Debates of Nov. 1st, 2022

Health

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have a Prime Minister who is trying to divide the provinces, and we know his intention is to isolate Quebec. He wants to negotiate an agreement on his own terms with the weaker provinces. He wants to be able to go to the Premier of Quebec last, present him with a fait accompli and say, “Here is the deal, so either sign it or get lost”.

I see that some people are wondering whether I am talking about this Prime Minister and the health transfers or his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and the night of the long knives.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, let us set aside the partisan politics for a moment. We can all agree that Canadians deserve better health care and services. They deserve better access to family doctors. They deserve better access to mental health services. We are here to work with the provinces, but we want concrete results. Simply putting more money into a system that does not work is not the answer. The system needs to be improved. That is where we are very willing to work with Quebec and all the provinces and territories.

Oil and Gas Industry

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

Mr. Speaker, on the weekend, the Minister of the Environment begged the oil companies that are making record profits to invest in renewable energy. Instead of begging, the government should stop throwing billions of dollars in public money at the oil industry. According to a report, except for Japan, Canada leads the G20 in financing oil companies. The Liberals promised to end these subsidies by 2023. That is in two months.

Is there a contingency plan for ending these subsidies, or was it all just talk?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as we have always said, we will be phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by the end of 2023. That is something we promised for 2025, but we accelerated the timeline because we know how important it is.

We will do that while investing in the transition to greener energy, in the decarbonization of our industries, and in creating good jobs for our workers in all sorts of industries, because we know that all Canadians expect a better future thanks to a green shift and investments in better technologies.

Taxation

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, we know that people are struggling right now with the cost of housing and the cost of groceries. We know they are struggling with the cost of heating their homes and that those prices continue to go up.

We have tried, in this place, to work with Conservatives to take the GST off home heating. It is a long-standing NDP position, but they would rather put their fundraising against the climate and ahead of reducing costs for Canadians in this difficult time.

Will the Liberals do the right thing and work with us to take GST off home heating now, in the fall, before people have to keep paying higher and higher prices?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we brought in a price on pollution that applies in provinces across this country, not all of them but many of them, and we know that we return more money to average families to help with the cost of paying their bills than the price on pollution costs them.

That is why we are going to continue to step up with affordability measures for families, whether it is the climate action incentive that lands in their bank accounts four times a year, the GST credit return that is coming to them in the coming days or support for rental and dental. We will continue to be there for Canadians.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister needs to stop misleading the House. The seven years of inflationary spending have pushed a record number of Canadians from grocery stores to food banks. Now data shows that 88% of Canadians say it is more difficult to buy food to feed their own households. A staggering 54% of Canadians are cutting back on grocery shopping altogether. Canadians cannot keep up and now they are barely hanging on.

Will the costly coalition stop its inflationary spending and cancel its plan to triple taxes on groceries?

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

Mr. Speaker, people across the world have been going through difficult economic times, and there is no exception here in Canada. Canadians are struggling to make ends meet.

The responsible thing to do is provide targeted supports to Canadians who need it the most at a time when they need it the most. That means providing dental supports to half a million kids, making sure we have a $500 cheque for rental support and making sure we are able to double the GST credit.

What is irresponsible is misleading Canadians, mis-characterizing the source of inflation and telling Canadians they are on their own. That is the Conservative plan. We have the backs of Canadians.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what is irresponsible is that the government gave wage subsidies to wealthy corporations so they were able to pay their own dividends. What is irresponsible is paying $54 million on an arrive scam app that should have cost $250,000.

Let us get this straight. The Liberals are the arsonists of this inflationary fire. Today, more Canadians and more newcomers want to leave Canada because they cannot afford things anymore. Canadians cannot afford this costly coalition any longer.

Will the Liberals stop their inflationary spending and stop raising taxes on hard-working Canadians, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are experts at revisionist history. Let us go back to 2020, when this government was faced with the worst pandemic in 100 years.

This government made historic investments in our communities, our provinces, our businesses and Canadians. What did the former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz say about those investments after his analysis of that spending? “In fact, what the stimulus did was to keep the economy from going into a deep hole in which we would have experienced persistent deflation.”

The Conservatives do not like it, but those are the facts.

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, once up a time, many Canadians trusted the Liberals that interest rates would stay low. Many purchased homes based on this promise. The Prime Minister then added more debt than all other prime ministers combined. Even Liberal Mark Carney has said that “inflation is principally a domestic story”. For many Canadians, inflation is not a story; it is a nightmare. Some mortgage payments have risen by over $2,000 a month.

Will the Liberals end this inflationary nightmare and commit to cancelling their plan to raise taxes?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, time and time again, the Conservatives have demonstrated that they do not care about supporting low-income Canadians and Canadians who are facing the high cost of living.

When it comes to initiatives such as lowering taxes for the middle class and the Canada child benefit, or when it comes to child care, with families across the country saving up to 50% in fees, thousands of dollars are going into their pockets every year. The Conservatives have voted against this time and again. We know where we stand, and we stand with Canadians.

