Debates of Dec. 1st, 2021

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Madam Speaker, I believe the member's question is of our time. We as indigenous people have endured a tremendous amount of hardship, and this hardship extends back to the very founding of Canada. We are only now in many ways uncovering these atrocities, and it should change us as people who love this country and as people who are committed to making it better.

However, the actions of the government and the actions of the Prime Minister have largely failed. September 30 was a critically important day for indigenous people to recognize that the remains of thousands of indigenous children are now being found. It was atrocious that he was not there with the Kamloops Indian Band while they mourned and as we all mourned. When we make promises and break them, it strikes back to a historical broken cord of treaty making that was never finished. There is a lot more work to do.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Madam Speaker, we know that there have been massive cuts to health transfers since the 1970s.

At that time, the federal government covered almost 50% of health spending, while today it covers only 22%. Quebec and the provinces are calling for an increase in health transfers to 35%.

I would like my colleague’s opinion on respect for the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Madam Speaker, health transfers have to increase. This is a must as we continue to battle COVID-19 and the many variants that are now cropping up all over the world. This pandemic is not over. Our provinces need more funding to support that function and to support Canadians across Canada.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Assistant Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. Once again, it is an honour to work with you, as well as with all of the members and my colleagues in the House.

Before I start my remarks, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Steveston—Richmond East in British Columbia. He became a dear friend very shortly after his election in 2021.

I would also like to mention that we are on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation. We are very grateful to be here and to share the territory with them.

This is my first official speech in the House of Commons, and I am very proud to be able to represent voters and residents of Hull—Aylmer for the third time. I am truly grateful and, to be frank, I am humbled to know that the people of Hull—Aylmer have entrusted me with a third term. I would therefore like to thank them and to reassure them that I will work very hard and devote all of my efforts to making sure that we can build a stronger, more united and more sustainable Hull—Aylmer, Quebec and Canada.

Before talking about the throne speech, I would like to thank the men and women from all parties who ran for election in 2021 in Hull—Aylmer, those from the Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party, the Conservative Party, the Green Party and the others. These women and men had the courage to take part in the democratic process to discuss their ideas and debate in a very respectful manner. I think that the true winners of the election are the residents of Hull—Aylmer, given the quality of the candidates who ran in the last election.

I love Parliament. I love the idea of our constitutional democracy. I think that we, the 338 members of the House, are fortunate to be able to debate ideas and the major issues of our day. As I said, I will devote all of my efforts to the job, but I would like to point out that I am not a perfect man. I will make mistakes. I have made many in the past, but I do my best to get back on track and continue to do the work, which leads me to the throne speech.

The Speech from the Throne is truly an expression of our government’s desire to do our best to ensure a better, more sustainable and more prosperous future for all Canadians. I love the fact that the throne speech—I will be the first to admit it—is imperfect. It is not the Gospel, but it is a good plan, even an excellent plan, for Canada and Canadians.

Our top priority reflects the times we are living through and it is putting an end to the pandemic.

We know that when we are on lockdown we cannot enjoy all of our freedoms or do the things we should be doing. That is why we must use all the means at our disposal to put an end to the pandemic and allow all Canadians to thrive, whether by creating social cohesion, fighting climate change or creating a stronger, more sustainable and more prosperous economy.

There is a plan in the throne speech to put an end to the pandemic. Our main goal, right now, is to get the pandemic under control and to complete the vaccination process. In so doing, as I said, we can create real opportunities for all Canadians to shine and thrive.

I am proud of what Canadians have done. Almost 88% of us have been vaccinated. That is an outstanding rate. Canadians decided to accept science and all the good work that our scientists and researchers have done in Canada and around the world. Canadians stood in line to get vaccinated because it was their duty as citizens to do so. I am very pleased to see that most Canadians took part in this remarkable effort.

As a member from the national capital region, I must also say how proud I am that federal public servants have stepped up and gotten vaccinated. They did their duty to better protect not only their own health, but also that of their colleagues. I know that the member for Ottawa West—Nepean here beside me, who is also a member from the national capital region, is also very proud that 98% of Canadian public servants are vaccinated. That is an extraordinary number, and I commend them for that. As the son of an immigrant, I tend to be dissatisfied with the missing 2%. I wish that we could reach 100%.

