Debates of Oct. 1st, 2020

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate that because I think that my message is one that has not been discussed enough in the House of Commons, and hopefully it will resonate outside of this chamber, and even more so. I believe, again, that it is not just about the individual families who do not have a connection.

I look to Windsor where we have the Costello family. People need to understand how draconian the system is. This is in Windsor where they asked to go to hospice to visit a dying mother, Diane. She has passed away, and my go condolences to the Costello family today. I thank all their family for fighting for this.

They did not have to stop anywhere. They were going from the border eight kilometres to a hospice, and it was originally denied by the government. There would be no interaction anywhere else. Meanwhile, we can drive across British Columbia to Alaska and then head into Alaska and come back, stopping several places, and that is okay, but they could not get permission. We finally did get it, and I thank the government for allowing permission for the family to be together for her dying days, but this should not be a fight. This should be a planning process.

The government needs to wake up to it and acknowledge that this could go on for a long period of time. COVID-19 is going to continue to plague us as citizens, but we cannot fall into always saying no and not doing the hard work necessary to reunite families, whether they be loved ones, fiancés, brothers or sisters. All those types of relationships that are out there, that are connected, can be scrutinized.

There has been a tremendous amount of work done, so nobody is asking for somebody to come willy-nilly into this country and get a free pass. They are actually putting forward their families' high expectations, ensuring coverage, ensuring a plan, ensuring there is going to be follow through and quarantining, all those things. Right now, the government is just saying no, a blanket no. That is not acceptable because this is going to continue to go on. This hurts not only the people directly involved but also our entire community. That is what I am trying to impress upon the system right now.

We saw the one case I referenced, the Costello family. At that time, I pointed out that a billionaire got into this country, to Toronto, and got through the system. The government's response was to blame CBSA. That is not acceptable. It is not acceptable for our workers to be put on that mantle and have it said that they are the problem. The CBSA workers are actually our front-line heroes. They deal every day with people coming back and forth on the land border, and they also deal with the air and other things. They need direction and support from the government. They just cannot be doing it by themselves.

What we are calling for is a fully accountable process that has been presented to the government. The government is potentially responding now, because it is feeling the pressure. It should not be political pressure.

One case is enough, and it is not acceptable for us to continue to put people in pain by their not knowing their future. It is not good for mental health. It is not good for the workforce. It is not good for the families. All of those are reasons why we can do better.

That is where we are at. We cannot change the past right now. We cannot undo the damage that has been done. What we can do is bring in a fully accountable, credible process for families to be reunited that ensures safety for the public. Surely we can do that. We have to do better. COVID-19 may not be going away for a long period of time. We have direct testing now available. The time has come for us to change, for the government to change, and to reunite families.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Windsor West is actually my neighbour. Our ridings butt up against each other, so I am very much aware and very much in his camp.

My office has received hundreds of these types of compassionate calls from, for example, cancer victims who cannot see their families and who have days to live, people who have to decide between seeing their loved ones and going to work, and snowbirds who are not quite sure where they are going to live because where they are living, their summer homes, are being closed down.

Would my hon. colleague agree with me that those reaching out to the Minister of Public Safety's office are getting contradictory information, and that, although the CBSA is doing a fantastic job, the people who go to the border are getting a different response than those who are going to the Minister of Public Safety?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, that is an important question.

I met young woman named Shayla who had stepped forward. People really need to understand that we have been fighting for family reunification, and we brought this issue to the minister months ago. There were several letters, and I am not going to reference them all right now. What it took was me calling Shayla, who came forward in the public realm to discuss the issue her mother had. Her mother was passing away and not able to visit her grandparents, who were in quarantine in Windsor. It took her to coming forward. That courage and that gift to other people was extraordinary.

The member is quite right, we can have families members who are literally kilometres apart from each other and they cannot be united. That is wrong.