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, those benefits will never reach the average Canadian. The Liberals can help Canadians today by getting their spending and taxes under control. People on fixed incomes, such as seniors, veterans and those on disability, are really suffering. Many have written to me saying they can barely afford food to eat. Twenty per cent of them are skipping meals to save money, and people are resorting to food banks.

Will the Prime Minister commit to giving Canadians a break and cancel his plan to raise taxes?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know about Conservative members, but I speak to real Canadians every single day, and today in Ontario, 86% of child care centres have signed on to the Canada-wide early learning and child care agreement. I have heard from families that are saving thousands of dollars. In fact, last week, a woman in Toronto contacted me to say $4,000 is what her family is getting back, dating back to April 1. That is a lot of money in people's pockets that is going to help them with the high cost of living.

We are going to continue to be there, delivering real measures for real Canadians every single day.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to Equifax, non-mortgage debt is over $21,000 per consumer, and over 50% of Canadians are worried about not being able to pay their monthly bills. Over the past two years, the Prime Minister has spent over $200 billion on things that had nothing to do with the pandemic. That is equivalent to the federal income taxes of 27 million middle-class Canadians.

Once again, will he commit to stopping his inflationary spending and to not raising taxes for Canadians, who have had enough?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder who wrote my colleague opposite's question, because these days, the Conservatives seem to spend their time repeating the messages of web giants. It seems as though the web giants are writing the Conservatives' speeches. If the Conservatives were really interested in what is happening in Canada, they would be expressing concern about our democracy, about our regional and national media, about our independent news sources. The Conservatives are repeating the messages of web giants and Facebook rather than standing up for Canadians.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, can my colleague explain why Canada's debt has surpassed $1 billion since the arrival of the Prime Minister in 2015? According to Desjardins, Canadian taxpayers will have to pay $49.5 billion in interest alone to service the debt. We have gotten to this point because of the Prime Minister's unjustified spending. For example, he cancelled the repayment of two multi-million dollar loans to the Irving family. He also gave $50 million to Mastercard, and he gave $12 million to Loblaws to buy refrigerators. Those are just a few examples.

Will the Prime Minister commit to stopping this wasteful spending, which is adding to the debt and the burden on Canadians? No, it is not—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order.

The hon. minister.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I will give some other examples. What is happening in the area of culture? What is being done for our artists and creators? Instead of helping culture by supporting Bill C-11, the Conservatives are blocking the bill in the Senate. Once again, instead of defending our culture, our music and our television programs, the Conservatives are repeating the web giants' messages. For once, instead of repeating the rhetoric of Facebook and the web giants, the Conservatives should stand up for Canadians.

Natural Resources

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with five days to go before COP27, we have learned that Canada is still pouring public money into the fossil fuel industry. It is the second‑worst country in the G20, according to Oil Change International. Canada is worse than Russia. It invested $8.5 billion a year between 2019 and 2021.

How are other countries supposed to react at COP27 when they hear Canada talk a good game, while knowing it has the second‑worst record in the G20? What do we call someone who says one thing and does the opposite?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to phasing out public financing of the fossil fuel sector by the end of 2022. We will eliminate subsidies to the fossil fuel sector by the end of 2023. We must address climate change. We need to implement a plan to fight climate change while fostering economic prosperity. Of course, we are in this together.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has been promising to stop subsidizing fossil fuels since 2009. However, here we are 13 years later and nothing has changed. We have had enough of empty promises. This government promised to stop subsidizing fossil fuels by 2023. That is in two months, or 61 days. If the government intends to keep that promise, it must have made a lot of progress and must have a really good plan.

Will the minister finally be able to announce at COP27 that there will be no more subsidies for fossil fuels? Will that finally be a reality instead of another empty promise?

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the hon. member that we need to go further and faster on fossil fuel subsidies in our journey to net zero by 2050, and we are doing exactly that. We are capping emissions from the fossil fuel sector. We are implementing a clean fuel standard. We are investing in carbon capture. We will also be eliminating inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2023, two years in advance of the deadline.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is going to be awkward at COP27. Canada will be giving speeches on the green transition when it just announced in Washington that it wants to fast-track its oil and gas projects. It will be giving speeches about protecting nature when it just authorized oil drilling over 100,000 kilometres in a protected marine area. It will be giving speeches about government responsibility when it just approved the Bay du Nord project.

Do members recall when Stephen Harper boycotted the UN to inaugurate a Tim Hortons? At this point, we are wondering why this government does not do the same.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

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

As I said yesterday when she asked this question, we have implemented a plan to fight climate change, a plan that may well be the most detailed one in the whole world. It is an aggressive plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring a clean and prosperous future for our children and grandchildren.

We want to work with our partners in the Bloc Québécois, the NDP and, of course, the Conservative Party.