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mpetitive globally?

seeing specialty AI help support people with brain injuries, diagnose disease, assist in civic planning and streamline processes to drive real innovation, productivity and economic opportunity. Can you please explain the difference between specialty AI in sectors like science and research, health care and industry, for example, and superintelligent AI, which the developers themselves admit they have no control over?

that's completely untrue. We don't have the infrastructure we need for our computing capacity. We hold only 12% of our own Canadian patents, while 87% have become foreign-owned. Our commercialization is limited, costing us $75 billion yearly, or 2.7% of our GDP, and $5 billion in lost tax revenue. These failures are leading to a brain drain. Our talent is leaving our country because we cannot commercialize. What is your file doing to protect the intellectual property generated here in Canada and control our licensing terms to enable our own commercialization in sustained manufacturing?

nnovation capital, but we do not monetize and commercialize here in Canada. We're losing our IP. We're losing our data. It's going to the States or abroad. What is your strategy to make sure it stays here in Canada?

I talked to that was not affected, either directly or indirectly, by the drug crisis. That is just in my community. I know that every single one of the seats in this House represents communities that are the same. We need to start doing something about this.

ot recovery and not healing, just drugs. After a half a decade of chaos and heartbreak and $1 billion spent, what did the Liberals decide to do? In this budget, they chose to walk away. They chose to let mental health and addiction support funding expire, with no plan to renew it, no plan to replace it and no plan to help Canadians who are living through the consequences of the policies the Liberals championed. They are passing the responsibility to the provinces and municipalities, claiming it is not their jurisdiction. They should have had that same mindset before starting the safe supply experiment. They are pretending their decisions had nothing to do with the crisis Canadians are facing today. The government set fire to the barn, and now it is walking away hoping for someone else to put out the flames. The human toll of this drug crisis is being borne in large part by those we ask to save lives: our first responders. Recent reporting from CityNews shows the scale of what they are facing. The Vancouver Fire Rescue Services recently answered 54 overdose incidents in one day, the highest number of overdose responses ever recorded by that department. These are not rare, isolated events. In 2024, the average was between 20 and 25 daily overdose calls. In the Waterloo region, we just had to put out an overdose safety awareness alert this week. Meanwhile, an article from Canadian Affairs showcases what paramedics, firefighters and other frontline workers, like our nurses, are describing as their mental health and moral injury trauma, not from overdoses but from the endless cycle of drug-related emergencies they are powerless to resolve. One paramedic candidly described attending calls day after day for the same individuals, often without any resources to offer any long-term help. These are not merely medical emergencies; these are social emergencies rooted in addiction, homelessness and untreated mental illness, yet first responders regularly arrive at scenes where there is nowhere safe to send people, no capacity for long-term treatment and no effective wraparound supports. There is no durable strategy from the federal government to address the root causes. Essentially, we are sending paramedics and firefighters to fight a crisis that requires structural solutions while giving them nothing but repetition, burnout and trauma. Addictions and mental health are mentioned exactly once in this budget, only to say the funding is ending. Another vulnerable group being affected by this crisis is our youth. They are now suffering deeply from this drug crisis. The data shows the trend is worsening. Even the CBC has recently reported that doctors in London, Ontario, are seeing alarming numbers of youth, some as young as early teens, using opioids and other substances. Another CityNews report highlights that non-medical prescription opioid use among students jumped 10% in two years. Given all that, does it make sense for the solution to be funding opioids with taxpayer dollars? Given this information, the common-sense solution would be to crack down on illicit drug networks and use taxpayer dollars to help fund abstinence-based recovery treatment. We are witnessing rising drug use, rising overdose