The process has to change. Political direction is required right now, not putting it back to individual officers. We need a real system in place for people right now.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am a bit curious. The Parti Québécois proposed an amendment to the throne speech. However, only the hon. member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie voted in favour of it. Like the NDP—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The Parti Québécois is not represented in Parliament.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, my apologies. This time, I will be more careful.

In Québec, the NDP has the reputation of being a centralizing force. I would like to know why my colleague voted against the amendment proposed by the Bloc Québécois.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, the member will sort out where and who his party represents. His party actually voted for the Speech from the Throne last night, so this is hypocrisy. It is just dismissive.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, I listened to what the member was saying. He has a great deal of compassion for a good number of people, as I do. I have experienced first-hand how individuals have wanted to come over.

The compelling issue is to what degree does the member feel we need to continue to listen to the health experts and the civil service, which has done an outstanding job for all Canadians. Does the member believe that we should be overlooking some of the advice of health experts?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for asking this question because it is actually the theme of what the government is trying to do. It is trying to push this issue and say we are against public health because we want families to be reunited.

However, it is the exact opposite, and the parliamentary secretary knows that. His government knows that. The issues that we have brought forward are to protect people, protect the public and reunite families in an accountable way, even more so than what he and his government are allowing, which is for people to get in their car and drive all the way to Alaska, with no accountability.

Meanwhile, people from Michigan cannot visit a cancer patient in Windsor. They cannot go to the room where the cancer patient is dying, travelling door to door and separated from everything else. They cannot just get in their car and go to the spot where they can see their relative.

The parliamentary secretary really needs to get a good grasp of this issue, because he is part of the problem. They could work on this every single day. With immigration cases down, they have lots of public servants who could vet these cases and ensure public safety is number one while families are reunited.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am very proud to be participating in this debate from a town in northern Ontario.

COVID-19 plunged Canada into the worst economic and medical crisis in a hundred years. The pandemic disrupted our economy and jeopardized the future of millions of workers. It is essential that Parliament show leadership in this crisis. We need to work together and invest the necessary funds to help our country get through the pandemic safely.

I am very proud to be participating in this debate today and to be discussing the situation in Parliament.

It is really crucial when we are talking about the Speech from the Throne and where we need to go that we frame our role in terms of us being in the worst medical and economic catastrophe in a century. I am on the phone all day with people who are really frightened, and I know that members of every party are as well. People are frightened by the rising numbers of COVID cases. People are still dealing with the catastrophe of long-term care homes, particularly in Ontario and Quebec, and worrying about their aged loved ones.

We need to be putting people front and centre, and we can do this. We can have a very spirited and at times confrontational Parliament, but the focus is to get the services out there and what the best ways to get them out there are. It is one of the reasons the New Democratic party fought so hard to change the CERB, which the Liberal government was going to drop to $1,600 a month. We said that would leave over a million Canadians, such as gig workers and contract workers, in a very precarious situation.

This has forced a discussion about the problems of an economic system that for years was dependent on keeping people in contract positions, part-time work and precarious positions in the gig economy. When COVID hit, two million people were not able to pay their rents within two weeks of the lockdown, and we have to change that. Our focus right now has to be getting people through the long winter ahead.

The Speech from the Throne reads like an NDP platform. It reads like everything the NDP has been running on for years. The problem is the Liberals always run on the NDP platform; they just never govern from it. I was a young man with little children when the Liberals started promising child care. I am glad they are promising it again, but will we see it? I am glad the Liberals are promising pharmacare, but they have promised it in many forms and never delivered it.

However, this is a minority government. This is our opportunity to put forward negotiations to make things happen, and there is a will right now to move Canada forward to a new normal. It is going to take an enormous investment from the federal government to get this nation through.

I want to speak to two issues. One is very concerning, and one may be very positive for my region in the north. In the midst of the pandemic, we are dealing with the other great pandemic: the opioid crisis. It has been a disaster. I am talking to people in North Bay, Sudbury and Kirkland Lake about it.

