Debates of May 3rd, 2018

Taxation

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

It is true, Mr. Speaker, we did nothing at all. We did so little, in fact, that greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 2.2%. Even without imposing the Liberal carbon tax, greenhouse gas emissions still dropped. That is the Conservative record. The Liberal carbon tax is yet another example of the Liberals' insatiable appetite for taking money out of taxpayers' pockets.

Could the Prime Minister explain to Canadian families why they will have to pay more for everything they buy because of the Liberal carbon tax and how a tax will reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, by putting a price on something we do not want, pollution, we encourage industry, consumers, and all Canadians to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and seek alternatives. Putting a price on carbon works. It creates clean economic growth, it creates alternatives, and it creates innovation while ensuring that the money collected from the carbon tax is given back to taxpayers across the country. That is our plan. The Conservatives do not have a plan so they are attacking others.

Health

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this question was written by Gord Brown, the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, who had anticipated asking it in the House this week:

“Mr. Speaker, after leaving thalidomide survivors to suffer for 18 more months, the government stated in this year's budget that it would finally find help for them. That was two months ago. They are still in agony, waiting for relief. What steps has the Prime Minister taken since the budget was presented, and when will the money flow to those long-suffering Canadians?”

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I offer my most sincere condolences to every member in this House, but in particular to members of the Conservative caucus who have lost one of their own. For Gord's wife, Claudine, and his two sons, Chance and Tristan, as well as all his many friends and all his parliamentary colleagues, our thoughts are with them.

On the member's question, our government is committed to supporting Canadian thalidomide survivors. We announced in budget 2018 that we will expand the thalidomide survivors contribution program to ensure that more survivors receive the financial support they need. We will have more good news to share shortly on this issue.

Canadian Heritage

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in just 10 years, newspaper ad revenues have plummeted by 45% while ad revenues for web giants spiked by 358%. Still, the government refuses to charge them sales tax.

The media's struggle to compete with web giants is jeopardizing freedom of the press in Canada. In Quebec alone, nearly one out of every two jobs in print media have disappeared, to say nothing of the outright closures. Unions and professional associations have called on the Prime Minister to take action.

How does he plan to deal with this crisis?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on this World Press Freedom Day, we celebrate the work that journalists do around the world in order to protect democracy.

We also remember those who lost their lives defending facts, getting to the truth, and shedding light on stories that would have remained buried without them. Sadly, countless journalists around the world put themselves in harm's way to keep the public informed. We will always defend journalistic freedom and we oppose all violence, intimidation, censorship, or unlawful arrests meant to silence journalists.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Good sentiments, Mr. Speaker, but the industry right now is crying out for help here in Canada. In order to make informed decisions, people need to have access to a free press, and we have less and less of that here in this country. It is troubling to see how the crisis affecting the Canadian media industry has progressed lately. In 10 years, ad shares for newspapers dropped by 45%, and those for the American web giants increased by 358%, and the current government still persists in giving them a 10% to 15% tax advantage by exempting them from collecting sales taxes.

Organizations representing journalists have called on the federal government to take action—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we recognize today, on World Press Freedom Day, how important it is to support our strong, independent media and to encourage journalists to continue to hold those in power, here and all around the world, to account.

We know that the media world and the press world are facing significant challenges in the transition into this digital era. That is why we are working with them to ensure that, whether it is tens of millions of dollars for a small publication or increasing the funding to CBC–Radio Canada, which the previous government cut, these are things that we are very much continuing to do. We will continue to help them transition into a digital world.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. I think there are some noises we can do without.

The hon. member for Beloeil—Chambly.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, the NDP asked the Prime Minister whether his government was in talks with the Trump administration to create a de facto invisible wall and send asylum seekers back to the United States. He was at such a loss for words that he accused the NDP of fearmongering. Come on.

Has the Prime Minister been paying attention to what we have been saying since January 2017?

Do the Liberals plan on expanding the safe third country agreement, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we work regularly with our partners in the United States to secure our borders. We have regular discussions on security and on the integrity of our immigration systems. This is part of being responsible neighbours and partners in keeping North America safe.

With respect to our immigration process, we will always defend the integrity of our values and our laws, and we can assure Canadians that we are enforcing and will continue to enforce Canadian laws to the letter with respect to regular and irregular immigration.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, at committee, CBSA officials stated that applying the safe third country agreement to the entire Canadian border would be more dangerous.

