of the Black and African-Canadian cultural trailblazers of Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park. Dr. Rita Cox served as the head of the Parkdale branch of the Toronto Public Library for decades, and created the Black and Caribbean Heritage Collection there with more than 16,000 items. She continues to connect us to literature and learning, including as the namesake for a school on Jameson Avenue. Black visual art will soon be on display at the new home of the BAND gallery on Brock Avenue in Parkdale, Canada's only Black-run, Black-focused art gallery. I toured it last week. With funding from this government's cultural spaces fund, it will become a community-focused, fully accessible, museum-grade space.”
“Madam Speaker, I know the Winnipeg members on this side of the House are very active in their support of projects, especially housing projects in Winnipeg. The next time I am in the area, I would be delighted to have a conversation with my colleague and the Winnipeg MPs on this side of the aisle about some of the needs that exist. I know that in my riding of Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park, in particular, in the Parkdale neighbourhood, the kinds of needs that the hon. member mentioned are being attended to, in part, through the housing projects I described.”
“The community came together with the residents of Dunn House and its partners, the University Health Network, Fred Victor Centre, West Neighbourhood House, United Way and others, which is the kind of thing that allows this housing to successfully land in communities. It is really the partnership of those institutions and neighbours working together with health care workers and residents that makes these institutions and these housing opportunities possible.”
“Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent work in setting up the partnership that we have with the City of Toronto. Because we had Dunn House, the second edition of Dunn House, which had Build Canada Homes funding announced in our community just nine months after the election, has been able to attract provincial government funding for the health care supports we need. A last piece of partnership that is really important, which we sometimes take a bit for granted, is the partnership of the community, of the neighbours. We build housing in a context of neighbourhoods, histories and people who have different connections to the neighbourhood, sometimes long-established and sometimes as newcomers.”
“Madam Speaker, this will change lives. For instance, there will be 51 homes that are part of the Dunn House project, 42 homes at 11 Brock Avenue and 92 homes that are part of the Green Phoenix II project. That is not a story. It is not PR. Lives are being changed. I think that every member of the House has a duty to stand up for their community and to ensure that the funds allocated to Build Canada Homes in the budget go to their community.”
“All these housing projects are being developed right now to provide the kind of housing we need in our community, in Parkdale, to bring a dignified life, economic opportunity and jobs. When I hear that there is something wrong about this approach of a new institution, I say come to Parkdale; come see how the funds are flowing right now in our community and are building housing, bringing jobs, bringing dignity and connecting people to the services they need. Come see how the whole community, inspired by and being able to access these funds, is using the funds and the opportunities to build housing, to help people build new lives for each other, and to bring the kind of safety and security that all of us in our neighbourhoods and communities need.”
“When I hear that this kind of format is about bureaucracy, I say come to Parkdale. Come and learn from the residents of Dunn House, who have experienced a 52% reduction in emergency department visits and a 79% drop in hospital bed days. There is $2.1 million in projected annual cost savings. Come to Parkdale; come and meet the residents of these facilities, of these dignified housing opportunities, which bring housing, health care and food, with the whole community in support. Build Canada Homes is building Parkdale strong. Parkdale is an integral part of our community. I am very much looking forward to the new projects that are being proposed within my community all along Queen West and the Queensway, such as the Parkdale People's Place project, the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre project and the Swansea Mews project.”
“I announced just last month with my colleagues the second edition of Dunn House in the same neighbourhood in Parkdale as Dunn House phase one, with 54 rent-geared-to-income units focused on seniors who have complex health needs, at $21.6 million, with the University Health Network. These are projects that are happening through a multiplicity of funds and a number of initiatives. Dunn House phase two is a project of Build Canada Homes. When I hear from the other side that there is too much bureaucracy, I say come to Parkdale and see the progress we are making right now with these institutions and with these different kinds of funds. When I hear from the other side that we are not going fast enough, I say come to Parkdale and see the housing that is being built now, is under construction, as well as the housing that is being promised.”
“Dunn House, which my colleague, the Minister of Housing , already mentioned, has 51 rent-geared-to-income units; there is $14 million through the rapid housing initiative, with Fred Victor and University Health Network as partners. It is changing the lives of 51 residents who have health needs and complex needs, delivering wraparound housing supports and health care supports. We are already building another project right around the corner at 11 Brock Avenue, which has 42 rent-geared-to-income units and $21.6 million with the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre as the delivery partner through federal government funding. There is Green Phoenix II, also in Parkdale, with 92 new affordable units, with $14.6 million and Parkdale United Church Foundation as a partner.”
“This is because we had areas of the neighbourhood in particular, such as larger mansions that had been multiresident residences, that were being turned into single-family homes. That, combined with the health needs, the needs of immigrants and refugees, and the needs of artists in our community, really created a challenge for the people in our riding, including the people in Parkdale. Government working side by side with the social sector in the kind of partnership my colleague mentioned has delivered and is delivering results. I just want to mention a few projects that are happening right now and are funded right now thanks to Build Canada Homes and the other programs that are in place thanks to the current government.”