Timmins has been hit very hard. Mixed in with the opioid crisis is the homelessness crisis, with upwards of sometimes over a thousand people who are homeless in the Timmins region, a community of 44,000. I congratulate our mayor George Pirie, the people who work at the DSSAB, the mental health workers, the police and those at Living Space in Timmins. They have done an amazing job trying to keep people safe and housed.

I have noticed that the Liberal government has quietly let many of the programs that could have helped die over the last year. A lot of the monies that should have been there for the opioid crisis are not there. There have been great promises for money for homelessness, but the money dried up very quickly. We are hearing positive language from the government, but when will that money be delivered? This winter is going to be a very hard winter in Canada, and I am very concerned about the opioid crisis and the homelessness crisis in our communities in northern Ontario. This is something that is non-partisan. Every single community in the country is facing this disastrous crisis.

We have to be ready to work together to get through this, but that means the Liberal government has to move on from positive words. They think if they say positive words, they get positive results, but that is not how it works. Positive words mean action. Action means we have to get the money out now to address the opioid and homelessness crisis.

I was very pleased to hear in the Speech from the Throne the commitment on electric cars. That is certainly something that will help manufacturing in southern Ontario. If we are going to talk about a green recovery through a sustainability lens, we have to be saying that, if we are going to put federal investment into these plants, the sources of the raw materials need to have a green lens too. The products that are mined have to have indigenous agreements and they need to move toward sustainability. That will give an enormous advantage to Canada, rather than taking nickel from Indonesia or going to the war zones of Congo for copper and cobalt. We need to say we are going to insist on an environmentally sustainable and indigenous positive resource policy to help manufacture electric vehicles.

We may have a massive new nickel mine in the Timmins region, and they have already come out front saying they want a whole environmental plan to get to zero emissions. We have the Borden mine in northern Ontario, which is working with zero emissions. They have removed the diesel machines from underground and are going completely electric.

In my community of Cobalt, we have the first cobalt refinery being set up. Cobalt is essential. There is no clean energy future without cobalt, but right now the majority of the world's sources are coming from Congo, which has a horrific record of human rights abuses, child labour and environmental degradation. This also puts us into a geopolitical war with China for who is going to control the cobalt resources and the future of the digital economy. We have an opportunity in Canada to turn that around and say we can do it in an environmentally sustainable way.

One of the things that has to come out of the pandemic is a real discussion about when and how are we actually going to start meeting our targets and meeting an environmentally sustainable future so that we are making investments and creating the jobs that are important here. This is something we need to be doing now, because the government is making the investments to get us through the pandemic, but this has to be for a long-term vision.

At the end of the day, our focus right now is about working people who have been completely up-ended by the crisis, including people I know who were in the gig economy and people who worked in the service sector.

I am very, very concerned about the rising numbers of COVID and going into new lockdowns. We see Quebec just moved into the red zone. If restaurants start to close, many of them will not reopen. That is the reality. We need to be addressing the potential economic catastrophe if we do not get the numbers in check.

For this, the federal government can play a huge role. This is why the NDP pushed for sick leave benefits, something that allows less protected workers to actually be able to take time off, so we can lessen the COVID numbers.

We did something historic this week in putting workers first and making those fundamental changes. I know we stayed up until three in the morning, but I want to say how proud I was that the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives supported the New Democratic Party's efforts and we voted unanimously.

We in the New Democratic Party will continue the tough negotiations to keep the focus on getting people through the pandemic, so people can look to the federal government and say that Canada is doing their part and not giving into to the kind of horrific political chaos we are seeing south of the border. We are also seeing this in other countries that are being plunged into much worse conditions. We need to stay focused at this time.

I thank the Liberals for stealing so many great new ideas from the New Democrats in the Speech from the Throne. I am going to make their lives a living hell, at times, to make sure they live up to those ideas. That is my job as a member in the honourable opposition, but I think we can come out of this Parliament with something better for Canadians and a reason to believe.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Madam Speaker, I enjoyed and listened to my hon. colleague's remarks quite intently. Of course, he comes from a riding and a part of the country where the natural resource sector is extremely important. He referenced some of that in his speech. Coming from Kings—Hants here in Nova Scotia, I know that those natural resources are extremely important, whether it is agriculture or the forestry sector, and they are important to the Canadian economy.

