Debates of Dec. 9th, 2019

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

I want to start by congratulating all members elected to the 43rd Parliament, and you, Mr. Speaker, on your appointment as the Deputy Speaker. I want to thank the residents of Surrey—Newton for once again putting their faith in me to represent them as their member of Parliament. I am honoured to be back and to be able to work hard on their behalf. I am proud to represent one of the most diverse ridings in Canada.

That said, I would like to take a moment to extend my heartfelt greetings to all who recently celebrated the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Milad un Nabi, which is celebrated to commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. I also want to wish all those who are celebrating a very merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Voters across Canada have given us a responsibility to work together to grow our economy and better support their families so that it is easier for them to save, get an education, buy their first home and have a good retirement. This is the mandate Canadians have given us, and the throne speech we heard from the Governor General last week lays out a road map to help get this done.

In the previous Parliament, this Liberal government laid a foundation that has made the lives of Canadians better. With over one million new jobs created and record investments in programs and services that Canadians need, such as health care, the CPP and infrastructure, we have made progress. While the other side did nothing but oppose, our government delivered results.

This Parliament is an opportunity for all members to support the needs of Canadians and support the programs and services Canadians want. We will provide better health care and more affordable housing. We will lower taxes for those who need it the most and continue our record investments in infrastructure and public transit. We will address climate change while creating good-paying jobs.

Most importantly for residents in my constituency of Surrey—Newton, our government will take steps to ban assault weapons and give cities the power to ban handguns. My constituents have said loud and clear that these types of weapons do not belong in our neighbourhoods.

On this note, I want to acknowledge the hard work of my friend and former minister, Ralph Goodale. Ralph worked hard to make sure Canada remained a safe and welcoming country. Every time I went to him with an issue or concern, he listened intently and worked with me to find solutions. Two years ago, when I spoke with Ralph about the policing needs for Surrey, he was clear that this government would support the wishes of the municipal government, whether it was delivering 100 new police officers, as the previous government failed to do, or offering its support to the City of Surrey as it looked at transitioning to a local police force.

I am confident that the member for Scarborough Southwest, the recently appointed Minister of Public Safety, will take on this role with just as much passion and focus as our friend Ralph Goodale.

I know all members on this side are passionate about doing what is best for Canadians. The actions laid out in last week's throne speech will make a real difference in the lives of Canadians. Canada's economy is growing, and we continue to have a low unemployment rate. We are going to further cut taxes so that Canadians and those most in need can keep more of their hard-earned money.

We need to make sure that our young people can turn their dreams of owning a home into a reality. That is why we will work hard to address affordability and invest in affordable housing so it will be easier for families to buy their first homes.

Parents want to give their children every opportunity for a good education and a chance at making their dreams come true. This government shares that same desire. That is why are going to make before-school and after-school care more affordable and accessible.

To help seniors retire with the dignity they deserve, we are going to strengthen pensions so they can live with confidence, not fear.

The health of every Canadian is paramount. We are going to work with provinces and territories to make sure all Canadians can access a family doctor. We will introduce mental health standards in the workplace and make sure workers can get mental health care when they need it.

Finally, we will take steps to introduce and implement national pharmacare so that Canadians have the drug coverage they need. These are the steps we are going to take to make sure families have the support they need.

However, as I mentioned earlier, families in Surrey—Newton want tougher gun laws in order to reduce gun-related violence on our streets. It is time we took bold action to do that. That is why we will ban military-style assault weapons and introduce a buyback program. This is the action we need to take to tackle guns and gangs and keep Canadians safe.

All these steps combined make a path that will lead Canada to a brighter future where everyone will have a fair chance at getting ahead. This is what Canadians wanted and this is what we will do.

I am proud to stand in support of this plan and I request each member of this House to support it so that we can be a force for good in Canadians' lives and make their lives better.

I want to congratulate each member who was elected to the 43rd Parliament. I wish them all the best.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your appointment. I look forward to working with you once again.

To the hon. member, Alberta has been kicked in the shins, its lunch money has been stolen and its tires have been slashed. I did not see anything in the Speech from the Throne that says that we will get our tires pumped back up, we will get our lunch money back and we will be able to get back to work.

