John Brassard
Barrie South—Innisfil, Ontario · Conservative · Canada
“Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for what I thought was a very thoughtful speech on a very concerning bill. It is not just the NDP or Conservatives who are concerned, but civil liberty organizations and other stakeholders. The Privacy Commissioner himself has significant concerns about the privacy aspects of this legislation.”
“Madam Speaker, the way the Liberals are acting tonight, it is almost like the arsonist who sets a house on fire and then we expect him to put the fire out. It is almost the same thing. I want to go back to the issue of the Privacy Commissioner.”
“Mr. Speaker, this goes back to April 2025, when Canadians elected a minority government to provide oversight, accountability and transparency so that the opposition parties could hold them to account and provide that oversight.”
“Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Oshawa does not even know this yet, but there is breaking news that the Liberal government is actually standing down on some of the contentious parts of the bill, namely the retention of records. They are talking about reducing it from one year to six months now.”
“Madam Speaker, I was at the committee meeting the day the Privacy Commissioner was there, along with other witnesses representing social media platforms. Before the meeting, all the witnesses indicated that they had submitted their briefs to the committee. However, members were not able to see them because they had not received them.”
“Mr. Speaker, if we talk to anyone on the street or to businesses suffering from 11 years of failed Liberal policies, they will tell us that Canada is in a recession, no matter how the Liberals or the media try to spin it, and that things are not getting any better.”
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“The act is central to maintaining integrity and public trust in government. In some cases, quite frankly, that trust has been eroded. In the Prime Minister 's case, during the election he told a reporter that he holds only cash and real estate, but we found out subsequent to the ethics reporting that the Prime Minister has an extensive portfolio of holdings within companies, particularly affiliated with Brookfield and others, 93% of which are in the United States. We also found out through witness testimony that while the Prime Minister was the head of Brookfield, taxes were dodged in tax havens to the extent of $6.5 billion. When Canadian companies do not pay their taxes, that is less money for services that look after vulnerable people, less for health care and less for education.”
“What makes it important, particularly with blind trusts and the ethics screens that have been set up, is that there are many loopholes within the current, existing framework of the act that can allow for a designated public officer to be directly engaged and involved in the decision-making process when, in fact that person should be recusing himself or herself from any decisions that are made, because there is a financial gain or a financial interest at play. The committee wants to make sure that it is in a position to close the loopholes. There have been significant suggestions from witnesses who have appeared on how to do that, so that will form the basis of many of the recommendations the committee presents. We also want to ensure that there is ethical governance.”
“I certainly do not want to preclude any results of this. Obviously the committee has more work ahead of it. There are more witnesses to appear, but also, as we draft the report and come up with recommendations, I can assure the House with some confidence that many of those recommendations will form a significant upgrade and allow for the Conflict of Interest Act to reflect the modern times and the situation we find ourselves in, where, in the case of the Prime Minister and his private interests, we have never had a prime minister as conflicted as the current one is, with having to declare 103 conflicts of interest, as well as stockholdings in the United States that represent almost 93% of his portfolio.”
“Some provisions may allow for exceptions, which may need a little more scrutiny. From a policy and legislative alignment standpoint, it should align with other ethics frameworks to ensure consistency with the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons and other federal ethics laws and certainly to support broader accountability, including transparency, lobbying and privacy legislation as well. The committee is working. It is in the process right now of undertaking the study. There have been some pretty significant interactions with witnesses who have provided some suggestions to the committee that could eventually form the recommendations of a study that we ultimately present to Parliament, and have the government respond to many of the recommendations that may come.”
“(1515) It is also to address ambiguities. Some rules may be unclear or be inconsistently applied across different roles. Certainly, first and foremost, it is to improve transparency by strengthening disclosure and reporting requirements that can enhance, ultimately, what the goal of all parliamentarians and designated public officers should be: to ensure that the public has the utmost confidence that designated public office-holders are not using their position to further enhance their financial portfolio. Right now the committee is undertaking a review of the applicability to various roles, as ministers, parliamentary secretaries and senior officials have different levels of obligation. It will assess post-employment rules and consider exemptions and exceptions.”