Could the member speak to the section of the Speech from the Throne where our government put forward a vision of working with natural resource industries to get them competitive for a low-carbon economy? I have to assume that accords with his ideology and speaks to the constituents in his riding.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Madam Speaker, what we really need to do is get serious about lowering emissions. I remember talking with Stéphane Dion in 2005. He talked about voluntary emissions standards and how those would get us to meet our Kyoto targets. Our emissions standards have jumped, even tripled and quadrupled, ever since then. We need real, clear commitments.

In terms of forestry, we have been hammered in the softwood lumber dispute by unfair American practices. These have not created more American jobs, they have created opportunities for our European competitors. Imagine that: the Netherlands is able to ship wood to the United States because we are being blocked from our natural markets.

I encourage the Liberal government to stand up for our industries, stand up for agriculture and make sure that the trade policies are not punitive, because we can compete. I think we can compete in a much more environmentally sustainable way. We are going to have to. That is the future. We have to be environmentally sustainable.

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

Madam Speaker, my constituents were very disappointed and distraught about the usurpation of democracy with the order in council that the Prime Minister put forward to ban many handguns and guns across the country. They have repeatedly spoken to me about the issue. They say it is undemocratic, and they are also concerned about what the criteria are for banning firearms across the country. They see this as a property rights issue.

I wonder what the member's constituents have been telling him about the undemocratic use of an order in council to ban firearms.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Madam Speaker, I come from a region with lots of guns. I am a registered gun owner myself. Very few people I know have AR-15s, or military assault weapons, but when I am asked about it, I say, “You know who came up with this idea about using cabinet to make decisions on gun policy? That was Stephen Harper.”

Stephen Harper came up with that scheme. I remember at the time thinking that it was going to come back to bite the Conservatives. When a Liberal government came in, it would not have to take this through Parliament. It would not need a vote.

If my Conservative colleague is upset about undemocratic measures with regard to gun owners and their AR-15s, or other military weapons, he should ask his colleagues why Stephen Harper thought it was such a bright idea to shift gun policy from the RCMP, which I think is in a better position to manage it than cabinet. That is a good question I think he could ask his colleagues.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Speaker, I heard my colleague say that he has been waiting a long time for a day care system. If he were in Quebec, he would have had his wish, since Quebec is a leader in this area. Quebec also has a drug insurance plan that could have enhanced coverage if a federal program were implemented and Québec had the right to opt out with full compensation.

I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the right to opt out with full compensation for these programs.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question.

The NDP believes that it is essential that we support asymmetrical federalism, for example in the case of a day care system. Quebec is the model for the program. I like that. For the NDP, if Quebec has a program, the federal government should transfer the funds to support that program, but it is also essential that Quebec have jurisdiction over the program and that it implement its own plan based on its own objectives. It is that simple.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (FedNor)]

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Kitchener Centre today.

I am pleased to provide an address on the 150th Speech from the Throne today to MPs in the House of Commons, those participating virtually, the Canadian people and in particular my fantastic constituents watching in the great riding of Sault Ste. Marie. It is located in the centre of Canada at the heart of the Great Lakes, on the border of the United States, in the traditional territory of the Ojibwa people of Garden River and Batchawana, as well as of the Métis people.

I want to begin by recognizing and thanking our front-line and essential workers who are looking after our health and safety, putting food on our tables and making sure our economy's supply chains continue to operate. This includes my wife, Lisa, who is a health care worker, so thanks to my wife as well.

This is my first time to address the House virtually. I would also like to thank my staff who have been working with me around the clock, seven days a week, looking after the good people of the Soo during these unprecedented times. I also want to give a shout out to all my family, friends and supporters who have been supporting me as I work to help Canadians. They are my rock. They are my everything.