Did the member opposite see anything in there to restore the confidence of Albertans that tomorrow will be a better day?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I first landed in Canada in 1984 in Alberta. I went to the University of Calgary to get my engineering degree. I lived there for eight years and had two beautiful daughters born there. I am a very proud Canadian.

I can tell members that all the work that we are doing, whether reducing taxes for ordinary working-class families, providing first-time home buyer incentives or investing in the pipeline, is going to help Albertans. I am certain that in the coming days and months that the hon. member will be proud of the work that our government will do.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, specifically on the member's comments about pharmacare, discounting the fact that the Liberals have been talking about pharmacare since 1997 but have never done anything, if they did want to do something, they would need the co-operation of the provinces.

We have heard clearly from Quebec today that it has no interest, because it already has a program, as do B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In fact, 98% of Canadians already have coverage, and the ones who do not exist in Ontario, Newfoundland and some of the Atlantic provinces. Therefore, it is actually cheaper to put everyone onto the existing provincial plans for $2.2 billion than to spend $15 billion to $40 billion on a program nationally that nobody wants. Would the member agree?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member, a fellow professional engineer.

When it comes to pharmacare, it is what people want. We have the report and a plan ready to go to implement universal pharmacare by 2027.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am very interested in housing and homelessness. In the last four budgets there has been money put into solving the crisis of homelessness in Canada. As in the member's riding and my riding, it is an issue that is facing Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

Could the hon. member talk about the importance of continuing our programs in national housing and investing in housing for the homeless in Canada?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the hon. member for Guelph and thank him for the great work that he does and for the conversations that we have.

I am happy to tell the hon. member that the national housing strategy is working. In my own riding of Surrey—Newton, we have built 173 new spaces. We have reduced homelessness by 25%. I am looking forward to working together with the member to keep on fighting to make sure that one day we will eliminate homelessness.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and to be back. Congratulations to you, Mr. Speaker, on just moments ago being affirmed as our Deputy Speaker of the House. I look forward to your great and very capable ability to sit in that chair as you demonstrated over the past four years. It is a real honour to be standing again in this House.

I want to start, this being my first opportunity to do so, by thanking the constituents in my riding of Kingston and the Islands for putting their faith in me to come back here and represent them in this new Parliament. There is nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that one has the support of one's community to represent its residents and to make sure that their voices are heard in Ottawa. It is an incredible honour for me to have that.

I also want to take the opportunity to thank the tremendous number of volunteers, just like all of the members in this House. We all have dedicated volunteers in our ridings who make our elections a reality and are able to bring us through the finish line.

There is no doubt that I have that great amount of support in my riding as well. In particular, I want to thank the Queen's University Liberal Association members, who have spent hours and hours donating their time and volunteering. It gives me the sense that the younger generation is keenly interested in politics, and I have a great sense of optimism when I see these young people getting involved in politics.

I also want to thank my staff in Kingston. I have Ann, Nicole, Kaitlin and Parth, who do amazing work representing me and interacting daily with my constituents. In Ottawa, I have Jeanna, who does great work to keep me on schedule and make sure I am here when it is my turn to speak and whatnot.

Most important, I thank my family, my wife Vanessa and my children Mason, Frankie and Vivian. It is not easy, as most members in this House would know, to leave the riding behind and go for several days at a time without seeing the family. Even with the advancements of technology, it is still not the same as being there in person. I am incredibly grateful for their love and support, as it is required in a job like this.

I also want to congratulate all of my colleagues, the 337 other members who are in this House for this session of Parliament. We all come from different parts of the country. We have been duly elected by our constituents.

This time around, our constituents throughout the country have decided to bring the Liberal Party back in government but in a minority situation. Canadians have mandated us to work together in a collaborative way so that we can build legislation and present it to Canadians. That truly reflects the form of this Parliament.

It is worth pointing out that some pretty incredible legislation has actually come along in minority parliaments from this chamber, for example the creation of the CPP. Even our Canadian flag was created during a minority government. Health care was created during a minority government. There are tremendous examples of how we can work together, and I look forward to working with all members of the House to bring forward meaningful legislation that reflects the will and demands of Canadians.

