Debates of Sept. 22nd, 2022

Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 2

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

Mr. Speaker, I hear a voice. It sounds like a member who is as upset with the government as I am is trying to join in. It seems they could not even afford the gas to come to the House of Commons today.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, the member is very experienced. He talks a lot in the House. He should know that we are not to refer to the presence or absence of anybody in the House. Suggesting a member cannot afford to get here in person certainly would, at the very least, indicate that the individual is not here.

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

Thank you very much.

I will say that those of us who have to join in on Zoom should make sure to leave their microphones off unless they are intervening in the discussion at hand.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, it does not seem, even with new made-up parliamentary secretary roles, that they have enough people over there to be able to get everybody together and get them briefed that it is safe for them to come back to work. They can do that.

We will help the member out so he can afford gas. We are going to help Canadians afford more by ending the carbon tax and the paycheque tax. We want to help Canadians, and to give them hope and not fear, which is what the government has been peddling.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, those were interesting comments, but not so much on the dental benefit, the legislation we are talking about. The member seemed to get carried away in some other areas.

Having said that, maybe I will try to get some clarification for Canadians on the issue of our children. We have a substantial piece of legislation that is going to provide dental care for thousands of children under the age of 12. To be very clear, the Conservative Party of Canada opposes this legislation. It does not support the federal government having a role in providing dental care for children under 12.

Is this the same sort of contrast we see when the Conservative Party also says it does not support child care? Does the current Conservative Party still believe that it is going to trash the national Canada child care program?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that we had to wake up the parliamentary secretary to join the debate. He seems to have missed a couple of things.

Conservatives created child care in Canada. He may have heard of the universal child care benefit, which we started. Members will remember that Liberals at the time said that, if we were to give Canadians money, they would blow it on beer and popcorn. We do not believe that. We think that parents should be able to make choices about how they can best care for their children, so we are happy to be able to do that.

We are also very sure, as Conservatives, and again I could perhaps offer to table some information about how things work in Canada for the parliamentary secretary, that health care is a provincial responsibility. The parliamentary secretary can do what he wants to do, or not do, with health care, as the government has been ignoring it. The Prime Minister continues to ignore what the premiers are asking for, and we will certainly not do that. We will respect provincial jurisdiction and work with the premiers to make sure that we take care of the health of all children in this country. We are extremely dedicated to that.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, before I ask a question, I would like to say that my thoughts are with your constituents and everyone in places like Nova Scotia, the Maritimes, the Magdalen Islands, the Lower North Shore and Newfoundland, who are bracing for hurricane Fiona. I want to express my support as the storm looms, and I hope everyone in your area stays safe.

Earlier, I was listening to my colleague from Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, and he sounded a lot like a Bloc member speaking English. Much of what he said was exactly what the Bloc has been fighting for for ages: provincial jurisdiction over health care. I found that very interesting. Earlier, my colleague from Lac‑Saint‑Jean asked the Leader of the Opposition a question after his lengthy speech. He asked him whether he supported the provincial and Quebec premiers' unanimous demand for an unconditional increase in health transfers to 35%. We could not get an answer out of the Leader of the Opposition.

This despite the fact that my colleague's speech seemed to indicate his strong support for respecting provincial jurisdiction. Was my colleague suggesting that the new Conservative Party intends to increase federal health transfers in response to the demands of Quebec and the provinces?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is really important because it underscores a problem we have in the federation when the Prime Minister refuses to meet with the first ministers to even discuss health care. Members may think it is brave of me to speak for the leader of His Majesty's official opposition, but I can tell them that he is going to meet with the premiers on health care. We would make sure that provincial jurisdiction were respected because it has been ignored under the Liberals.

Liberals are so confused, in fact, that they are still talking about Stephen Harper. What are Conservatives talking about? We are talking about the future for Canadians, their retirement, their paycheques and hope, and that is what we are going to keep doing. Liberals are stuck in the past.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

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

Order, please.