To overcome the significant challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic poses for all of us, we need all levels of government, every sector of our economy and indeed every Canadian to act in solidarity and work together. We have been in lockstep in our fight against COVID-19 in the Soo since the beginning. The people of Sault Ste. Marie have been unwavering in their commitment to each other and looking out for their families, friends and neighbours. It has been an honour working with Mayor Provenzano and his council; Chief Sayers, Chief Rickard and their councils; MPs and MPPs from all parties and the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce, local labour groups, and various private and public-sector businesses and organizations. #WeAreInThisTogether

I have been told that our health unit has some of the lowest numbers of COVID cases in Ontario, a testament to that mantra. I am confident that the vigilance and sacrifice of individuals and communities across Canada, coupled with the expertise and diligence of medical professionals working hard on a vaccine and caring for patients, will see Canada through this challenging time.

Our approach to beating this pandemic and the impacts it has had on our economy is centred on four pillars that were outlined recently in the Speech from the Throne. First, we are working to protect the health of Canadians, particularly the most vulnerable. To help protect seniors, we will work with parliamentarians on Criminal Code amendments to penalize those who neglect the seniors under their care. We are going to work with provinces and territories to set new national standards for long-term care so that seniors get the best support possible.

We are going to take additional actions to help people stay in their homes longer. We are also going to increase old age security, once a senior turns age 75, and boost the Canada pension plan survivor benefits. We are going to ensure, as well, that our health care system serves Canadians even better. We are going to ensure that everyone has access to a family doctor or a primary care team, expand capacity of delivery for virtual health care, continue to address the opioid epidemic and further increase access to mental health care.

We are going to accelerate to achieve national universal pharmacare through a rare disease strategy to help Canadian families save money on high cost drugs, and establish a national formulary to keep drug prices low. Working with the provinces and territories, we will move forward without delay, bringing forward a new disability inclusion plan to help Canadians with disabilities gain access to programs and benefits. This plan is also going to be welcome. We are also building a plan to end chronic homelessness for good in Canada. As such, I was pleased to announce recently two affordable housing initiatives in the Soo, which repurpose two old schools.

Our second pillar basically says we have Canadians' backs. That expression seems to have been coined at the gates of Algoma Steel here in Sault Ste. Marie, when the Prime Minister was here speaking to steelworkers. We fought really hard against the two American tariffs on steel and aluminum, and won. That was our mantra: We have your back. Now it is a rallying cry for all workers in Canada during these unprecedented times.

I was pleased to see a commitment of creating one million jobs in the Speech from the Throne, and we will get there by using a number of tools in our economic toolbox. Extremely important tools in that box are the regional economic development agencies like FedNor, which I proudly serve as parliamentary secretary. From the get-go, our RDAs have been there for communities, businesses and organizations from coast to coast to coast.

We introduced the regional relief and recovery fund, an almost $1 billion fund, to help those who need that extra help. In Northern Ontario that fund was split between FedNor and Community Futures development corporations, and I have been proud to announce a number of supports on behalf of the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (FedNor) that go hand in glove with the funding from the CFDCs. These are supporting communities, small businesses, tourism, agriculture, IT, indigenous, manufacturing and green initiatives all across Northern Ontario, from areas of Kenora, Thunder Bay, Elliot Lake, Sudbury, Timmins, North Bay, Parry Sound and, of course, Sault Ste. Marie.

We are going to create direct investments in the social sector and infrastructure, immediately train and skill up workers, and create incentives for employers to hire and retain workers. We are going to extend the Canada emergency wage subsidy through to next summer, so workers can remain on payrolls. We are going to create jobs for young Canadians by significantly scaling up the youth employment strategy. We are strengthening the middle class and will continue building long-term competitiveness with clean growth.

This is great news for Sault Ste. Marie, as when I was on city council I seconded a resolution declaring us the alternative energy capital of North America. That is why I was very pleased to see that we are launching a new fund to attract investments in making zero-emission products and cutting the corporate tax rate in half for those companies to create jobs and make Canada a world leader in clean technology.