I would like to talk about three things in particular that resonated with me in the throne speech, one being the desire to improve the security and strengthen the economic position of so many Canadians. I also want to talk a bit about the government's commitment to health care, and pharmacare in particular. Of course, I also want to address a topic that I have spoken about many times in this House: climate change.

First, when we talk about more security for Canadians and strengthening the middle class, I was extremely proud to be part of a government the last time whose very first opportunity to present legislation in this House was to give a tax cut to the middle class and ask those making significantly more, the one per cent as we might coin them, to pay a bit more.

One of the other things we did very early on, probably the second or third piece of legislation that came forward, was the Canada child benefit. Through the data that came out of Statistics Canada a few years later, we saw the impact that had of lifting just under a million, or by this point probably a million, Canadians out of poverty, and in particular almost 300,000 children out of poverty. This is the impact that these policies are having on Canadians.

That is why I was extremely pleased to see in this throne speech similar talk. It is important to mention that a throne speech is a guiding document. It is a principled document that sets the overall agenda for a government during the time it will be governing. To see the commitment and the dedication to continuing to build on that was extremely rewarding.

In particular, looking forward, raising the basic income exemption to $15,000 so that the Canadians who require it the most will not be burdened with any tax up to that $15,000.

Also, affordable housing is mentioned in the throne speech. My riding in particular has an extreme shortage of housing right now. Our vacancy rate is at 0.6%. For those who do not know, a healthy vacancy rate is around 3% or 4%. That means that housing costs are being driven up, whether to buy or rent. It is putting people in some very difficult situations.

Knowing that we will continue to build on our infrastructure, and not just the bricks and mortar but also the social infrastructure that goes into the housing family unit and how we can support them, I am extremely pleased to see.

Regarding increases to the CCB, that signature program that lifted hundreds of thousands of people and children out of poverty, we will now extend it to assist children under the age of one to provide more assistance to them.

I have two very young children in my family, one just over three years old and another just over one year old. I know the challenges that can be put on families who have a child under the age of one, a newborn.

Knowing that people who are already struggling will have the opportunity to tap into more of the resources available to them, and to be taken care of and to be looked after more in that very precious time of the first year, is extremely encouraging. I also know it will give the opportunity to see even more children and families being lifted out of poverty.

On the second topic of health care, in particular pharmacare, I am very encouraged by two things that were talked about. The first is pharmacare, developing a plan that will address the prescribed medication needs of all Canadians. There are many people in our communities, mine in particular, who have to choose daily between taking their full prescription or paying for rent or food.

The reality of the situation is, when they live in a country as rich as Canada with the advancements we have, I do not believe people should be making those decisions between medications and taking care of other necessities in life. It is important for us to bring forward this plan on pharmacare and I look forward to it.

The other issue is access to a family doctor. I am so glad to see that our government is talking about making sure that every Canadian has access to a doctor. In Kingston, we had a huge shortage of doctors a number of years ago and we set out a plan as a city council to bring more doctors in.

The only problem was that we ended up stealing them from neighbouring communities and creating problems for them as we were attracting them to our community. Having a nationalized plan to attract and retain doctors in Canada so that everyone has access to a family doctor is incredibly encouraging to see.

Finally, when it comes to climate change there is no issue more pressing for future generations than the action that we take with respect to climate change and the action that we take now.

As the previous minister of the environment said, we are the first generation to feel the effects of climate change and we will be the last to be able to do anything about it. We need to accomplish some of these extremely ambitious goals of reaching net zero by 2050. We need to reduce our plastic consumption right now by reducing our single-use plastics, and we need to continue to grow that green economy and invest in technologies that will drive us into the future both economically and sustainably from an environmental perspective.

I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House over the next months and years as we make sure that we continue to bring forward legislation in a meaningful and positive way for all Canadians.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member opposite for being back. I was a Queen's grad and he knows I am in his riding from time to time.

Certainly I think the member would agree that I am one of those in the last Parliament who tried to work with the government to align its priorities to opportunities to create jobs in Sarnia—Lambton and we were very successful. As a result, now we have two other problems. One is affordable housing and one is the availability of skilled trades. We are short maybe 1,500 skilled trades and that is projected to go on into the future since we have a lot of expansions.

