Debates of Oct. 28th, 2020

Health

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, when the COVID crisis hit, the government was late with closing the border. It has been late with rapid tests. Now, it seems the government will be late with the delivery of vaccines to Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister tell the House why he signed a contract that guarantees Canada will be at the back of the line when it comes to the vaccine rollout?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Again, Mr. Speaker, that is simply not true. From the very beginning, we acted quickly on countering this pandemic as best as we possibly could. From early January, a public health advisory board was in place talking about the rumours and the concerns of a virus coming out of China. We then had emergency meetings. We then were able to deliver direct help to Canadians within mere weeks after the shutdown, something the Conservatives pointed out was far too quick: Our priorities should have been elsewhere, maybe with big businesses rather than helping families.

On the vaccines, we have continued to move forward to make sure that Canadians have access to vaccines.

Intergovernmental Relations

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during the indigenous standoff, the Prime Minister made it clear that the government does not send in the army against its own citizens. In 1970, Canada invoked the War Measures Act against civilians in Quebec, resulting in the arrest of 497 people without warrants, without cause, without due process, without explanation, without contact with their families, and ultimately without compensation.

Should the same principle that the Prime Minister has espoused have been applied by Prime Minister Trudeau in Quebec in 1970?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, early one Saturday evening in October 1970, the deputy premier of Quebec was playing catch with his nephew in front of his home in Saint-Lambert. He was kidnapped and murdered by a terrorist cell. Those are the events of the October crisis that we must remember.

There will always be political debate around what happened, but let's not forget that a Quebec politician was kidnapped and killed under horrendous circumstances. We must remember his family and his service.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I ask a question about one thing, and the Prime Minister gives an answer about something else, as expected.

Ottawa endorsed eastern bloc-style raids from the communist era. It subjected innocent people to violent interrogations. Tens of thousands of people were questioned.

Does the Prime Minister, the one standing here now, deny that the RCMP had specifically advised the government not to proceed, saying it was not justified?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, during the events of October 1970, the premier of Quebec and the leader of the opposition, René Lévesque, agreed to ask Ottawa to send in the troops to maintain order in Quebec. The mayor of Montreal asked the federal government to send in the armed forces, which would be overseen by Quebec, to ensure public safety during a democratic crisis, a crisis in the Quebec nation, and that is what we did. We have always wanted to be there to help the provinces, and we will always do just that.

Health

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper cut health care funding. The current Prime Minister maintained those cuts. As a result, long-term care facilities did not have the resources they needed during the first wave of COVID-19 and lives were lost.

Will the Prime Minister give us his word today that he will make sure they get the money they need to take care of our seniors?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, during the pandemic, we saw that the most vulnerable people, seniors, were the hardest hit by COVID-19. All parties and all levels of government must work together to keep our seniors safe and secure.

We worked with the Government of Quebec to make sure they got PPE. We even sent in the army and then the Red Cross to help. We will do the same for all the provinces, working hand in hand to protect our seniors.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, now over 10,000 Canadians have lost their lives to COVID-19. One of those people is Denis Mathieu. His family sold their home so they could afford to put him in a long-term care home. He ended up losing his life on October 16. The long-term care home was owned by the federal government and is for-profit.

My question is very simple. This is not about jurisdiction; this is about responsibility. Will the Prime Minister commit to protecting people in homes owned by his government?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, every Canadian deserves to be able to age in dignity, in safety and in good health. That is something we all, regardless of our political affiliations and regardless of the order of governments in which we serve, can agree on.

That is why through this pandemic, as we have seen the terrible tragedies families and individuals have faced, we have been doing as much as we can to be there, and we will continue to. We will continue to work with the provinces. We will continue to ensure that equipment is sent and that support is given. We will ensure that best practices are shared. We will protect our seniors.

Taxation

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has the highest rate of unemployment of all G7 countries. It is higher than that of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and Italy.

One of the reasons for this high unemployment rate is that the government is waging a war on work. According to the finance department's report, a Canadian can lose as much as 80% of every additional dollar earned by working, which penalizes workers. When will the government stop the war on work?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have been there for workers and for Canadians since day one of this pandemic.

During the first wave, people needed to stay home, so we delivered the Canada emergency response benefit to ensure that people could stay home to protect their neighbours and our front-line workers. With the Canada wage subsidy, we also supported small businesses, large businesses and those that wanted to get through this pandemic. This is what we continue to do. We will continue to be there for the millions of Canadians and thousands of small businesses that need help.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the other G7 nations also have COVID, yet we have higher unemployment than in the United States, the U.K., France, Italy, Japan and Germany. One of the reasons we are now learning this is a newly obtained report from Finance Canada showing the high levels of marginal effective tax rates, which is the amount that a person loses on each extra dollar they earn. For example, someone earning just $30,000 can lose 60¢ on the dollar that they earn. A single mother earning $55,000 can lose 80¢ on the dollar that she earns.