We are immediately bringing forward a plan to exceed Canada's 2030 climate goals, and we are going to legislate Canada's goals of net-zero emissions by 2050. We are creating thousands of jobs retrofitting homes and buildings, which cuts energy costs for Canadians, families and businesses. We are going to invest in reducing the impact of climate-related disasters like floods and wildfires to make communities safer and more resilient. We are helping deliver more transit and active transit options, and we are going to create a new Canada water agency to keep our water safe, clean and well managed and continue to grow Canada's ocean economy.

Finally, we will accomplish this while we advance gender equality, fight systemic racism and injustices, work toward reconciliation with indigenous people, protect the environment, welcome immigrants and uphold our two official languages.

In my riding we have been doing some really amazing things as we work toward reconciliation, in a nation-to-nation way, these past years. We worked with the survivors of the residential school at Algoma University to build the Anishinaabek Discovery Centre in support of taking back Shingwauk Hall, but more work is ahead of us and we are committed to that. I want to acknowledge the work that the African Caribbean Canadian Association of Northern Ontario is doing here in the Soo, along with its allies in fighting systemic racism.

To support the social and political gains that women and gender-diverse Canadians have fought so hard to secure, our government is creating an action plan for women in the economy, to help more women get back into the workforce. To ensure this plan is guided by a feminist, intersectional response, it will be led by a team of experts whose diverse voices will ensure that we build back our economy in a more inclusive way.

The pandemic has likewise brought to light the need for affordable child care. Parents are needing to work fewer hours or are quitting their jobs entirely to take care of their kids. That is a challenge. That is why we will be making a significant, long-term, sustained investment to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. We will also be subsidizing before- and after-school program costs to ensure no family is left behind.

Canada and the world continue to face the ongoing threat of this global pandemic. Throughout this challenging year, Canadians have proven to be resilient. Our country's success is because of its people. We are neighbours helping neighbours, small businesses supporting communities, armed forces protecting our most vulnerable and front-line workers keeping our families healthy and safe. From the very beginning, we have worked hard to keep everyone safe and healthy and ensured Canadians had the support they needed to get through this crisis. We immediately took action with historic programs like the CERB and Canada's emergency wage subsidy to help Canadians pay their bills and help businesses keep workers on the payroll.

We are also working with the provinces and territories to help Canadians, including by providing funding for communities, public transit, secure child care spaces and personal protective equipment. In this challenging time, we are there for Canadians, and as we look toward the future, we will continue to protect the health of Canadians and do what it takes to support Canadians through this crisis.

Together, we will work to build a Canada that is more resilient, healthier and safer, a Canada that is more fair and inclusive and one that is clean and competitive. We will do what it takes to protect—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I am sorry, but time is up.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Jonquière.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a quick question.

Yesterday, the hon. member for Malpeque said that Canadian taxpayers were not Quebec’s ATM. That might raise eyebrows among those who know a thing or two about Canadian politics. I am thinking, for example, of the $17 billion invested to purchase a pipeline and of the $10 billion in subsidies to the automobile industry in 2008. When the forestry industry fell on hard times, it did not get support from the Canadian government. I am also thinking about the repeated cuts to health care, which weakened Quebec’s health care system. In my opinion, the words of the member for Malpeque are a bit rich.

Does my colleague believe that Canadian taxpayers are indeed Quebec’s ATM?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Madam Speaker, I can say, first of all, that our hearts in Sault Ste. Marie are with the people of Quebec as the second wave of this pandemic is hitting various places in Canada, in particular, in Quebec and Ontario. We are going to be there to support all Canadians from coast to coast to coast and we will continue to work with members to make sure that they are supported. The cost of inaction would be enormous.