I would be interested to hear what the member could tell me about the government's plans to offer actual dollars for affordable housing that I could take advantage of and skilled training for the trades.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I could take 10 minutes answering this question on each subject.

I do want to welcome the member for Sarnia—Lambton back, too. I regret that she was not able to come to her homecoming this year as it fell on the weekend before the election, but we look forward to seeing her in future years.

When it comes to affordable housing specifically, we have the national housing strategy that is in place right now. There is $40 billion over a 10-year period that, through working with CMHC, housing providers in her riding and all ridings throughout the country can have access to, in order to build affordable housing for people in their communities.

The other thing the member spoke of was skilled trades. It is an incredible topic that we really need to focus on. Although I do not have any answers for her right now, it is something that I would love to work with her on.

The reality of the situation is that the average mason in Canada right now is 58 years old. We need to do something about increasing the number of people, young people in particular, going into skilled trades because that is where all the money is right now. If any of my kids want to go into skilled trades, I would be the happiest dad in the world because they would be rich.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a quick question with regard to the member's party and its history with single-event sports betting and tourism in the member's region, my region and others, and also about the $10 billion going toward organized crime from illegal offshore and backroom-basement types of betting.

Will the member's government support the unification of Canada, similar to the United States, which is moving toward that right now, as well as Europe, and allow single-event sports betting amongst the provinces?

This just allows them to do that if they want to. Right now, it is a free-for-all for organized crime, versus having a regulated market that is important for tourism destinations in areas like his own constituency.

Will the member support that, and why did his government oppose it the last time? Perhaps it will change it this time.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, although single-sport betting is not huge in my riding, tourism definitely is. The member might be confusing me with one of my colleagues from St. Catharines, who is very passionate on this issue.

I will say that I do not have an answer to the member's question. It is a very direct question. I would love to see the research into this, whether it comes through a private member's bill or from government legislation, and listen to somebody like him who is heavily impacted by this in his riding, so that we could put together legislation if it is warranted, reduce the amount of organized crime and ensure that, if there are opportunities there, they are seized.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is my first time rising in this House ever, and I would like to congratulate you.

The hon. member mentioned how he liked that the throne speech referred to strengthening the economy. The reality is that in Canada we are actually facing a productivity challenge. Currently in the U.S., every hour of GDP generates about $60. In Switzerland it is $65, while in Canada it is $50. Wages in Switzerland are $33 on average. In the U.S. they are $23, and in Canada they are only $19.

The most affluent and highest contribution to GDP per hour is in the oil and gas sector. Bill C-69 had a huge impact on that and it is hammering our oil and gas industry. Currently, the oil and gas industry contributes $644 per hour.

What concrete steps will the member's government take to improve productivity in Canada?

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I think that one of the most important things to do is to make sure that we are working in a diversified market. Just like we do not want to always be trading partners with only the United States, we want to diversity our trade relationships throughout the world.

In particular, when it comes to the products and services that we sell, I think it is important that we make sure that there are many different products we are working on and that our economy is diversified in the sense that we are not only relying on one or two different sectors in different parts of the country.

When we talk about oil and gas, specifically in Alberta, I was really surprised to see recently that Suncor, an oil-producing company, announced that is investing $300 million in Alberta into a wind farm. I think that just the idea that we can have multiple forms of activity in our economy is the best thing to do.

Let us not just rely on renewable. Let us not just rely on oil. Let us not just rely on one part of the economy or another. Let us diversify so that we can make sure that we are insulated against peaks and valleys in the economic system.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see you here in the House. Of course, I am also pleased to see all of my colleagues.

I would have preferred it if the results of the election had been different, but the people have spoken, even though a majority of them voted for the official opposition party.

I would like to echo what my colleague said earlier and congratulate you on your appointment as Deputy Speaker of the House. You are currently acting as Speaker. I think everyone recognizes your good judgment and your keen understanding of human nature. You are a man that we are pleased to work with here in the House.

