Debates of Oct. 4th, 2022

Taxation

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order. Listen to the whip. He is wonderful.

The hon. government House leader.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, around the world we are facing very difficult times. The member references a veteran whom I have no doubt is experiencing the global phenomenon that we are all dealing with.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

This is not a sporting event. This is not an opportunity to yell and scream and hoot and holler. It is an opportunity to help people who are in need. I absolutely want to take these questions.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I missed half of that.

The government House leader, from the top, please.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we are ready to hear real questions. We are ready to give real answers.

Canada-U.S. Relations

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, every time we ask about federal action for Roxham Road, the government answers that it is negotiating the modernization of the safe third country agreement with the U.S. Roxham Road has been an issue for five years. The federal government has been negotiating for years. It was even in the Liberals' 2019 election platform.

At this point, we have every right to ask how the negotiations are going, do we not?

Can the government provide us with the dates of every meeting held to discuss the safe third country agreement with Washington, and will it provide the minutes of those meetings?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. Closing Roxham Road or suspending the agreement is not a solution. That would not solve the problem.

As the member opposite knows, Canada shares the longest demilitarized border in the country. Roxham Road gives officials an opportunity to obtain identification documents from these asylum claimants and prevent dangerous crossings.

We need to modernize the agreement, and that is what we are doing.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, so everything is as it should be at Roxham Road. That is what they just said.

Does is seem as though negotiations are moving forward? I do not think so.

The safe third country agreement is a seven-page document, not a free trade agreement. The Liberals have been telling us for five years that they are in negotiations. Meanwhile, what is obvious on the ground is that they are making Roxham Road permanent. We have just been told flat out. They even plan to open new facilities on November 1. Permanent means permanent.

Can the minister provide us with any concrete evidence of these discussions, or should we rely on the government's actions and therefore conclude that no negotiations are actually taking place?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, discussions and negotiations are indeed taking place.

I would ask the Bloc Québécois to tone down the rhetoric just a bit and stop playing petty politics on the backs of men, women and children who, more often than not, leave extremely difficult situations to make it there or elsewhere.

When we talk about immigration, we are talking about men, women and children who are seeking a better life. They have the right to dignity, and I would ask the Bloc Québécois members to be careful about what they say.

Public Services and Procurement

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, every time we ask the government for the Roxham Road contracts that it refuses to disclose, it responds that to the government, and I quote: transparency is critically important.

That is a rather Orwellian response. Refusing to disclose contracts out of concern for transparency is not that far removed from being told that war is peace.

I am blinded by all that transparency. Seriously, hiding public contracts is not transparency, it is secrecy.

Can the government actually be transparent and simply disclose who it gave taxpayers' money to for Roxham Road? People have the right to know.

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.

As is practice, disclosing confidential contractual information would violate the agreement we have with the supplier. We will continue to work with the departments and agencies to meet their needs through fair and open contracts.

Employment Insurance

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have been dealing with a lot of gaslighting from the other side of the chamber when it comes to EI tax hikes. It is refreshing that the finance minister has finally admitted it, when she said, “Doubling the GST...for six months is around $2.5 billion and the proposed EI freeze is around $2.5 billion”.

Given that she is finally admitting that EI is a tax, will she commit the government today to stopping the planned tax hike on Canadian paycheques?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, the facts are clear. EI premiums are lower today than when the official opposition leader oversaw them. In fact, they are the lowest they have been in decades. Come next January, the premium rate will be 25¢ lower than in 2015 under the opposition leader.

On this side of the House, we believe in supporting Canadian workers and jobs.

Taxation

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Mr. Speaker, only Liberals would believe those lines. The Canadian families I am hearing from are just hanging on by a thread. Four out of five Canadians have changed their diets because of this Liberal government. Canadians cannot afford any more little tax grabs on Canadian paycheques.

When will the minister stop printing money, stop with the wasteful government spending that is fuelling inflation and stop the tripling of taxes on Canadians?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, here is an idea. We can support dental care for kids with disabilities. Here is another idea. We can pass Bill C-22 and lift hundreds of thousands of persons with disabilities out of poverty. Those are two really big concrete things that we can deliver together for Canadians.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Germany, U.K., France, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and more have all cut fuel taxes or duties to help households deal with rising inflation. Instead of lowering taxes like our peers, the government wants to make energy more expensive.

The Liberal government must know something the rest of the world does not. What it will not admit is that the carbon tax is inflationary because it gets passed through to everything. Will the government cancel its plans to hike taxes and finally give Canadians a break?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I have a riddle for you. What does the following list of states and countries have in common: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Korea, Norway, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, the U.K., provinces like Quebec, B.C. and Alberta and countries like China? They all have a price on carbon. Alberta, in fact, has had a price on carbon since 2004. It is almost 20 years.

That is what is happening in Canada and around the world. We are fighting climate change and we are helping Canadians.

Employment Insurance

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister downplays a 9% increase in the employment insurance tax. She says it is no big deal, even though the Liberal government collects billions more in EI premiums than it pays out to workers, just when inflation is at a 40-year high and gas is $2.40 a litre in Vancouver. Hard-working Canadians are struggling to make ends meet. Do Liberals just not care or are they just incompetent?

Will the Liberal government cancel its plan to raise taxes on Canadian paycheques?

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

Mr. Speaker, what hard-working Canadians need is the security of knowing that when they retire, their pensions will be there. What hard-working Canadians need is the security of knowing that our EI system is going to be there when someone loses their job. That is why our government is standing by the Canada pension plan. We are standing by EI. We know it would be the height of irresponsibility today, at a time of real global economic uncertainty, to slash and starve these essential programs Canadians need.

Indigenous Affairs

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it has been years since the national inquiry, and progress on ending violence against indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people has been painfully slow. Yesterday, advocates and families of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls raised serious concerns about how police have handled their cases. This includes inadequate communication. In fact, 11 of the 231 calls for justice from the inquiry relate to policing, but families keep reporting the same issues.

When will the government act to implement the calls for justice on policing so families can finally have justice?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, coming off of the weekend where we marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, I want to assure my colleague and all members in the House that we are united in taking concrete steps toward the path of reconciliation as it relates to public safety. We are accelerating the rollout of our first nations and indigenous policing program, where we have allocated nearly $1 billion. Very recently, we issued a joint statement with Alberta to bring back the Siksika police service. That is a concrete step toward reconciliation.

There is far more to do when it comes to providing culturally sensitive training. When it comes to empowering indigenous communities to protect the members who live within those communities, this government will walk that path with indigenous peoples.

Health

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, colonial laws and policies remain deep-rooted. Death by suicide in Nunavut is 10 times higher than the rest of Canada. I have asked the government repeatedly to invest in Nunavut and indigenous communities so they can thrive, but the government is still failing to deliver the mental health supports needed. Monday is World Mental Health Day and indigenous communities are watching.

Will the government deliver by indigenous, for indigenous mental health services?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Minister of Northern Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely right that losing one person to suicide is one too many. Our government is committed, through the actions we are taking, to do all things necessary to eradicate the horrible problem. We are working co-operatively with Inuit rights holders, with the Government of Nunavut, with territorial governments and all provinces to eradicate the suicide crisis that is prevalent in the north.