“It is also to respond to public concerns, high-profile cases or controversies that may prompt the need for legislative review, which certainly we are seeing in the case of the Prime Minister right now. On modernization and reform, the intent of the committee is also to update outdated provisions. The act may need revisions from time to time to reflect current realities, for example, digital assets and lobbying practices. I am very pleased to report that the ethics committee has passed a motion to study the Lobbying Act, which has not been reviewed since 2012 despite the legislative requirement of a five-year review. I know that the Commissioner of Lobbying is very much anticipating the review, and I expect that you, Mr. Speaker, will hear from committee or the House leaders, asking for the committee to conduct such a review.”
“As members will recall, the act is quite comprehensive, but it is to ensure that ethical governance exists. It is central to maintaining the integrity of public trust in government. It is also designed to prevent the misuse of power. It aims to prevent officials from using their positions, as I said, to further their private interests, and it aims to clarify obligations as well. Designated public office-holders have complex and varied responsibilities under the act. It also provides for some oversight and accountability to strengthen oversight mechanisms so parliamentary reviews can identify gaps on enforcement and compliance, which is what the committee is doing right now, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the Ethics Commissioner. The committee oversees the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.”
“Quite frankly, there are many holes within the Conflict of Interest Act that allow for designated public office-holders, including those holding the highest office in the land, to use that act, with its many loopholes, to skirt around the law that exists today, and that would cause reasonable, thinking people in this country to question the motives and intention of a designated office-holder. We are quite understanding of the fact that we cannot focus on things on a case-by-case basis, and that is why we are conducting the comprehensive study on the act to ensure that Canadians are confident that their designated public officers are not using their offices as a means to enhance or further their private interests and to gain financially as a result of their being in office.”
“The Conflict of Interest Act, quite frankly, has never contemplated a situation such as the one we are in right now, where we find a designated public office-holder with so many potential conflicts of interest because of extensive private sector holdings. We are really trying to focus on and narrow down how we can improve the Conflict of Interest Act and perhaps provide recommendations to the House, and certainly to the government, in amending the law in ways that would protect the transparency and accountability that Canadians so rightly demand. It is not just about the one thing of having a conflict; the appearance of the conflict is also another thing.”
“The committee is also looking to the House to instruct the committee on whether the act should be amended or expanded with a view to enhancing transparency; preventing conflicts of interest; avoiding potential or apparent conflicts of interest; regulating public office-holders’ ownership of assets in tax havens, and I will have more to say on that in a few minutes; limiting the availability of blind trusts as a compliance measure; extending the act’s provisions to political party leaders and leadership candidates; and increasing penalties for non-compliance. The conclusion of the review calls for the committee to report its findings to the House.”
“Motion for concurrence Mr. Speaker, I move that the third report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, presented to the House on Monday, September 22, 2025, be concurred in. I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes , who is also a stalwart defender of openness, transparency, truth and accountability, as our shadow minister for ethics on the ethics committee. The ethics committee has been in the process of studying a report and a review of the Conflict of Interest Act. As I reported to the House, what the committee is in the middle of studying right now includes the conflict of interest rules, disclosure mechanisms and compliance measures set out in the act.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased the hon. member for Shefford brought up this point. I am very thankful she is as concerned as I and my family are for the state of finances in this country. There seem to be no guardrails, and the member is quite right. I remember the fiasco the day the former finance minister resigned. I remember the former House leader coming in and dropping the fall economic statement on the table. There was really no opportunity to discuss it. We have not had a budget in this country in 18 months. We have no idea what the government's revenues or expenditures are, except what is being signalled by the Parliamentary Budget Officer and others. With Halloween coming up, it is scary for all Canadians.”