I want to inform the House that I will be sharing my time with a brand new MP, the member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley. One day I will table a motion to cancel each every riding name that is too long to say in the House. I am sure it will get unanimous consent.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

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

I am very pleased to be back in the House. I sincerely thank the people of Louis-Saint-Laurent who placed their trust in me for a second time. People can say what they will, but it always warms my heart to see the number of people who voted for me increasing from one minute to the next when the ballots are counted. A person also cannot help but feel a little pang when that number drops a bit. I would like to thank the people who put their trust in me to represent them in the House of Commons a second time.

I was born and raised in Louis-Saint-Laurent and that is also where I raised my family and where I still live today. In the heart of that riding is the indigenous community of Wendake. I represent that community with pride, honour and enthusiasm. I think it is an inspiration to first nations people and others when it comes to living together in harmony. Wendake is a model, an example, an inspiration to Canada and the entire world.

Every year in the riding of Louis-Saint-Laurent, people are closely involved in charity work. I was with Guy Boutin last weekend, a businessman who works with the Fondation Le Petit Blanchon, an organization that helps children from families that are struggling. Once again, I saw how generous the people of Quebec and Louis-Saint-Laurent are.

This is my second time running in a federal election, but it is the fifth mandate I have been given by my fellow citizens. I was elected three times in the riding of Chauveau. In fact, I want to acknowledge the people who gave me the immense privilege of representing them in the Quebec National Assembly exactly 11 years and one day ago, on December 8, 2008. I served in that role for seven years. A few of my former colleagues from the Quebec National Assembly now sit in the House of Commons. It is not that I do not like them, but I thought they were doing a good job in the National Assembly. They should have stayed there. However, the voters decided otherwise.

Now let me speak from the heart about my family. A political career is simply not possible without a supportive and understanding family. Let me start with my partner, Pascale. I am going to make the same joke I make every time: that's Pascale with an e. The first time I said that, 11 years ago, everyone burst out laughing. Now, no one bats an eyelash. My partner Pascale has been with me every step of this magnificent adventure. In politics, there are highs and super-highs, but there are no lows. Basically, either things are going well or they are going very well.

Of course, I also have two children, Béatrice and Jean-Philippe, who are now accomplished adults. They are so dear to me, and I love them so much. They are doing very well for themselves. I am lucky. It is a privilege to have such generous and caring children.

Lastly, I would like to talk about my parents, who are 95 and 96 years old and who have been my unwavering supporters for the past 55 years. This year was the first time they were not able to be there when I cast my ballot. It was a tradition. They were not able to attend the swearing-in either. Everyone who was at the swearing-in, including the hard-working volunteers without whom I would not be in this place, could see how much I care for my parents. Even now, in their later golden years, they regularly watch the debates of the House of Commons on television. I must say they sometimes have some pretty harsh things to say about the government, but I am not here to talk about that.

It is with great honour and privilege that I welcome the new mandate I received from the people, a mandate I will serve in the House of Commons.

As I said, the night of the election, I did a live interview on Radio-Canada with Patrice Roy.

I was clear: We must work together.

This is the clear message we received, because although the government was elected with the most seats, the official opposition received more votes. We have to keep that in mind. The government lost nearly one million votes. We had 600,000 more votes in this election. We now have representation in each and every area of this country. We are the true national party in the House of Commons and are proud of it. This was accomplished a month ago under the strong and proud leadership of the hon. Leader of the Opposition, the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle. We are proud of that and have to keep it in mind in our debates.

I hope the government will keep in mind that although it is in office, it has to look around closely because more people voted against it than for it. It is the first time in Canadian history that a government has had such low approval in getting into office. We should keep that in mind.

During the previous Parliament, I had the great privilege of serving under our current leader and also under the hon. Rona Ambrose, as leader of the official opposition, who entrusted me with some big responsibilities. I was the critic for employment, Treasury Board and finance.

Now I can say that I was so nervous to be the critic of the finance minister. Who could say that? I remember my mathematics teacher in grade 6 in high school, who would have said that if I became the finance critic for the official opposition in the House of Commons, I would finally have done something right with respect to calculation. It was a real honour and privilege to serve during the last mandate.