“Madam Speaker, I am delighted to speak on behalf of and in support of the bill, which is already delivering results in my riding of Taiaiko'n—Parkdale—High Park. I want to speak specifically about the Parkdale neighbourhood in my riding, an area that has welcomed newcomers, including people fleeing persecution and violence, and people who have mental health challenges, for decades. It is a place that used to host the more wealthy residents of downtown Toronto when it was a country retreat, and then it became a place to welcome people from around the world. Parkdale is a little corner of the community, bordered by Dufferin Street, Roncesvalles, Queen Street and King Street. The population of the Parkdale neighbourhood of our community actually went down between 2016 and 2021.”
“Madam Speaker, I always appreciate hearing what my colleague from Joliette—Manawan has to say. His speeches are always insightful and well thought out. I wanted to start with a question, but I will just make a comment instead because I think my friend has clearly explained the connection between the bill, which has a specific objective, and his desire for the wording of the bill to be more precise. In my opinion, the agreement that he described at the end of his speech between the Canadian government and the Government of Quebec shows that federalism works. It shows the link between a bill and a good agreement, as he was the first to point out. I would therefore like to better understand how this agreement can promote the interests of Quebec and my colleague's riding.”
“Mr. Speaker, we know that colleges conduct very important research and that their relationships with businesses are very important, since the intellectual property rights to the research conducted by colleges belong to businesses. People have been advocating for the program, and we are having productive conversations about it with the people from the colleges.”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague opposite, who is a constructive member on these questions. Obviously, the situation he refers to with this particular company has its issues, but we know, more generally, that investments in renewable technology work. We know the future direction of both heavy vehicles and light vehicles is increasingly electric. That is why we are making the investments we are making. In terms of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, I will refer those questions to the bank.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be associated with a government whose record on jobs is very strong. Jobs are growing faster here than even in the United States, and incomes are growing faster than inflation. The next part of our plan, the budget implementation act via Bill C-15 , is before Parliament right now. The hon. member opposite can work with his colleagues and work with us to ensure speedy passage of the bill in order to forward the major projects the member is talking about and the economic growth that is behind the bill.”
“She read a sci-ku, a science haiku, of her own devising: Let us be quantum Entangled across space time Hearts and minds as well This week we recognize Dr. Ghose and the many women whose curiosity, courage and brilliance have shaped our world and the generations of girls like my daughter who, because of them, know they belong in science.”
“Mr. Speaker, this week we marked the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. At a time when, in some parts of the world, the scientific community is being discredited and dismembered, Canada chooses a different path. We choose to invest in discovery, to trust evidence and to honour our late colleague, Kirsty Duncan. We choose to celebrate this and do this with the women and girls who are driving breakthroughs in labs, classrooms and communities across our country. Last month at the Canadian Science Policy Centre conference, I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Shohini Ghose, professor of physics and computer science at Wilfrid Laurier University, as she accepted a Trailblazer Award. She reminded us that some comets blaze brightly and some do not, but all are equally extraordinary.”
“Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, this new EV rebate is positioned a bit differently from the older one. It is capped at vehicles retailing at $50,000 or less. Sometimes I hear from the other side that we are denying consumer choice in some way. In fact, our policy is to attract investment of all types while looking at the electric vehicle future that we are pointing to. The auto strategy is about vehicle production generally, and we think that the marketplace is well served. We are very well served by our auto dealers in this country, which provide a wide variety of options to consumers, and this auto strategy is very consistent with that.”
“administration rather than embracing the bipartisan consensus that has stood us well for decades, has increased stringency and has resulted in the cleaner vehicles that people want. It is really quite something, and I look forward to an explanation.”
“We know that the investments in sustainability and electrification are the very investments that attract new investment, new greenfield auto plant investment that we have had over the decades here and of which we hope more will come. We know it is all based on a set of skills that are the best in the world. The workers and the team members at the different auto companies and parts suppliers are the best workers in the world, which is why more investment is being attracted here. This was a major piece of news today. Not only is the Conservative opposition opposed to the EV rebates, which we knew it would be, but it rejects any tailpipe emissions standards whatsoever. The Conservatives are associating themselves with an extreme far right position that is the current policy of the U.S.”
“administration is making a very clear decision to break away from that and to say in their challenging of the endangerment finding that they want no emissions standards whatsoever, and the Conservatives are embracing that extreme far right position. This is a position that comes out of the project 2025 playbook. It comes out of a complete rejection of any progress in this sector, the kind of progress that gave us the vehicles that we have today. In our auto strategy, yes, we are proud of the investments in electrification. We are proud of those rebates. We are proud of the supply chain that we hope can continue to grow out of the investments we are making in electrification.”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the intervention from my colleague from York—Durham. On this day of all days, to receive this question is really quite something. This is the day on which the administration to the south, the U.S. administration, has rejected a decades-long bipartisan consensus. The very serpent that the hon. member refers to is the existence of California-level emissions standards that have become increasingly stringent over time and helped us get the kinds of vehicles that we are manufacturing here in Canada, whether they be internal combustion engine vehicles or hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles. There has been a long-time consensus among Liberals and Conservatives and Progressive Conservatives in Canada and a long-time consensus between Democrats and Republicans. Today, the U.S.”