Debates of Jan. 31st, 2022

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I responded to you.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I have not received that email, but I look forward to working with him because we need to get inflation under control to help people pay for housing. I look forward to working with the member because I think he does have solutions, but most importantly what we want to do on this side is get inflation and the cost of living down and let people like Peter and Julie be able to afford a house that should be $499,000, not $802,000.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be here representing the constituents of King—Vaughan in the House of Commons. I thank my constituents for putting their trust in me and allowing me the privilege of standing here today.

I would like to thank my family, my husband Peter, children Elizabeth, John and Michael, daughter-in-law Christina, daughter Mindy and son-in-law Danny, grandchildren Abigail, Isabelle, Caleb and Noah, and my incredible team for their encouragement, dedication and support throughout this journey. Our success was made possible by their contributions.

I would also like to personally recognize and thank my executive campaign team, starting with my amazing campaign manager Joe, followed by Michael, Julius, Elmer, Dasha, Giffin, Alessia, Alex, Elizabeth, Elvira, Theresa, Linda and Dona, and my team captains Rose, Andrew, Nakita, Arion, Valerie, Richard, Andy and Denille.

I would also like to thank my current staff for all their hard work.

Public service is a privilege, and it is an honour for me to take my seat in the House of Commons alongside my fellow parliamentarians who have chosen to dedicate themselves to the service of our country.

It is also important to recognize the many hard-working Canadians who work in the mental health sector and put their well-being above their personal safety.

On behalf of my constituents, I would like to express our heartfelt condolences to those who lost their loved ones during this pandemic. If the pandemic has taught us anything, let it be that it has demonstrated the importance of mental health and the spirit of civic duty that allows us to support one another when in need and to provide a helping hand to those who are struggling.

[Member spoke in Italian]

[English]

For over 20 years, I have been honoured and privileged to work, volunteer and live in the community of King—Vaughan, just north of Toronto. It is a diverse community and home to many immigrants from Italy, China, Pakistan and many other countries. The many personal collaborations with members of my community have provided me with a deep understanding of the concerns and issues facing the constituents I now represent. Seniors in King—Vaughan, like many in Canada, are still struggling with the rising cost of living, and parents with special needs children cannot afford to pay for long-term care.

Mental health problems are escalating, and small businesses continue to struggle to find employees as “help wanted” signs are popping up across my riding. In many cases, businesses have reduced their hours due to staffing shortages. Inflationary pressures are mounting and food prices are soaring. Families are not only psychologically stressed due to the pandemic and concerns for public safety, but they are additionally burdened by the increasing cost of living and the psychological stress that comes from worrying about how to put healthy food on the table, which we know offers physical and mental health benefits.

Rising house prices are placing a burden on our young people and additional stress on families. Across our land, many young people are forced to stay at home longer, living in their parents' basements as rents and housing costs are out of control. My riding has seen the most significant increases in housing prices, and there is no sign of that slowing down.

I join my colleagues on this side of the House to express my concerns about the lack of focus on inflation in the throne speech. It is the main problem facing people today. Also, both alarming and telling is the lack of focus on small business and tourism, which have both been absolutely decimated by the government's response to the pandemic. As a new member of the House of Commons, I say we need to stop perpetuating fear. Rather, we need to demonstrate strength and competency to our citizens and be the solution, not part of the problem.

This starts with showing up here in the House of Commons, demonstrating that we are not afraid and that we are willing to tackle the serious business of Parliament, and restoring trust in our institutions by respecting those institutions, especially Parliament and the parliamentary procedures of one of the scariest cornerstones of democracy. We must not fearmonger and hide. We must be authentic and inspiring. We need to come together and help Canadians dream of a better tomorrow, a better future for children and grandchildren, and a better future for our country.

We must attract immigrants to this country who are hard-working and want to provide a better life for themselves and their families, just as the millions of immigrants before them have done. I am a proud person of immigrant parents. I was raised by my grandparents, my nonno and nonna. My grandfather always told me the story of his experience coming to Canada, the way he was able to use his trade skills to land employment in Toronto. His skills allowed him to work hard and earn the funds to sponsor his family, so that they too could participate in the promise of a great country. This process took him over five years.

