Debates of Feb. 1st, 2022

The Economy

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, it is exactly why our government has acted, since we were elected in 2015, to bring forward the Canada child benefit, which helps nine out of 10 families. In fact, it has helped lift 435,000 children out of poverty. Let me remind the House that the Conservatives voted against this measure.

We know that we need to help families with the high cost of living. With the Canada child benefit and affordable day care, we are making important strides and we are going to keep doing that for families.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how can they honestly rise in the House and ignore the problems currently facing mothers and fathers, who are seeing a 30% increase in the price of gas, a 4.8% inflation rate and an 8% increase in the cost of groceries?

I was being generous earlier. I cut parents' bills in half. In real life, they have to pay 8% more for groceries every week. In the meantime, what are we hearing from the Liberals?

We hear them making comparisons with other countries. We hear them talking about measures that were implemented but are no longer working for parents. When will they stop making Canadians poorer?

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

Mr. Speaker, how can they honestly rise in the House? That is a question that the Conservatives should be asking themselves.

Before Christmas, the Conservatives voted against Bill C-2. It is only thanks to Bill C-2 and the fact that our government looked ahead to the future that we can support small and medium-sized businesses and Canadians today.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians from coast to coast are feeling the pinch. For years, they have worked hard and made tough choices to save up, but they seem to find themselves falling further behind. They cannot afford to put nutritious food on the table, put gas in their cars or even heat their homes. Their hard work is not paying off under these Liberals, with skyrocketing inflation as a result of their out-of-control spending.

While these Liberals offer every excuse under the sun, what we are here today to find out from the Prime Minister and from his finance minister is this: Will they finally get their out-of-control spending under control so Canadians can afford to live again?

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

Mr. Speaker, when people do not have facts to rely on, they lean on false narratives, and that is all we have been hearing today. Let me tell the truth about what is happening in the Canadian economy.

Our GDP in the third quarter was 5.4%, higher than that of the U.S., the U.K. and Japan, and the November numbers show we have now fully recovered the GDP to pre-COVID levels. Jobs are up 108%, ahead of where they were before COVID. Moody's and S&P have both reaffirmed Canada's AAA rating—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we will not let talking points get in the way of an answer from the minister because we know that inflation is at a 30-year high, we know that housing prices have gone up by 80% under the current government, we know that Canadians cannot afford the price at the pump, and we know they are taking less home every month with the payroll tax increase from this finance minister and these Liberals.

They again offer all kinds of excuses, and they want to talk about what things cost in other places, but from Victoria, B.C. to Victoria-by-the-Sea, Prince Edward Island, things are more expensive under these Liberals. Will they finally admit that it is “Justinflation”, apologize to Canadians, and stop the out-of-control spending?

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

Mr. Speaker, facts are facts. Facts are not a talking point. Let me underscore that the data released by Statistics Canada today shows that in November our GDP grew by 0.6%. That is the sixth consecutive month of growth. This is a real milestone because it shows that our GDP has now exceeded where it was before the pandemic, which caused the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

I would like to congratulate Canadians for their resilience.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while the minister is handing out self-congratulations, I want to let her know, on behalf of Canadians, that they cannot afford the 80% increase in home prices and they cannot afford the 30-year increase in inflation that we have seen under the current government as a direct result of its policies. The Liberals are spending all this money, and they are still underfunding housing and homelessness supports in Ontario by almost half a billion dollars a year.

The finance minister is again offering all kinds of information. I am sure she will not even get up to answer the question herself, but will the Liberals finally just admit that they are overspending, and get their out-of-control spending under control for Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is really interesting today to hear the Conservatives criticizing government spending. It was just a few months ago when we were on the campaign trail, and they proposed spending in their platform. When they finally got around to releasing it this fiscal year, that amount was higher than what we proposed.

The Conservatives proposed a $168-billion deficit, more than $10 billion above ours. Will the party of flip-flops let Canadians know what they really stand for today?

Employment Insurance

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last year, 300,000 EI applications were not processed on time. Those 300,000 workers were denied their benefits by the federal government, in some cases, for more than three months. Cases continue to pile up every day.

Imagine having to go without income for three months. That is a betrayal of workers who have contributed to EI their whole lives, with the understanding that the federal government would support them in the event of misfortune.

What is the minister doing to eliminate the delays?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by saying that this is an issue we take very seriously.

We understand how important it is for everyone to get their benefits because EI is there to help Canadians when they need it.

We have hired more public servants to meet the increased demand and we will continue to adjust internal resources to ensure that everyone who applies will get their benefits.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister hired staff, but not to process backlogged employment insurance files.