Let us move on to other major themes that were addressed in this throne speech. There is one thing that is personal to me, and it relates to my last comment. I am referring to the diversity and inclusion initiatives.

As a member of a visible minority, a Black Canadian and the son of two people who had the courage to leave their home country and settle here in Quebec, Canada, in order to create a better world for their family and contribute to Canadian society, it touches me deeply to find the issue of diversity and inclusion not only in the throne speech, but also in the 2021 budget. In the two previous budgets, there were also initiatives that for the first time specifically addressed issues affecting Black Canadians.

I am very proud that the economic statement includes specific initiatives to fulfill the Government of Canada’s solemn declaration to include the talents of all Canadians, no matter where they come from.

I will conclude by saying that the throne speech includes initiatives to end the pandemic, as well as initiatives on diversity and inclusion. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to talk about the existential debate on the environment and all the related measures.

This throne speech is worthy of the support of all members of the House of Commons.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Madam Speaker, congratulations on your election as Deputy Speaker of the House. It is always a pleasure to watch you overseeing the debates here.

My colleague from Hull—Aylmer expressed his support for everything having to do with diversity and inclusion. I would like his thoughts on another aspect of the matter, and that is the immigration of African francophones who are being rejected at a rate of more than 80%. It is unbelievable. The government is discriminating against those people. I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about that.

What does he think about that and what does he think his government should do to make sure this does not keep happening?

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques on his re-election and thank him for his question. I know he supports diversity.

It is very simple. First, I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister for having the courage to admit that unconscious discrimination, systemic racism, exists in all institutions, whether in government, the private sector or NGOs. It is also a federal concern.

There is an easy way to fix this problem. The governments of Quebec and Canada need to work together on immigration, especially when it comes to foreign students. If we want to have more students from francophone African countries, we can perhaps make it easier for international students to manage the tuition fees they have to pay and help them make the transition from student life to citizenship so they can become good citizens of Quebec and Canada.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Madam Speaker, one thing the throne speech makes note of is the importance of reconciliation. Of course, in the Kenora riding and across northern Ontario, that is a very important issue. A big aspect of it regards boil water advisories on reserve. The government, despite some very positive progress, failed to meet the timelines it set in, I believe, the 2015 election. The Minister of Indigenous Services has now said that it will not set a new target date for ending all long-term boil water advisories.

I am wondering if the member agrees with this approach of not setting a target date when so many communities need help. They need access to clean drinking water right now.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Kenora on his re-election. I have had the pleasure of visiting his riding a number of times.

I am particularly proud of our record on reconciliation. When we were elected in 2015, there were 105 boil water advisories on reserves. By 2021, this problem has been addressed in more than 110 of these communities. My colleagues are probably wondering how we addressed more cases than the number announced in 2015, but that is because new cases came up during that time.

The government continues to work on addressing these problems and ensuring that reserves have access to clean drinking water, as all Canadians and human beings should.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Madam Speaker, one thing I am really concerned about, which I found oddly lacking in the throne speech, is a strong commitment to protecting the oceans surrounding this country.

I think of my riding, where we just had an incident involving over 100 lost sea containers that were floating around in the ocean. Some of them have come ashore. It was a terrible situation.

When will the government take the need to protect our oceans seriously? When these incidents happen, we need a coordinated approach. The government will not commit to that. When will it commit?

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by congratulating the member for North Island—Powell River on her re-election.

In answer to her interesting question about oceans, I would say that I am proud to be part of a government that has its own oceans protection plan.

When we took office, very few of the oceans around Canada were protected. However, we have already managed to protect 20%, and we have a target of 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. Not only is that a good record, but it is also a great goal.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Madam Speaker, congratulations on your appointment to the chair.

Before I begin, I would like to recognize that I come from the unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh first nations.

As we have all seen, my home province of British Columbia is experiencing yet another atmospheric river rain event. I want to thank all the residents, organizations and gurdwara societies for always stepping up in a time of need. Once again they have done that.

I also want to thank our Prime Minister, the emergency preparedness minister and the Minister of National Defence for acting quickly to provide the necessary supports in our province.

This is my first opportunity to speak in this House. As we all know, it takes a lot of people to get us here. I want to congratulate all my colleagues who are here, elected and re-elected, in this House on their successful elections.

