Debates of Oct. 27th, 2022

Investments in Saint John—Rothesay

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I came to this great place in 2015 laser-focused on one goal: to deliver much-needed strategic federal investment for my beautiful riding of Saint John—Rothesay, investment that was sadly lacking under the previous Conservative government. It was because of that lack of investment that Saint John's waterfront was undeveloped. That is, until now. We have announced $15 million to rebuild the seawall. We have invested millions of dollars in the boardwalk, Fundy Quay and area 506 container village. We also just announced a new outdoor arena for our waterfront and a new digital light display for Jardine's Alley.

Our government believes in strategic investments that will turn ridings like mine around. I am proud of what my government has done. I am proud that we have invested in spades in Saint John—Rothesay.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

One moment please. Before we go to the member for Winnipeg Centre, I just want to remind hon. members that statements are being said, and shouting at each other when someone is talking is not polite or parliamentary.

The hon. member for Winnipeg Centre.

Residential Schools

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, in the last session I put forward a unanimous consent motion recognizing that what happened in residential schools was an act of genocide. I was shocked when members of the House chose not to support my motion, confirming that residential school denial is still a reality.

We need to do better. We need to find a way forward that honours the truth about what happened in this country, especially in light of Pope Francis's acknowledgement that what took place in residential schools was in fact genocide.

I will rise again today to seek unanimous consent for the following motion: That in the opinion of the House, this government must recognize what happened in Canada's Indian residential schools as genocide, as acknowledged by Pope Francis and in accordance with article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

This time, I hope members of this House will not cut me off as a way to hide the truth, and will instead stop residential school denialism so that the experience of survivors is finally honoured. Only then will we achieve justice and demonstrate that we are truly committed to reconciliation.

Saguenay—Lac-St-Jean Forestry Association

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today my riding is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Association forestière du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean. Founded in 1942, the association devotes its day-to-day activities to informing and educating the region's citizens about the importance of our forests, our natural wealth.

The association is more than just an educational organization; it also champions the idea of cultivating an appreciation of forests, which was presented for the first time to the Coulombe Commission on the management of Quebec's public forests in 2004. That was a big win for the association, and this notion of appreciation is now included in the preamble to the Quebec law on sustainable forestry management. Bravo.

Today, it is an organization rooted in the community and led by the tireless biologist Diane Bouchard, who offers educational activities to a wide variety of learners, from preschoolers right up to university students.

I offer my sincere thanks to the association for its dedication to our forests and wish it a happy 80th anniversary.

Government Contracts

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the ArriveCAN app caused chaos from the moment it was launched. It did nothing to improve efficiency at the border or to protect Canadians from COVID. Over 10,000 healthy vaccinated Canadians were arbitrarily ordered to quarantine and subjected to threatening emails, phone calls and home visits, all because the government clung to this useless piece of technology it knew was prone to failure.

The government spent $54 million to create it, but IT experts have proven that a garage band hacker could build it over a weekend for under a million dollars, and now Canadians know there were false invoices and millions of dollars missing.

From WE Charity to SNC-Lavalin to the sponsorship scandal, waste and corruption are built in to the Liberal Party's very DNA.

Canadians need to know two things: who got rich and where the money actually went.

Women’s History Month

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, October is Women’s History Month, and I would like to recognize an amazing woman, Indrani Nagenthiram, who is making a difference in the lives of seniors in my riding of Scarborough Centre.

A strong and dedicated woman of Sri Lankan roots, Indrani pioneered the creation in Toronto of a culturally appropriate assisted living environment for Tamil seniors. For 20 years, the Villa Karuna Home for Seniors has provided comfortable and healthy care for many seniors in the Greater Toronto Area. Villa Karuna also provides employment and job training opportunities for personal support workers.

Through the worst of the COVID pandemic, often alone, Indrani worked tirelessly to ensure that the seniors under her care were looked after. Even in her 70s, she has not slowed down. Her kindness and hard work are an inspiration. I thank Indrani for her service.

The Economy

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this country has a $500-billion inflationary deficit and farmers are being forced to pay higher taxes, so the price of food has gone up faster than it ever has in the past 40 years. We recently learned that Canadians visited food banks 1.5 million times in a single month.

When will the government acknowledge that Canadians can no longer afford it? When will it reverse its inflationary policies?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadians are facing difficult times, but this question speaks to two very different visions for our country. One is where the Conservatives say to Canadians that they are on their own, that the government should not have invested in them and that it should not have an affordability plan. On the other hand, it is our government that was there for Canadians when they needed us during the pandemic and got the economy back on track. Now we have an affordability plan that will double the GST, provide dental care to 500,000 kids and also give housing supplements to Canadians who need it the most.

We will never abandon Canadians like the Conservatives propose we do.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the member would have Canadians believe that they have never had it so good. If that were true, then we would not have 1.5 million visits to the food banks in a single month in Canada. That is a 35% increase since 2019. This is after a half trillion dollars of inflationary spending bid up the cost of goods, and new taxes on farmers has made food more expensive. Now the Liberals' plan is to triple the carbon tax. Will they reverse that plan so Canadians can afford to eat?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, there is a very clear difference on this side of the House with respect to what we are doing to support Canadians. Since we were elected in 2015, 1.3 million Canadians have been lifted out of poverty, and that includes over 450,000 children.

We will not take any lessons from the Conservatives, who are looking to cut benefits, who are voting against supporting Canadians and who today actually have an opportunity to do the right thing, if they care about Canadian families, and vote to support dental and rental supports.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister spent $6,000 for one hotel room per night in London and then spent that evening singing up a storm and partying in that fancy hotel lobby, it was really an analogy for his whole government: a half trillion dollar party with other people's money and Canadians got the hangover; a million and a half visits in one month to the food banks; the fastest-rising interest rates in 30 years; the fastest inflation in four decades.