I am going to stand for a second and just remind everyone of the task at hand, which is debating the bill before us.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, not once did my colleague talk about the greedflation that has taken hold in this country. We know in Canada we have the lowest corporate tax rate in the G7. How is that playing out? We have homeless people and people who cannot get dental care. We see big corporations like grocery stores, the big banks, big oil and big telecom all having record profits. Meanwhile, grocery store prices are going up, as are bank fees, fuel prices and telecom fees.

The member said that these are hard times and that it does not need to be this way. I agree. The Conservatives in Britain had the courage to charge their big oil companies a 25% excess tax on oil and gas profits. Where is the courage for these Conservatives? Where is the consciousness, because it is unconscionable that people cannot get dental care yet we have greedflation. The gatekeepers are truly the Conservatives standing up for these big corporations. It is 1% of the families in this country who hold 25% of the wealth. Meanwhile, 40% of families only hold 1.1% of the wealth. This is unacceptable, and it does not need to be this way.

When will the member deal with the greedflation that has taken a grip on this country?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to take this question from the hon. member because he asked about courage. I am going to show that courage right now to him and to all Canadians. We are going to stand up against and we are going to call out the partners in crime who are pickpocketing Canadians, who are perpetrating greedflation, because as—

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

There is a point of order from the hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am being heckled before I even make my point of order.

The member just said “partners in crime”. Is he suggesting that the Liberal government and the Liberal bench is participating in criminal activity, and to that extent, is the NDP partnering on that crime? That is extremely offensive, and the member should remove that comment immediately.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have had very interesting conversations in here today about people using turns of phrase. I find it interesting—

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

That is debate.

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

It is on this point of order. I had not even finished my comment, so I am not sure if the member has a guilty conscience, but I did not accuse the Liberals of committing a crime.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

He referred to the NDP as “partners in crime”.

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

Order. I have not recognized the member.

Now, I will recognize the member, but I will also say let us keep the tone down for a few moments while we look at this point of order.

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands has the floor.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes referred to the NDP as “partners in crime”. In doing so, he is suggesting the Liberal bench, the government and the Liberal members of Parliament, are engaging in criminal activity. He is also extending that to suggest the NDP are partnering in that criminal activity.

I suggested to you moments ago that you make the suggestion to the member to remove that comment. You asked him if he wanted to do that. Instead, he doubled down on it. I would suggest you ask him once again—

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

I did not have the opportunity to say anything because I recognized the member on the same point of order.

I will suggest to the member to maybe retract that and find another line of phrase. Trying to suggest we are in the pockets of others is probably not correct.

The hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni is rising on the same point of order. I do not want this to go on forever.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on that point of order, what is truly criminal is that these big corporations are hoarding all the profits while people—

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

We have really descended way too far into debate, and I apologize to the House for letting this happen.

I will ask the member to stand and maybe retract the words. I know, they all said the same thing. Everybody is saying the same thing, so I am going to ask the member to maybe rephrase it and answer the question appropriately, because we are still in questions and comments.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the greedflation Canadians are experiencing is from the Liberal government harvesting money from Canadians, on the backs of hard-working Canadians, with higher taxes. Its coalition partners, its partners in collection, are punishing Canadians.

If they want to give Canadians a break, if they really want to deal with greedflation, they could cut taxes. Canadians would keep more money in their pockets and the amount of wealth in this country would increase for people other than the government and its partners in collection.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my first opportunity to speak today on Bill C-31, so I want to put on the record that I support it and wish it would go further.

I want to ask my hon. colleague from Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes this. He made the claim that health care is provincial. I wonder if he is familiar with the 1982 case, Schneider v. The Queen, in which the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that our Constitution does not say that health care is provincial. It does not speak to health care and it is one of those areas of mixed jurisdiction, federal and provincial. The criminal law power, which is federal, is the source and the derivation of many federal law and federal government decisions to protect our health.

Lastly, the Canada Health Act is the federal statute that governs our universal single-payer health care system, which we must fight to the death to protect, because without it a lot of people will die.