House of Commons Hansard #116 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was china.

Topics

TaxationOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

Mr. Speaker, with temperatures dropping below zero degrees across the country, people are turning on the heat, but seniors are telling me they do not know how long they will be able to afford to keep their homes heated with the Liberal tax hikes on the way.

With natural gas and heating oil representing more than 60% of Canadian home heating, will the costly coalition with the NDP back off tripling the carbon tax?

TaxationOral Questions

3 p.m.

Winnipeg South Manitoba

Liberal

Terry Duguid LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Mr. Speaker, under the previous Conservative leader, just one year ago, everyone on that side of the House supported a price on pollution. The member for New Brunswick Southwest recently endorsed a carbon price for his province. The member for Wellington—Halton Hills made the carbon price a centrepiece of his leadership campaign in 2017. Everyone on that side of the House is now vehemently opposed to a carbon price.

The Conservatives have been consistent and I have to hand it to them: They are consistent flip-floppers.

TaxationOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals must be unaware that Canada gets cold in the winter. The hot air coming from that side of the House will not heat people's homes.

A homeowner in Campbell River, B.C., recently told Chek News that their home heating costs would increase 80%, from just under $1,400 a year to almost $2,500, if the government pushes on with more tax hikes.

Will the Liberals do the decent thing, stop the pain and cancel the tripling of carbon taxes?

TaxationOral Questions

3 p.m.

Winnipeg South Manitoba

Liberal

Terry Duguid LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives across the way never talk about the costs of climate change. In the member's province of B.C., climate change is killing people and ravaging the economy. About 600 people died under the heat dome last year. It was a $9-billion impact to the local economy.

Climate change is real. Lives are real. These costs are real. We have a plan to reduce emissions, build community resiliency and create the clean jobs of tomorrow.

TaxationOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC

Mr. Speaker, many Quebeckers, especially those living in rural areas, heat their homes with oil, whose price has doubled since last year. Many Canadian and Quebec families must make tough choices in order to cover the costs of food and housing, in addition to paying their heating bill, because people in Quebec and Canada have no choice.

With winter quickly approaching, we are asking the government to do one simple thing, and that is to cancel the carbon tax on home heating bills. Will it do that?

TaxationOral Questions

3 p.m.

Edmonton Centre Alberta

Liberal

Randy Boissonnault LiberalMinister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, we know that climate change is real, which is why we have put a price on pollution. It is very important to have a mechanism that will help us contain climate change. We have seen the forest fires and the floods. We have seen the pressure that insurance companies are putting on the average person here in Canada. That is why we are taking action on inflation with a multibillion dollar plan to help Canadians. That is what responsible government does.

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Liberal

Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON

Mr. Speaker, on Friday the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Safety announced that a national freeze on handguns has come into effect as one of the many steps the federal government is taking to get guns off our streets, tackle gun violence and keep Canadians safe.

Eileen Mohan, whose son was tragically gunned down, said she was rejoicing at seeing this announcement in her lifetime. She said the government was choosing life over death.

Can the Minister of Public Safety update the House on this important step forward in the fight against gun violence?

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Eglinton—Lawrence Ontario

Liberal

Marco Mendicino LiberalMinister of Public Safety

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for all of her advocacy on this important subject matter, which has impacted not only our hometown of Toronto, but communities right across the country, rural, urban and suburban.

I am so proud of the work of this government. Last Friday, for the first time in our country's history, we announced a national handgun freeze. This means that going forward it will be illegal to buy, sell or transfer handguns right across the country. What is also important is that members recognize that this is part of a broader plan whereby we are going to buy back assault-style rifles and get them out of our communities. We are going to continue to invest at the border, and we are going to stop gun crime before it starts.

Indigenous AffairsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Mr. Speaker, they were popping corks in the minister's office when the Supreme Court announced it would not reopen the St. Anne's residential school file, but this issue is not going away. The justice department suppressed 10,000 pages of police evidence of rape, abuse and torture of children in that awful institution, then lied in the hearings and spent millions on lawyers all the way to the Supreme Court. There is no reconciliation in Canada without justice for St. Anne's.

