Bob Zimmer
Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, British Columbia · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, as we can hear from my Quebec colleagues, obviously that was not a good answer to the member's question. Liberal government documents confirm that nearly 18% of the firearms being confiscated by the Liberal gun grab are .22-calibre rifles, often used to hunt gophers or to shoot pop cans.”
“Mr. Speaker, I know third party advertising and the involvement of foreign governments in our elections is a big problem. It reared its head back in 2015. I am sure the member remembers back in the day. This is a headline from 2017: “Controversial Leadnow active in B.C. politics, Vancouver city affairs”.”
“Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his great work across this country on Bill C-9 . Maybe there are some well-intentioned Liberals across the way, but we made these same arguments around medical assistance in dying.”
“Mr. Speaker, that was another non-answer. Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, executive director of the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre in Iqaluit, said this week that the centre has seen its daily meal count go from around 58,000 in 2022 to almost 91,000 last year. It has served 37,000 meals so far this year in a town of 7,500 people.”
“Madam Speaker, I just want to bring up to the member across the way that his government has been in power for the last 11 years, and the Northwest Territories should be one of the powerful cylinders in our economic engine, but it is seriously misfiring.”
“This is what the preamble to Bill S-233 says: Whereas there are an increasing number of incidents involving violence against persons who provide health services and first responders; Whereas assaults on persons who provide health services and first responders have both a physical and a psychological impact; And whereas persons who provide…”
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“Madam Speaker, it has also been pointed out by the Parliamentary Budget Officer that in the new lingo the Prime Minister uses, “spend less...invest more”, even the invest more part apparently is not true, and not just in a little sense; it is actually close to $100 billion short of his investment promise. Can the member speak to the Prime Minister 's words? Should Canadians hold him to his word that he is actually going to spend less and invest more?”
“When are they finally going to get a softwood lumber deal done to provide surety to our softwood lumber workers in British Columbia?”
“Madam Chair, we heard another very long word salad from the Liberal member across the way. One thing the Liberals are great at is talking a lot. The government has been in power for the last decade. I distinctly remember former prime minister Justin Trudeau and Obama were going to have a softwood lumber agreement signed, sealed and delivered when Obama came to Ottawa. However, he came to Ottawa and left with no softwood lumber agreement, and here we are, 10 years later, still with no softwood lumber agreement. Thirty mills have closed in B.C. alone. An hon. member: Oh, oh! Bob Zimmer: Madam Chair, I am glad the member thinks it is a joke that 30 mills have closed and over 10,000 jobs have been lost. The Liberals need to take softwood lumber seriously, regardless of whether Brookfield has investments in it.”
“Madam Chair, the B.C. forestry workers I know do not want handouts; they want their jobs back. BC Council of Forest Industries president and CEO Kim Haakstad said recently: The recent increase in U.S. tariffs and duties is a serious blow to an industry already strained by years of uncertainty, mill closures, and job losses. The federal government must make resolving the softwood lumber dispute a national priority. My simple question for the Liberals is, when will the Liberal Prime Minister finally make resolving the softwood lumber dispute a priority?”
“Madam Chair, the Prime Minister promised to negotiate a win with President Trump by July 21, just eight months ago, but since the Liberals became government in 2015, 30 mills have closed in B.C. alone. Despite the Liberal Prime Minister's promises that he would have a great relationship with the President, U.S. tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber have tripled to 45%. In B.C. alone over the past 10 years, there have been 10,000 direct jobs lost, and more than three to five times that in indirect job losses, with more to come unless things change. This fall, Sinclar Group Forest Products reduced its production by 40% in three of its mills in northern B.C., and 350 more mill workers were affected by the cuts. When will the Prime Minister finally get a softwood lumber deal done with the U.S.?”
“Mr. Speaker, that was a great speech by my seatmate and colleague from Saskatchewan. We saw that the previous prime minister Justin Trudeau was declining in popularity at a dramatic rate, so much so that he even had to step down. He was planning to spend $154 billion over the next five years and to add that to our national debt. The current Prime Minister is planning to spend, over the next five years, $321 billion and to add that to our national debt. It is hard to believe and even hard to say. Does the member believe the Prime Minister is worse than Justin Trudeau?”
“Mr. Speaker, I thank the member. Despite the Liberal criticism, it was a great speech. The member mentioned future generations. After five years and on of successive Liberal budgets, the Prime Minister said that he was going to spend less and invest more. However, over $321 billion will be added to our national debt. Does the member think it is responsible to saddle future generations with this kind of credit card bill?”