Many families who immigrated to Canada were provided this opportunity to flourish. Supported by their expertise and work ethic, they were directed to areas of Canada where they could take their skills and, depending on Canada's opportunities, create a life. We want to support immigrants who want to be independent and contribute to our vibrant social fabric. We need to inspire and help create a resilient and healthy population, ready for the many challenges of tomorrow.

We face many crises that need to be tackled head on: an economic crisis, a public health crisis, a social crisis, a national unity crisis, an education crisis, an international crisis and an institutional crisis. These problems are not trivial, but I am confident members of this House can come together and meet these challenges head on. We must show leadership, strength and competency, so that we can improve the lives of our citizens.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative caucus actually voted against supports going to small businesses, but the member says that we should be supporting them. I would suggest that the Conservative Party needs to be more supportive of small businesses during this difficult time.

When we talk about leadership, we had the Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister, talk about the importance of public health issues like masks and suggest that members of Parliament in his caucus would be given an option to leave or to get on board with the issue.

Would the member contrast the leadership of Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservatives to today's reformed, far-right Conservative element within the Conservative Party under the current leadership? Does she believe her leader would be better off following some of the instructions coming from former prime minister Brian Mulroney?

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I think what the member has to understand is that our leader is working for the people of Canada, all of Canada, and not just specific sectors of Canada. We need to work together to ensure that we get over this pandemic and provide the health services that our colleagues and constituents need. We need to do it now. We cannot wait any longer. Fearmongering is no way to get things going.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question for my colleague.

I have been hearing a lot about the lack of funding for the various crises, including the housing, health and inflation crises. My question for my colleague is this.

With everything that is happening right now, what more does the government need when everyone knows that health transfers are crucial? What does my colleague think? Why does the government refuse to act?

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if I understand the question correctly, I think what we need to understand is that the sooner we get inflation under control, the sooner people will be able to live their lives. We need affordable housing. We need to ensure that people waiting for surgeries are dealt with. There are people in my riding who cannot get those services.

When is the government going to step up and ensure that our constituents are healthy and well taken care of? Until we do that, they cannot get back to work.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Qujannamiik, Uqaqtittiji. I appreciate the member's advocacy to provide relief for Canadians struggling amidst the rising cost of living.

Nunavummiut experience this crisis disproportionately. In 2016, Nunavut food costs were three times the national average. In 2018, 62% of Nunavut's households with children were food insecure. High cost of living affects Nunavummiut's access to their most basic human rights, including food, water, housing, health and mental health. We have felt these challenges for far too long, despite government programs and subsidies aimed at providing relief.

Does the member agree that the government's current response is insufficient for northern communities and that they deserve more equitable cost-of-living supports? Will the member push for the 44th Parliament to achieve this equitable outcome for northern communities and indigenous communities?

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I believe we need to support all Canadians, including our indigenous. We need to ensure that there are rules and opportunities, regardless of where we live in this country. We need to ensure all Canadians are treated equally, especially our indigenous population as well as the rest of the country.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I commend the member for King—Vaughan on her maiden speech.

I know she is very well aware of the government's disregard for the skyrocketing cost of living. I am interested to hear the member's thoughts on the issue of the huge costs that are happening to our seniors, in particular on the CPP escalation that is happening and the fact that none of this money is actually going out to these seniors.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting the member asked that question.

During the snowstorm a few weeks ago, one of my seniors called me. Unfortunately his driveway was plowed over, and he could not get his car out to take his wife for medical treatment. We went over, out of the goodness of my team's hearts, and shovelled his driveway. One might say that is kind of a waste of our time.. However, it is not a waste of our time, and I am going to tell members why. This senior had to get a line of credit on his property to ensure he can provide medication for his wife. How despicable is that?

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to congratulate the hon. member on her maiden speech.

I would just like to remind the member, who was using terms like “our indigenous”, that indigenous people are not owned. I give a friendly reminder not to use possessive terms when referring to indigenous people.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the House that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Lac-Saint-Louis, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts on the Speech from the Throne.

In response to the throne speech, many of the key elements shared reflect the vision of my riding of Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook in Nova Scotia. Let us get through COVID and let us build back better. Let us ensure our health care system is in the 21st century. Let us ensure we continue to improve our health care system and ensure our economy is building back better. Of course, climate change and veterans are also key issues.

