Ken Hardie

[Privilege, October 24th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I would like to invite Canadians to be woke, woke to the disingenuous narrative being put forward by the Conservative Party. The RCMP says it has the documents it needs. The RCMP has the ability to ask for further documents directly and not have them be spoon-fed through Parliament. The Speaker has said the proper transit of the documents being requested would be to a standing committee. It is my understanding that this is precisely what the government is prepared to do.

With all that, why are the Conservatives burning up three weeks, now, of parliamentary time on a proposition that is totally improper?

[Privilege, October 10th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, there is proof that when all is said and done, there is more said than done. I think members on the other side are running out of, or getting a bit tired of, their own talking points on this one.

We have a situation where they are demanding that records supplied to Parliament be given to the RCMP for purposes of investigation. I do not think anybody would disagree with the notion that an investigation needs to happen, but the process they are talking about would produce something the RCMP has said it does not want and cannot use.

Can the hon. member speak to the fact that the dear leader over there thinks he is smarter than the RCMP and knows more than the RCMP does about doing an investigation properly?

[Privilege, October 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I think the question is if there is wrongdoing, somebody needs to be punished. There are allegations, of course, but nothing has been proven.

I would say this to my hon. colleague. When the RCMP tells us that it does not need the material the Conservatives want produced and that it cannot use the material that would be provided if the Conservative motion were to succeed, what should we take from that on how best to proceed with the kind of investigation that people seem to be calling for?

[Business of Supply, September 24th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it would appear that, based on announcements that were made even last week, today's debate is not about confidence in the government. It is about confidence in the official opposition.

What do our colleagues in the Bloc and the NDP know and why does the member opposite think that they are not going to support the initiative that the Conservatives have put forward?

[Business of Supply, September 24th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, Canadians are becoming more and more put off by the insulting behaviour and the slogan burping of the Leader of the Opposition. They are also more and more concerned that there might be a hidden agenda.

Can my hon. colleague speak to what might be lurking in that hidden agenda?

[Committees of the House, September 20th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as a former mayor, the hon. member has a unique perspective. Two things have traditionally contributed to homelessness. One is mental health issues. Provinces across the country, including my home province of British Columbia, did nobody a service years ago when they shut down institutions that would look after the homeless. Provinces put them on the street promising there would be the services they need, but they did not materialize. That still exists. The other piece is the hard, cruel fact that the free-enterprise system is leaving people behind. People are using homes as investments, buying them up to make money off of them. Rents are going up.

These are all things that provinces and cities should manage. I am wondering what role provinces and cities should be taking.

[Committees of the House, September 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the federal government is usually just the ATM that helps make things happen. The actual policy, regulation and control usually rest with provinces and municipalities. Would the hon. member reflect on the share of responsibility between provincial governments, municipal governments and the federal government? Maybe he can spread the news around about who needs to do what and do so a little more equitably than he has today.

[Committees of the House, September 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, development cost charges, of course, are necessary to pay for water and sewer hookups, and I would not mind the member's reflection on the general policy of municipalities that new pays for new, and whether or not there are some alternatives to that over and above a reasonable ask that development cost charges be lower.

One other thing I would not mind the member's reflecting on is speculators. The number of homes in Canada owned by a speculator, an investor, has gone way up. More than that, though, property, land, in municipalities is being brought by speculators. They get upzoning on it and then sit on it, waiting to flip it. That is another area where we should look to the municipalities to put sunset clauses on zoning and do a bunch of other things.

[Electoral Participation Act, June 17th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, we are getting high-centred on the one thing that it seems a lot of people would not like to see in the bill, so let us turn this inside out. I would like the hon. member to maybe talk about things that are not in the bill that he would like to see. For instance, there has been mention of voting at 16. How close are we to voting online?

Are these the sorts of things that perhaps the hon. member would like to see, or are there other things?

[Electoral Participation Act, June 17th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the passion in my colleague's speech, but are we at risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater? The one issue, the pensions, I understand. I have had my own correspondence on that, but we are talking about sending something to committee where the committee would have the opportunity to take out the things that the majority in the committee disagrees with. Does the member have faith in the committee system that the committee would actually return a bill to Parliament in a form that Canadians would accept?