Debates of March 22nd, 2022

Government Accountability

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

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure to whom I should address my question today.

The new NDP-Liberal government has not held a leadership race. Clearly, however, the government's new agenda is largely inspired by the NDP's last election platform, with more spending, more taxes, more intrusions on provincial areas of jurisdiction, and less and less respect for Parliament.

To help us out, will the Prime Minister make room for the leader of the NDP to sit beside him, and will he officially appoint him deputy prime minister, replacing the Minister of Finance?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this agreement is an opportunity to work collaboratively on the things we agree on, while continuing to disagree on the things we disagree on.

This will allow the House to work more constructively. That means taking action on the priorities all members of the House share, whether it is growing the economy, helping the most vulnerable or fighting climate change. These are the priorities Canadians care about, and we will be able to work together constructively.

Intergovernmental Relations

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

Mr. Speaker, now that the NDP and the Liberals have gotten hitched, could the Prime Minister send the Green members over to this side of the House and put all the Liberals on the correct side so they can all sit together?

I gather that the basis for this agreement is interference in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces in the areas of health, dental and drug insurance. Is it not true that the purpose of this agreement is to enable this newly wedded government to tread on Quebec's areas of jurisdiction once and for all?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we had this debate during the last election.

In our government and in the Liberal Party, we have always emphasized that we firmly believe that the federal government has a responsibility to ensure that the quality of the health care and services provided across the country is the best possible for all Canadians.

We will always work with the provinces and respect them, but we will ensure that all Canadians across the country receive quality care. That is what people expect.

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, the NDP is staunchly opposed to Quebec's state secularism law. The Liberal Party is staunchly opposed to Quebec's state secularism law. There is even a Conservative Party leadership candidate who has become staunchly opposed to Quebec's state secularism law.

Will this marriage also involve attacking Quebec's state secularism law once and for all using the money and resources at the Canadian government's disposal?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians across the country, including Quebeckers, expect a federal government to always be there to defend the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to defend the fundamental rights of all Canadians.

That is what we will always do. We will always be there to ensure that everyone's rights are respected.

Taxation

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, oil and gas companies, as well as big box stores, have made record profits while families are struggling to put food on the table and fill up their tanks. We know that these companies have made record profits. We have a chance to do something about that later on today when we can vote to tax their excess profits and reinvest it into people.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

Order. I know the temptation is there, but I would ask that we keep it down so we can actually hear the question the member is asking.

The hon. member for Burnaby South.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, oil and gas companies and big box stores have made record profits while everyday families are struggling to buy their groceries and to fill up their tanks. We have an opportunity to do something about that today when we vote on our opposition day motion: our plan to tax the excess profits of these corporations and reinvest that into helping people. We already know that the Conservatives are going to support the profits of big oil and gas companies.

Where will the Prime Minister stand: with people and families, or with the large corporations that have made excess profits?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from the very beginning of our time in office in 2015, we have moved forward on lowering taxes for the middle class and raising them—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

This is the last time that I am standing on this one. Quite honestly, I am getting tired of standing on this one.

Let us try to keep a little decorum in the House. I know there is a lot of energy to be let out. I know that we are still happy to be here after a two-week break. It is good to be here to talk to folks to understand what is going on. I believe the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister was trying to answer a question, or where were we? I kind of lost track.

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when we got elected in 2015, it was on a commitment to lower taxes for the middle class and raise them for the wealthiest 1%. We did that. Then we moved forward with more supports for seniors and more supports for families. We have continued to look at ways of enabling economic growth and support for small businesses, while at the same time making sure that the tax system is fair.

These bells ringing are not ideal for me.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

Order. I am going to stand here for as long as it takes. Thank you. I appreciate that over there.

We do not need to be ringing bells. We do not need to be yelling and screaming. Let us just make sure we get through question period before five o'clock tonight.

The hon. member for Burnaby South.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, oil and gas companies and big box stores have made record profits while families are struggling to pay for food and gas.

We have a chance to do something about this problem today by taxing big corporations' excess profits and reinvesting that money to help families.

Will the Prime Minister protect the interests of ordinary people or big corporations' profits?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, ever since we came to power in 2015, we have focused on helping the middle class.

We raised taxes for the wealthy so we could lower them for the middle class. The Canada child benefit enabled us to raise hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. We will continue to invest in child care. We will continue to invest in seniors.

We will always be there to support people. We will always be there to support Canadians in these uncertain times.

Our agreement will enable Parliament to function better with less toxicity, which, sadly, we are still seeing from the Conservatives.

Finance

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr Speaker, my question is to the new NDP-Liberal coalition. In its last election platform, the NDP promised over $214 billion of spending with no plan to ever balance the budget. Now, the NDP and the Liberals have secretly negotiated a deal to circumvent our democracy and go on a massive spending spree that future generations are going to have to pay back.

How many billions has the Prime Minister bargained away in order to hang on to power, and how many of the NDP's spending promises will we see in the coalition's upcoming budget?

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

Mr. Speaker, in fact it was the Conservatives who had more spending in their platform than we did. I think what is difficult, in watching some of the reactions on the other side, is just how irresponsible the positions have been that they are taking. We actually saw the leader of the official opposition say that somehow our working with other parliamentarians constituted supporting Vladimir Putin.

I think the opposition members really should reflect upon the way they are working in this place and focus on collaboration. We are willing to work with anybody to get the agenda of the government done.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as we know, the Parliamentary Budget Officer is responsible for assessing the cost of each party's election promises. He did that last fall, and he did it for the NDP.

Do my colleagues know how much new spending NDP committed to? It pledged $214 billion in new spending.

My question is for the current Minister of Finance, and I say “current” because we never know what could happen. Could the Canadian government's Liberal-NDP finance minister tell us how much more her government will be spending to please her new NDP buddies?

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

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

Let us take a moment to remember what our fiscal management means to the Canadian economy. Our GDP has grown by 6.7%, beating market expectations. We have recovered 112% of the three million jobs lost during the pandemic. S&P Global Ratings and Moody's have renewed our AAA credit rating.

We are moving forward for Canadians, we are tackling affordability, and we are here to move the country forward.

Intergovernmental Relations

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as we know, the NDP is a centralizing party. That is not a fault per se, but we do not believe it is a good thing to be a centralizer in Canada. However, the NDP is a centralizer, so the new NDP-Liberal government will be one too. That will lead to fights with the provinces. We really do not need that.

My question is for the government member, and I do not mean the “minister member” for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie. Can he tell us which Quebec program the new NDP-Liberal government is going to meddle in?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that my colleague spoke about the Parliamentary Budget Officer in his previous question. It is interesting to note that this same Parliamentary Budget Officer established that the Conservative Party, in its last election platform, was going to spend more money than we will invest to support Canadians.

I know that our Conservative friends are frustrated that the parliamentary toxicity is coming to an end, but we are here to deliver results for Canadians. That is what we will be doing over the next few years, and we look forward to working with all parties in the House of Commons.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP has always wavered on its stance with defence treaties such as NATO and NORAD, even going so far as publishing a white paper that made it clear the NDP would pull Canada out of NATO. At a time when Russia has attacked Ukraine, our defence partnerships are now more important than ever.

Does the new NDP-Liberal government intend to uphold its promise to our allies, or will it pull out of NATO as the NDP so clearly wants to do?