House of Commons Hansard #118 of the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was quebeckers.
Jagmeet Singh NDP Burnaby South, BC
Mr. Speaker, today I spoke with Cherelle, a musician who cannot return to work because of the pandemic.
Nearly two million people across the country are in the same situation as Cherelle and are relying on the Canada recovery benefit to make ends meet. Despite that, the Prime Minister wants to reduce the help people get by $800 a month.
Will the Prime Minister reverse this decision to cut help to people, yes or no?
Carla Qualtrough LiberalMinister of Employment
Mr. Speaker, our emergency support and recovery measures are helping to buffer the most serious economic impacts and continue to help Canadians put food on the table.
In order to continue supporting workers during this pandemic, we presented in budget 2021 a plan to extend the Canada recovery benefit.
If opposition members want to be helpful, they could support the budget implementation bill and get these supports into the bank accounts of Canadians.
Jagmeet Singh NDP Burnaby South, BC
Mr. Speaker, what the minister is not acknowledging is that the government is going to cut the help that families need by $800 a month in this budget implementation bill.
People like Cherelle, who is a musician and earns a living by playing gigs around the country, cannot go back to work. Millions of Canadians who depend on the CRB are going to be in a devastating position if the government continues with its decision to cut the help they need by $800 a month.
My question is for the Prime Minister. Will he reverse his decision to cut the help that people need in the middle of a pandemic?
Carla Qualtrough LiberalMinister of Employment
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Canada recovery benefit, Canadians have access to up to 50 weeks of benefits to help them in times such as the one the member opposite is describing. For the first 42 weeks of their benefit received, they can get $500 and for the last eight weeks, it is $300. We see this in conjunction with the wage subsidy and the new hiring program as a way to transition Canadians back to work and back to economic success.
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, last week, the Prime Minister did what he had told all other Canadians not to do. He travelled abroad to the G7. While he was gone, business leaders called for him to immediately lay out a plan to safely reopen our economy. The chamber of commerce called for clarity and a timeline and said that Canada was a G7 outlier because the Prime Minister had failed to deliver a reopening plan.
While other countries are helping their businesses reopen, our Prime Minister will not even provide us with a plan. When will he do his job and stand up for Canadian businesses?
Chrystia Freeland LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, the real question is, when will the official opposition do its job and allow Canada to restart the economy? Instead of doing that, instead of understanding that now is the time to finish the fight against COVID and get back to work, the official opposition is engaging in dilatory, delaying tactics. In doing so, it is putting in peril the wage subsidy, rent support, the Canada recovery hiring credit, all measures we need to restart Canada.
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, not only is Canada behind the rest of the G7 in reopening its economy, the Prime Minister has made things worse by making the whole economy more expensive.
The rise in the inflation rate and cost of living is making it difficult for many Canadians to make ends meet. That includes major increases in the price of meat, fish, dairy, gasoline and, of course, the skyrocketing housing prices. Under the government's mismanagement, Canadians are falling further and further behind.
Why has the government not made life more affordable for Canadians?
Chrystia Freeland LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, let me point out what is really posing a serious economic threat to Canadians and posing a real threat to what needs to be our national priority right now, which is finish the fight against COVID and support the Canadian economy as we come roaring back. The threat is Conservative delaying tactics, which are stopping us from passing the budget. That means the wage subsidy, rent support, Canada recovery hiring credit, the CRB are all set to expire this month.
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Mr. Speaker, according to an article on the CBC, softwood lumber experts expect that prices will continue to go up. They are also saying that it could take several years before things get back to normal.
In the meantime, the United States is taking advantage of the vulnerability of our forestry sector and threatening our industries with tariffs.
Canadian workers had to deal with a pandemic last year and do not need any more problems. Why is the government leaving them defenceless?
Mary Ng LiberalMinister of Small Business
Mr. Speaker, let me begin by unequivocally stating that duties imposed by the U.S. on Canadian softwood lumber are unwarranted and unfair. I have raised this issue at every opportunity, including with President Biden, with the U.S. trade representative and with the commerce secretary. As we have always done and we will continue to do, we are going to vigorously defend our Canadian softwood lumber industry, its workers and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that it employs.
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have repeatedly assured workers in our softwood lumber industry that a new agreement with the United States will be negotiated.
It has been nearly seven years since they came to power, five year since the softwood lumber tariffs were imposed and three years since CUSMA was renegotiated, but nothing has been done to protect our forestry workers.
Does the Liberal government have any plan to stop talking and start taking action?
Mary Ng LiberalMinister of Small Business
Mr. Speaker, we are taking a team Canada approach, working hand in hand with the softwood lumber industry, with labour unions, with the provincial and territorial partners on all fronts. We have launched challenges in defence of Canadian softwood lumber. Consistently, Canada has seen victories that clearly demonstrate that our softwood lumber industry is in compliance with international trade rules and that Canada is a trading partner in good standing in the multilateral trading system.
We will continue to defend our softwood lumber industry and the workers that it employs.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the finance minister decided to delay her own budget by punting debate on that budget in order to ram through Bill C-10, this at a time when our unemployment is higher than the U.K., the U.S., Japan, Germany, the G7 and OECD, and there are half a million missing jobs. That same budget said that all the pre-COVID jobs would be recovered by this month.