She hired inspectors to detect potential fraud. That will help clear out 10,000 cases, but it will not affect all the other people who are waiting. Canada is a G7 country, but right now, we have workers who have had no income for three months and cannot put food on the table because of administrative screw-ups. Some workers even have to disclose that they are destitute in hopes of being prioritized.

When will they get their benefits?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising this important issue. I really appreciate it.

As I said, this is not just about public servants handling fraud cases, although that is important, of course. We are also talking about additional employees hired because of the growing number of claims due to omicron-related closures.

I will work with her and all members of the House to resolve this situation because addressing Canadians' needs is very important to our government.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, behind service standards are people; people who cannot pay their rent because their employment insurance is not coming in, people who are waiting without knowing when that will end and whether they will last long enough, people who have no bread to put on the table. These people are not too concerned about service standards statistics. They want the federal government to find a way to look after them.

When will the minister reduce the backlog to zero?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, as I told my hon. colleague last week when we talked about this issue, I understand that each application represents one person, one family that needs help. That is why resolving this issue is one of my priorities.

We also need to understand that there is an increase in applications because of the omicron‑related closures, but we are nevertheless putting more resources in place precisely to ensure that every Canadian who has applied—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order. The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

Foreign Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, the Russians are about to invade Ukraine.

They have amassed 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border. They have also moved blood supplies to their field hospitals, as they anticipate the possibility of considerable loss of life. Ukraine has been pleading with Canada to send defensive weapons, but the Prime Minister is refusing its request. As proof of the imminent danger, Canadian troops were moved into the territory.

Will the Prime Minister show some courage, stop playing games and finally come to the aid of Ukraine by sending defensive weapons?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

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

When it comes to ensuring that there is not another Russian invasion of Ukraine, of course we believe in diplomacy and deterrence. On the diplomatic front, just yesterday I spoke with officials in the Netherlands, Denmark and Latvia, and this morning I spoke with officials in Estonia. Basically, we are continuing to work with our allies to maintain the alliance's strong unity, and we also believe in Operation Unifier. My colleague is at NATO headquarters in Brussels as we speak.

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

Mr. Speaker, Ukraine will likely be the theatre of a major conventional land war.

We have been watching Russia's miliary buildup in Belarus, in Russia, in the Donbas region and in Crimea since the Russians held exercises in September. Russia has been threatening Ukraine for some time now, and this Liberal government has had months to prepare a military assistance plan for our friends in Ukraine.

Why does the Prime Minister not understand that Russia is not interested in diplomacy? When will we provide real help to our Ukrainian friends?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, NATO members are unanimous: We have to move forward through diplomatic channels. That is why there are three channels in place, whether it is the Americans talking with the Russians, NATO with Russia or even talks within the OSCE. That is how we ease tensions.

However, we agree that there needs to be deterrence. I hope that my colleague recognizes that the government is doing a great deal through operations Reassurance and Unifier, which we have just extended and expanded.

Privacy

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 33 million Canadians had their mobility data secretly tracked by the Public Health Agency of Canada without their consent. This unprecedented level of surveillance on our citizens came to light when the Liberals admitted not only that they did it, but also that they planned to continue spying on Canadians for another five years.

Protecting the privacy of Canadians is the foundation of our freedoms. Sadly, under these Liberals, the foundations of our democracy are crumbling when this type of massive overreach happens.

My question is a simple one: Who authorized the secret spying on Canadians?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague. He is right to emphasize the importance of protecting people's privacy. I assume he is also emphasizing the importance of protecting people's health and safety. We are doing that together.

We are working with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to ensure that the methods employed, as we know, effectively rely on confidential, anonymized aggregate data to protect people's health and safety, as well as their privacy.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, instead of being focused on normalizing lockdowns, maybe the Liberals should have been focused on keeping our economy open. If someone were to connect the dots, they would see a pattern of massive overreach by the Liberals. They tried to seize control of Parliament at the beginning of the pandemic to completely control spending and taxing. They got caught secretly collecting banking data. They attempted to limit speech and what Canadians can see on the Internet, and now this.

This pattern of control is only seen in countries that many Canadians have fled from. How could anyone think that secretly gathering this data without the consent of Canadians was a good idea?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I already answered the question. However, I thank my colleague for giving me another opportunity to say that we did things right in our country to maintain people's trust, reassure them and protect our economy. Canada's economy is far superior to the economies of other countries around the world who have also been grappling with COVID-19. What is more, we have based our work on science, and Canada has the lowest mortality rate of all the G7 countries, after Japan.