risk and growing addiction among youth, many of whom started using as children, yet we still lack the infrastructure, resources and political will to properly treat them. Addictions and mental health are mentioned exactly once in this budget, only to say the funding is ending. The scale of loss in Canada's drug crisis defies comprehension. According to the federal government's own data, 53,821 Canadians have died from an overdose since 2016. To put that into perspective, Canada lost approximately 45,000 soldiers in World War II. This country has now lost more people to the drug crisis than we lost in the entirety of the Second World War. Let that sink in. Let us think about this. A global conflict that spanned continents and years took fewer Canadian lives than drugs, untreated addiction and government failure, and despite the staggering loss and the fact that we are losing more Canadians to addiction than one of the deadliest conflicts in our history, the government has chosen to put zero new funding, zero new programs and zero new hope in this budget for mental health and addictions. Communities are grieving at a wartime scale. Families are burying loved ones at a larger-than-wartime scale, and the federal government is responding with silence. Addictions and mental health are mentioned exactly once in this budget, and that is to say the funding is ending. These are all national examples of how out of hand this drug crisis has gotten, but unfortunately, my community of Kitchener has not dodged it. This crisis is not abstract to the people of Kitchener. It is lived daily. Our downtown core, once vibrant, busy and safe, is struggling. Small businesses are reporting lower foot traffic, rising theft, property damage and incidents that make customers and staff feel unsafe. Restaurants, cafés and shops told me directly that patronage is down because people no longer feel comfortable bringing their families downtown. These small businesses are not just storefronts; they are jobs, community anchors and part of what makes our cities home. They are asking for leadership from the federal government. They are asking for mental health supports, treatment options and real solutions, not half measures and not abandonment, yet addictions and mental health are mentioned exactly once in this budget, and that is to say the funding is ending. I have had numerous constituents write to me echoing the same thing: not feeling safe downtown and feeling disappointed that this is what has become of their once vibrant and safe community. One wrote to me recently describing what their family faces every day living near Weber Street. They said that every single day, they see something that they are amazed is even allowed in their community. They said just up the road is a hotel filled with homeless individuals, including children, living in conditions where drugs are openly used. They once witnessed a woman shooting up right in front of the window of the Pluto Day Care in broad daylight while children played inside. Another constituent wrote that after a recent decision allowing the Victoria Street and Weber Street encampment to remain, they have lost all hope in the downtown core. They wonder why they must follow every bylaw, shovel their walkway and keep their property safe and clean while others' rights extend beyond theirs. What about the rest of Kitchener citizens? They ended with some sentences that no Canadian should ever have to say. They said this has become their new normal. They said this is downtown and they want to feel safe again. They do not know why their family does not matter anymore. Let me be clear. This is not the fault of people struggling with addictions and mental illness. They are Canadians in pain, deserving of compassion, treatment and a real chance at recovery. However, the families in Kitchener, families watching their community deteriorate, are feeling unheard and abandoned. The government set fire to the barn, and now it is walking away hoping for someone else to put out the flames. Well, I am proud to stand here and say that Conservatives will step up and put out the flames. I am here to tell Canadians that they do not have to suffer and that there is hope in abstinence-based rehabilitation. The Conservative plan offers a clear path out of this: end the failed experiment of safe supply and take the billions we are spending to perpetuate misery and invest it into 50,000 real treatment beds, medical detox and recovery housing. We owe our youth more than safe supply and body bags. We owe our first responders more than burnout and despair. We owe the 53,000 already lost more than just a budget announcing that it is going to end. Every Canadian life is worth fighting for, and it is time to bring Canadians home drug-free.