I would like to start off by saying that Canadians elected a minority government and as such it is the responsibility of each one of us in the House, all parliamentarians, to work together closely to ensure we make life better for all Canadians.

When we talk about COVID, there is no question that this is the number one priority. It has now been almost two years that we have been fighting through COVID, and we have been working closely with Canadians right across Canada to ensure we are going to be in a much better position very soon.

Let us not forget that Canadians want to be vaccinated. Over 86% of all Canadians have been double vaccinated. The booster shots are now available, and we are moving forward. Many people have their booster shots. I do. It is age-related in Nova Scotia, but I did make the cut so I was happy about that. Now we are moving to the next generation, with the vaccine for younger Canadians who are five to 11 years old.

Through this extremely difficult challenge, the government has been there for Canadians. The Prime Minister has stated on a number of occasions that we will be there for as long as it takes and that is exactly what we have done.

Through COVID we have noticed some of the gaps out there and some of the things we could do better in the future to ensure we are in a much better place as we move forward to new challenges. With that, I would like to share a project I was able to announce a few weeks ago in my riding of Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, which is a wonderful project I believe many here would be interested in. It is hydroponic gardens.

In Nova Scotia, with these hydroponic gardens, farmers will be able to plant vegetables and different spices, even edible flowers, year-round, which does not usually happen in Nova Scotia. This is one way to achieve food security. This is a way of ensuring we will be prepared for any challenges as we move forward. This is what I call innovation.

I want to thank our government for investing $76,000 toward the project. I also want to welcome and thank the local Akoma Family Centre properties for following through on that project. Now we are going to build on that. Maybe it will be a great pilot for the rest of the nation.

I talked about health care. Of course, in Atlantic Canada we know we have the oldest Canadians. On average, they are much older than in Alberta, for example. We also have the most rural communities. That is a double barrier in the sense of the needs for health care. That is why we need to do more pilots in Nova Scotia and invest right across the country in health care.

Some of the key areas we talked about in the throne speech were strengthening the health care system and public health supports for all Canadians. What does that actually mean? It means more accessibility; rural care; transportation, making sure seniors can get to their health care supports, hospitals, doctors, etc.; mental health; long-term care; and data collection for improvement. These are all very important investments as we move forward. In our platform, we also talked about 7,500 more doctors and nurses to help limit wait times, and the new Canada mental health transfers to the provinces.

The economy was very strong before we entered the pandemic and is showing clear signs of strength as we move out of this COVID challenge. Let us keep in mind that, as the Prime Minister said, we will have Canadians' backs as long as we need to.

Let us not forget that eight out of 10 dollars spent to support Canadians through COVID has come from the federal government. We are in much better shape, because of the economy prior to COVID, to be able to support Canadians. Let us also remind ourselves that 108% of the pre-COVID jobs have returned today. That is outstanding.

We have seen fewer bankruptcies in the last two years than we have seen in the past, because our government has been there to support Canadians. We have seen an increase of 13% in international trade, again showing our economy can handle challenges.

The opposition talks about inflation. Inflation is a global challenge. Let us look at inflation in the G7. We have inflation of 4.5%, while other countries have inflation of 5.3% and 5.4% and the United States has inflation of 7%. Because of our government's good investments, we have seen our debt interest payments drop last year by $4 billion.

I will finish off by saying that we still have our AAA credit rating, which is pretty impressive.

On the investment front, how do we ensure we continue to prosper as we move forward? There are two main areas: child care and housing. When it comes to child care, we have committed to a Canada-wide early learning and child care plan, and that is exactly what we are delivering.

We are being asked for promises and about what we are actually doing. Nine provinces and three territories have signed on, which is very impressive. The main objective of this program is to lower the cost for families, ensure a high-quality program, ensure educators are receiving a salary that is acceptable and, which is extremely important, get more Canadians working. More women will be able to join the workforce, and that is a key economic driver. Let us not forget about that.

On the housing front, we talked in the throne speech about more flexibility for first-time homebuyers and about the rent-to-own program. Some of these strategies, such as co-op housing, existed in the past. These are key programs that can be successful in lowering costs for first-time homebuyers.