When will the government realize that Canadians are out of money and the party is over?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition seems to have amnesia, because over the past two and a half years it has been this government that has supported Canadians in their darkest hour.

We supported nine million Canadians with the Canada emergency response benefit. We supported millions of Canadians with the Canada emergency wage supports. We supported thousands of businesses and organizations with the CEBA.

I only can imagine that the Leader of the Opposition is suggesting that we would not have done that and we would have seen a tank in our economy. We did not do that. We will not take any lessons from the Conservatives and we will continue to support Canadians.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals had a big party with other people's money. The only problem is most people were not invited to the party. The WE Charity was invited; it got half a billion dollars. The arrive scam contractors were invited; they got millions of dollars in contracts, in many cases to do no work, and many of the dollars are still unaccounted for. Of course, other Liberal insiders got the money. Even prisoners got CERB cheques. That is how they racked up a half trillion dollars in inflationary deficits that have bid up the cost of the goods we buy and the interest we pay.

Will the Liberals realize that the money is out and the party is over?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear about what the Conservatives are saying. They are saying they would not have created CERB to keep millions of Canadians at home. They would not have created the wage subsidy that kept 60,000 workers employed in Alberta's oil industry alone. They would not have offered rent subsidies that kept tens of thousands of businesses afloat. Their cryptocurrency plan is not a plan. It is the worst plan this House has ever heard of. They have no plan.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, as part of its money printing scheme, the government flooded the financial and mortgage markets with $400 billion of cash that bid up house prices faster than at any time in history. Home prices doubled under the Prime Minister, creating the second-biggest housing bubble on planet earth.

The government said that rates would never rise and families believed it. Quoting CityNews, now that they have risen, “Rob and his wife have an adjustable-rate mortgage and say their payments have gone up by $2,000 a month.” They have three kids. They cannot pay it. What the hell do they do now?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to remind hon. members to use parliamentary language. That is kind of pushing it.

The hon. minister for Housing has the floor.

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

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we understand the importance of keeping access to the Canadian dream of home ownership alive. The leader of the official opposition's voting record really shows that he does not actually care about making housing more affordable for working people across the country. All he has to offer is empty rhetoric and buzzwords. Now he wants to gatekeep rent supports for people who need it the most. He wants to gatekeep dental supports for kids. This is not a plan, and Canadians expect 7better.

Dental Care

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if the government and the NDP wanted to help Quebec families with dental care, they could have come to an agreement with the Quebec government. That way, 100% of the cost for Quebec children would have been covered based on the actual amount paid. Instead, they came up with a cheque that half of Quebec families will not be entitled to, and what is more, the spending will not be monitored. A person can go to the dentist and pay $20, but charge the government up to $650. It is absurd.

Why did the government not just come to an agreement with Quebec? Would that have been too easy?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is going to help the families who need it most.

Dental support is more than just dental support. Imagine a child who cannot afford to go to the dentist and who feels too embarrassed and shy to approach their friends or another little boy or girl in the schoolyard. Imagine a senior who had to get their teeth removed but did not have enough money to get dentures, so they isolate themselves. When a person does not have enough money to go to the dentist, that has real consequences, but the Bloc Québécois could not care less.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is that the government did not even try to have talks with Quebec because it is not shopping for dental insurance, but majority insurance.

The sole purpose of this cheque is to shore up its majority. In order for the NDP to support it, the government could not just give money to Quebec, it had to cut a cheque with a great big maple leaf on it. Therefore, it invented a flawed benefit that discriminates against Quebeckers and that will be paid out practically without any oversight, just like the CERB was.

Why should Quebec pay more than its fair share so people in other provinces can go to the dentist, pass go and claim even more money than they actually paid?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Sport]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question.

The Canada dental benefit will be available to all eligible Canadian and Quebec families, including those covered by the public insurance plan. Our program will directly help families in need. There is no mechanism for opting out because it is not negotiated with the Quebec government.

Taxation

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, people are going hungry in our country right now. That is shameful in a country as rich as ours.

Today's annual report from Food Banks Canada shows that food bank use is at an all-time high. In a single month, there were 1.5 million visits. People are going without, but the Liberals refuse to stand up to the CEOs of the major grocery chains and make them pay what they owe us.

When will the Liberals do something about the corporate greed that is keeping families from feeding their children?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

It is clear that we take this issue very seriously. That is why, when we were elected in 2015, we were there for families and for children and why 1.3 million Canadians have been lifted out of poverty since 2015, including 450,000 children. We will continue to be there for Canadians. Today, all members of the House have the opportunity to support Canadian children. I hope Conservative members will do the same.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, families are making difficult choices about what food they can afford and costs are only getting higher. Today, a report from Food Banks Canada proved that people just cannot keep up. At record rates, families are turning to food banks to get the help they need. The Liberals have a responsibility to support Canadians. Instead, they have sided with rich grocery CEOs who are hiding behind inflation to line their pockets.

When will the Liberals hold big grocers accountable for the price gouging Canadian families are experiencing?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, everyone in the House is concerned about inflation and about the prices Canadians across the country are facing when they go grocery shopping. That is exactly why I called upon the leaders of these supermarkets and grocery chains across the nation to do their part to help Canadians. I called a number of them to say that we want to see action. In addition to that, I demanded that the Competition Bureau start an inquiry and a study to look at making sure there is no unlawful practice. We will do everything we can to support Canadian families at this time.