e that when he feeds them, he waits until they are finished, and if there is none left he will just have to wait until tomorrow. This is not okay, yet the budget offers nothing to ease their burden. Instead it piles on unprecedented debt that will drive inflation higher and push grocery prices further out of reach for Canadians. Canadians do not need empty promises; they need affordability, dignity and hope. We cannot accept a budget that ignores the reality that Canadians and our children are going hungry. They deserve better.

h centres like Kitchener Centre?

are too high. Although I agree with incubating these start-ups, what can this government do better to make sure that they can also commercialize, stay here in Canada and not leave?

d no definition of what we want to retain, with both our innovation and our talent, but the money seems to be flowing. There are already hundreds of millions of dollars being spent. It seems to me that this government is running with their eyes closed. Do you believe there are guardrails or plans in place to ensure that the almost $1.3 billion in innovation funding goes to tech companies in Kitchener, for example, for us to retain our innovation and talent instead of leaving it to foreign entities that are taking our innovation and talent?

, manufacture and capture the jobs and the wealth. From your experience, what are the biggest systematic barriers—like high taxes, inflationary pressures or slow approvals—that are pushing biotech commercialization and our talent to the U.S. instead of keeping it here in Canada?

in this country, because that's the economic growth out of all of our start-ups. What is this current government doing to ensure that we are retaining our intellectual property and data within our start-up ecosystem?

d data through our research funding and tax credits in Canada?

nity. The problem I see, though, is that we do a very good job of incubating and educating, but because of the current climate—high taxes and red tape—scaling-up isn't happening, so B and C funding isn't available to these start-ups. We're paying taxes to promote and incubate these companies, but then they're leaving Canada because it's easier to scale up in, say, the United States. What do you think would be a solution to that? How can we make more of an investment climate for scalability here in Canada so there isn't a negative net return on our investments, as things stand today?

universities and your foundation to develop policy. You also gave $10 million to our Perimeter Institute, which helped it open. It is literally one of our driving forces of local innovation and tech in Kitchener. On top of that, you've supported our cancer centre at Grand River Hospital and our Waterloo Regional Children's Museum. You are the example of success when the IP stays in Canada. You can innovate, monetize and scale in the communities where this innovation is developed. What has changed or has not been done in the national landscape that causes companies to no longer be able to monetize and scale here, and what causes them to head south instead?

recommended building capacity for a knowledge-based, data-driven economy. Since then, almost three years later, not one policy has been created to meet the needs of a strategic orientation. On top of that, your warning of $100 billion lost annually from unowned IP really hits home. It hits home because Kitchener start-ups are directly impacted by red tape, high taxes, no IP strategy and a lack of policy, which is preventing investment. Where is this failure coming from? What can be done to fully unleash Kitchener's innovation engine and reverse the damage of this lost decade?

mes from my home riding, being an innovative joint replacement technology, but they can't monetize. They're having trouble scaling because of red tape bureaucracies. It's hard to scale here in Canada. Also, there was an article that came out today from CTV that said, “Warren Lovely, managing director with National Bank Financial, told BNN Bloomberg...the private sector has already lost confidence in the federal government, and the country is dependent on the U.S.” Current policy, in the past 10 years, has not been in the form to create innovation and technology in Canada, and we've lost investor confidence in this country. This has been over the past 10 years. To me, these are policy and bureaucracy problems. You even said that it's not something to throw money at. It's how we create investment. In terms of policy, what can we do to create investment here in Canada and to support our innovation and technology sector?

AI investment, but 75% of that has now gone abroad to companies not here in Canada, so our public tax dollars are funding, as you said, the futures of someone else. What specific competition-focused policies could reverse Liberal oversight, incentivize private investment and prevent IP leakage to ensure that our youth who are driving our innovation as well as our next workforce have a bright future here in Canada?

hospital. You're very community-focused, and you're right in my community in Kitchener, so I have some community questions for you. What has this drug crisis in Kitchener contributed to the spread in the transmission of AROs in our community?

ad to food insecurity as well. We do know that the homeless population is more at risk for infectious disease. That includes those who are struggling with addiction. In my riding in Kitchener, I was driving by one of our encampments over the summer. Someone had passed in the encampment. I was deeply saddened by their passing, but I was even more saddened by the fact that those cleaning up his area were dressed in full haz-mat. In another story from my riding, a lady lost her son because he injected with water from our Grand River. He got an infectious disease straight from our river when he injected with that water. We've lost 53,000 people to this opioid crisis that we're facing right now. That's more people than we lost in World War II. It just seems that these failed social experiment policies are leading to more deaths in our country. I have two questions: How is this drug crisis today contributing to the infectious disease increase in Canada, and do you have any data on the actual AMR deaths contributing to what we're facing in Canada today?

the member across the aisle support Bill C-242, the jail not bail act?

