Debates of Dec. 13th, 2022

Firearms

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by thanking my colleague and all members who have been so empathetic in expressing their grief over the death of our friend, the Hon. Jim Carr.

I know we will have an opportunity to talk about him more tomorrow. I really want everyone to remember that he was an exceptional man and an extraordinary parliamentarian.

His devotion to community, to region, to country; his devotion to the idea of a Canada that was even better, where everyone came together to build a strong future; his passion, his thoughtfulness, his commitment to the Prairies and to Canada will be long remembered and need to inspire us all every single day, as we notice the empty seat among us.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the government has the wrong target when it comes to public safety. It is banning hundreds, and in fact we do not know exactly how many because its officials cannot tell us, of previously legal hunting rifles and shotguns that are used by first nations, by farmers and by rural people right across the country.

Meanwhile, last week, a man who was convicted of second degree murder had been released early and is now rearrested for 51 counts of trafficking firearms.

Why will the Liberals not go after this criminal and others like him instead of targeting Grandpa Joe's hunting rifle in Cape Breton?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are united around the need to see communities safer. Most Canadians understand that this means eliminating the guns that are most dangerous, those guns that are designed to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. That is why two years ago we moved forward with a ban on assault-style weapons, but we also know we need to ensure that ban stays in place. That is why we are moving forward with a definition to define assault-style weapons.

We will continue to consult with Canadians and all parliamentarians to ensure we are capturing the right weapons, but we will keep Canadians safe.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, only he is not capturing the right weapons, according to his very own Liberal MP for Yukon, who said, “This is really upsetting. Many, many Yukoners...regularly hunt, either as a food source or for the recreational aspects of hunting.” He said, “I'm not happy with this [bill].” Other Liberal MPs have said likewise, and the Prime Minister's own public servants have testified that hunting rifles will be banned under his proposed amendment.

Now that he has been caught with his real agenda, which is to go after hunters and farmers rather than gun smugglers and gangsters, will he reverse himself and promise never again to go after our hunters in our country?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, while Conservative politicians continue to fearmonger and share disinformation, we are doing the work necessary to keep Canadians safe. We will continue to consult on the list, because, yes, we are not interested in going after guns that are typically used for hunting and protecting farms.

We are going to continue to make sure we are banning the most dangerous weapons that were designed to kill people in the shortest amount of time. This is something that unfortunately the Conservatives want to make legal, assault-style weapons, again. That is why they are in the pockets of the gun lobby and that is why we are standing strong.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we all wondered how it was possible for the government to build up a 2.2 million person backlog in the immigration system, and now we have found a clue. There are 60,000 people whose cases have been handed over to employees who no longer work for the government. Just imagine someone calling up and saying, “I'd like to speak to Jack. He's my case officer. I've been waiting for my immigration." and he is told that Jack has not been there in 10 years. No wonder things are delayed for so long.

These are people who are separated from their families, refugees who need to get here quickly for their safety. How could the government have been so careless?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we continue to grow our immigration system. We continue to transform it and modernize it so it is able to respond to the needs of people who want to become Canadians and contribute to our society.

That is why we are investing in our system to provide a modern client experience and a more efficient immigration system. Modernizing our immigration system is about putting people at the heart of everything we do. We will continue to be there and resolve any technical issues.

Ethics

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, from incompetence to bad ethics, we have another Liberal minister found guilty of violating the Ethics Act, this time for giving a $23,000 contract to one of her best friends at a company called Pomp & Circumstance. It reminds us of the Prime Minister giving half a billion dollars to an organization called WE Charity that gave his family $500,000.

Will the minister be held accountable? Will she be required to pay back the $23,000 in improper contracting that she gave out?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, in the House, there is a lot of debate and back and forth, but every now and then there is an opportunity for Canadians to weigh in directly on what is going on in federal politics.

