Debates of Oct. 5th, 2023

The Economy

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order. We have the first scratch. I would like to remind all members that props are not acceptable in the House of Commons; it is about the debate.

The hon. minister.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I was shopping for the Leader of the Opposition to help him.

If the Conservatives want to do something for Canadians, not just ask questions but do something, they should vote for Bill C-56. It is going to help Canadians. It is going to stabilize prices in Canada. It is going to bring competition to this country. What we need is for them to act.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, prices have risen so fast that Canadians did not want champagne for Thanksgiving; they just want some food. I did a little price shopping on that for him.

In the last days of the Conservative government, the price for a pound of turkey was $1.49. The flyers today show it is $2.49, a 70% increase. I might add that the picture of the turkey during the Conservative years was a big plump beautiful bird, whereas right now it is a skimpy, shrimpy little thing that looks like it has been taxed to death.

Why will the Liberals not get off the back of the turkey so we can have a nice dinner for Thanksgiving?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition can have as much as he wants, but one thing I can say is that Canadians have no fun these days because they know—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Settle down. Order.

The hon. minister.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I hope they have this much energy to support our bill to make a difference in the lives of Canadians, because this is not a joke.

Canadians expect action. That is what we took this morning with a five-item action plan to help stabilize prices in Canada. If the Conservatives want to keep laughing and making jokes, they should tell them to Canadians, who expect them to approve Bill C-56, reform competition, lower prices in Canada and make sure that Canadians can have what they deserve in this situation.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the minister accidentally told the truth there for a second. He said Canadians are not having any fun. He has that right, because after eight years the Prime Minister is not worth the cost.

The minister says we should energetically support his bills. He and his Prime Minister have been forcing Canadians to support Liberal bills for eight years. The bill is way too high. Food prices are up more than 20% in two years, with the fastest increase in interest rates in monetary history.

Why will the Liberals not stop sending Canadians the bill and let Canadians afford to eat and heat and house themselves this Thanksgiving?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Leader of the Opposition. He is coming to his senses. He realizes that the best way to help Canadians is to support the government.

This is a time when all parliamentarians need to come together. That is why we presented a plan that is going to help stabilize prices in Canada, that is going to increase competition in this country and that is going to take measures to help Canadians.

If the Leader of the Opposition wants to give a gift to Canadians for Thanksgiving, why does he not support Bill C-56 and show Canadians that he can do something for them?

Official Languages

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is strange how defending the French language in Quebec is always difficult for the Liberals.

Let us take, for example, the Minister of Immigration. Yesterday in committee, he was once again unable to acknowledge a simple fact proven by all indicators: French is declining in Quebec. He was like James Bond under torture, but refusing to cough up the goods.

Oddly enough, it reminded us of the debates on Bill C-13 regarding the official languages reform. The minister was one of the West Island Liberals who fought tooth and nail against stronger protection for the French language.

Is it a coincidence?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we must be cautious about the figures the member is referring to. If we consider the number of people who speak French, there are more of us than ever: 94% of the people in Quebec can speak French.

If we consider the language spoken at home, when I was young, I spoke only Spanish. That does not mean that I am not a francophone. I am also a francophone. I spoke Spanish at home, but at school, at work, when playing hockey and everywhere on the street, I spoke French. This proves that Bill 101 is working. The Bloc Québécois can shout and get angry all it wants, but the fact is that more people are speaking French.

The government will always ensure that their number keeps growing day by day.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, even so, we are talking about the immigration minister.

This year, the federal government increased the number of temporary immigrants to Quebec by 150,000. Quebec is concerned about its reception capacity. The Quebec immigration minister said that she discussed this with the federal minister and that he had not even considered the notion of reception capacity. That is very worrisome. The minister, who is having a terrible time admitting that French is threatened, does not realize that reception capacity must be part of his immigration reform.

Do we really need to explain that to him?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the statistic that the member keeps repeating has to do with one's mother tongue. That excludes me and my family, the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Tourism. What does it take to be a Quebecker in Quebec?

I am a proud Quebecker. I am proud to be a Quebecker and to say that I am a Quebecker, but the statistic that the member keeps quoting refers to one's mother tongue. The fact remains that 94% of people in Quebec can speak French, and we should be proud of that. The member is shaming the people who drafted the Charter of the French Language with the statistic he is quoting. He should be ashamed of himself. I am proud.