I want to take some time to thank all the friends and family members responsible for helping me to get here. It is truly an honour to be able to represent the great people of Steveston—Richmond East. I am very grateful to them for putting their trust in me.

I want to thank my wife for putting up with everything I do and for being the great mom that she is. I want to thank my parents, Daljit and Gunwant Bains, for their guidance and support, and for teaching me the importance of community and education. I want to thank my sister Nav. I have the best big sister in the world. She knocked on doors on the rainiest of the west coast days, and she has always been there for me. I thank my extended family, cousins, nephews, nieces and childhood friends. I also want to thank the sign team and all my volunteers once again.

My daughter Hasina was recently selected to her high school basketball team. I am looking forward to seeing her play.

This is the first time in 40 years that I am not either playing or coaching soccer, so I will miss coaching my son Daya while I am here and away from the beautiful game. I will have to take solace in the fact that the field in this theatre of dreams is at least green.

Before I discuss my topic with respect to the throne speech, I also want to recognize two childhood friends who passed away during my election campaign, Sanjay Johal and Vernon City councillor Dalvir Nahal. They were two of my biggest supporters, and I dedicate my maiden speech to them.

My topic or theme regarding the throne speech today is with respect to housing. We have all heard a lot about housing in the last few days and weeks in the House, but it is a topic I have become extremely passionate about. In Richmond, the city I grew up in, housing has become very unattainable for working professionals and many families. Friends I grew up with have left the city to chase that home with a back yard in other jurisdictions. This has been happening for years now, and it is one of the main reasons I entered public life. I was always looking for ways and solutions to create more affordable housing options. I tried to work with the municipality on these issues to look for different options that do not exist, the missing middle options.

I believe every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home, and that is exactly why I am extremely excited to work with this government's plan. Huge investments have already been made in the national housing strategy, the first of its kind, to help ensure Canadians get the housing they need. More homes ultimately will bring more families, which will build healthier communities.

These investments have helped over a million families get the housing they need, and we are not stopping there. Budget 2021 already invested in construction to repair thousands of affordable housing units, and ours is the only party that has taken action to create more affordable housing.

The $70 billion in the national housing strategy includes programs like the rapid housing initiative and the rental construction financing initiative. We brought in the first-time homebuyers incentive and the Canada housing benefit. All of this will help families, young people, low-income Canadians, people experiencing homelessness, and women and children fleeing violence to find a safe and affordable place to call home.

This is a long-term plan for a fast-growing Canadian economy, and it must include housing that is affordable for working Canadians, especially young families. Stable housing is critical, as I mentioned, for communities and for a strong middle class. The government is also introducing Canada's first national tax on vacant or underused residential property owned by foreign non-residents, which will come into effect in January of next year.

Since coming into office, we have helped over one million families get the housing they need, but we know there is more work to do. This week's throne speech outlines the government's continued commitment to make housing more affordable, including bringing in a housing accelerator fund, ending chronic homelessness, and introducing a more flexible first-time homebuyers incentive and a rent-to-own program to help renters become owners.

As I said, there is more progress to be made, but these are some measures that we will take to ensure that every Canadian has a safe and affordable place to call home, and I look forward to working with everyone in this House on these measures.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his speech.

Clearly, for people in York—Simcoe, the throne speech just did not live up to the moment. I say that because we were looking for a vision in the speech, especially for our farmers. I have always said that we can move a General Motors plant but we cannot move a farm. We in York—Simcoe were looking for some vision for farmers.

There was no mention of growth and productivity. There was no mention of small businesses. I wonder if my colleague could comment on those issues.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Madam Speaker, there are a tremendous number of measures in the throne speech to help the agricultural sector and small businesses. As well, during this very trying time for Canadians throughout the pandemic, this government was the only one that not only allowed for businesses to keep their doors open, but also made the investments to ensure that there is growth for businesses.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Speaker, I too would like to congratulate you on your re-election. As a woman, I will say it is always nice to see women serving as Chair.

My colleague briefly touched on the issue of violence against women when he spoke about housing. Yes, having more housing is critical to breaking the cycle of violence against women, but I would like to come back to one aspect that he did not bring up.

