Debates of March 21st, 2017

Health

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, 914, that is the number of lives lost last year in British Columbia to the opioid crisis, which has ravaged families and communities across British Columbia. Zero is the number of deaths that occurred at any supervised consumption site last year.

These numbers are important and they tell a story, that harm reduction saves lives. After over a decade of inaction by the previous government, this government has taken swift and immediate action to not only save lives, but make evidence-based decisions that will allow for more supervised consumption sites, including in my riding of Surrey Centre.

Surreyietes deserve access to the very best of health care, and Bill C-37 will do exactly that.

I want to extend my personal thanks to the paramedics, firefighters, police officers, and all front-line workers who have not only worked long and difficult hours to save lives, but who have also put their own lives at risk while doing so.

Acton Vale Region

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of the month, I once again had the pleasure of visiting a number of businesses in the Acton Vale region. I had the opportunity to meet workers at the Burnbrae Farms liquid egg plant, workers who manufacture forestry mulchers at DENIS CIMAF, and workers who produce high-quality pet food at Food for Pets. Their products are popular here and around the world.

I also visited Ferme Clovis Gauthier, whose eggs are sold throughout Quebec. I had the pleasure of visiting Apolline boutique and the Upton general store, which are both filled with amazing treasures. I also went to Laliberté Moto Sport, which is an excellent example of a family business where multiple generations share a passion for what they do.

It was such a pleasure for me to converse with my constituents, including the residents of Maison Saint-Amour and Domaine Rousseau, as well as the staff who take care of our seniors with such grace and dedication, and other people I met all over town.

Taxation

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, tonight the Liberals have a chance to right a wrong for a group of soldiers who feel like they have been kicked in the stomach by their own government. Since September, a small group of Canadian soldiers stationed in Kuwait in the fight against ISIS have been losing up to $1,800 per month because of a new tax on their danger pay. When the minister said he would make sure there was more equity for our troops, I never thought this new tax would be extended by the Liberals to an additional 300 soldiers. On this side of the House, we understand that our troops deserve better.

Tonight we will be voting on our Conservative motion to reverse this cold-hearted tax grab from the brave men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces and their families. The defence minister has indicated that only a small group will have their tax relief restored, while nearly 300 stationed in Kuwait will continue to pay the Liberal's tax for fighting ISIS. I urge all members of this House to stand tonight, on behalf of every member of the Canadian Armed Forces and their families, to ensure that they receive all the benefits, danger pay, and respect they deserve.

2017 Global Teacher Prize

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, we all know that some of the best people in the world come from Atlantic Canada. Last week, Maggie MacDonnell, a teacher from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, proved this to be true. Maggie was recently selected as the recipient of the prestigious Global Teacher Prize from among more than 20,000 applicants in 179 countries. This prize comes with an award of $1 million and the right to claim the literal title of world's best teacher.

Though Maggie was born out east, it was her extraordinary work in Salluit, Quebec, a remote village in Canada's north, that puts her in a class of her own. Her contributions to the school and community include establishing a fitness centre, a community kitchen, healthy eating programs, and a life skills program for girls. Maggie plans to use her prize winnings to further enhance her community. She hopes to create an NGO that will focus on environmental stewardship and physical activity through kayaking to help enhance physical and mental health among indigenous youth.

Maggie's prize may have been a million bucks, but we cannot put a price on the real value of the work she continues to do. I can tell her that we are some proud of her back home.

Government Accountability

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, each and every person here was elected to represent the people in their riding, and together we represent the Canadian people.

Far from a mere inconvenience, the Prime Minister appearing in the House every day to answer questions is a critical tool for him to provide accountability to each and every Canadian.

How can the Prime Minister justify his willingness to show up in the House only once a week? Why is he attempting to shirk his responsibilities?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

On the contrary, Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be here today and as often as necessary to answer questions from members of the opposition.

That said, I would like to point out that our government is different from the previous government. We have an amazing cabinet. Our ministers are very capable of directly answering questions regarding their own actions in their own portfolios. That is how a government by cabinet operates. That is how a government operates when it is accountable to its citizens.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. Let us not start off with a noisy question period.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has announced that he wants to change the rules of Parliament to make his life easier, and no one's life will be easier than his. If he gets away with this, he will only have to show up to work once a week. He also wants to strip the opposition of its power to hold him accountable.

We know that the Prime Minister says China is a dictatorship he admires, and he certainly had a bizarre infatuation with Fidel Castro.

Can the Prime Minister at least agree that he, the Prime Minister of Canada, should be accountable to the House of Commons and to Canadians more than once a week?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have put forward a discussion paper, that we have published and shared with all Canadians, to talk about how we can improve the functioning of this house of democracy, how we can make sure that Canadians are better heard, that the opposition has the opportunity to ask tough questions to hold the Prime Minister to account and to hold this government to account.

That is why, among the many proposals we have made, we have talked about the model of the British prime minister's questions that devotes an entire question period to the prime minister answering questions.

We are open to all sorts of discussions about how to improve the functioning of this Parliament, because we know Canadians expect a modern workplace out of this place so we can better serve them.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Modern, Mr. Speaker? Efficient? Efficient like the Chinese dictatorship that he thinks is so efficient? We do not live in China. Those are the Prime Minister's words.