Canada has done a significant job in supporting Canadians and, quite frankly, I think that we have done a better job than a lot of other countries because of the supports and the quick action that we have taken.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I want to remind my hon. colleague that he left out persons with disabilities, seniors, veterans and students. Many people have been left out. I also include failing to reach climate targets. I know the hon. member spoke about the Liberals' bold climate action plan, but I would remind the hon. member that their plan is not even consistent with commitments they made in the Paris accord. Young people, in particular, throughout the country, have heard the promises by the government and they have a very firm position that the current and future governments must meet climate targets.

Is the government willing to shift its plan, be honest and do what needs to be done to meet climate targets?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Madam Speaker, I do not know if my microphone was working correctly, but I think many people heard me speak about the supports for seniors, people facing the challenge of homelessness and youth. There were a number of things in the Speech from the Throne that I touched on regarding people in very challenging situations who this pandemic has hit hard and that the supports we have made have been substantial.

As it relates to the environment, I touched on a number of initiatives that are going to help, including hitting the 2050 and 2030 goals that will achieve what we need to make a better future for not only our youth but everyone. I would ask the member to please review the tape and she will hear my points in depth.

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

Madam Speaker, I have had the opportunity to tour Sault Ste. Marie a couple of times. It is on my way home and I have driven through it. One of the times I was there, I toured the tube facility in town, which I think employs over 1,000 people, and 85% of the product it produces ends up in Grand Prairie, Alberta.

One of things mentioned in the Speech from the Throne is that the government wants to phase out the oil patch. If its phases out the oil patch, 1,000 jobs will be lost in Sault Ste. Marie. Does the member support that initiative?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Madam Speaker, I have supported Tenaris tubes and the hundreds of workers. I have worked with both the union and management. We invested $16 million in Tenaris tubes to continue its good work and support it. I look forward to continuing to work with Tenaris. Fighting those American 232 tariffs absolutely helped the company 100%, so yes we are there for them.

[Raj Saini, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my constituents for their faith and trust in me and their continual hard work in advancing our community. It is a great privilege for me to rise today and speak of our government's plan to build a stronger and more resilient Canada.

Over the course of this year, we have faced unprecedented new challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was only a little over six months ago that our new reality came crashing into our lives, and yet in that time Canadians have been able to radically retool our economy to help ensure that we can all continue to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads while still staying safe from COVID-19.

We can all agree that the world today is drastically different than the one we lived in at the beginning of 2020. The ability of Canadians to not only clearly recognize the threat posed by COVID-19 but also take action at a grassroots level, to mobilize and face it head-on shows how adaptable Canadians are. Benjamin Franklin once said that out of adversity comes opportunity, and we will find that the throne speech embodies this sentiment.

While COVID-19 is the greatest challenge our generation has yet faced, it is not the greatest challenge we will face. Climate change is a threat that we have known about for decades. The scientific consensus is clear: We must keep global warming below 1.5 degrees if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change, and to do that we must take bold action now. We must apply the same decisiveness and determination that we had in the face of a pandemic to climate change, and for that we need a big plan.

I am very pleased to say that our government has the plan today, and with the help of Canadians across this country we can implement it and build a brighter future for our children, where they no longer live with climate change casting a cloud over their futures. Through policies such as retrofitting homes and other buildings to be more energy-efficient and building new clean energy infrastructure, not only are we investing in protecting our environment, but we are investing in the economy of the future and creating well-paying, middle-class jobs for Canadians when they need them the most. By taking the same all-hands-on-deck approach to climate change that we took for dealing with the pandemic, we can meet our climate goals and build a more prosperous country.

Global markets are already recognizing the great opportunity created by climate action. Investors are abandoning fossil fuels in favour of renewables. Businesses and individuals are switching to electric vehicles and Canadians are reducing their energy cost by retrofitting their homes. The World Bank estimated that climate action will create $30 trillion in new investment opportunities by 2030, and we will help Canadians take advantage of that market.

We are going to make zero-emissions vehicles more affordable for Canadians and invest in new charging infrastructure so that Canadians coast to coast to coast can reach their destination in electric cars. We do not want Canadians just using zero-emissions vehicles, we want to put them to work in building them here in Canada also. Here in Canada, we have the rich natural resources, like copper and nickel, that are needed for zero-emissions vehicles as well as a skilled workforce who can build them.