With regard to immigration in Canada, we will ensure that French speakers come to Quebec.

The Economy

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it has been 21 months since food prices have outpaced general inflation, and the Prime Minister was not willing to do anything until he started falling behind in the polls. That is two years that Canadians have been struggling because the government is unwilling to take on the real problem, which is corporate greed. Will the government admit that its plan to scramble to try to do something is to save itself and not Canadians?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I beg to differ. We have been putting in place programs to support Canadians with bill after bill and law after law. We supported 11 million Canadians with the grocery rebate, 4.2 million Canadians with the workers benefit and six million Canadians in increasing old age security. Why is that? It is because our government believes in investing in Canadians time after time, and we will continue to do that to build a stronger Canada.

Health

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the government does not have the courage to take on corporate greed when it comes to the price of groceries or it when it comes to the privatization of our health care system.

Shoppers Drug Mart, owned by Galen Weston, is rapidly expanding American-style for-profit health care delivery in our country, and the government is nowhere to be seen. In the last election, the Prime Minister said he would defend public universal health care and now he calls privatization “innovation”.

Therefore, what is the plan? Is it to wait another two years and then nicely ask Galen Weston to stop?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, together we have made huge progress in reducing drug costs for Canadians. By working together on bulk purchasing, $3.5 billion less is now spent by Canadians by reducing those costs. We need to and must do much more. That is why we are continuing to work, not only with the party opposite, the New Democrats, but also with all parties, with a strategy on rare diseases and with the introduction of legislation on pharmacare. Together, we can make sure that Canadians are not faced with the impossible choice of essentials or the medicine they need.

The Economy

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, even Thanksgiving dinner has become unaffordable. Food banks across the country are overwhelmed. With Thanksgiving approaching, some food banks have made the tough decision of cutting back on distributing food because they just do not have enough to go around.

The Liberals' carbon taxes have driven up the cost of Thanksgiving staples, such as potatoes, by 77%. Will the Prime Minister reverse the 77% hike on Thanksgiving food before Thanksgiving, as he promised, yes or no?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservative member wants to see grocery prices lowered, I hope that she asks her leader why it is that the Conservatives continue to delay the legislation that is before the House.

Just this morning, I was so pleased to see the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon say that he supports Bill C-56. I wonder if other Conservatives can convince their leader to support this bill because Canadians are counting on all of us in the House to help stabilize grocery prices.

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are counting on immediate relief before Thanksgiving. People are rationing food across the country. According to Food Banks Canada, people are making impossible choices between paying their rent or putting food on the table for their families. The Liberal-NDP government continues its inflationary spending, which has caused grocery prices to increase by 94%, as is the case with lettuce.

Canadians are realizing that the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost. Will the Prime Minister keep his promise and reverse his punishing food price hikes by Thanksgiving?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, there are important measures that can be immediately implemented to help Canadians, but the problem is that, we hear from Conservatives very sincere concerns in question period, but when it comes time to vote and debate legislation, we see procedural delay tactics and Conservatives voting against the interests of Canadians.

I would urge everybody in the House to act to support Canadians, stabilize prices and get more homes built in this country.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this will not be a happy Thanksgiving for many Canadian families because food prices are absolutely out of control, and the NDP leader just said that food inflation has outpaced inflation over the last 20 months, which is coincidentally the length of the Liberal-NDP coalition. What could be happening? The sad fact is this: Canadian families are having to make a hard choice between feeding their families and paying their rents.

Will the Prime Minister finally recognize the damage he has done to Canada and keep his promise so people can have an affordable Thanksgiving dinner?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying earlier, we have presented tangible measures in the House. I do not understand how the Conservatives can claim to be sincere in their concern for Canadians while using procedural tactics to prevent us from helping Canadians. I just cannot understand it.

If the Conservatives want to be there, then they should pull up their socks, take action and help us help Canadians.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, only a party whose leader said that he admires the basic dictatorship of China would say that legitimate debate about a government piece of legislation is so inconvenient and an obstruction. That is a disgraceful comment and opinion, but it is not a surprise coming from the Liberals, whose leader admires a basic dictatorship. Everything they have done has done nothing to improve food affordability. After eight long years of the Liberal government, Canadians cannot pay for food.

Will the Prime Minister keep his promise so Canadians can have an affordable Thanksgiving dinner?