“Madam Speaker, my colleague mentioned, in her speech, the government's targeting of law-abiding firearm owners. We have heard in committee, over the last number of weeks, from police chiefs and chiefs of first nations and Inuit communities. They think it is a waste of resources to go after law-abiding firearm owners' firearms. Does the member think it is a good use of taxpayer money to continue to attack law-abiding firearm owners rather than go after criminals?”
“Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Saskatchewan on his Grey Cup win. The Liberals have spoken out many times against omnibus legislation, but here we are again, and they have done it many times. Another thing the Liberals often do is throw money at things. To note one particular statistic from this budget, after five years of Liberal governance, it would add another $321 billion to our debt. I am going to ask the member one simple question. Does he think throwing money at the problem is going to solve the issues in Canada? I am not seeing any infrastructure getting built in northern B.C. We need a bridge across the Peace River, but that has not been done. I do not see it in the budget. Does the member think throwing money at problems solves them? I have not seen that yet.”
“Mr. Speaker, I know that the member for Cariboo—Prince George has a couple of constituents in the gallery today who are watching us as we speak. This is a real issue. I would challenge Canadians to answer how many of them actually have a family doctor. How many think the current health care system is doing great? If we had a show of hands, I bet we would not see a whole bunch of hands going up. The government has been in place for the last 10 years. It has really run Canada into the ground, and that needs to change.”
“Mr. Speaker, the member's last couple of words were that this is a Conservative budget. I would take issue with that, as this is not a Conservative budget. A Conservative budget would not add $321.7 billion over the next five years to our federal debt. We are already at $1.3 trillion. I have made a video just to show the amount of money that is, which future generations will have to pay for. The interest alone is over $50 billion per year. It is ridiculous. This not a Conservative budget. We need a Conservative budget.”
“Mr. Speaker, I will just reiterate the Prime Minister 's own words. Members should remember that he ran on this in February of this year, just a few short months ago. I will say the title of the article: “[The Prime Minister] promises to spend less, invest more to stimulate economy if he wins Liberal leadership”. He is actually spending more and investing less than the previous prime minister, after he said he was going to do a better job. Those are the facts. I wish members over on the Liberal side would stick to the facts.”
“I will say this, and I am sure the members across the way will have a problem with it: He is indeed out of control, and we definitely need a much more financially responsible prime minister. A future prime minister, I would say, is the current opposition leader . Author Kim Moody gives a great summary of the Prime Minister 's budget: “It's a clever performance, but, at its core, it's a deceptive trick, one that trades transparency for theatrics and leaves Canadians poorer for having believed it.” That goes out to all the people who voted for the Prime Minister. “Government spending—capital or operating—increases government debt in the same way.” I would call on voters and Canadians out there to note this: The Prime Minister sold them the bill of goods that he was going to spend less and invest more. He is doing the exact opposite.”
“That is more than the Canada health transfer of $54.7 billion. It is incredible. It is also more than the GST revenue the government collects across the country, which is $54.4 billion and amounts to $3,360 per Canadian household. The Prime Minister said out of his own mouth that the previous prime minister was an irresponsible spender, which is why he lost his job in the first place. We saw that with an out-of-control government. Many of its members are still here, but that is why he lost his job and we all know that. The current Prime Minister won under the premise that he was going to spend less and invest more than the previous prime minister. Those are some pretty significant promises he has already broken.”
“I think Canadians are wondering what the cost is to them, because they hear big numbers, billions and trillions. What is the true cost of the Prime Minister right out of the gate? He will add $321.7 billion in new money to the federal debt over the next five years. An hon. member: Unbelievable. Bob Zimmer: Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable, as my colleague just said. It is more than twice the $154.4 billion that Justin Trudeau would have added over the same period. Do members remember the quote at the start, that the Prime Minister was going to be better than Justin Trudeau? Well, here we are. (1245) This budget adds another $10 million to our debt every hour. Under the new Prime Minister , federal debt is now $1.3 trillion, and interest on the debt will be $55.6 billion for 2025-26.”
