Debates of Dec. 7th, 2021

Foreign Affairs

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I have no lessons to learn from my colleague when it comes to playing partisan politics, because that is exactly what the Conservatives are doing right now.

That being said, we definitely need to learn from what happened in Afghanistan. As a government, we must do that. We are prepared to work with the opposition, but other countries have to do this as well. We are also working within NATO.

The most important thing is to be there for the Afghans who helped Canadians and want to come to Canada. We must do this while safeguarding Canada's national security and that is what we will do.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, those who served alongside Canadians in Afghanistan deserve better than being “left unread” by the government. The Prime Minister avoided accountability and abandoned those who served Canada by calling a selfish election. Veterans, Canadians and Afghan interpreters want to know why the Liberal government failed them so badly.

Will the minister commit to voting in favour of today's opposition motion so Afghan interpreters and support staff know why they were abandoned, and to make sure this failure never happens again?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, of course we want to learn what happened in Afghanistan. We also want to make sure the future Afghanistan is better than it is right now, and that is why we are continuing to follow the situation in Afghanistan very closely.

We are very preoccupied with the situation of Afghans, particularly women and girls who are right now in Afghanistan. It is why I have raised the issue with all my counterparts, it is why this is an absolute priority and it is why we will play our part as a country to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to our country.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is such a priority that an election needed to be called.

The minister loves to say that 4,000 Afghan refugees have come to Canada. Only a Liberal would pat themselves on the back for meeting only 10% of their promises without any timeline or plan to complete the rest. It seems like only privately sponsored Afghan refugees have been arriving recently. Veterans, charities and NGOs have been picking up the massive slack left by the government.

On what date will the remaining 90% of Afghan refugees be brought to Canada?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member wants to frame this in terms of the recent election campaign, I would point out that on this side of the House we campaigned on a commitment to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees here. On the opposition side, members campaigned on a commitment to end the government-assisted refugee stream. He criticizes our—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

Order, please.

I missed the hon. Minister of Immigration's answer. Could he start from the top, please?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the truth hurts sometimes, but the reality is that if the members of the opposition would like to frame this in the context of the recent federal election campaign, I would point out that the government campaigned on a commitment to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada.

The Conservative Party of Canada campaigned on a commitment to end the government-assisted refugee stream altogether. If the member is concerned about the timeline for new arrivals, we anticipate that on two charter flights tomorrow an additional 520 Afghan refugees will land in Canada. That is something we should all be proud of.

Public Safety

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there was another shooting yesterday. This time, an 18-year-old was shot at a library in Laval. Now we are at a point where even our libraries are not safe. No good can come from normalizing the use of firearms to the extent that people feel free to fire guns in public places.

What will the minister do right now to reassure worried families?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. Our thoughts are with all the victims of violence perpetrated with assault-style weapons or any gun. We are transferring $46 million to the Government of Quebec to draft and implement prevention strategies for dealing with gun- and gang-related violence. I will be talking to my provincial colleague later, and I will continue to work in close collaboration with all our partners, including members of the House.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if we are at the point where libraries are getting shot up, what is next? The situation is getting worse by the day in greater Montreal, and yet there does not seem to be any sense of urgency on the federal government's part. No one is reassured to hear the federal government talk today about what it has done in the past to tackle gun trafficking, because everyone can see that it is not enough. We want to see the minister send a clear message and take concrete action so we can be satisfied that the federal government is finally assuming its responsibilities.

What is the minister going to do?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's concerns. That is why our government has already taken meaningful action such as banning assault-style weapons, adding more resources to the border to stop them, continuing the fight against gun violence and working closely with the government to create safe spaces for everyone.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we are dealing with a gun culture where criminal groups buy, sell and use firearms as though they were toys mainly because they are just as easy to obtain as toys.

The minister has some solutions. First, he could look to his own party for inspiration. The Liberals spent the election campaign saying that the RCMP is not adequately funded and that prison sentences are too lenient. Then, he could listen to his employees. Border services are telling us that they are underutilized. Finally, he could implement the Bloc Québécois's suggestions. We keep making them.

The minister has been repeating the same thing for two weeks. When will he take action?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, our government is always willing to work with the Bloc Québécois and with all parties in the House to seek and find concrete solutions in the fight against gun violence. We will continue to work with the Government of Quebec to stop gun trafficking at the border, and we will be participating in several joint forums with the United States.