In the throne speech, there is a 10-year plan to study violence against women. Ten years is far too long when there is already a national action plan. If the Liberals do not know what to do with the money to help women who are victims of violence, they should transfer it to Quebec, which knows what to do with it in its health care system. We already have a lot of expertise in Quebec. Furthermore, we have a multi-party committee that has proposed measures to help women and break the cycle of domestic violence.

I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about how important it is to transfer these funds to Quebec, which knows what to do with them and will not need to do more studies and wait another 10 years.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Madam Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to continue the work they are doing in Quebec, and I look forward to working with the member to share ideas and make sure we can stop violence against women. We will work together toward rooting out any type of violence toward women.

In terms of the length of the program, it has to be an ongoing effort and we have to ensure that those supports are always there.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Madam Speaker, congratulations on being in the chair.

It is an honour and privilege for me to be standing in the House for the first time, and I want to thank Calgary Skyview residents for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to represent them here. I want to thank my wife, Aman, and my kids, Amita, Noor and Liv. They put a tremendous amount of effort and have sacrificed a lot of time and energy to support me in this endeavour. I also thank everybody who volunteered and worked extremely hard and all the candidates who put their names forward to run in the last election across Canada.

The hon. member for Steveston—Richmond East talked a lot about housing, and I want to thank him for bringing up housing and the importance of affordable housing to Canadians. In my constituency and in the work of city council, affordable housing is really important, and the government supported Skyview residents with seniors housing and opportunities for the rapid housing initiative. Its seniors project is one prime example.

I am wondering if the member could provide any examples of housing that the government supported in his constituency.

I offer my congratulations to the member as well.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Madam Speaker, congratulations to the member for Calgary Skyview for his election as well. It is an honour to serve with him here.

With respect to projects in my riding, I am happy to say that as part of the Canadian national housing strategy, community partners like Habitat for Humanity have partnered in Richmond, and on Ash Street in my riding we have built purpose-built homes for eight families. It is a completed project and I am looking forward to doing more similar projects to those. It is just one simple example of a program that is working.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

It being 6:15 p.m., it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith every question necessary to dispose of the subamendment now before the House. The question is on the motion.

If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes to request a recorded division or that the motion be adopted on division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

The hon. member for Montarville.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Madam Speaker, we request a recorded division.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Call in the members.

And the bells having rung:

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order, please. As this is the first hybrid vote of the 44th Parliament, I want to briefly outline the steps that will be followed for this type of vote.

Before I read the question, I will ask the Table to produce the list of members participating virtually, and who will later be called to vote one at a time. I will then read the question.

I will first ask those physically present in the House who are in favour of the motion to rise. I will then ask those physically present who oppose the motion to do the same. This is the normal procedure we are all familiar with.

Afterward, the table officer will call the names of those participating virtually by party in alphabetical order, starting with the party with the largest number of seats in the House, and continuing with all the other recognized parties and then independent members.

Members are reminded that it is essential that their camera be turned on for the duration of the vote. This allows the authentication of members, which is required by the House motion and is essential to the integrity of the decision-making process.

Once your name is called by the Table, you must turn on your microphone and indicate how you intend to vote by clearly stating either “I vote for the motion” or “I vote against the motion”.

In French, you should clearly say “Je vote pour la motion” or “Je vote contre la motion”. Members must use only these phrases.

I repeat, members must use only these phrases.

Please do not turn on your microphone in advance. It can result in your image appearing in place of the member currently voting. Once you have voted, please mute your microphone.

Members must remain connected to the sitting until the results of the vote are announced. If your name has not been called by the table officer when the members of your party are being recognized to vote, please wait until all the members have been called. At that point I will invite members who were not named but who heard the question to identify themselves. They can do so by using the “raise hand” function of the video conference application. I will then name each member who raised their hand to allow their vote to be recorded.

If at any moment during a vote, or when trying to join a sitting virtually, members experience technical difficulties, they should please contact the IT ambassadors at the number indicated in the invitation. The IT ambassadors will provide regular updates to the table.

Before proceeding with the vote, to make it easier for the table officers, I would ask members to lower their mask after they have risen and put it back on once the officer has called their name.

I thank the members for their attention. We will now take the vote.

And the Clerk having announced the results of the vote:

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I did not get a registration of my vote.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member's vote was not counted. We did not hear from her.