“It states: [The] Prime Minister...promised a new budgeting framework during the Liberal Party leadership campaign when he said he would separate the federal budget into an “operating budget” and a “capital budget,” with the operating budget being balanced within three years [total]. Tricks such as this are a blatant attempt to baffle people by transferring many day-to-day expenditures from an overall budget to a capital budget and crow that you are “investing.” The key to making it work is to ensure that the definition of capital is so broad that you can transfer amounts easily into the capital budget. Again, if members and Canadians out there do not want to take my word for it, they can take the Parliamentary Budget Officer's word.”
“That is a lot of broken promises in a few short months, and that is after he abandoned the Liberals' previous fiscal anchor of reducing the federal debt-to-GDP ratio. The PBO found that the debt-to-GDP ratio will be even higher than in the last economic update and that Canada “is no longer projected to be on a declining path over the medium term.” It is a scary direction we are headed in. The PBO had previously warned in September that Canadians could be paying more for debt if the Liberals tried to change accounting standards. We know they have. In the Financial Post on November 18, two days ago, was this article: “PBO calling out the federal government's fiscal approach should raise red flags for all of us”. Indeed it should.”
“His new definition of capital spending “is overly expansive” and “expands beyond the current treatment in the Public Accounts and international practice based on the System of National Accounts (SNA), such as that adopted by the United Kingdom”. After using a more accepted definition, the PBO found that capital investment spending was 30% lower than the Liberals claimed. That is where the $94-billion amount comes from. It is a $94-billion difference. Even the promises the Prime Minister made are false. In other words, his investments are much lower than he promised, $94 billion less. Furthermore, the PBO found that the Prime Minister will not even balance the operational budget over the next five years. It is another fiscal anchor abandoned by the Prime Minister.”
“It is a major broken promise and not a good sign considering that promises were made just a few short months ago. The Prime Minister broke even more of the promises he made just months ago. Do members remember the fiscal anchors he was going to adhere to? The fiscal anchor that he promised during the election he would adhere to was the debt-to-GDP ratio, but he raising it. He promised to spend less, but he is spending $94 billion more, which is costing each household another $5,400 per year. If $78 billion in deficit spending is not bad enough, the Prime Minister is also padding the number to hide operational spending as capital spending. This is from the Parliamentary Budget Officer's recent report.”
“Mr. Speaker, I apologize. How does the Prime Minister spend more and invest less? Even Justin Trudeau, in his last budget, projected his deficit for that year would be $39.8 billion. He ended up spending $61.8 billion just before leaving. The Prime Minister led us to believe that it would be easy to do, and many believed that based on the out-of-control spending of Justin Trudeau. How could the Prime Minister make any mistake by reducing the budget? We all knew that Trudeau was an out-of-control spender. We knew the government was an out-of-control spending government, so we thought that it would be a relatively easy task. However, as we have all seen, the deficit will be $78.3 billion, and we have learned that it is likely to be worse. We have seen that over and again with the Liberals.”
“A lot of voters took him at his word, and it seems that just a few months after that promise was made, things changed quickly. How does Mark Carney spend more and invest less?”
“He said, out of his own mouth, “The essence of this is to spend less, and invest more.” This is right from the Prime Minister's mouth. This is confirmed by The Globe and Mail, one of the Prime Minister 's and Liberals' favourite newspapers. It says, “The former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England criticized the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for spending too much.” We all know that, do we not? “Total federal spending has jumped by about 9 per cent on average since the Liberals took power in 2015 and federal workforce grown by 40 per cent”. This is right out of the Prime Minister's mouth: “It is clear that the federal government is spending too much.” He also said, “At the same time Canada as a whole is investing too little.” That was the promise he made to many Canadians across the country.”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the budget today. Just before I start, I want to give a shout-out to my brother Larry. He made me this pen. He has made me a few other pens. He lives in Chilliwack. I just want to recognize my brother for being a good brother over the years. Let us get to the budget. I remember when the Prime Minister said he would spend less and invest more. He meant that in reference to Justin Trudeau, but his budget does the exact opposite. As the recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer discovers, it spends billions more and invests billions less than the Prime Minister promised just months ago. I think we all remember when he was running to be leader of the Liberal Party and in essence running to be the Prime Minister. This is from February 19.”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the member for Edmonton Griesbach is back in Ottawa and back in the chamber. It is good to have him back. He alluded to some of the mistakes of the previous Trudeau government over the last 10 years with Bill C-5 and Bill C-75 . We are really in the place we are now with rampant crime and problems because of those failures. The member alluded in his speech that Bill C-14 is really one thing: an admission of a failed Liberal attempt at justice. Does he agree?”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's father's service. However, the member across the way was a part of the previous Trudeau government that brought in Bill C-5 and Bill C-75 , which caused all the problems that it is trying to unwind with Bill C-14 . I just do not understand why, if you are having to fix it now, you brought in Bill C-5 and Bill C-75 in the first place.”