This is a major challenge and a major issue, but our government is committed to resolving it.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in order to supply themselves with cheap cash for their record deficits, the Liberals had the central bank flood lending markets with $400 billion of cash. We now learn that $192 billion of that overflowed into mortgage markets, and a quarter of all mortgages outstanding today are low quality and variable rate, which are highly subject to increases in interest rates. That has inflated housing prices by one-third and created the second-biggest housing bubble in the world.

Will the finance minister admit that Canada has a housing bubble?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives continue to irresponsibly fearmonger and try to talk down the Canadian economy. The fact is that our Q3 GDP was 5.4%, beating market expectations and surpassing the U.S., Japan, the U.K. and Australia. We have now recovered 106% of the jobs lost to the COVID recession, compared with just 83% in the U.S. In the fall, Moody's and S&P reaffirmed our AAA credit rating.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is always reassuring to have your credit rating backed up by those who said subprime mortgages were rock solid in late 2008, but the question was about Canada's housing bubble. I have asked the minister eight times now in the House of Commons if we have a housing bubble. Raj wants to know. He is driving Uber in addition to having an IT job in order to save up over the next 15 years to make a down payment on a $1 million Brampton home.

Canadians deserve to know. Bloomberg has said Canada has the second-most-inflated housing bubble on earth. Yes or no: Will the minister admit that Canada has a housing bubble?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that it has been a long time since the member opposite has spoken about affordable housing. He has found it fashionable to talk about it, but here is the record. Every time we have put forward measures to help first-time home buyers access affordable housing, help the most vulnerable in our communities to access permanent housing solutions, or help women and children fleeing domestic violence to get rental support, he has voted against these measures.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, the manufacturing industry in the greater Chaudière-Appalaches region is currently losing $7 million a day in production as a result of the labour shortage in Quebec. The industry needs temporary foreign workers right now in order to get the job done.

Will the government present a plan to simplify the approval process for temporary foreign workers?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, we are definitely going to do that. We have an agreement with the Government of Quebec with regard to foreign workers.

We are making the processes more simple. The Government of Quebec is now able to bring in more workers more quickly. Some of the measures came into place yesterday and the rest will come in the weeks to come, but I can assure the member and everyone in the House that we are working very closely with the Government of Quebec on temporary foreign workers.

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

Mr. Speaker, the government needs to implement a plan to save Quebec's manufacturing industry as quickly as possible. Anything less will not do. The government needs to make the labour shortage a priority before our businesses move to other parts of the world because of this government's lack of leadership.

Will the government conduct a full review of the approval process for temporary foreign workers so that it is faster, more flexible and more consistent for the well-being of Canada's economy?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives continue to talk down Canada's strong economic recovery following the COVID-19 recession. Perhaps that is because we did a better job than they did in 2008 when they were in office. Canada has already recovered more jobs than those that were lost during the COVID-19 recession. By way of comparison, it took nearly eight months more to recover jobs after the 2008 recession.

Seniors

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Emanuel Benjamin is a 71-year-old senior from my riding whose GIS benefit was suddenly reduced because he accessed pandemic supports last year. Emanuel was already living below the poverty line, and his income has now been reduced from $1,500 to $600 a month. He cannot afford rent, food or medication. He may lose everything if the government does not step up and fix the issue immediately.

The Liberal government has admitted there is a problem, so when will it fix this and do what is right for Canadian seniors?

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Minister of Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of the pandemic we told Canadians and seniors we would be there for them as long as they needed, and that is exactly what we are doing. We have always prioritized the most vulnerable seniors by strengthening their GIS. We provided immediate and direct financial support to seniors this summer. When it comes to CERB and GIS, I can assure the hon. member we are working on that issue to find the best solution.

We will be there for seniors.

COVID-10 Economic Measures

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, raising the GIS just to claw it back again is not going to do anything for people like Emanuel, and that answer is not going to pay his rent. We have been asking this question for some time now. We see a government that has clawed back the GIS and the Canada child benefit, and it has cut the CRB for 900,000 Canadians just as we are seeing COVID case counts go up. Financial support is not there for all of those 900,000 people who need it.

When is the government going to stop building the recovery on the backs of the financially vulnerable and actually look for some of the money at the top, such as with publicly traded companies that took the wage subsidy and have not paid anything back, except to their shareholders?