Yesterday, the residents of Mississauga—Lakeshore had a choice. They could choose between the Conservative Party politics of division and reckless proposals that included recommending that they opt out of inflation by investing in crypto, or our government's approach of being there for Canadians every step of the way and putting more money back in their pockets.

The people of Mississauga—Lakeshore have spoken and elected a Liberal member of Parliament to come to Ottawa.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if I may, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I would also like to offer our condolences to the family and friends of the former minister and member Jim Carr.

The Prime Minister has skilfully calculated that Quebec should take in 112,000 immigrants based on Ottawa's goal of welcoming 500,000. In doing so, he ignored the fact that there are about eight million francophones in the country and about 300 million anglophones on the North American continent. Oops. It was basic math. He himself is having such a hard time managing immigration that his government assigned 60,000 files to people who are no longer on the job.

Should he not double-check his math and let Quebec manage its own affairs on immigration and the French language?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I merely pointed out that Quebec is entirely capable of increasing its immigration levels, if it wants to.

This decision is up to Quebec, and we respect Quebec's jurisdiction with regard to immigration, as we do across our system of government.

We will always work with the Quebec government and other governments across the country to protect the French language and to welcome francophone immigrants. We have a lot more work to do, but we will continue to do it.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the past 24 hours, the Prime Minister said that Quebec must take in 112,000 immigrants.

He says that he is not imposing that number. However, all the other times, he said that he would like to impose it. He sent a former minister and now sitting member to say that Bill 96 should be blocked, because the federal government obviously must not recognize Quebec's jurisdictions.

He is forgetting about Roxham Road and the thousands of irregular claimants, who would have a hard time integrating into French-speaking society, and he is forgetting about the thousands of francophone African students who he himself is preventing from entering Quebec.

Could he do the smart thing when it comes to the issue of language and recognize that the French language and immigration are Quebec's jurisdictions?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what I am doing. I did not propose any numbers for Quebec. I acknowledged that Quebec was capable of increasing its immigration levels, if it wanted to do so, because it has those powers. We recognize the important role that Quebec plays in protecting the French language and the Quebec nation. That is why we will continue to work respectfully with the Government of Quebec.

However, we do want to point out that the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause is something that the federal government should never support.

Health

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all New Democrats, I want to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Jim Carr on his passing.

We are in a pediatric health crisis. At the Sainte-Justine hospital in Montreal, workers have said this is unprecedented: the wait times, children getting sick, exasperated parents, desperate workers.

We have a Prime Minister who lacks leadership.

When will the Prime Minister show some leadership, meet with the premiers and find solutions to fix this crisis?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have had regular meetings with the provincial premiers for several months. Our ministers are getting involved because we recognize that Canadians need better health care systems. They need family doctors. They need fewer wait lists. They need help for mental health.

Instead of doing what the NDP leader is proposing, in other words, simply sending a blank cheque to the provinces to have them deal with their health care systems, we are demanding results for Canadians. We need to have results for families, for seniors and for young people. We will insist on that.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Red Cross had to be called in to the Ottawa Children's Hospital. There is a trailer set up at the Children's Hospital in Calgary. Parents and children have such high demand for services that they have to wait out in the cold, so it has a trailer. Children are dying from respiratory illness, and this is just the beginning of the season. In Montreal, workers are saying that this is the worst they have ever seen.

We have a Prime Minister who is not showing up to provide solutions. When will the Prime Minister work with the premiers, meet with them and find solutions instead of excuses to deal with this crisis?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, not only have I been speaking regularly with premiers, not only have our health ministers and other ministers been engaging directly with their counterparts across the country, but I have been sitting down with doctors, nurses and other frontline workers who have said very clearly, “Do not just send more blank cheques to the provinces for health care. Make sure that the provinces are delivering outcomes, delivering results for families, for seniors, for young people.”

The opposition parties may call for just more cash to be flushed to the provinces. We are going to need to get results from the provinces for Canadians, not for us but for Canadians who need better health care.