“Mr. Speaker, I know we need to keep going with the debate but, with regard to the member who just brought up that previous point of order, we have been talking about pretty serious issues, about crime and victims and all the rest. Their group has been giggling and laughing the whole way through. I find it a little rich that he is going to somehow challenge our member for not doing something properly when he has been completely disrespecting this place and the debate that is occurring today.”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Saskatchewan points to the fact that Liberals say one thing during elections and do another when they are actually in government. This is just further proof of that. The Liberals are cutting Veterans Affairs and many other things Canadians rely on. I hope Canadians look at this debate and see who is telling the truth about who is really going to cut crime. The Liberals have had a chance for 10 years, and they simply have not gotten it done.”
“Mr. Speaker, that ought to be the record for the longest question in the history of this place. Liberals are great at talking. I think you are perfect evidence that Liberals can talk a lot. We heard about that last election, that there was a lot of talk. You were not given a mandate necessarily. You have a minority government; you did not get a majority, so there is something there. Canadians are not willing to trust you as a majority government. I will go back to the simple stats from British Columbia, since you quoted them. For total offences in 2014, there were 53,209. In 2023, there were 86,205. The stats speak for themselves.”
“Mr. Speaker, as I said when we started, whether Bill C-75 , Bill C-5 or anything we can name, all these pieces of legislation are still on the books, and all of a sudden, we are supposed to believe that Bill C-14 is going to fix all the problems. That is what the Liberals are telling Canadians. We know it is not true and it is not going to happen. That is the premise of the question I asked in my speech today. I just hope Canadians are seeing through what the Liberals are trying to do in trying to erase history. I think Canadians are living with the effects of crime on their streets, and that is not going to be erased any time soon.”
“Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that people, after having so many crimes committed on their private properties, are just not calling anymore. They realize that criminals are not getting incarcerated for what they are doing and there is a revolving door. Our local RCMP have been awesome. We have worked with them. Whether it is Prince George, Fort Nelson, Fort St. John or Dawson Creek, they have been excellent. They are doing their best to bring justice back to our streets despite the Liberal government's legislation.”
“I asked them, “How much time is actually spent fighting fires?” They said, “Well, 90% of our time is spent dealing with overdoses and fires started by those same people addicted to drugs.” Again, this is because of Liberal soft-on-crime policies and safe supply. Those are the real effects that these policies are having in our communities, and they have built up over 10 years. Now the Liberals are pretending, “Hey, folks, we are new”, even though they are not, and we know they are not. As I started off with when I first began to speak, I ask Canadians if they are confident that these same Liberals who broke our justice system are actually going to fix our justice system. We have just laid out the case that they are not.”
“That person was released within one and a half hours, and on the same ride-along that very night, within four hours, the police had rearrested the person for another crime. It is bad enough for Canadians to hear the statistics, but they are hearing it from real-life stories. That is one story of thousands in our communities that are just being allowed to happen because of such bills as Bill C-75 and the Liberal government's poor past policies. I have another story from Prince George. The firefighters were just here in Ottawa, as members know. The Prince George firefighters have told me many stories of some of the challenges of downtown Prince George.”
“It states: Despite being charged over 20 times in the past for breaching his release conditions, a judge once again let Calliou out on bail. Calliou was bound by a court-imposed curfew condition requiring him to reside in Prince George. A warrant was then issued for his arrest after police said...Calliou was known to be breaching the condition and was believed to be in the Peace Region. It is another really sad example of recidivism in my riding alone. I will finish with these two stories. I do not have an article to quote, but I heard it from the person directly. Cori Ramsay was recently in Ottawa, just two weeks ago, and she is a Prince George city councillor. She said she was on a ride-along with the local RCMP, and they watched somebody trying to break into the local Value Village. The person was arrested and brought to jail.”
