Debates of Oct. 20th, 2023

Hate Crimes

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, the Toronto police chief has reported a 132% increase in hate crimes. We have seen horrific stories of a sign written in spray paint in Centennial Park that says “Attack the Jew” or a vandalized message in London that says “Kill all Muslims”. This is absolutely unacceptable.

We can all be revolted by the horrors of Hamas, but we should never blame our fellow citizens in Canada who are Muslim. They did not commit those atrocities.

We can debate the decisions of the Israeli government, but we have no right to insult our Jewish neighbours or attack their local synagogue.

This must be a country based on freedom, where it does not matter if one's name is Mohammed or Martin, Chang or Charles, Singh, Smith or Steinberg. We are all Canadians. We are all compatriots. Let us embrace each other with love.

Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials Canada

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today excited to congratulate Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials Canada. This past Monday marked its official groundbreaking for the manufacturing plant it is building in Loyalist township, located just outside my riding.

The plant will manufacture materials that are required for the production of electric vehicle batteries. In full swing, its operation has the capacity to produce enough battery materials to support the production of over 800,000 electric vehicles each year. What is more, it is designed to be nearly carbon-neutral from the start of production.

Of course, this is excellent news for our region in terms of economic development and job creation. It is also great news for Ontario and Canada, as it helps strengthen our position as a global leader in the electric vehicle and battery supply chain.

I am proud that the federal government has committed up to $551 million, through the strategic investment fund, to support this project.

I send congratulations and best wishes to Umicore, as well as thanks for choosing eastern Ontario.

Financial Institutions

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost or the lack of competition.

Yesterday, the Competition Bureau reported that, now, the lack of competition is worse than it was at any time in 20 years, leading to higher prices for consumers and higher profits for corporate oligarchs. Now the Liberal government is considering allowing Canada's biggest bank to gobble up the seventh-biggest bank, to eliminate competition and force up mortgage rates on Canadians who already cannot afford to pay their bills.

Will the government side with consumers and homebuyers, instead of corporate oligarchs and big banks, and block this merger?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, as the Conservative leader recycles “common sense” cliches from decades ago as if he were an automaton from the Mike Harris era, our government has taken decisive action to help Canadians with the price of groceries by supporting more competition in the marketplace and by increasing housing supply, waiving GST on new rental construction. These are two significant measures the members opposite can support right now by supporting the government's bill on affordability, but they have stated that they will not do so.

Can someone from the opposition benches please explain to us all how voting against measures that are going to substantially help middle-class families is common sense?

Finance

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I will tell us what is not common sense: spending $8 million on a barn. We just found out that the Prime Minister's Capital Commission spent $8 million to replace a barn at Rideau Hall.

We have long said that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost after eight long years.

While Canadians cannot afford a home, how is it that the Prime Minister is spending $8 million on a barn? By the way, was it made of gold?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, those are quite the words from the Leader of the Opposition. I remind him that, when he was responsible for housing during the Harper years, there was $300 million spent for housing, with fewer than 100 homes built. We can do the math: That is $3 million a home. That is the record of so-called fiscal responsibility on the other side.

On this side, we are getting homes built. Just this morning, the Prime Minister announced over $100 million for the City of Brampton, which is going to lead to 24,000 homes being built in the coming years. We are going to continue to work with municipalities through partnership.

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Prime Minister, he is not worth the cost. The wasteful spending has spiralled out of control. Members will recall the $116 million spent on consultants at McKinsey, the $54 million on ArriveCAN and the $6,000 per night for a hotel room. Today we learned that the government wasted $8 million on a barn.

How can the government spend $8 million on a barn on the Governor General's property when food banks are in such desperate need? Is spending $8 million on a barn on the grounds of the Governor General's residence really the Liberals' priority?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, we have been there for Canadians. We have invested money to support them. The Conservatives have voted against our measures several times.

When the Conservatives were in power, seven consecutive budgets produced deficits. We have the lowest deficit in the G7 and we will continue to be fiscally responsible.

Housing

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleague said that her government is fiscally responsible.

After eight years of Liberal inflationary spending, Quebec's inflation is the worst in Canada. Young people are forced to live with their parents permanently because everything is too expensive. Interest rates are so high that the Liberals have robbed young people of their home ownership dreams. Over the past two years, mortgage interest has shot up by 41%. After eight years under the Liberals, rent costs have doubled.

When will the Liberals stop mortgaging the future of young people and let them achieve their dreams of home ownership?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we currently have a bill before the House that will speed up housing construction across Canada.

In my Montreal riding, co-operatives are being built for families, seniors and young people. The Conservatives are unwilling to invest in building more housing to lower costs for Canadians. That makes no sense.

If they really care about the interests of Canadians, why are they voting against the interests of Canadians?

Carbon Pricing

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

Mr. Speaker, if they really wanted to pass Bill C-56, they would put it on the agenda. Since October 5, the Liberals have not called Bill C-56 for debate in the House. They should make a decision and stick with it. One would think they would have a better sense of what they want.

Meanwhile, the middle class knows what is coming. They are lining up at food banks. This morning, the newspapers were saying that food banks are desperate. In the last three years, food prices have risen by 23%.

Meanwhile, the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois want to drastically increase carbon taxes. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly now, and it is going to get even more costly.

Will the Liberals abandon their plan to raise carbon taxes?