Let me talk about our national housing strategy and our rapid housing funding. I made two announcements lately in my riding. One was in the Eastern Shore region, where we are investing over $3 million for 12 units in women's shelters. We also announced eight units in the Preston region of my riding for African Nova Scotians, with another $3-million investment from the federal government. Those are important investments.

This is not just happening in my riding of Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook; it is happening right across the country. As MPs, it is our job to articulate to our constituents the areas where we can support them and then of course advocate on their behalf.

On the climate file, during the election it was clear our government had the strongest environmental plan to deliver for Canadians. It is not just about protecting our environment, it is also about growing our economy with renewable energy, green energy, investing in retrofits and a net-zero electricity future. Those are key components.

I want to finish off by talking about veterans. We made some announcements for veterans. We continue to support veterans, as we have done since 2015. One announcement made in my riding was about the well-being fund receiving $1 million through the Strongest Family Institute to help veterans with mental health e-services in order to help those living with anxiety and depression, etc. There is also investment in housing for rent supplements and wraparound services for veterans, as well as rapid housing.

Our government is focused on Canadians.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague is absolutely right that COVID is the most important issue that Canadians are facing right now. We have been in this pandemic for nearly two years. Canada does have among the highest vaccination rates in the world, which is excellent to see. However, as we are seeing, Canadians are growing more and more tired and they do not see any hope of a pathway out of this.

I am asking that the hon. member illuminate for Canadians the metrics and the timeline that the government will use to begin relaxing federal restrictions in Canada.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Madam Speaker, there is no question that all Canadians are tired and feeling the challenge through COVID, but we have to stay with the science and our data.

I know that we are close to moving to the next step, which is very important, but let us keep one thing in mind. People are saying “the Liberal government”, but 90% of the restrictions are under provincial jurisdiction. It is the premiers of each province who are actually placing the restrictions and let me remind the House that most of those are Conservative premiers.

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

Madam Speaker, the latest Speech from the Throne continues to commit to the equality of both official languages, French and English. However, since the coming into force of the Official Languages Act, we know the opposite has been achieved, namely, there has been a growing assimilation of francophone and Acadian communities. In Quebec, there is a decline in French.

The action the federal government is taking in Quebec under the Official Languages Act primarily seeks to strengthen English, but this cannot go on, as we have seen in recent examples involving CN and Air Canada. The Official Languages Act does not ensure that French is respected in Quebec and does not ensure that it is the common language. What is more, we see that the official languages modernization legislation will prevent Quebec from applying Bill 101 to all federally regulated businesses.

Does my colleague not think it is time to overhaul the Official Languages Act and allow Quebec to apply Bill 101 to federally regulated businesses?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Madam Speaker, I am very happy that my colleague asked that question because it is very important. I thank him.

I agree with him that the Official Languages Act assented to in 1988 has improved the situation but that it did not really go as far as it should have.

I can assure the member that the new legislation we will be introducing in the coming weeks will respond to the expectations of Canadians, whether they are Quebeckers, Acadian francophones or francophiles across the country. I can assure the member that this legislation will bring about major improvement, that it will have teeth and that we will be able to advance the cause of both official languages in Canada by ensuring their equality, as it should.

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

Madam Speaker, in his role as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, I would like to ask the member about a piece of legislation that my predecessor in London—Fanshawe, but also my colleague the hon. member for North Island—Powell River, introduced as Bill C-221, which would ultimately eliminate the archaic and sexist gold-digger clause for spouses of veterans who marry after the age of 60. This is something that we have been working on for a very long time.

I would like to know the member's position on that and whether his government and he as parliamentary secretary would be in support of that bill.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Madam Speaker, I know it has been mentioned on several occasions by the NDP, and I agree that we need to do some research around that. We have done quite a bit of work. We have invested over $100 million to try to identify how many survivors of veterans there are. Also, we have to keep in mind that it does not just include veterans, but the public service and others that also have that same clause, so the conversation is a little bigger than that. We are on task and working toward finding a solution to support our veterans.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by acknowledging that I am rising on the traditional unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin people.