Will the minister stand up and tell us he will meet with the survivors and establish a credible mediation process?

Look at me when I am talking to you about these St. Anne's survivors.

Indigenous AffairsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Indigenous AffairsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

Order.

I can appreciate members' wanting dramatic sound clips, but that was not acceptable.

The hon. minister.

Indigenous AffairsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs Québec

Liberal

Marc Miller LiberalMinister of Crown-Indigenous Relations

Mr. Speaker, this should not be about me or anyone else in the House of Commons. At this point, there are a lot of survivors, particularly the survivors of St. Anne's, who are hurting in light of the judgment of the Supreme Court. I have asked my department to reexamine 11 of the cases, particularly sensitive student-on-student cases. We will be approaching the court monitor to reexamine those cases in particular.

Small BusinessOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Independent

Kevin Vuong Independent Spadina—Fort York, ON

Mr. Speaker, Liberals think they can support workers and EI and still raise payroll taxes while small businesses in Canada fight to survive. The Prime Minister does not agree, or at least he did not in 2013. On June 5 of that year, the then member for Papineau asked a question on behalf of Dustin from Calgary, noting that EI premiums were to rise by $50 and that it was a “direct payroll tax increase”. The member asked why the government then was doing that to Dustin and every other working Canadian.

Does today's Prime Minister care about Dustin, or has he thrown him in the dustbin?

Small BusinessOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Markham—Thornhill Ontario

Liberal

Mary Ng LiberalMinister of International Trade

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the hon. member cares deeply for small businesses, as I do, and I want to remind him not only that they are the backbone of our Canadian economy, but that what we have been doing is cutting their small business taxes and helping them thrive through the pandemic on this road to economic recovery. I want to assure the member that we are going to keep working very hard for Canadian small businesses, just as he does in his riding.

The House resumed from Thursday, October 20, consideration of the motion.

Opposition Motion—Tax Exemption on Home Heating FuelBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

It being 3:08 p.m., pursuant to order made on Thursday, June 23, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion of the hon. member for Carleton relating to the business of supply.

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #197

Business of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

I declare the motion defeated.

Business of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:25 p.m.

Conservative

John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, could you clarify for the benefit of the House whether the leader of the NDP's vote ought to count since he was not wearing a jacket when he voted?

Business of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The member's vote came through electronically, but that is a very good point and I thank the hon. member for bringing it up. Some of us missed that.

I want to remind hon. members that if they are voting, even if it is remotely, or should they have to speak in the House, they will have to at least have their jacket on for the vote. They do not need a tie, but they do need a jacket on to vote. We will have to strike the vote of the hon. member for Burnaby South.

I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded division, Government Orders will be extended by 14 minutes.

Foreign Affairs and International DevelopmentCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, entitled “Overcoming the Barriers to Global Vaccine Equity and Ending the Pandemic”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

Foreign Affairs and International DevelopmentCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are pleased to submit a dissenting report. We thank the witnesses for their work.

Our dissenting report makes a number of important points. We note, for example, that the Canadian government has primarily distributed doses of AstraZeneca that were not recommended for use in Canada. We sought to understand how the government could justify recommending against a vaccine for Canadians while distributing it to the developing world. It is not entirely surprising that this inconsistency may have contributed to vaccine hesitancy.

We also note that companies sought indemnification clauses that would protect them from being sued by people in developing countries in the event of vaccine injury. The indemnification clauses involved a no-fault mechanism that was funded by states, not by industry, and we believe that an honest reckoning with the reality of low vaccination uptake in certain quarters should have taken a serious look at some of these issues.

Again, we thank the witnesses for their important work.

Foreign Affairs and International DevelopmentCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

NDP

Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I seek unanimous consent to table a supplementary opinion.

Foreign Affairs and International DevelopmentCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

All those opposed to the hon. member's moving the motion will please nay.

Foreign Affairs and International DevelopmentCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.