“We have lost somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000 in procurement costs.” That is the disparity between what the insurance is paying him and what the value of the piece of equipment is. He also referred to new equipment, set-up costs, lost revenue, administrative costs and so on. Members should listen to this last line, which is very important: “nothing to say of how life-destroying this has been.” I know that Mr. Wall has felt threatened, and his family has felt threatened in that community. Seemingly, criminals are getting away with what they are doing, with no end in sight. This is from Fort St. John, my hometown, where I live today. This is an article from March 19, titled “Wanted man with long criminal history arrested by Fort St. John RCMP”.”
“They said On-It Towing has been the victim of many suspicious fires in the past 16 months, adding evidence at the scene points to each fire being intentionally started. In case members did not know, Ben Wall is the owner of that particular towing company. I actually did a video with him this summer highlighting his plight because police officers basically know who it is, but they cannot keep the ones who are doing it behind bars. I texted him this morning to ask about the total damage caused by these repeat criminals. Ben said, this morning, “I don't have an accurate calculation, but it's somewhere between $1.5 million and $2 million; 10 separate arsons and two vandalisms where equipment or property was damaged. Amazingly, no real theft that we are aware of in all of this. That dollar value would be based on insurance payouts.”
“The Liberals formed government in 2016, and this is what we have after 10 years of Liberal rule. I will go to the next community we will talk about today, which is Fort Nelson. Fort Nelson is about four hours north of my hometown of Fort St. John. I spoke with a frustrated local police officer just last year. He said that 15 people are responsible for 90% of the calls, and that really speaks to the recidivism of criminals who are being brought in and released without being incarcerated. (1225) This is an article titled “Fort Nelson ‘tow truck war’ continues with another arson investigation”, from September 29. It states: According to police, several vehicles were engulfed in flames when the fire department arrived at the scene.”
“The headline from CBC reads, “Behind the fear: The unsolved killings in Dawson Creek, B.C.” Anybody who thinks of the name Dawson Creek thinks of a very peaceful town, a farmer town, and I would like to think it still is. This quote is from the story: Just how “crazy” can be found in the data. The town’s homicide rate is 14 times the national average, according to Statistics Canada. Overdoses in town increased five-fold from 2016 until 2023. In this environment, safety in town appears elusive for criminals and regular townsfolk alike. Residents complain criminals are arrested, but rarely spend much time in jail. People vanish without a trace. The lives of addicts crumble, with some becoming armed agents of a desperate chaos. No one seems able to stop any of it.”
“Extortion has shot up a staggering 481% across the province of B.C. The consequences of Liberal policies are real, and people are feeling that, as my colleague from Saskatchewan just alluded to. Since 2015 in Canada, violent crime is up 55%; firearms crime is up 130%; extortion has skyrocketed by 330% across Canada; sexual assaults are up 76%; and homicides are up 29%. These are stats, and sometimes numbers do not really deal with the real story behind those numbers. I am going to start with some communities in my riding, and I will start with my birthplace, Dawson Creek. Recently, The Fifth Estate did a story about my birthplace, where I was born and lived until the age of five. My mom homesteaded in Dawson Creek. They were in Dawson Creek for a long time.”
“These statistics are from “British Columbia Crime Trends, 2014 - 2023”: In 2014, the total of violent offences was 53,209. In 2023, that number went to 86,205 offences. It is not just us talking about it. These effects are real. This is partly due to the Liberals' Bill C-75 and the principle of restraint in the bill, which ensures release at the earliest opportunity is favoured over detention. It requires reasonable bail conditions. This has really gone across the justice system across the nation. Whether it is prosecutors or the judiciary, they are following the direction of the government, and it has actually been ruinous for our country. Across British Columbia, violent crime has increased almost 50%, while the total number of sexual assaults has gone up over 95%. These are incredible numbers.”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate having the time to talk about Bill C-14 , the bail and sentencing bill the government has proposed to fix all the Liberal problems from over the last 10 years, supposedly. I am going to ask Canadians a question: Are they confident that the same Liberals who broke our justice system are actually going to fix our justice system? As Conservatives, we are asking that exact question. Here is a government that has been in power for 10 years, despite it calling itself new. Now, the members are pretending they want to fix the problem. Maybe some of them actually want to fix the problem, but again, this is a problem they created. Problems of rampant crime, drug use and overdoses due to their soft-on-crime and safe supply ideology are not just figments of our imagination, as many Canadians are realizing the hard way.”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Saskatchewan gave a great speech. I think all Canadians are asking this about this particular government: Are we confident that the same Liberals who broke our current justice system, the reason we are dealing with all this crime across Canada, are going to fix the problem? Are you confident in this government?”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition today on behalf of Canadians who are concerned about human rights protections in India. The petition calls upon the House of Commons to formally ensure that all trade deals with India, including the early progress trade agreement, the comprehensive economic partnership agreement and the foreign investment promotion and protection agreement, are premised on mandatory human rights provisions, initiate targeted sanctions against extremists guilty of inciting violence against religious minorities in India, and, lastly, promote mutually respectful and mutually beneficial human rights dialogue in Canada and India.”