We are going to create a new fund to attract investment in this technology right here in Canada, and we are going to cut the corporate tax rate in half for those companies that create jobs building clean technology. With these supports, I know that Canada can become a global leader in clean technology, and we will ensure that Canada is the most competitive country in the world for clean technology companies.

We know that this plan will work because it is already working. Recently, Ford announced that it is investing $1.8 billion to produce new fully battery electric vehicles right here in Canada. Industry is recognizing that the future is green, and we are going to make sure that Canada is there, leading the world in this transition to a green economy.

Electric vehicles are important in decarbonizing our economy, but in order to truly maximize their potential, we need to ensure that the energy used to fill their batteries is generated from non-emitting and renewable sources. The energy sector will play a key part in our national effort to build a green economy, and the federal government will be there to support it.

Initiatives like the clean power fund will not only help increase our clean energy-generating capacity, but also build the infrastructure to get the energy from where it is produced to where it is consumed.

Projects like the Atlantic loop will be key in transporting clean electricity throughout the Atlantic region, and we want to be there to help them do it. Clean energy production is absolutely vital to building a prosperous and sustainable future. We will ensure that Canada is a world leader, not only building it here but exporting the technology around the world. Clean energy is essential for our future, but it alone will not be enough to meet our climate commitments and avert the worst effects of climate change.

During this pandemic, Canadians across the country have been reminded of the incredible value of the natural world. Whether they were exploring our rich forests and conservation areas or safely socializing with their friends in public parks, natural areas have provided a great deal of value to those who would otherwise have been stuck inside their homes.

More than just providing a venue for human enjoyment, our natural world is vital to maintaining the health of our planet. Biodiversity loss has been identified as one of the key contributors to the rise of new infectious diseases, like COVID-19. If we are to prevent another disease outbreak like this from happening in the future, it is imperative that we halt the alarming trend of biodiversity loss and extinctions that are rippling throughout Canada and the world.

That is why we are committed to expanding our protected areas so that a quarter of our land mass and a quarter of our oceans are protected in the next five years. In addition to that, we need to make sure that the natural world is more accessible to Canadians. The federal government will work with municipalities to expand urban parks and create healthier cities where all Canadians will have access to the natural beauty Canada has to offer.

In doing this, we will be creating good jobs for Canadians while protecting and enhancing these natural areas, including the planting of two billion trees to sequester carbon and create healthy ecosystems. Tree planting alone is projected to create 3,000 new jobs, where Canadians can make a positive change in their environment every single day.

Creating new parks and expanding our urban forest will have concrete and tangible effects on the livability of our cities, but there is still much more that we can do to make them work for regular Canadians.

We will continue to make our investments in public transit projects, like the successful ION light rail in my riding of Kitchener Centre, and expand active transit infrastructure so more people could ride their bikes to work.

We will help Canadians retrofit their homes and businesses to be more energy efficient, to save on energy costs and to help slash the emissions that come from our built environment.

Every single Canadian in our country will have a part to play in our green transition, and every single Canadian will share in the opportunities it creates. Thirty trillion dollars' worth of opportunity is there, waiting to be earned. We want to ensure that Canadians are there to take advantage of it.

The COVID-19 crisis has already shown us that we have the capacity to turn adversity into opportunity, and now we will show the world that we can apply that same determination and resiliency to the greatest existential crisis of our generation, the threat of irreversible climate change.

As we strive against COVID-19 today, so, too, must we continue to fight for the next generation of Canadians. Rarely in history is a nation called to face a challenge of such immense proportions. Rarely in history is the resiliency and the courage of the people tested in a way that will determine our future. Yet, I know we are committed to meeting our destiny with grace, strength, determination and resolve.

We can and we will get through this together, and we shall lead the world. Our collective destiny depends on it.