House of Commons Hansard #27 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was pandemic.

Topics

The EconomyOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB

Mr. Speaker, it has been six years and these Liberals have failed to make life better for Canadians. They have delivered the largest cost in price increases we have seen in Canada in 30 years, plus Ottawa's anti-Canadian energy policies have only added to the pain in the Canadian economy.

The rising price of energy sets the prices for virtually everything else in the Canadian economy. Why is the Prime Minister making victims of seniors, working families and small businesses?

The EconomyOral Questions

3 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, small businesses in downtown Ottawa have been struggling for the past two weeks because Conservatives are supporting the people who are blockading them.

Businesses in Windsor are suffering because goods cannot get across the Ambassador Bridge, and Conservative Party supporters are being encouraged to continue their blockades. In Alberta, groceries are getting more expensive because the Coutts border crossing is blocked, and the Conservative Party will not condemn those protestors or ask them to go home.

The EconomyOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC

Mr. Speaker, the price of regular gas in Quebec has reached an unprecedented high of more than $1.60 per litre.

This inflation is going to impact everything that is transported across Canada. In the meantime, the Prime Minister seems to have been caught off guard by what is happening.

What will he do, and when, to help low-income families deal with this unprecedented hike in the cost of everything they eat and use in their day-to-day life?

The EconomyOral Questions

3 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, the current global inflation crisis has been caused by COVID-19. The disruptions in the supply chains are due to COVID-19 and in part to the blockades supported by the Conservatives.

We will continue to fight COVID-19 with vaccines and public health measures to ensure that Canadians soon get back to what they enjoy the most, and that is getting together and being there for one another. That is our goal, and we are working very hard to get there.

The EconomyOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

Rob Morrison Conservative Kootenay—Columbia, BC

Mr. Speaker, gasoline is up 34%, housing is up almost 27%, sugar is up 20% and Canadian bacon is up 17%. Inflation has increased two times faster than the wages of those working in my riding of Kootenay—Columbia.

Families in Canada are being stretched too far. When will the Prime Minister get off his MacBook at his cottage and fix skyrocketing home prices, supply chain shortages and the cost of living crisis?

The EconomyOral Questions

3 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, we recognize that we are in a global inflation crisis right now because of COVID-19, and the best way to get through that is to end this COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, we cannot end it with legislation and we cannot end it with barricades. We need to end it with science, and that means vaccinations.

If the Conservative Party is truly concerned about our supply chains, about the cost of living for Canadians, Conservatives should tell their supporters in Coutts and in Windsor to stand down those barricades and let the goods flow to Canadians.

SeniorsOral Questions

3 p.m.

Bloc

Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Salaberry—Suroît, QC

Mr. Speaker, over the past eight months, the Prime Minister has reduced guaranteed income supplement payments for seniors who legitimately collected CERB. These are not wealthy seniors. They work part-time to pay for rent, groceries and prescriptions.

It took months for the Prime Minister to realize that was wrong, and he is going to make it right—but not until May—and he is still going to cut benefits every month until June.

These seniors have made sacrifices for eight months. Does the Prime Minister think they deserve something better than misery until the end of spring?

SeniorsOral Questions

3 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, the pandemic has been very hard on seniors, and the government has been there to help them.

We are helping seniors with a one-time payment to seniors whose benefits were affected by pandemic support measures. Today we introduced Bill C‑12 to exclude pandemic benefits for the purposes of calculating GIS.

We are calling on all parties, including the Bloc Québécois, to support us and pass this bill quickly to prevent any future reduction in GIS for low-income seniors. Our government will continue to be there for seniors.

SeniorsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Bloc

Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Salaberry—Suroît, QC

Mr. Speaker, seniors are suffering as a result of the cuts to the guaranteed income supplement. Some of them are going hungry, selling their possessions and even losing their homes. These people cannot wait until late spring for the federal bureaucratic machine to get moving.

The Prime Minister proved with CERB that he can get cheques out quickly when he really wants to. If the Prime Minister was able to make CERB payments to millions of people within 10 days of them applying, he has the capacity to provide support to the most vulnerable seniors before the end of spring.

What is stopping him from taking action?

SeniorsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, we have been there for Canadians, including seniors, for the past two years with unprecedented support. We have supported them with extra money during this pandemic, because we know it has been very difficult.

Yes, because of that money, some seniors risk losing the benefits they need this year. That is why we will soon be sending a one-time payment and why we introduced a bill yesterday with proposals aimed at solving this problem once and for all. We expect the other parties that care about seniors to support us.

PrivacyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Conservative

John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago the ethics committee, including all Liberal committee members, unanimously agreed that a tender should be postponed in order to stop the Liberals from secretly collecting the mobility data of Canadians until MPs could be sure that the privacy rights of Canadians were not being violated.

However, in an unbelievable move yesterday, the entire Liberal caucus, including the same members who voted for it, voted against stopping the RFP. What a disgrace. Why would the Prime Minister vote against the committee's recommendations to make sure that the privacy of Canadians was protected?

PrivacyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Conservative Party, we believe data, science and evidence need to inform our response to COVID-19. It is crucial to inform policy and decision-making.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has used de-identified data without personal identifiers to inform the government's response to the pandemic. We have also publicly provided the data to Canadians to keep them informed. We remain focused on Canadians' health and safety and we continue to uphold the privacy standards they rightfully expect.

PrivacyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Conservative

John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON

Mr. Speaker, why was this vote so important yesterday? It was because the Liberals, with their “no” vote, have signalled that they will continue collecting this data without the consent of Canadians. If we connect the dots, we see a pattern of the Liberals using the distraction of a pandemic as an opportunity for massive expansion and overreach to abuse the rights and freedoms of Canadians, including their privacy rights.

Would the Prime Minister at least provide a coherent reason for why he thinks it is a bad idea to pause this tender until we can ensure that Canadians' privacy protection rights are protected?

PrivacyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, we are fighting a global pandemic right now, and every step of the way we have been informed by science and data to do that. Yes, we have been protecting Canadians' privacy rights, which are always important, but we will use the tools we have to keep Canadians safe and defend their rights and values.

Unfortunately, we see the pattern of the Conservative Party, which tried to scrap the long-form census and is constantly against data and evidence and pushes back against science and data.

We will be informed by the facts and by science in what we do.

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Conservative

Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB

Mr. Speaker, yesterday at the public safety committee, I asked Toronto's deputy chief of police if the Liberals' plan to spend a billion taxpayer dollars on a firearms buyback would have any effect on improving public safety. His answer, which has been echoed by law enforcement across this country, was that gun buybacks don't work.

My question is for the Prime Minister: Why is he ignoring law enforcement experts? Why will he not scrap this ineffective, wasteful ideological scheme?

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, to be crystal clear right now, the Conservative Party of Canada is is asking us to bring back, to re-legalize, assault weapons. That was something that was debated during the election campaign that they are trying hard to forget.

We banned—

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

Order. I want to remind the hon. members to watch their language.

I am going to have to ask the hon. member to stand and apologize or withdraw.

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB

Mr. Speaker, I will say that—

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

I am not asking for a long diatribe. I am asking for an apology.

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB

Mr. Speaker, I will not give you one. I apologize for saying that he lied, but in 1977—

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

No, that is over. That is it. Now, please sit down. You apologized. That is all we need.

The Right Hon. Prime Minister, please continue.

Let us give the hon. member for Sturgeon River—Parkland the opportunity to hear his answer.

The Right Hon. Prime Minister.

Public SafetyOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC

Mr. Speaker, last year we banned 1,500 different models of assault-style weapons in this country. The Conservative Party is proposing to reverse that ban. They do not think it will keep Canadians safe. Well, we had an election which included that, and they were soundly rejected in that argument.

Canadians want to see their communities safer. That is why we are for strengthening gun control, while they, unfortunately and inexplicably, are for weakening it.

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

Heath MacDonald Liberal Malpeque, PE

Mr. Speaker, the interruption of trade resulting from a localized outbreak of potato wart has significantly impacted the economy of P.E.I. and many of my constituents. From small multi-generational family farms to large producers and from packers to processors and shippers, nearly every islander has been affected by this issue.

I know our government has been working diligently on this file, and yesterday was a huge step forward. Can the Prime Minister update the House on how the government is progressing toward the resumption of exports of the best darn potatoes in the world?

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Malpeque for his question, his hard work and his continued advocacy for islanders.

Restoring market access for P.E.I. fresh potatoes to the U.S. and supporting P.E.I. farmers continues to be a top priority for our government. Thanks to the work of two of our colleagues who went to Washington, and their science-based approach, the export of table stock potatoes to Puerto Rico can now resume.

We will continue to defend our farmers and to push for a science-based approach until potato exports are completely restored.