Will the finance minister keep her word and guarantee that every single pre-COVID job will be recovered by this month when the numbers come out early next month?
Chrystia Freeland LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, let me remind the member opposite that, thanks to the resilience and strength of Canadians, Canada has recovered 81% of the COVID recession job losses. That is compared to just 66% recovered in the United States.
However, Canadians do need more support for our economy to come roaring back from the deepest recession since the Great Depression. They need the strong support measures in the budget, including the wage subsidy, the CRB and the Canada recovery hiring credit.
It is the Conservatives who are stopping the budget from being passed.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, if she likes her budget so much, it is so strange that yesterday she decided to delay it. Maybe it is for the better that she is delaying her own budget. So far what it has delivered is the second-highest unemployment in the G7; the highest inflation in a decade; the fastest increases in housing prices, preventing the poor working class and young from ever owning a home; and the prospect of a forthcoming debt crisis. All I am asking is whether she will keep her promise from chart 35 in that same budget.
Will the government have reinstated all the pre-COVID jobs by this month, yes or no?
Pablo Rodriguez LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, that is a bit rich coming from that party. A few days ago, last Friday, about 10:30 a.m., the Conservatives decided they wanted to shut down Parliament. They moved a motion to shut down Parliament. They had enough work; they wanted to go out for cocktails, or drinks or whatever. We wanted to work. They wanted to shut down Parliament. Then we wanted to extend the hours and they refused. After that, they started filibustering.
Bill C-30 is absolutely essential. Canadians need that bill. We hope the Conservatives will stop blocking everything?
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to hear the Minister of Justice confirm that the government would vote in favour of the Bloc Québécois' motion. I understand that the federal government will acknowledge Quebec's wish to enshrine in its constitution that it is a French-speaking nation.
My question is for the Liberal Party whip. Can he confirm that all members of the Liberal Party will vote in favour of our motion?
Pablo Rodriguez LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the House has already debated the matter of the Quebec nation. You and I were both there. It has been confirmed. That debate was settled a long time ago.
As for the language, we recognize that French is the official language ofQuebec. That is done. The Bloc Québécois is clearly not happy with that because it would have rather seen us argue and vote against the motion. That is not the case and the Bloc Québécois should be happy about that.
I want to point out that the Bloc Québécois does not have a monopoly over love for Quebec and the French language.
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Mr. Speaker, this morning the parliamentary leader said, and I quote, “Quebec has a certain amount of leeway that allows it to make changes, provided it is clearly stated that...the Quebec government's bill does not erode other laws that protect the language rights of the English-speaking community in Quebec.”
Can the Quebec lieutenant explain to us why, every time Quebeckers stand up for their right to speak French, Ottawa gets worried about English in Quebec?
Pablo Rodriguez LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada cares about all of its citizens, including francophone minorities outside Quebec and the anglophone minority in Quebec.
What I do not understand is why the Bloc Québécois is not happy about the introduction of an excellent bill to strengthen French by my colleague, the Minister of Official Languages, about the fact that we recognized that Quebeckers form a nation within Canada or about the fact that we recognized that Quebec's official language is French.
My Bloc Québécois colleagues could at least crack a smile today.
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Mr. Speaker, we are in the middle of a pandemic where most of the government staff in Ottawa have been avoiding travel, staying put and working from home, so it is quite the coincidence that on the day after the election was called in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Minister of Natural Resources would send two of his staffers under dubious reasoning to that province. Wait a second, that does not sound like a coincidence at all.
Will the Liberal Party repay taxpayers for sending two ministerial staff, at taxpayers' expense, to help their friends in the provincial Liberal Party get re-elected?
Seamus O'Regan LiberalMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, let me be crystal clear: My staff followed all the rules to the letter. They, like myself, hold themselves to a high ethical standard. They adhere to all public health guidelines. They filled essential operational requirements to support me in my ministerial duties, including support at the TechNL summit in February. They campaigned on a single Saturday, on their day off, keeping in line with Treasury Board guidelines. All rules were followed to the letter.
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Mr. Speaker, that simply does not hold water. Canadians cannot believe that these staff were there doing anything other than supporting the minister while he was campaigning. It is always the same with these Liberals. When it benefits them or their friends, they will throw any considerations about ethics or pandemic rules to the wayside.
Now that he has been caught, will the minister commit to have the Liberal Party of Canada repay taxpayers for this inappropriate, partisan expense?
Seamus O'Regan LiberalMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, they both followed the Treasury Board guidelines to the letter, the same guidelines that the previous Conservative government put in place. Section 3.5.4 states, “If a member becomes engaged in campaign activities on a part-time basis, [his or her] involvement must be on [his or her] own time and not during regular office hours.” Both employees travelled to Newfoundland to support me in my ministerial duties. They provided essential, on-the-ground operational support. That is what happened here.
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts.
The minister's staff arrived when the election was called in Newfoundland and Labrador. They stayed there for the duration of the campaign. They went door-to-door and cost Canadians almost $9,000. Public health rules required workers to stay home. The minister knows that. He is trying to apologize by saying that he needed his staff close to him, but away from the department and their homes. He admitted that he broke the rules.
Is the Liberal Party going to reimburse Canadians?