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Madam Speaker, it is my honour to rise in the House today to present petitions on behalf of constituents and Canadians across the country.

The first petition has to do with the abdication of responsibility by Health Canada under the Liberal government when it comes to issues with the marijuana framework.

The petitioners are asking the government to immediately close the loopholes that allow facilities linked to organized crime to grow marijuana in our communities and to provide law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to investigate and prosecute these unlawful operations.

Madam Speaker, the second petition calls on the government to take meaningful action to address the conflict in the Tigray region of the Ethiopia. Civilians are being subjected to human rights abuses and are being blocked from accessing humanitarian aid.

The petitioners are asking the government to immediately work with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments to end the violence and promote democracy and the rule of law. It is in such a time as this that the world needs Canada to have a principled foreign policy.

Madam Speaker, the third petition I will present today calls on the government to provide sector-specific support to the airline sector, with the conditions that airlines expeditiously issue refunds to passengers. Many of my constituents have been in touch with my office for well over a year and still have not received a refund.

The government has a responsibility to ensure that the support it provides to large companies goes to those who need it and not in the pockets of wealthy executives.

Madam Speaker, the final petition I will present today addresses Bill C-6. As I have always said, I support banning conversion therapy as do these petitioners. The petitioners recognize, however, that the poor and imprecise definition of conversion therapy in Bill C-6 will cause this bill to ban more than just conversion therapy, including counsel from religious leaders on sexuality, and the rights of parents to protect and guide their children. It is important we protect parental rights as well as the rights of Canadians to choose the type of support that is right for them.

Madam Speaker, 21 years ago, a little girl named Heather was playing in her front yard in Cloverdale. Her neighbour, 24-year-old violent pedophile Shane Ertmoed, sexually assaulted and brutally murdered her. He stuffed her in his hockey bag and dumped her in the lake. Shane was sentenced to life in prison.

Recently, the parole board approved his early day release, even though he admits that he continues to experience disturbing sexual urges. He plans to work in public parks, which are visited by many Victoria families.

Will this government commit to reviewing this release immediately and overturning the board’s decision?

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I believe that my colleague from Banff—Airdrie was suggesting that the app did not allow a change. We are allowed in the app, during the 10 minutes, to change our vote, and if it is not working, it is a technical difficulty. I wonder if maybe that is a better explanation. The app, within that 10 minutes, was not allowing her to do it and that makes this a technical difficulty.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his commitment to stand against coercive and abusive therapies on behalf of vulnerable Canadians.

As 72% of Canadians who were polled support a wait-and-see approach for counselling young people, that means the support is for the right of parents to delay medical treatments for a gender transition until the child is mature enough to understand their repercussions.

Does the member believe that parents should preserve that right or that children as young as age seven or eight have the cognitive ability to understand the impact puberty blockers will have on their health in years to come?

Mr. Speaker, today I have the privilege of presenting three petitions to the House.

The first petition is calling on the Government of Canada to respond to the violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Petitioners are asking the government to call for an end to the violence in the region and to help to ensure that the innocent victims of the violence are able to access humanitarian aid. Canada has a history of supporting democracy around the world, and in addition to calling for an end to the violence, we need to do our part to ensure the fairness and legitimacy of the democratic process in Ethiopia.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I will present today calls on the government to use the Magnitsky act to sanction the perpetrators of the persecution and violence against the Falun Gong in China. There are credible reports of appalling human rights abuses against the Falun Gong, including forced organ harvesting.

The petitioners call attention to the former Chinese Communist Party leader, Jiang Zemin, and his cohorts whose eradication campaign against Falun Gong, including the extrajudicial torture and killing of Falun Gong practitioners in large numbers, has continued with impunity for the past 19 years. The Canadian government needs to recognize this and take action by freezing assets and barring entry into Canada.

Mr. Speaker, the final petition I will present today relates to Bill C-6. Just like every member of this House, these petitioners want to see conversion therapy banned. No Canadian should be subject to a harmful and degrading practice that seeks to change their sexuality against their will.

They also recognize, however, that the definition of conversion therapy used in Bill C-6 is a poorly written definition. The definition is not used by any medical body in the world, and it will cause this bill to ban not only the harmful practices we all want banned, but also the support that helps certain LGBTQ Canadians. As we debate this bill together today, let us not forget the countless people who have benefited from the type of support this bill will ban, and that they have asked us not to forget about them as we craft this legislation.

Madam Speaker, this is not the first time that we see the current Liberal government refusing to allow parliamentary oversight on very serious issues of the day and refusing to submit unredacted documents to committee. Does my colleague find this serial cover-up behaviour in any way transparent, as the Liberals insistently claim they are?

Mr. Speaker, we all know that this is not the first time we have seen the Liberal government refuse to allow parliamentary oversight on very serious issues of the day. It has refused repeatedly to submit unredacted documents at many committees. I have been on the health and finance committees.

Does my colleague think this constitutes transparency by any stretch of the imagination?

Mr. Speaker, the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. have had 54 scientists resign or be fired as a result of non-disclosure of financial ties to foreign governments. Of the 189 scientists investigated to date, 93% had not disclosed that China was the source of their support.

Seeing how prevalent this situation is in the U.S. makes it all the more imperative that Canadian parliamentarians are fully aware of foreign influences occurring on our soil. Why would the Liberals be hiding these documents, as the security of Canadians is so clearly at risk?

Mr. Speaker, in an OPQ that I put through last year on this exact topic we found out there was no other institute that asked for this transfer, only the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Twelve strains of Ebola and three strains of the Nipah virus were authorized for transfer. No compensation was received. No conditions on the transfer of the material were in place. I am curious how my hon. colleague feels this information should be properly treated. How should we be dealing with this terrible situation?

Madam Speaker, I agree with my esteemed colleague that coercive therapy does not work. According to a Nanos poll, 72% of Canadians support a wait-and-see approach for counselling young people, meaning they support the right of parents to delay medical treatment for gender transition until the child is mature enough to understand the repercussions.

Does the member believe parents should preserve that right to guide their young children with a wait-and-see approach, or does he believe children as young as seven or eight have the cognitive ability to understand the impact puberty blockers will have on their health in years to come?