“Mr. Speaker, the member made reference to the Prime Minister 's trip to the Arctic and the parts of the budget that would allegedly tackle some projects up there. I have been to the Arctic quite a bit, and one thing the Liberal government has a record of is incomplete projects and projects that are over budget. We just had an Order Paper question on the Giant Mine and the $1-billion remediation project the Conservatives started. We just found out that over $200 million has gone to consultants. Can the member assure Parliament that this budget will end the corruption and actually get projects done in the north?”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to know who the member got this speech from. It sounds like it was made 10 years ago by Justin Trudeau and his cabinet then. What has changed? Justin Trudeau took power over 10 years ago, and the Liberals have been in power for 10 years. What has changed? The debt used to be $600 billion. It is now close to $1.3 trillion and will be $1.6 trillion by 2030. That is what has changed. In B.C., we have lost 29 mills and thousands of jobs. Ultimately, the bill lands in the taxpayers' back pocket. The Liberals are maxing out their credit card and not getting many results. My question is simple. When will the Liberal government finally start to understand and respect that it is spending taxpayer dollars? When is it going to start respecting—”
“Vic was a husband to his beloved Edith; dad to Kevin, Barry and Ron; father-in-law to Marnie and Larisa; grandpa to Noah, Nikita and Eva; and brother to Roger, Bob and Jim. I thank Vic for everything he did for our riding, community and country. He will be missed.”
“Mr. Speaker, a lifelong Conservative and friend, Vic Brandl was born in 1933 in Jeffrey, Alberta, and passed away peacefully at the age of 91 in Vernon, B.C. Vic quit school during the Depression to work on the neighbour's farm until he went to work in Edmonton in 1950. By the age of 19, Vic had worked at a gas station, on a drilling rig and on a barge moving freight from Yellowknife, to name just a few places. He started V.E. Brandl oil field construction in 1961 when he bought his first D7 dozer, and he grew the company to 100 pieces of heavy-duty equipment. Vic served on our local Reform Party, Canadian Alliance and Conservative Party boards, finishing as our director emeritus. Over the years, Vic became a good friend, often stopping by for a coffee to talk politics and current events.”
“Madam Speaker, that was a great speech by my colleague. I just spoke with a councillor from Prince George yesterday. She is in town for FCM. Cori Ramsay told me a story about being on a ride-along with the local RCMP in Prince George. They caught someone breaking into the local Value Village and had them arrested. She saw the person go to jail. Within an hour and a half, that person was back on the streets again. Then, on the same ride-along, four hours later, the same person was rearrested. That is real life for Prince George and the issue around bail being issued so many times. Is the member confident that Bill C-14 , in its current state, would truly address the “bail not jail” revolving door the Liberals have created?”
“Mr. Speaker, the B.C. forestry workers I know do not want handouts; they want their well-paying jobs back. The BC Council of Forest Industries president and CEO, Kim Haakstad, said last week, “The recent increase in U.S. tariffs and duties is a serious blow to an industry already strained by years of uncertainty, mill closures, and job losses. The federal government must make resolving the softwood lumber dispute a national priority.” When will the Prime Minister finally stand up for B.C. forest workers?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised he would negotiate a win with the United States. For British Columbia, that means negotiating a softwood lumber agreement. In response to the collapse of trade negotiations on Friday, the Prime Minister failed even to mention softwood. Since he took office, softwood tariffs have tripled, going from 14% to 45%. Just yesterday, Sinclar Group Forest Products reduced its production by 40% at three of its mills in northern B.C. There are 350 mill workers affected by the cuts. When will the Prime Minister finally stand up for forestry workers?”
“Mr. Speaker, I agree that it is a distraction. We have a terrible economy. Our resources are not getting developed. The Premier of the Northwest Territories was here today with some grand chiefs. They want to get economic development up in the territories. All we are seeing is a decline in the economy there. We need to get real things done. That is going to be with a future Conservative government.”