We do not live in China or Cuba. We live in Canada, and we have a parliamentary democracy that is accountable to Canadians. We think the Prime Minister should show up every day.

Here is a thought. We could have question period with the Prime Minister every day. He could answer all of our questions every day.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to every opportunity to stand up and talk about the great things this government is doing.

Tomorrow we will be presenting a budget that will create growth for the middle class, opportunities for Canadians, investments in the future of this country that we know, after 10 years of slow growth under the Conservative government, will turn our growth path around. This is about giving opportunities to Canadians.

I am always happy to talk about the important things the Canadian government is doing for the middle class.

Finance

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Let us start with facts, Mr. Speaker. The fact is that the middle class grew by 30% over the last 10 years.

Here is an interesting fact. The Prime Minister's Office has already spent more on polling than the previous Conservative government spent in eight years. Millions of tax dollars are being spent to track Canadians' views for the political benefit of the Prime Minister.

I have a really simple question for the Prime Minister. Has the Prime Minister polled Canadians on whether or not he should keep his promise to balance the budget in 2019?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite wants to talk about facts. The fact is, the very first thing we did in government was lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest 1%. Unfortunately, the fact also is that that party voted against raising taxes on the wealthiest and lowering them on the middle class. That, unfortunately, demonstrates that they still do not understand that Canadians need investments in the middle class and support for the middle class, not for the wealthiest, like they did for 10 years.

Taxation

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what Canadians want tomorrow is a break from the Prime Minister.

In the last budget, he hiked taxes on small businesses, on families, and on students, and then we got the national carbon tax and a payroll tax hike, but that is not enough. Now the Prime Minister needs to cancel more tax credits. He wants to raise user fees. He is even considering putting GST on Netflix.

Does the Prime Minister realize that Canadians are tired of being nickel-and-dimed to death?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, over the past year and a half, we raised taxes on the wealthiest 1% so we could lower them on the middle class. We delivered a Canada child benefit that gives more money to nine out of 10 Canadians by stopping the sending of child benefit cheques to millionaire families, which the previous government did.

The fact is, on the tax cut for the middle class and more money through the CCB, that party voted against both initiatives. Shame on them.

Small Business

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister really likes slogans and sound bites, such as the one about 2015 being the last election under the current system.

I see this is still a sore point for the Prime Minister, but what happened to his promise to cut small business taxes? Well, in committee, his minister responsible for small business said that this promise was, and I quote, a sound bite to get elected.

Why is the Prime Minister turning his back on his promise and at the same time going ahead with a privatization bank that he never mentioned during the campaign?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we know what our small businesses need: economic growth.

Following 10 years of a government that failed in this area, we are working to put more money in the pockets of the middle class and create opportunities for our small businesses.

By connecting our small businesses to global markets, especially through the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which the previous government was unable to conclude but we managed to do so, we know that we are creating opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses every day. That is our government’s focus.

Infrastructure

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister conveniently forgot to mention that his platform promise does not look anything like the privatization bank he is now proposing. In fact, the word “privatization” does not ever appear in the Liberal campaign platform. Neither do “user fees”, “tolls”, or “private profit on public property”.

Will the Prime Minister admit that he never campaigned on privatizing infrastructure?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite remembers well the campaign, because we committed to invest in infrastructure, while he committed to balancing the books, at all costs, on the backs of Canadians. Canadians made a different choice. Canadians knew that investing in our communities, investing in infrastructure, whether it is social housing, whether it is child care spaces, whether it is public transit, is necessary for the future of our economy, for the future of Canadians. That is what we are doing. We are looking to leverage as much public infrastructure as we possibly can for the benefit of Canadians, and that is what the infrastructure bank is going to help do.

Taxation

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, here is something that did appear in the Liberal campaign platform: “set a cap on how much can be claimed through the stock option deduction”. We know a little about that, because it was actually in our platform long before the Liberals discovered it. Tomorrow the Liberals have an opportunity to put the interests of every Canadian above those of wealthy insiders. Last week they actually voted for it and said they were going to do it.

Will the Liberals keep their promise to close the stock option loophole, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting how the member opposite talks about doing more for the middle class and less for the wealthiest, because he voted against lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. If he were serious about helping the middle class, he would make sure that his party stood with us as we lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest 1%.

Justice

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP voted for increasing taxes on the wealthiest Canadians, but he is right, we did oppose a plan that did nothing to help the middle class.

This morning, the government dropped gangsterism, trafficking, importation of narcotics, weapons possession, kidnapping and other charges against 36 individuals arrested during a major anti-mafia sweep.

My question to the Prime Minister is as follows: why?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we ensure that our justice system works to keep Canadians and their communities safe. We are always working to improve our justice system so that criminals are prosecuted and face the consequences of their actions. There is still work to do to improve the system.

The Budget

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I can understand why someone would borrow to invest in an RRSP. However, when they borrow to buy groceries, there is a major problem. This is what the government is currently doing.

The government promised to create thousands of jobs through various programs. However, it seems that these jobs have not been created. Today, people will have to pay to bring the deficit down as low as possible.

Tomorrow we will find out which segment of the population will end up paying the price. Will income splitting for seniors be taken away to pay for the government’s out-of-control spending?