“Mr. Speaker, I know you said “I hope”, but I believe the comment was directed at a member currently sitting in the House, which goes to show the indifference the Liberal government is showing toward the plight of Canadians right now. The Liberals think everything is a big joke. It is not a joke for a single mom who cannot afford to put food on her table or a roof over her head. It is not a joke for a business owner, their family and their employees, who are counting on that business to continue to function, as long as the government keeps attacking people through increased taxation and regulation. We are not talking about a joke here today. The Liberal members may see it that way, but there are millions of Canadians who are suffering each and every day in this country. They are making ends meet just to get by, and enough is enough.”
“We can supply the world with clean Canadian energy, create billions and billions of dollars in revenue and great-paying jobs for our fellow Canadians, including indigenous Canadians, right across the country, yet this ideological attack continues and limits our ability to create these revenues. This will keep happening as long as we keep doing these things. This motion is calling for us to stop doing what we are doing, because it is not working. Canadians are paying the price every single day the government continues on the path it is on.”
“As long as legislation like Bill C-69 , Bill C-48 and the emissions cap exist, it will continue to limit and impede our ability to create the revenue we need to pay for the debt and deficit the government has not only accumulated over the last 10 years but also continues to accumulate going forward. We cannot keep attacking our energy sector. We have what the world needs. We have clean Canadian energy that we can feed the world. The problem we have right now, as long as these pieces of legislation exist, and as long as we continue with our emissions cap and an ideological attack on our energy sector, Canada is falling behind to a point where we are not going to supply the world, but we are actually going to enter into a supplementary mode.”
“Every single problem we have in this country, such as the inflation, the debt, the deficits, the housing crisis, the health care crisis and the immigration crisis, everything, all started before Donald Trump became the President of the United States. Everything did, yet the Liberals continue to use Trump as an excuse. What we are saying with this motion today is that enough is enough. The Liberals cannot keep doing the things they are doing and expect different results. Lastly, I want to focus on the issue of resources and building our resources out. Canada has the best innovation, labour and human rights standards in the world. We have the third-largest and fifth-largest reserves in the world.”
“All eyes will be on the government to see just how much of a bait and switch this new budgetary regime it is announcing is going to cause. I say to people all the time that it is naive to think that the Prime Minister left a multi-billion dollar company making multiple millions of dollars for some virtuous reason to make $400,000 as the Prime Minister because he wanted to come back to save the nation. I have said this before in the House, but he came back to keep the kleptocracy alive, to allow those in the inside circle of the Liberal elite party, and all of those who are well-connected insiders and lobbyists, at the trough to maintain access to the Treasury.”
“After the last election, we have a Prime Minister right now, who is not so much a PM, but more a portfolio manager, who promised the world to Canadians and that he was going to be different. He is anything but, because we are now seeing that the deficit is projected to be $60 billion. I suggest it is going to be a lot more than that. There are a lot of people who are much smarter than me who are suggesting it is going to be a lot more than that. We are also seeing debt increase. There is a budget coming November 4, which is basically a bait and switch. We know the Liberals are going to try to cover up as much as they can in terms of the actual amount of the debt and deficit through this new budget regime. They are not going to be fooling anybody.”
“In the last government, we saw increased debt and deficit, which caused inflationary pressures that have caused many Canadians to feel the price increases at the stores for groceries, and for other items, including heat and hydro. They cannot afford to live anymore, based on the fiscal policies of the last 10 years. (1615) The government has trumpeted the fact that it is a new government since the April election. The reality is that it is the same government since 70% of the people who are in that cabinet today were in cabinet in the Justin Trudeau government, and they are responsible for 80% of the spending occurring in the government today. It is not a new government. It is the same government employing and deploying the same tactics and the same strategy of debt and deficit that is causing so much hardship to Canadians.”
“We have the second-highest unemployment rate in the G7. These are all the realities that Canadians are facing right now. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. What today's motion says is that enough is enough. What the Liberals are doing is not working. The reality of Canadians is that they are suffering. Four million Canadians are using food banks. We have seen it increase in Barrie sixfold since 2020. Just a couple weeks ago, I was at the Barrie Food Bank. It is serving 7,600 families a month right now, and 44% of the people it is serving are children and seniors. Those who used to donate to the food banks are now users of food banks in Barrie. This is cascading across the country. Four million people are using food banks every month in this country. It should not be that way.”
