House of Commons Hansard #360 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was yazidi.

Topics

News Media IndustryOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

News Media IndustryOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Order. Most members from all parties can sit through question period and hear things they do not like without reacting. I am sure the rest are adults and can also do so.

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister chose to appoint the member for Brampton East to the very powerful finance committee. While there, he used his access to senior Finance officials and money laundering experts to ask very troubling questions. I will quote:

How many resources does FINTRAC have to go after each little $10,000 transaction? If I'm money laundering, I'm not doing transactions in the millions to catch attention. I'm doing them at the $10,000, $15,000 limit to get away with it.

Those questions were so disturbing they raised red flags with the RCMP.

Did the Prime Minister or anyone in his office find those question so disturbing that they acted upon them?

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, last week, the member stated his intentions after informing us of the challenges he is facing. As I said, we agreed with the decision he has taken to step down.

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is claiming ignorance—

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Order. Apparently there were problems hearing. Is the audio working now?

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Mr. Speaker, these answers are not going to satisfy. I do not think the Prime Minister is fully understanding the gravity of this situation. He is claiming ignorance, but on September 19, in the middle of its study on money laundering, the Prime Minister removed the MP from the finance committee. The RCMP, FINTRAC and the Ethics Commissioner are all investigating this colleague and friend of the Prime Minister. He said he knew nothing. He did nothing.

Once again, did the Prime Minister remove the member of Parliament for Brampton East from the finance committee because he was using his position to avoid possible prosecution?

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, no, we did not.

FinanceOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, before the global financial crisis of 2008, Minister Flaherty paid down nearly $40 billion of our debt. To be fair, I will say that previous Liberal governments did the exact same thing. These decisions prepared us for the coming crisis.

Now, we are still seeing problems in the energy and auto sectors, increasing interest rates and potential upcoming crises.

How much of our national debt has the Prime Minister paid down?

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, during the financial crisis of 2008, the Conservative government put billions of dollars into the Canadian economy but did not manage to stimulate economic growth for Canadians. On the contrary, Stephen Harper's Conservative government posted the worst economic growth of any prime minister since R.B. Bennett during the Great Depression, many decades ago.

We know that investing in Canadians, investing in infrastructure and investing in the future is what Canadians need.

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, now he wants to blame the Conservatives for a global financial crisis that started outside of our borders and from which Canada was the first country to recover and after which the first to balance its budget.

At the time, the Liberals said spend more, spend now, spend faster. They wanted the deficit to be even bigger. We managed to control the deficit, balance the budget and come out stronger than before. The question is this. He promised the budget would balance itself in 2019. When will the budget balance itself?

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, twice in that answer the member opposite talked about the fact that the Conservatives got to a phoney balance just in time for the election. The way they did that was by cutting services to our veterans, cutting the Canadian Border Services Agency, cutting programs and opportunities for Canadian and by cutting and saving on things like the implementation of Phoenix. They brought together a phoney balance that hurt Canadians, that hurt the services and that is why Canadians kicked them out.

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, basically, every fact he stated was false in that response, but that will not distract from the reality.

He likes to talk about what Canadians chose in the last election. Well, Canadians were told that the budget would balance itself in 2019. In good faith, they trusted the then Liberal leader that he would keep his word. Now the deficit is three times the size he promised and there are deficits for another quarter century to come. When will the budget balance itself?

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, $150 billion, that is how much the Conservative government added to our deficit, without growth or jobs to show for it.

We watched over the creation of close to 600,000 new jobs in Canada, the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, the fastest growth in the G7 last year. We have done that because we are investing in the middle class. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a Canada child benefit that helps nine out of 10 Canadian families—

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I am hearing some language that is unparliamentary, and I would ask members to remember what the rules are in that respect.

The hon. member for Carleton has the floor.

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, stating falsehoods about our record will not distract Canadians from the promise he made to them in the last election. He said that if he were elected, we would have three tiny, temporary deficits. Since that time we have had large deficits. This year it is three times the size he promised. Next year, when the budget was supposed to balance itself, it in fact will be bigger than it is right now. The question one more time is this. He promised the budget would balance itself. When?

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, Canadians had a choice between a government that was committed to cutting and balancing the budget at all costs or our government that was looking at investing in communities, investing in Canadians, supporting small businesses, lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%.

Canadians made the right choice. We have grown the economy, we have created 600,000 jobs and we have seen the unemployment rate drop to record low levels. The economy is doing well because we are investing in Canadians.

Fisheries and OceansOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

Mr. Speaker, this week we have learned that it is impossible to clean up the 250,000 litres of oil spilled near St. John's. This environmental disaster is Newfoundland's largest oil spill ever.

It turns out the Liberals' so-called oceans protection plan does not protect oceans after all: first the Marathassa, then theNathan E. Stewart and now this. No wonder British Columbians do not trust the Liberals on Trans Mountain.

Newfoundland proves the Liberals do not have a credible spill recovery operation in place. Canadians want to know: Is this the Liberals' idea of world-class oil spill response?

Fisheries and OceansOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, we have our historic investments in an oceans protection plan of $1.5 billion. We will work with local communities, partner with top scientists, partner with indigenous communities and demonstrate that we have the capacity to respond to spills and to protect our coasts and the livelihood of those who depend on them.

We know that there is always more work to do, but we have focused on investing smartly, on trusting science and on working in partnership with provinces, municipalities and indigenous people to keep our oceans safe.

Official LanguagesOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

NDP

François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC

Mr. Speaker, the meeting of party leaders to discuss the French-language services crisis in Ontario is a step in the right direction.

However, as much as the Liberals love their consultations, getting together for a little chit-chat is not enough. At some point, there has to be action. That is what Franco-Ontarians want, and they are the people the Prime Minister should be listening to.

Can the Prime Minister confirm that he plans to take action and that this meeting is not just a smoke screen?

Official LanguagesOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, our government has regularly made historic investments in our official language minority communities.

We will keep working with communities across the country. We will keep working with Franco-Ontarians and others to defend their institutions and their communities and to ensure that their economies and their communities remain successful for years to come.

I am happy to have the chance to sit down with the other party leaders to talk about how we can address this issue, as it is one on which we can all come together.

The EnvironmentOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Gordie Hogg Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC

Mr. Speaker, I recently met with community members and representatives of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. They were all particularly concerned with protecting our land, water, oceans and wildlife.

Like many British Columbians, I recently heard the Minister of Environment and Climate Change announce that we were investing $7 million to expand Canada's iconic Darkwoods Conservation Area in the Kootenays of British Columbia.

Would the Prime Minister please explain what further actions are being taken to protect our nature, our biodiversity, our Canada?

The EnvironmentOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for South Surrey—White Rock for his hard work on the file and for his outstanding fashion sense.

Last week, we were thrilled to announce our $7 million investment in the expansion of the Darkwoods Conservation Area. This investment builds on the historic action we are taking to protect nature in Canada, including committing $1.3 billion this year alone to protecting our lands, water and wildlife.

We will continue to work hard to protect our natural heritage for our children and grandchildren.

The EconomyOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC

Mr. Speaker, dark clouds are looming over Canada's economy.

In the past few weeks alone, we lost 2,500 jobs in the auto sector, 3,000 jobs in the aerospace sector, and 19,000 jobs in Alberta's energy sector alone. What is more, Canadians invest much more in the United States than Americans invest in Canada.

That is the record of the Liberal Prime Minister who took no precautions to deal with this reality.

What is the Prime Minister going to do other than impose the Liberal carbon tax?