that no longer puts public safety first. After a summer of violent crime and eroded trust in our public safety, Canadians are demanding swift action and they have every right to do so. Across this country, violent crime is up 55%. Firearms offences from non-law-abiding citizens have surged by 130%, and extortion has skyrocketed by 330%. These are not just statistics. They represent shattered lives, grieving families and communities living in fear. This crisis did not happen by accident. In 2019, the Liberal government passed Bill C-75, which forced judges to release offenders at the earliest possible opportunity under the least restrictive conditions. As a result, there is a revolving door by which repeat violent offenders end up back on our streets. I want to be clear: This is a crisis of the Liberals' own making, and Canadians are left to live with the devastating consequences. I will be splitting my time today. We have all heard the heartbreaking stories. One that stays with me is that of Daniel Senecal. He was convicted of sexual assault, released under weakened bail laws and then accused of sexually assaulting a three-year-old child, whom we have come to know as little E. This three-year-old child has had to spend three weeks in the hospital recovering from this unimaginable, irrevocable act, and she will be scarred for life. She is a child. That is the cost of this system, which prioritizes offenders over victims. There is also Scott Weller, a victim of a violent home invasion. Scott said, “As someone who knows firsthand the trauma of a violent home invasion, I believe strongly in the need for Jail not Bail. My family was attacked in what should have been the safety of our own home. The idea that violent offenders could be released back onto our streets is terrifying—not just for us, but for every Canadian family.” Scott's words are powerful. They remind us that public safety must come first, that the rights of victims and families must come before the rights of violent offenders. The Toronto Police Association put it plainly: “The proposed ideas will put victims and communities first, restoring the balance that is desperately needed at a time when youth violence and gun crimes are out of control and innocent victims are paying the ultimate price.” This is why Conservatives are introducing Bill C-242, the jail not bail act. The bill would restore accountability, protect communities and put victims first. I will bring this closer to my riding in Kitchener. In the region of Waterloo, in 2024 alone, there were 3,896 undertakings and 2,334 releases. That is a 61% release rate. This means that the majority of the accused individuals were sent back into our neighbourhoods. What is even more troubling is that approximately 50% of the charges brought forward by the Waterloo Regional Police are not being pursued by Crown prosecution. That is half of these cases gone. They are not prosecuted; they are gone. Of those released on an undertaking or release order in 2023 and 2024, 20% were found to be in disregard of the terms of their release. What is worse is that more than half of those offenders were caught multiple times. These are the repeat offenders we need off our streets. I received an email today from Anke, a 76-year-old woman in my community. She told me that she is nervous to walk around her community in broad daylight. She wants us to restore Canada to what it was, making it safe for her children and grandchildren. Families are not the only ones suffering. Businesses in the downtown core of Kitchener Centre are struggling. They are being broken into. Their customers are afraid to come downtown. The rise in crime is hurting our business community of hard-working entrepreneurs, who are trying to keep their doors open and staff safe. Public safety is economic safety, and right now both are at risk, but perhaps the most disturbing example is what happened recently in my own community: the sexual assault and attempted kidnapping of a six-year-old child. The accused was released on conditions and is still residing in the same community where that child lives. This is not okay. Our children's safety is at risk. No parent should have to live with the fear that a violent offender is living down the street. No child should be put in harm's way because our justice system has failed to act. Bill C-242, the jail not bail act, would, first, repeal the Liberal principle of restraint and replace it with a directive that public protection and safety be the primary consideration. Second, it would create a new major offences category with reverse-onus bail conditions for charges like firearm offences, sexual assault, kidnapping, human trafficking, home invasion, robbery, extortion, arson and assault. Third, it would strengthen bail laws by requiring judges to consider an accused's full criminal history and by preventing bail for anyone convicted of a major offence in the last 10 years who is now charged again. Fourth, it would toughen the risk assessment standard from “substantial likelihood” to “reasonably foreseeable”. Fifth, it would prohibit anyone with an indictable conviction from acting as a guarantor. We would enforce bail conditions on guarantors and require non-residents to surrender their passport upon request. This is not about being punitive; it is about being responsible. It is about restoring order to our streets, trust in our justice system and confidence in our communities. Conservatives are calling on all political parties to set aside political differences and to do what is right. Canadians deserve a justice system that protects them and enables them, not repeat offenders. To every victim, every family, every child, every business owner and every community that has lived through the trauma of violence, I say that Conservatives hear them. We stand with them. We are taking action. They deserve to learn, live and work in safe streets, to go to bed without worry, to know their children can play safely in their yard and their park, and to live in the Canada we lived in before the Liberals' Bill C-75, the “get out of jail free card” act. Let us restore justice. Let us restore confidence in public safety. Let us pass Bill C-242, the jail not bail act.

act. The bill seeks to address one of the most urgent and heartbreaking crises facing Canadian families: the devastating impact of substance addiction. Canadians see the toll: lives are lost; families are shattered; and public safety is eroded. Our justice system must do more than punish. It must also heal. The bill would empower courts to prescribe structured rehabilitation measures, including education, skills training and treatment programs, to be undertaken during custody. These are not soft-on-crime measures. They are smart-on-recovery interventions. The bill would strength the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to ensure that rehabilitation objectives are considered during parole decisions, and it would amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to treat large-scale fentanyl trafficking as an aggravating factor, reflecting the gravity of the harm inflicted in our communities. I look forward to working with all members of the House to restore dignity, health and hope to those caught in the cycle of addiction. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

that you think we should focus on being more industry-focused and monetization-focused for tech sectors like Kitchener?