“Nearly half [of Canadians] (48%) are within $200 of insolvency each month [which is up six points, quarter over quarter], and the average cushion after bills has fallen to $744 (from $916). Fewer than half (46%) have six months of emergency savings, leaving many households exposed as winter heating costs approach. Where are they cutting back? Again, it is Liberal delusion meeting with Canadian reality: “Beyond heat and food, Canadians are changing daily habits to cope. 51% are grocery shopping more strategically (meal plans, bulk buying, coupons, price matching). 45% are avoiding impulse purchases and 41% have stopped dining out or ordering takeout.” When we listen to the Liberals, and we have heard them today, Canadians do not care about debt-to-GDP ratios, despite the fact that the Liberals are wrong.”
“MNP financial issued a note on a survey it did. The reality of the headline, I think, speaks volumes as to where we are at today as a nation: “Canadians face ‘heat or eat’ decisions as financial strain deepens”. That is the headline this week. MNP financial did a survey of Canadians. Would members like to know what it found? Again, Liberal delusion is meeting the reality of Canadians: Canadians’ financial vulnerability is worsening, with the MNP Consumer Debt Index sliding two points to 86—its lowest September reading since 2023. Growing numbers report making painful trade-offs: 29% [of Canadians] have reduced utility consumption [which is up five points, year over year] and 24% say they are eating less to save money [which is down four points, year over year].”
“Mr. Speaker, we are here debating a motion at a point in this nation's history when Liberal delusion is meeting the fiscal reality of Canadians and Canadian businesses. The delusion is that Canadians have never had it as good as they have it today. The reality is that Canadian families and single moms are worried about putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads. Canadian businesses are not investing. In fact, we are seeing a lot of investment leaving this country because of doubt and uncertainty and because of the tax regime of this country. Yesterday, I met with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and it is quite concerned about the tax regime in this country. Delusion is actually meeting reality, and just this week, we learned of what that reality may look like.”
“As the Blue Jays wait for their next opponent, start spreading the news. I wish I could say it like John Schneider said it. For the first time since 2016, the Blue Jays are going to the ALCS.”
“Mr. Speaker, how could we not love Vladdy and David Ortiz repeating after the game, “Da Yankees lose!”? Actually keeping their elbows up against the Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays have punched their ticket to the American League championship, with a 5-2 victory last night. Credit goes to Ross Atkins, Mark Shapiro and manager John Schneider and his staff for building a culture where players play for each other, not for themselves. Along the way, they have allowed an entire nation to be part of this season. This is how championships are built. From Vladdy to Bo, Ernie to Gaus, Daulton to Kirky, Canadians know this team by their first names and nicknames. We are all part of this ride now, and I think I speak for every Canadian when I say we want it all. We want them to win the ALCS and we want them to win the World Series. We want it all.”
“Mr. Speaker, they are also checking the stock price of Brookfield-related companies. Nearly $60 billion in investment has fled the country, mostly to the place where the Prime Minister has 93% of his investments, the United States. He promised he would handle Trump and negotiate a win by July 16, then it was July 21 and then August 1. It is October 3. He promised strength but has shown weakness. Oshawa, Kapuskasing and Calgary have all been devastated with job losses this week. How many more families need to lose their jobs and how many more businesses need to close before the Prime Minister wakes up to the reality that what he is doing is not working?”
“Mr. Speaker, as impossible as it may seem, things are worse under the Prime Minister than they were under Justin Trudeau. While those connected to the Prime Minister, his corporate buddies, Liberal-connected insiders and lobbyists, are doing just fine, 86,000 Canadians have lost their jobs since he became the Prime Minister. Canada now has the second-highest unemployment rate in the G7. Our productivity as a country is nearing developing-nation status. Why are the policies of the Prime Minister designed to benefit his corporate buddies and Liberal insiders while Canadians pay the price?”