This is a war on work. We need to get Canadians back into jobs and reward them for their contributions. Will the Prime Minister end the war on work?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I do not blame any Canadians watching for being slightly puzzled in trying to figure out what the member for Carleton is trying to say. It is actually easier when we look at the context. First of all, he said that he did not believe in big government programs, even in a time of a pandemic. Secondly, there is the Conservatives' issue of disincentives to work, which is why they were so concerned about the Canada emergency response benefit, the CERB, which helped over eight million Canadians. They kept saying it was going to be hard to hire people for our factories.

The issue is that we need to continue to support people. We know that Canadians would much prefer to have a job, but they need to be supported.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, not only do we support the CERB, but we said that people should be allowed to earn more than the $1,000 cut-off the Prime Minister imposed. He said that if a person earned a dollar more than $1,000, he would kick them from the CERB to the curb.

We said there should be rewards for work, but now we learn that his war on work predated the pandemic. In 2019, according to his own finance department, single mothers earning just $55,000 could lose as much as 80¢ on each additional dollar they earned.

Will he once and for all end his war on work?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I think we can all agree that this government has done the right things as the member has just said, in being there to support Canadians through this pandemic, but arguments he is making about pre-pandemic are also completely out to lunch. First of all, we are the government that saw a million new jobs created over the course of our first mandate, while at the same time seeing hundreds of thousands of kids and families lifted out of poverty.

At the same time, we delivered a Canada child benefit that helped single moms and families across the country; initiatives that, unfortunately, the Conservatives voted against.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, big grocery corporations have decided that they need to make more money off the backs of Canadians in the middle of the pandemic. Walmart started it this summer when it announced that it would be charging their suppliers increased fees to pay for store upgrades. That means more expensive food and it also puts Canadian jobs at risk. On CanSino, on Huawei and on Baylis, the Prime Minister took the side of the connected.

Will the Prime Minister at least side with Canadians as Walmart increases the price of its food?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, ensuring good food on Canadians' tables at affordable prices is something that has been a priority for this government from the very beginning, which is why we moved forward on creating a surplus food program and working with food banks across this country, but mostly why we made sure to support front-line workers, our farmers and our agricultural producers to continue to deliver quality food to people's tables.

We will continue to be there to support Canadians as long as it takes, whatever it takes, throughout this pandemic.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister needs to understand that the last thing that Canadians need during these trying times is an unfair hit on their grocery bills. Walmart is not alone. Sobeys, Metro and others have jumped on this bandwagon. Clearly, we have a competition problem for Canadians. Major grocery stores are lining up to make things more expensive, while other parts of Canada are reporting record problems with food insecurity.

Will the Prime Minister stand up to the big grocery giants and make sure that our Canadian competition laws are being followed?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, what we have done from the beginning of this pandemic is to stand up for Canadians. We have been there to support families. We have been there to support agricultural producers and our farmers. We have been there to ensure that northern families get help in terms of the high costs of food. We have been there to support food banks. Unfortunately, across the country, we are seeing more and more people needing to step up during this time of the pandemic.

We will continue to be there to support Canadians. We will continue to be there to have Canadians' backs every step of the way. That is a commitment we have made to Canadians and we will be there for as long as it takes, whatever it takes.

COVID-19 Emergency Response

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

And friends in the big grocery business.

Mr. Speaker, the mandatory isolation program is about to expire on October 31, which is this Saturday. While the isolation protocols are still in place for seasonal workers, Canadian farmers are already stretched to the max with COVID-19 mitigation, with market losses and loss of sales, and with AgriStability not working as it should.

Canada's food security requires decisive action. Will the Prime Minister at least commit to the bare minimum to extend the mandatory isolation support program now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to be there for our farmers and our producers. We will continue to support the front-line workers who are putting food on our tables. We are continuing to support all Canadians while we make it through this incredibly difficult time. Canadians need to know that their institutions are there to serve them and we will continue to.

I can highlight that we have made many investments to support directly our farmers and agricultural producers and we will continue to be there for those communities.

Intergovernmental Relations

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, René Lévesque was not the opposition leader and he never supported the War Measures Act, which he described as a military occupation of Quebec. Prime Minister Trudeau, Premier Bourassa and the mayor of Montreal thought up the lie of an apprehended insurrection devised and led by René Lévesque, Claude Ryan, Guy Rocher and union leaders, no less.

Does this Prime Minister believe that there was an apprehended insurrection in Quebec in 1970?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, there will always be political debate about this and I already shared my perspective on the October crisis.

On this side of the House, we will continue to take care of Quebeckers today and in the weeks to come through the initiatives that we are putting in place to keep our commitments to them. We were there with the CERB a few months ago and we will continue to be there with employment insurance, help for small businesses, help for seniors and help for families.

We know that this pandemic is hard, and, as a federal government, we will continue to be there for Quebeckers.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, consideration for others often includes apologies, but this never seems to apply to Quebeckers.

The Bloc Québécois condemns violence in all forms. It took pressure from the Bloc Québécois for the Prime Minister to recognize and denounce the attack in France last week and for the Armenian genocide to be recognized. Pointing machine guns at people at night and threatening to kill their loved ones before their very eyes is extremely violent.

Does this not warrant an apology from the federal government's official apology machine?