The Minister of Immigration has said that it is not a workable solution. The parliamentary secretary to public safety stated that it would only drive asylum seekers further underground. A Liberal member has warned that this Conservative idea would make Canada a “one-man island where we do not allow others in.”

Will the Prime Minister just clearly state that applying the safe third country agreement to the entire Canadian border is off the table?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the NDP is trying to create conflicts and conspiracies where there simply are none.

We continue to work in a collaborative, respectful fashion with our partners south of the border to ensure the integrity of Canadian borders, the integrity of our immigration system. We continue to rigorously apply all the rules and laws associated with the immigration system in Canada. We continue to reassure Canadians that everything is done responsibly and properly, both in keeping with the law and with our values of openness and welcome around the world.

Status of Women

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the federal budget says that all public policy will have a gender-based analysis applied to it. Yet, after five rather awkward minutes of questioning, the finance minister would not answer whether a gender-based analysis had been done for the carbon tax. This was because he was hiding the fact that one had been done. Indeed, it says that the Liberals have produced a sexist carbon tax.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Why has he used his gender budget to gender budget his way to greater inequality for women with his sexist carbon tax?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member opposite's commitment on gender equality. Surely, this is something we can all work to advance together.

As for the member's question about gender-based analysis being conducted, we apply an intersectional gender lens to all items coming before cabinet. I am sure she has had a chance to look at the price on pollution and the GBA+ that was done on that piece of policy.

Yes, we are so proud that after 151 years, budget 2018 was the first to have that lens applied to all spending.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Here is the thing, Mr. Speaker. Women bear a disproportionate cost of child care. The minister often talks about how there is gender wage gap. However, the minute we start asking if price elasticity for carbon is different for different genders, the Liberal gender budget no longer applies.

To women who are filling up their tank at $1.60 a litre this week, with more price hikes on the way, could the minister explain why his virtue signalling intersectional gender lens gender budget has produced a sexist carbon tax?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, it is actually hard to understand whether the member opposite thinks it is a good thing or a bad thing that we look at the gender impacts on all our policies. We did that to carbon pricing, like we do with all the policies.

I want to point out that when the party opposite was in government, it closed 12 out of 16 regional offices of Status of Women Canada. Where was the gender-based analysis of that?

Finance

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after saddling taxpayers and future generations with debt as only Liberal governments have always had the nerve to do, the Prime Minister and his ministers are now censoring their spending. Canadians deserve better and are entitled to clear answers about every penny the Prime Minister spends. They deserve to know when the government will balance the budget.

Why should MPs give the government more power and carte blanche to spend taxpayers' money without telling Canadians where their money is going?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, we respect Parliament and we respect the work of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. In contrast, it was the Conservatives who had to be taken to court by the PBO to get information. It was the same Conservatives who called the PBO “unbelievable”, “unreliable”, and “not credible”. Of course those are the same Conservatives who took millions of dollars from a border infrastructure fund to build gazebos and fake lakes hundreds of kilometres away from the border. The Conservatives were the first government in the British Commonwealth to be found in contempt of Parliament for not giving Parliament the information it deserved. We will take no lessons from the Conservatives.

The Environment

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, speaking of giving Parliament the information it deserves, I have an idea on how the government could do exactly that.

The government has admitted, through its officials, that it has calculated how much its carbon tax would cost the average Canadian family, but for some reason it will not release it to Parliament, or worse, to the people who have to pay that tax.

Will the government relent today and end the carbon tax cover-up, and tell Canadians what this tax will cost them?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that just this week we released a report, and I am happy to provide a copy of the report, that showed clearly that putting a price on pollution worked. It is a cost-effective way of reducing emissions, and we can do it while growing the economy.

Canadians are wondering what the party opposite would do on climate change, because for a decade it did nothing.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, actually, we did three things. We saw greenhouse gases go down. We reduced taxes. We saw growth go up.

The current government refuses to tell us what this new carbon tax will cost Canadians. We know it will increase the costs of gas, home heating, groceries, and other basic essentials that form a larger part of the household budgets of low-income people than for the rich. In other words, it is a regressive tax that will transfer money from those people who can least afford to pay.

Why will the government not come clean and put an end to the carbon tax cover-up?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, it is really important to it make clear in the House that greenhouse gas emissions only went down twice under the previous government: one, because the Ontario government closed coal-fired plants, and the Conservatives cannot take credit—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!