I had the privilege of covering the finance portfolio. In politics, you never ask your leader for anything, but in conversation, I indicated that I had done the rounds and that if, by chance, I could do something else, I would be happy. I am honoured to be the shadow minister for intergovernmental affairs. This portfolio is of utmost importance to the future of this country, especially in this Parliament.

National unity in this country has unfortunately never been worse off. I must say that although members are making their maiden speeches and everyone has nice things to say about everyone else, the unity problems are the fault of the current government. The government's four years of bad decisions, pointless provocations and combative discussions with provincial governments have pitted the provinces against each other. The Bloc Québécois ended up making a resurgence. Even just a few months ago, the idea of Wexit was lore, a joke.

It is no longer funny. When we talk about Brexit, it is no longer a folkloric issue; it is a true reality of the political agenda in Canada, thanks to the government. That is not good for this country.

To us, national unity is a major issue that we have to address head on.

I must say—and I am very pleased to do so—that the Prime Minister giving this mandate to the Deputy Prime Minister is a good sign. Observers all agree that the Deputy Prime Minister, an MP from Toronto, has been given more authority, taken on more responsibility, to say the least. After the Prime Minister, she quite likely has the most authority in this cabinet. She has been entrusted with the responsibility of intergovernmental relations. That is a good thing, a good sign.

We expected to see in the Speech from the Throne a clear statement on the Prime Minister's intention to give this trustworthy person that mandate. That did not happen. The Speech from the Throne has nothing but rhetoric about Canadian unity, how we need to work together and be good neighbours. That is not exactly what we expected. We expected more.

That is why I have a message for this government, which keeps saying that it is reaching out to the opposition and wants to hear its suggestions. Our country is the global champion of free trade. Canada has 50 agreements with 50 different countries. That is fantastic for Canada's economy. What is incomprehensible is that our provinces cannot do business with one another. That is preposterous.

Our political party, under the leadership of the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle, the leader of the official opposition, has proposed that there be a federal-provincial conference on January 6 to lay the foundation for interprovincial free trade agreements. The one thing I want to ask of this government during this mandate is that it inspire us. It should run with our idea to make Canada the global leader of free trade and the country of interprovincial free trade for the good of all Canadians.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I always listen attentively to my colleague across the way, but I beg to differ on a couple of his points.

First and foremost, the government of the day has representation in all regions of the country. I am from the Prairies myself and am very proud of that fact. We do share some things in common. The national government does not have any seats in two provincial areas and the Conservatives do not have any seats in two provincial areas: Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, for example.

On the issue of working with the provinces, this government has achieved a great deal through consultations with them, such as on the Canada pension plan, which will greatly enhance retirement benefits for future workers. It is a positive thing. In working with the provinces and territories, we were also able to achieve the health care accord.

Does the member not believe there is room for many other things, such as putting a pharmacare plan in place and possibly even freer trade among the provinces, especially given that the Deputy Prime Minister played such an important role—

[The Deputy Speaker, Bruce Stanton]

Order, please. I am going to try to keep the interventions to about a minute or so, because there is usually lots of interest in posing questions to hon. members.

The hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased to get back because it gives me the privilege of answering the question by my hon. colleague from Winnipeg North. He is back, even though we worked hard to get him out. The next time we will.

The hon. member is right: his boss, the Prime Minister, talks a lot about the provinces. He talks against Doug Ford, Jason Kenney and Premier Moe. He talks against people elected by Canadians. That is not the way to run this country. We have to work together instead of making political arguments against provincially elected people. That is the first point.

Second, when we talk about national unity, the first thing to keep in mind is respect for the Constitution. The federal government's role is not to enter provincial jurisdiction on issues like pharmacare. We have pharmacare in Quebec, and decisions on it belong to the province, not at the federal level.

[Louise Charbonneau, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is the first time I have had the privilege of rising to speak in the House. Congratulations on your appointment as Deputy Speaker of the House.

As my colleagues have done for their ridings, I want to take this opportunity to thank the constituents of Trois-Rivières and all the volunteers who worked on my campaign. As we know, volunteers are at the heart of political activity in our ridings. I am extremely grateful to each and every one of them.