I would also like to thank the voters of Lac-Saint-Louis for sending me back to the nation's capital to be their voice and represent them once again and also help them in their dealings with the federal government. I would like to acknowledge that my staff play a very important role in that regard. They do a magnificent job that reflects well on my office and me as a parliamentarian and a candidate in the election.

I am particularly pleased to be standing here today, January 31, on the Hill in person.

I remember that around 2002 or 2003 I was on the Hill not as an elected representative, but in another capacity. One of the central debates at the time was whether we should ratify the Kyoto protocol. At the time, there was concern about global warming, but there was an even greater debate on whether climate change existed. Fortunately, more and more voices acknowledged that climate change is real, but at the time we were focusing a lot on global warming and not so much on climate change and unstable climate. We were not focusing so much on the impacts of unstable climate, flood and drought. Dr. Jim Bruce, an expert in water policy in this country, who was already honing in on one of the truths about climate change, which has become a self-evident truth: the link between climate change and water, between climate change and drought and flooding.

To quote Dr. Jim Bruce, “If climate change is a shark, water is its teeth. Like a fish that doesn’t notice the shark until it feels its sharp bite, humans will first feel the effects of climate change through water.” In other words, a climate crisis is a water crisis. Dr. Jim Bruce was the first director of Environment Canada's Centre for Inland Waters and he, along with a handful of other renowned Canadian water experts at Environment Canada at the time, were very much pioneers in this area. I speak of people like Frank Quinn and Ralph Pentland. Ralph Pentland was a director in water planning and management at Environment Canada for 13 years and helped negotiate many of the Canada-U.S. agreements and federal-provincial agreements around water. He was the primary author of the 1987 federal water policy.

If ever we need proof of a causal link between climate change and water security, recent history has obliged. In the last decade, Alberta has seen massive flooding in places like Calgary, while the Fort McMurray wildfires were themselves a manifestation of drought. In B.C. this past summer, a heat dome killed more than 600 people and caused mass evacuations. Excess heat melted mountain snow and ice, causing record flooding, the melting of permafrost and the collapsing of roads in the north. In the south, water evaporated too quickly as mountain glaciers melted, leading to insufficient water supplies and rising food prices as livestock herds were culled due to lack of water and feed, an example of non-money supply-related inflation.

Of course, we saw the disastrous results of excessive rain in British Columbia, which brings me to the topic of atmospheric rivers. An atmospheric river is a large narrow stream of water vapour that travels through the sky, can stretch 1,600 kilometres long and more than 640 kilometres wide and, on average, carries an amount of water equivalent to 25 Mississippi rivers. According to a 2013 report co-produced by B.C.'s environment ministry, atmospheric rivers typically form in eight oceanic regions around the world, some closer to continental coasts than others. One of those regions is just off North America's western coast and can produce between one dozen to two dozen such rivers in the sky per year. As the rivers cross from ocean to land, particularly into mountainous regions like the B.C. coast, the water vapour condenses into precipitation, sometimes dumping a month's worth of rain or snow in a matter of days.

This brings me to Dr. John Pomeroy from the University of Saskatchewan, a hydrologist, Canada research chair in water resources and climate change, and associate director of the Global Water Futures program, the largest university-led water research program in the world. It is right here in Canada, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Dr. Pomeroy has been dedicated to developing better flood forecasting computer models and bringing these models into disaster warning systems. He is convinced that we need to “build state-of-the art water prediction and management systems” and that doing so requires federal leadership. More specifically, we need a national system of flood prediction inspired by, but not necessarily identical to, what exists in the U.S. I say not identical to because we are a different kind of federation with different jurisdictional realities and considerations.

I agree with Dr. Pomeroy. We need to develop federally managed models in collaboration with the provinces and universities that focus on river basins for use by the provinces, cities, first nations and industrial users like hydroelectric utilities.

In 2013, according to Dr. Pomeroy, there were already test models in Europe able to suggest a large flood would hit Calgary on the precise day it did. This prediction was made two weeks before the flood happened. Much like in Alberta, B.C. was unable to correctly forecast that this year’s floods would be major ones until roads were already washed out and casualties had occurred. The Americans apparently did much better with their system. Global Water Futures will be working on improving the U.S. system in a major collaboration now being developed. Global Water Futures has the science and technical capability to build a national flood forecasting system here in Canada, with the help of the provinces, municipalities and indigenous communities.