“The undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call upon the Government of Canada to reject recommendations 429 and 430 of the House of Commons finance committee's pre-budget report, refrain from including these recommendations in the federal budget or any related legislation, and affirm the charitable status of faith-based organizations, whose work flows from sincerely held beliefs and whose contributions serve the common good of Canada.”
“Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I also have a petition, certified and signed by 30 people, regarding recommendation 430 of the House of Commons finance committee's pre-budget report, which proposes removing the advancement of religion as a recognized charitable purpose under the Income Tax Act. Recommendation 429 proposes to revoke the charitable status of various organizations. Religious charities in Canada provide vital services to society, including food banks, care for seniors, newcomer support, youth programs and mental health outreach. These communities indeed promote hope, belonging, social cohesion and compassion.”
“Mr. Speaker, he cannot find them. He cannot find the 600 serious criminals who are non-citizens and should be deported but are roaming the streets of Canadian cities. The minister had the entire summer to come up with a plan to find these convicted non-citizen criminals, who have been convicted of crimes like sexual assault. He lost them and he cannot find them. My question is for the Prime Minister . If this level of incompetence happened at Brookfield, would he still have confidence in that person or would he fire them?”
“Mr. Speaker, 600 foreign nationals with criminal convictions are roaming around Canadian cities. More than half are on the CBSA's wanted list, and their whereabouts are unknown. Over 70% of these non-citizen criminals have been convicted of serious crimes, including sexual assault. The public safety minister has one job, which is to keep Canadians safe. On this and many other issues, he is failing miserably. It is really hard to believe that the Prime Minister , just yesterday, said he has confidence in the minister . Why will he not fire the minister? Not doing so calls into question the Prime Minister's judgment.”
“Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, entitled “Proposed Review of the Conflict of Interest Act”.”
“A larger-than-life figure, he was curious, humble and respectful of the many people he met along his miraculous journey, including a young boy who grew up on 6th Avenue in Verdun and idolized Ken Dryden. He loved Canada and everything that Canada aspired to be. [ English ] Finally, having met his dad, Murray, on several occasions, and knowing the impact he had on so many lives around the world, I am not surprised Ken lived his life the way he did. Murray and Margaret Dryden taught Ken well, and it showed in who he was as a person and in everything he did. On behalf of our Conservative team and our leader , with great respect and admiration for a truly remarkable Canadian, and Canadien, we send our condolences to Lynda and the entire Dryden family. May Ken rest, in his famous pose, in peace.”
“[ Translation ] Like every kid growing up back when Ken Dryden was goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, he inspired countless people to play that position in the streets or on the ice, and to strike the Dryden pose when resting, blocker against stick, as immortalized by statues in Montreal and in the Hockey Hall of Fame. [ English ] As de Souza wrote this week, “What other sports figure is sculpted at rest rather than in action? It’s the sports version of Auguste Rodin's ‘The Thinker’ because Dryden was the great sportsman-thinker of his time, perhaps any time.” [ Translation ] There was never any doubt about the way that Ken Dryden lived his life or that he believed in miracles.”
“There are many excellent hockey players out there, but none was as skilled at analyzing the public sphere and, ultimately, at serving the public within the federal cabinet. [ English ] J. de Souza noted that Ken Dryden “spent a year...in classrooms as Ontario's youth commissioner to more fully understand the challenges of education.” He went on to say: He moved into a middle-class home for a week to observe what life was like for a typical Toronto family in the early '90s. His novel of that experience, “The Moved and the Shaken”...[was] a reminder in public policy, in journalism, in culture, to pay attention not only to the movers and the shakers, but those whom they move and shake. We would be wise to let that be a reminder to all of us as we contemplate the decisions we make and the impact they have on our fellow Canadians.”