Trois-Rivières is home to many seniors who count on federal programs in order to have a decent quality of life so they can meet their basic needs. Will the provisions outlined in the throne speech really meet their needs? What is being offered to people between the ages of 65 and 75?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to congratulate my colleague from Trois-Rivières on her election. Obviously, in keeping with tradition, we would also like to acknowledge the person who represented us in the most recent election campaign, Mayor Yves Lévesque. As everyone knows, he worked very hard and we all hold him in high esteem. The people have spoken and they elected the member for Trois-Rivières. I recognize and welcome her.

We all care about seniors for two reason. First, this issue falls 100% under federal jurisdiction. That is why I was saying earlier that it is important for Canadian unity that the government respect jurisdictions.

Second, seniors are the most vulnerable members of our society. When people get to a certain age, they can no longer go back to school to learn a new occupation. They can no longer work 45 hours a week. When people reach a certain age, they want to focus on other things and, most of all, they want to enjoy what previous generations have built for us.

We therefore echo what the member said about being very attentive to the needs of seniors in Canada, Quebec, the riding of Louis-Saint-Laurent and, of course, the riding of Trois-Rivières.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in this place today to give my first speech. I want to thank my fellow Manitobans from the riding of Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley for placing their trust in me to be their voice in this great place. I want to thank my family and my campaign team, and also offer you my humblest congratulations, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

As members of Parliament it is our duty to be the voice of every Canadian, make his or her life easier and build a future for our country that is prosperous and filled with opportunity. The Speech from the Throne just does not do this. With no plan or even mention of a balanced budget, we are passing our bill to the next generation to pay. This is unfair and frankly reckless.

Right now, Canada is starting to see an economic storm coming our way. Instead of making plans to weather the storm, the government seems intent on reckless spending that leaves our cupboards bare and puts Canada's economic future into question.

In the run-up to the 2015 federal election, the Prime Minister made a big promise. It was not a small one. It was not something that was buried in his campaign platform. He said, “We will balance that budget in 2019.”

I think when Canadians hear the Prime Minister make a promise like that, they expect it to be kept. Particularly when there is a majority government, one would think that would be very attainable. However, not only did the Prime Minister break this important promise, but the budgetary deficits under the Liberal government have been high and onerous for Canadians. In fact, the Prime Minister missed the mark in 2019, despite his promise, by $14 billion.

While reading over the throne speech, I thought I would find the word “balanced” somewhere in there, but no, that word does not appear anywhere in the speech. Then I continued to look for the word “budget”, but there was no mention of the word “budget” either. How could the government leave the word “budget” out of the blueprint for its parliamentary agenda?

To contrast this, in the Conservative government's 2013 throne speech, there was an entire section entitled, “Balanced Budgets and Reducing the Cost of Government”. The Conservatives recognized that in Canada balanced budgets were important because they would leave us prepared in the event of an economic downturn.

What is worse is that in 2015 the Liberal government inherited a balanced budget. Since then, Canada's federal debt has increased by roughly $73 billion. This additional debt has caused taxpayers to pay even more interest. If this trend were to continue, it would be safe to say Canada would have a structural operating deficit, which, considering what the Liberals inherited during a period of economic prosperity, is completely irresponsible.

It is the government's duty to look out for Canada's future. It is ridiculous that there is not one mention of how the government will budget its promises. I know the Liberal government is used to writing blank cheques, but that is not how Canada and Canadians operate. Canadians spend a lot of time at the kitchen table, finding ways to balance their own budgets and stretching every dollar so they can make it to the end of every month, and save for a rainy day.

The government should also be working on finding ways to balance the budget and leave more money in the pockets of Canadians. Canadians know that their hard-earned tax dollars go to pay interest on all this debt. In fact, the interest Canadians paid in 2019 on our massive federal debt was $23.3 billion. This is money that could have been spent on programs that would help Canadians, but rather went to bondholders and bankers.

I know the finance minister is very fond of bragging about our declining debt-to-GDP ratio. It is far easier to talk about something debt related as declining rather than increasing. However, Canadians understand that our national debt is increasing. Our debt-to-GDP ratio will only decline as long as our economy is growing at a pace faster than our debt is rising.