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

Mr. Speaker, I recognize that rising costs hurt Canadians, and that is why we look across the way. We would like to see the Conservative Party stop playing games. This destructive force is constantly playing them inside the House, with the holding up of legislation. Whether it is by providing rebates of one form or another, building the Atlantic accord for Atlantic Canada or talking about green jobs for the future, we are trying to address the needs of Canadians, and the Conservative Party continues to play games inside the chamber. Shame on them.

Foreign Affairs

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is every indication that humanitarian aid could finally reach Gaza today, but let us not kid ourselves. We already know that that aid will be insufficient. We already know that only 20 trucks will be allowed to pass when the UN is saying that a minimum of 100 trucks is required every day.

As we speak, tons of humanitarian aid is sitting on the tarmac of an Egyptian airport because we are unable to send it where it needs to go. Without diplomatic pressure, that aid will still be sitting there tomorrow.

Has the Prime Minister exerted any pressure in the past 24 hours to help get this aid where it needs to go?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, we commend the decision made by Israel and Egypt to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing. This is an important step in making sure that Palestinian civilians in Gaza get humanitarian aid, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Rapid and unimpeded access to aid is essential to meet the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. International law must always be followed.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we all hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to this terrible war, but we can see that dark times lie ahead.

Many countries, including Canada, are calling on their citizens to flee Lebanon, and that speaks volumes. Everyone expects the conflict in Gaza to grow. By all indications, the humanitarian crisis will get worse while the humanitarian aid is already insufficient. Canada cannot accept the status quo. It must use all of its political weight.

What will the government do in the immediate term to ensure that the humanitarian aid is released?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, alleviating human suffering is our top priority. We were the first western country to provide $10 million in humanitarian aid. We are actively using every diplomatic avenue. There is now constant communication with partners and organizations in the region.

Our immediate objective is to open humanitarian corridors to provide safety and refuge to those fleeing the war and to allow aid to enter.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the auditor issued a damning report about processing delays in immigration. The most vulnerable are made to wait the longest due to Liberal mismanagement. Offices in sub-Saharan Africa are chronically underfunded, and they have the highest volume. Applications are untouched for up to 20 months. The average wait time for refugees is now three years. People who are being persecuted do not have three years to wait.

Will the minister take immediate action to process the unacceptable backlogs for refugees?

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

Mr. Speaker, this is of great concern. We all want to see immigration processes speed up. Over the last number of years, we have seen processing times improve in many different areas. Whether it is dealing with the sponsoring of parents, for example, or the sponsoring of spouses, we have seen dramatic increases.

There are areas that we do need to improve upon, and I can assure the member that we are, in fact, making progress in all different areas as much as possible

Housing

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, one in four Nanaimo renters is in core housing need, meaning that where they live is unaffordable, unsuitable or inadequate, and these are people who have housing. Too many do not. Nanaimo has a housing problem larger than its size, and we are seeing the symptoms of this all around us. People deserve better than years of Liberal and Conservative half measures. People deserve a place to call home.

Why is it that the government is doubling down on its failed housing plan?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member and the NDP caucus for supporting this government to double funding in response to homelessness.

We continue to work with municipalities across the country. We continue to work with not-for-profit organizations. It was this government that recognized, of course, that there is a human right to housing. In that vein, we are seeing results. There is more to do, but 70,000 people who were on the street are no longer on the street, and 122,000 people who were close to homeless are not in that position anymore because of the national housing strategy.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, all Canadians now know that the Prime Minister is simply not worth the cost.

In 2021, a couple from Fergus, Ontario, swapped their four-bedroom, 2,400-square-foot home on three-quarters of an acre for a 6,300-square-foot, 16th century French château on 37 acres near the Bordeaux wine region in the south of France. Today, they admit that if they were to sell that mansion in the south of France, they would not have enough money to buy their old home in Fergus.

I am wondering why it is cheaper to buy a mansion in the south of France than a family home in rural Ontario.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, our colleague is a former mayor, and he knows, therefore, that the affordability challenge Canadians face, whether it with respect to rent or the challenge of buying a home, is due to a lack of supply. This government recognizes that. That is why we have moved ahead to put incentives on the table for the private sector, for example, for builders, like lifting the GST on the construction of purpose-built rentals, period.

That side wants to maintain the tax for the purposes of building rental homes for the middle class. It is unacceptable. It is a reckless approach.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I think the government maybe misses the point.

Canada has 20 times the land and half the people of France and it is still cheaper to buy a house in France. Of course, after eight years of the Prime Minister's inflationary deficits, mortgage costs have doubled. In 2015, the average mortgage payment was $1,400. Today, it is over $3,500, and now half of Canada's housing markets are severely unaffordable.

When will the NDP-Liberal coalition finally end its inflationary deficits so Canadians can afford to keep their homes?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said and emphasized, the challenge of affordability with respect to housing writ large has to do with the lack of supply. When demand is high and supply is limited, we are always going to have an expensive situation. We see that with respect to housing.

What this government is doing is working with municipalities to see more homes built. This morning, as I said, we saw the City of Brampton move ahead, working with this government. In exchange for a $114-million investment, it is going to get more homes built. It is dealing with missing middle housing and exclusionary zoning. I thank the City of Brampton.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a recent survey has found that nearly 70% of millennials and those who are younger have put off the purchase of a home because of rising prices and rising interest rates. After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, this is its legacy: inflationary deficits that are driving up the cost of living and making housing out of reach for many young people across the country.

It is clear the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, so why does he not finally listen to our common-sense approach to stop his inflationary spending so that Canadians can afford a home again?