“However, it is what he accomplished outside of playing hockey that has been so intriguing. The legendary American broadcaster Al Michaels, who Dryden was sitting beside during the Miracle on Ice, when arguably the greatest call in sports history was made, referred to Ken recently on a podcast as a “Renaissance man” who knew everything about everything. Father Raymond J. de Souza, in the National Post, said of Dryden, “In team sports, no one ever packed so much achievement into as few years (only eight seasons) as did Dryden—six Stanley Cups plus the 1972 Soviet series.” He said, “Only Michael Jordan was comparable, but the 1992 U.S. basketball ‘dream team’ was not nearly as important as the 1972 series.” (1520) [ Translation ] Surprisingly, Ken Dryden was at his best and most impressive off, not on, the ice.”
“I thought about that as I stood in the Dryden backyard. In fact, his style was so unconventional that “legendary Boston Bruins and New York Rangers sniper Phil Esposito...during the 1971 Stanley Cup Playoffs was so frustrated by Dryden stoning the Bruins in an NHL Quarterfinals upset that he grumbled about the goalie having ‘arms like a giraffe.’” More than half a century later, Esposito revisited the confusing comparison to a giraffe's anatomy after Dryden's death and said, “OK, maybe [he had] the legs of a giraffe.” Much has been said about his hockey accomplishments since his passing on September 5: the Stanley Cups he won, the Vezina Trophy, the Conn Smythe Trophy, the 1972 Summit Series and being drafted by the Boston Bruins in the 1964 NHL draft, which he did find out until the mid-seventies because it was a much simpler time back then, with no cellphones, no Internet and no hockey database websites.”
“I had the occasion to visit Dryden's childhood home several times in Islington with my mother-in-law, and the home later became a warehouse of bed kits for Murray's charity. What struck me was that Murray had paved the backyard so young Ken and Dave could hone their skills in net with the neighbourhood kids, who, as I was told by Murray, would gather often to play ball hockey and ice hockey in the winter. The nets were still there when I visited. Members can imagine how I felt seeing the very spot where my hockey hero, the member for Foothills 's hero and many of our Quebec colleagues' hero learned the art of being a goaler. Dave Stubbs of NHL.com wrote that Dryden was “never a conventional goaltender. Not with his lanky, even gangly body type, accentuated even more by his stand-up style of play”.”
“Mr. Speaker, I too rise to pay tribute to a remarkable Canadian whose contributions have transcended the arenas of sport, public service and social advocacy, the Hon. Ken Dryden. I do so not just as a member of Parliament, but as a kid who grew up in Montreal watching Ken Dryden play for the Canadiens. I have a personal connection to the Dryden family by way of my wife's family, who lived not too far from Murray, Margaret, Ken, Dave and Judy's home in central Etobicoke on Pinehurst Crescent. My mother-in-law Jean Berry served on the board of Ken's dad's charity, Sleeping Children Around the World, and edited Murray's book With God Nothing is Impossible . When Lynda and Ken moved back to Toronto, my wife Liane babysat their two children while they searched for a home.”
“On behalf of Andrea and myself, I want to thank our invaluable community partners, who helped make this event the biggest one yet: the Town of Innisfil, Sobeys Alcona Beach, Foodland Stroud, the South Simcoe Police Service, the Innisfil fire department, Kool FM, Rock 95, Canadian Musicians Co-operative, Georgian College, RVH's Keep Life Wild campaign, Dream Parties, Innisfil Backyard Bounce, Barrie Tent & Awning, The Flag Store, Allegra Barrie, Cyncor and Dave Chalut from Domino's Pizza. Finally, a barbecue this large would not be possible without our incredible team of staff and volunteers. I want to thank Al Gilchrist and the team he put together. Over 75 people gave of their time on a Saturday in August to help bring our communities together, and they did so knowing the importance of connecting people.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is a great time to connect with the people we represent, and there was no better way to do that than the eighth annual Community Barbecue, hosted by myself and my good friend, an MPP and minister, Andrea Khanjin. It took place on August 16 in Stroud. The event saw an incredible turnout, our biggest ever, with more than 1,500 people attending.”
“Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of rising for what will be a very busy ethics committee, I suspect, in the future. I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the following two reports of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. The first report is entitled “Federal Government's Use of Technological Tools Capable of Extracting Personal Data from Mobile Devices and Computers”, and the second is regarding the report “Oversight of Social Media Platforms: Ensuring Privacy and Safety Online”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to each of these two reports.”
“Madam Speaker, does my colleague agree with me that, with what we saw today at the G7, “pucker up” has replaced “elbows up”? [ English ] Throughout the campaign, the Prime Minister incited fear among many Canadians, and I assume many Quebeckers, that the greatest threat that existed was the United States. I would suggest the greatest threat we have seen has existed within this country over the last 10 years because of the economic malaise and because of many of the regulatory and legislative policies the government has imposed. Would the member not agree with me that this incitement of fear has actually gone from Trump derangement syndrome on the part of the government to Trump appeasement syndrome?”
“Madam Speaker, if we listen to the hon. member speak about this bill, we could get the sense that there is universal acceptance of this bill, but, quite frankly, there is not. In fact, we heard a Liberal member of Parliament today talk about the concerns he has: the lack of consultation and the fact that this bill would trample on rights, including indigenous rights. In the little time the committee will have to deal with this, if the committee comes back with substantive changes to the bill that improve it and address many of the concerns that we are hearing from across the country with respect to this bill, would the government accept those changes, yes or no?”
“Madam Speaker, I love the hon. member's assertion that we need to be bold, we need to be ambitious and we need to be audacious. This is not the time for Canada to be timid. We talked about this during the election campaign because of the threats coming from the United States, but this bill is anything but bold. It is anything but ambitious and audacious. It is a very timid bill because it does not repeal the things that are holding our natural resource sector and our economy at bay: Bill C-69 , Bill C-48 , the industrial carbon tax and other mechanisms that need to be repealed for us to be bold. I wonder if the hon. member can comment a little more about that.”
“Madam Speaker, I have to admit that I am tepid in supporting this bill, because I have seen, over the last 10 years, major announcements by this Liberal government, yet nothing gets done. I am old enough to remember, during the recent election campaign, when the Prime Minister made a promise, and he said that interprovincial trade barriers would be removed by Canada Day, yet we are dealing with a bill to deal with the removal of interprovincial trade barriers. I know this hon. member has been here for a long time now. Does she share this same sense of tepidness that I have in terms of this government's ability to actually get things done? Are these just more announcements and more of the same?”
“Mr. Speaker, my first question to the hon. member is whether I can post his speech on my Facebook page. I would appreciate that. In all seriousness, the bill lacks a lot of things and is susceptible to many things, that is, court challenges as a result of the lack of indigenous consultation within the bill, and other parts as well. I wonder whether the hon. member can speak to the risks as they relate potential court challenges related to the bill.”
“There is $26 billion in consultants is in the main estimates. Where do people think the money is going to go? It is going to keeping the kleptocracy alive, and it has got to stop.”
“Mr. Speaker, not one has accepted responsibility for what went on with GC Strategies. Not one minister has accepted any of the responsibility for all the scandals, all of the corruption and all of the cronyism that has gone on over the last 10 years. In fact, as I said in my speech, several have been promoted into new positions. It is unacceptable that Canadians would accept this. Canadians did accept it, and I understand some of the reasons they did. This is important to understand: Much of this stuff was happening long before Donald Trump became the President of the United States, and it will continue under the current government. We are going to see, as I said earlier, that the kleptocracy continues, where well-connected insiders, cronies, friends and families are going to benefit as a result of the government's continuing on.”
“Mr. Speaker, I already said that in my speech. The government is the same. Nothing has changed but the leader. It is like the example I gave of an old car: Even with a coat of wax, an old car is still an old car. If the government is truly willing to change, it will vote in support of this motion. [ English ] It would not vote for covering up all of its indiscretions in the past. This is a systemic problem within the government that needs to be exposed. We are exposing it. The money needs to be paid back, and it needs to be paid back now.”