Given the economic storm on the horizon, and as our economy slows, soon the declining debt-to-GDP ratio that the minister likes to brag about may no longer be in his very weak arsenal of debate.

I also wish to highlight that Statistics Canada reported last week that our job market had lost 71,200 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate rose to 5.9%, the highest in more than a year. This is the largest drop in Canadian employment in a single month in 10 years. These are real people who have to come home and tell their families that they no longer have a job. While the U.S. economy is on the upswing, ours is on the downswing.

As the members opposite scratch their heads, wondering what went wrong, I would suggest a trip out west might help them understand. Alberta's unemployment rate is 7.2%. The housing market is in a downward spiral. People are losing their homes and many of Calgary's downtown office towers sit empty.

The Liberal government could continue to look west for an example of how to be financially responsible. As a Manitoban, I understand personally what happens to a government when it does not take financial responsibility seriously. Manitobans toiled under an NDP government for 17 years; a provincial NDP government that taxed and spent, much like the current federal government is doing right now. There were 17 years of debt, decline and decay. The Liberal government appears to be taking Canada on a similar path of financial mismanagement and reckless disregard for the hard-earned tax dollars of all Canadians, and it is very concerning.

However, Premier Pallister and his PC government in my home province of Manitoba brought the province back on track. They are balancing their budget, while continuing to make record investments in health care and education. They continue to do this all while lowering the sales tax to make life easier for all Manitobans. This is what all Canadians should expect from their government.

Back in 2018, when all this was transpiring, I held out hope and thought that there must be a plan to get the federal budget back to balance. Surely, if anyone was on top of this, it would be the Liberal Minister of Finance. However, then I happened to watch a finance committee meeting in which the finance minister was asked over and over again by my esteemed colleague from Carleton about when the budget would be balanced. It seemed like a softball question for our erudite Minister of Finance, yet he could not answer. In fact, by the end, it was apparent he was not interested in the subject at all. Much like last week's throne speech, the minister could not even say the words “balanced budget”.

The finance minister is supposed to be the guardian of the treasury. He is supposed to have his hands on the financial steering wheel of the country, a steady hand. There is no attention being paid to the continued piling on of debt on millennials and future generations of Canadians, and that must stop.

As I begin to close, I would remind members of the House, particularly those on the Liberal side, that it is our duty to serve every Canadian, create opportunity and ensure that the next generation has a brighter future, not led by the debt we leave behind. To do this, the Prime Minister and his Liberal team must change course. They must put some serious thought into ending this reckless spending and putting forward a serious plan to put Canada's financial and economic future at the forefront.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member on his first speech, and I welcome him into the House.

However, perhaps the member is not familiar with the history of previous Conservative governments and their ability to balance budgets, but I will fill him in a little.

In the last 18 budgets that were introduced by Conservative governments in this very House under Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper, 16 of them ran deficits. Of the two that run surpluses, one came on the heels of Paul Martin's $13 billion surplus and the other came in 2015 when the Conservatives slashed veteran services and sold off shares of GM at bargain prices so they could balance the budget in time for the election.

As the member spent a lot of his time today talking about balancing budgets, I am curious as to why he thinks the Conservatives are in a position to be lecturing on balancing budgets when their track record speaks absolutely nothing to their ability to do it.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Mr. Speaker, over here we take no lessons from the Liberal government when it comes to fiscal responsibility. The fact is that when the Liberals took office in 2015, millions of Canadians voted for a prime minister who said that the budget would be balanced in 2019. When one votes based on a promise and that promise is broken, it is a very serious thing, and we all have to recognize that. I do not think anyone on this side of the House will forget about that, because we speak for our constituents. At the doors of my riding, I heard this over and over again.

The fact is that in 2015 when the Liberal government took office, it had a balanced budget and it squandered it. The Liberals said that they were lowering taxes for the middle class, but they raised them. Frankly, I do not know how we can take any solace from the comments of the member opposite.

I would add, just as an aside, that I could get into the litany of problems we are having now economically, but I will just say that 71,000 Canadians lost their job last month and we are not hearing anything from that side of the House about how they are going to fix it.