The Economy

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

Mr. Speaker, this holiday season will have a lot less cheer as everything seems like it is broken in Canada. Half of Canadians are worried about putting food on their table, because of Liberals' reckless inflationary spending; One-third of Canadians cannot afford homes, because of out-of-control Liberal spending has forced the Bank of Canada to increase its interest rates for the seventh consecutive time this year. One-quarter of Canadians will need to access charity services. The Liberals' solution to that is to pile even more taxes onto Canadians.

Why will these Liberals not stop forcing their failed tax-and-spend agenda on Canadians so they can afford to eat and heat their homes?

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

Mr. Speaker, before answering the member's question, I would just like to state the deep sadness that we are all feeling at the passing of our friend and colleague, the Hon. Jim Carr. Jim was a tireless representative, a true defender of his constituency, his city, the prairie west and all of Canada. He was my mentor and my friend. He will be dearly missed.

All members of this government share his deep and abiding passion for providing for Canadians in their time of need, for sticking up for them during the pandemic and for facing these economic headwinds together.

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

Mr. Speaker, our hearts and prayers are also with Jim Carr's family and friends.

Liberal insiders are the only ones benefiting from reckless Liberal spending. The Liberal trade minister's friend is the perfect example. She just got caught breaking ethics laws for giving her friend a lucrative contract.

This kind of wasteful spending is driving more and more Canadians into food banks. For every hard-earned dollar Canadians make, they owe $1.83. Failed Liberal policies have driven up the cost of home heating and made them double.

Why will this Liberal government not do the right thing, stop its reckless spending, rein in its spending and cancel the carbon tax so Canadians can keep the heat on this winter?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. colleague is talking about is the Canada child benefit that is helping nine out of 10 Canadian families. It is helping that single mom pay for groceries. It is helping that family make sure its kids have access to winter clothing.

On this side of the House, we will continue to support Canadians as they go through difficult economic times. The Conservatives keep talking about how things are more expensive, but when they have an opportunity to actually vote on items that help Canadians, they vote against them every time.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian households now owe $1.83 for every dollar of disposable income they have. That is what Statistics Canada says. The amount that Canadians owe got higher while the value of their assets declined, with the bank's seven consecutive rate hike this year. Even the bank governor said that deficits were increasing inflation. That, in turn, leads to those higher interest rates. Now Canadians are stuck with the biggest bills they have ever seen.

The more the government spends, the more things cost. When will the Liberals stop making Canadians pay for their wasteful spending?

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

Mr. Speaker, throughout the fall, we have put in place various measures to help Canadians with the cost of living, and each step of the way we invited Conservative members of the House to vote with us and to vote with Canadians. Let us take a look at the record.

We will eliminate interest on federal student and apprentice loans, speed up the Canada workers benefit, provide a $500 top-up, provide dental care to kids and make housing more affordable. On each of those measures how did the Conservatives vote? They voted against.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to vote against the hundreds of thousands of dollars the Liberals gave to anti-Semites, the $58 million they wasted on an app that did not work, the $1.6 billion for people who quit their jobs during the pandemic, the more than $6 million for people who were in jail and the more than $1 million sent to dead people.

The only people who are doing well are the friends of the Liberals. We will oppose the incompetence, but the better question is why he does not.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, we can observe a fundamental ideological divide between His Majesty's loyal opposition and the governing side of this chamber.

On this side of the House, we believe that to support people in need, we can advance programs that provide direct help to them. The Conservatives' solution to an affordability crisis is to do less to help families in need. This should come as no surprise. That has been their approach since 2015.

When we cut taxes on the middle class and raised them on the 1%, the Conservatives voted against. When we stopped sending child care cheques to millionaires to put more money into the pockets of nine out of 10 Canadian families, the Conservatives voted against. When we had programs that kept food on the table and roofs over the heads of families in my community, they held a press conference and said they would never support those programs.