This bring me to the throne speech. As I said at the very beginning, the climate crisis is a water crisis. We will need infrastructure to adapt to the impacts of climate change on water, infrastructure like dams and reservoirs that can hold water when it arrives too early in the spring until the agricultural season starts, when the water is actually needed for irrigation. The throne speech commits the government to creating Canada’s first-ever national climate adaptation strategy and to establishing the Canada water agency as a locus of freshwater expertise and policy coordination.

The throne speech needs to be seen in juxtaposition with water-related Liberal platform commitments. The platform committed that a re-elected Liberal government would “complete our work with provinces and territories to develop flood maps for higher-risk areas in the next three years.” It is vital that this work be done by governments rather than by private sector insurance companies, which obviously have a different interest. The platform also committed our re-elected Liberal government to create a “nation-wide flood ready portal so that Canadians have the information they need to make decisions on where and how to build their homes and communities, and how they can protect their homes and communities from flood risk.”

In the U.S., the Federal Emergency Management Agency and private companies like ClimateCheck have flood-risk maps, where a user plugs in an address and gets a flood-risk assessment. We will need flood and drought protection infrastructure, but also insurance. CBC’s Marketplace says, “six to 10 per cent of Canadian homes are currently uninsurable due to flooding and that estimate could go up as more insurance companies update their risk assessments to account for the rising threat of climate change.” That is why the Liberal platform committed a re-elected Liberal government to creating a “low-cost national flood insurance program to protect homeowners who are at high risk of flooding and don’t have adequate insurance protection.”

In conclusion, our government is committed not only to combatting climate change, but also to preparing for and protecting against the impacts of climate change, which, as Dr. Bruce said, are manifested in the water cycle.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, in my riding of Northumberland—Peterborough South, we are, of course, on Lake Ontario. In 2019 and 2017 we had severe flooding issues.

What investment has the government made to protect those people? Spoiler alert: It is none.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Madam Speaker, that is precisely why we needed a national climate adaptation strategy. However, I will mention that billions of dollars have been invested in infrastructure, and that work obviously has to occur with the provinces to identify where the work needs to be done.

Our government is there to invest in infrastructure. We have been there to invest in infrastructure for a number of years, and we will continue to do so as per the throne speech.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising such an important topic. Along the Detroit River is a piece of property owned by the port of Windsor called Ojibway Shores. It has 130 endangered species and is part of the ecosystem that is crucial for fighting climate change. It also has water, and the clean water aspect along the Great Lakes is significant.

The government's policy over the last six years has been for the city of Windsor taxpayers and residents to pay for this property, which costs up to $4 million to $6 million. We had to fight to stop it from being bulldozed, and the Liberals have put in place a CEO with friendly Liberal connections and a board of directors with friendly Liberal connections. Still to this day, we cannot get that transferred to Environment Canada to be protected. Part of the shoreline is eroding and going away. It is very important for flood mitigation, and the member has noted the importance of a water strategy, as the intake systems for the Great Lakes and many cities are along this tributary system.

Why do the city of Windsor residents have to pay millions of dollars for land they already own, and why, at the same time, are we preventing a national urban park from coming to fruition? Why is it the Liberal policy to pay for land the city residents already own?

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the granular nature of the question, which is focused on the member's riding. My riding is also on a water body, on the St. Lawrence River. Actually, it is located where the St. Lawrence, the Ottawa River and the Rivière des Prairies converge. Of course, I know about projects in my area.

I believe that in Windsor, work is being done with Transport Canada and Environment Canada. However, I would also draw attention to the fact that in the last budget, we committed to invest not only in physical infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and so on, but also in natural infrastructure. I am hoping that this money will help communities like the member's to withstand the effects of flooding caused by climate change.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

In the spring, in response to the Quebec government's Bill 96, the Bloc Québécois moved a motion calling on the House to recognize that French is the only official language of the Quebec nation.

My hon. colleague abstained from the vote that day. I imagine he had something else to do. Today, I would like to give him the opportunity to tell all of Canada whether he believes that Quebec is a nation.