Debates of Nov. 2nd, 2023

Carbon Pricing

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to lay out some facts. The carbon tax affects the price of food in Quebec. The second carbon tax will apply in Quebec. The Bloc Québécois wants to radically increase the Liberal taxes on fuel and food. Quebeckers are turning to food banks in record numbers every month. The Prime Minister announced a break on the carbon tax, but only for the Atlantic provinces. It is unfair, it is illogical, and it is enough.

Will the Liberals vote with us in favour of our common-sense motion to get rid of the carbon tax on all forms of heating for all Canadians?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, the price on pollution puts more money in the pockets of people in the middle class. Second, the price on pollution reduces pollution. Third, climate change is real. We know the Conservative leader does not believe in what I just said. Would my esteemed colleague be willing to invite him to Baie‑Saint‑Paul to see the effects of climate change and meet with my former colleagues from Université Laval for a crash course on why a price on pollution is important?

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

Mr. Speaker, I can tell my colleague from Quebec that his Atlantic colleagues had a different take on what he calls the price on pollution. What we saw in the Atlantic provinces is that people were being financially squeezed. They were forced to ask the Prime Minister to flip-flop, change his policy and cancel the carbon tax.

What we are asking him to do now is just to be fair to all Canadians, including Quebeckers. Let us not forget that the federal carbon price is driving up the carbon market, which has doubled in the past two years. I mention this in passing to my hon. friends in the Bloc Québécois. Can the Prime Minister confirm that, on Monday, he will be voting with the Liberal members, and perhaps the NDP gang, to scrap the carbon tax across Canada for heating?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries]

Mr. Speaker, I count not just one, two or three members of the Leader of the Opposition's caucus who supported a price on pollution in Quebec, but four. How many others are hiding and have changed their minds since he took over as leader of the Conservative Party?

My message to them is to not be afraid of their leader and to respect their own opinion.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, at 11:30 a.m., the Quebec minister of immigration, francization and integration said she had not had any discussions on immigration targets with her federal counterpart. At 3:30 p.m., the federal minister in question voted in favour of a motion calling on him to review the targets, after consultation with Quebec and the provinces, based on their integration capacity. At 4 p.m., he released the new targets for 2024. If the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship processed applications as fast as the minister reneges on his votes, the two‑million-case backlog would be a thing of the past.

Will he abide by his vote, consult Quebec and review his targets?

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member opposite has brought this up. I am proud to stand in the House today and re-echo that, yesterday, we tabled our new immigration levels plan for 2024-26. Our plan will ensure that immigration continues to grow our economy and to provide stabilized growth, while balancing pressure on housing, infrastructure and essential services.

Immigration is important to Canada, and we will continue to embrace newcomers and ensure that they have the support they need in their new communities.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec confirmed that no consultation took place. More to the point, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship admitted it yesterday at his press conference. He explained to journalists that he had spoken to Christine Fréchette about foreign workers and refugees, but never about the 500,000 immigrants per year.

The minister promised to consult Quebec before setting his targets, but he confirmed that he had not done so. When is he going to get back to work and finish the job?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows full well that Quebec sets its own immigration thresholds in consultation with various stakeholders and organizations. It does so according to its own needs. Obviously, when we set our targets, we discuss them with Quebec.

What I find odd is that the Bloc Québécois is never satisfied. Its members are always trying to pick a fight. They are upset when we vote against their motion. Now they are upset because we are voting in favour of their motion. They come off as a bunch of Grouchy Smurfs.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order, please. I am sure everyone would like to hear the question from the hon. member for Saint-Jean.

The hon. member for Saint-Jean.

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

Mr. Speaker, in a response to a question from the Bloc Québécois yesterday, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said that questioning Quebec's capacity to integrate immigrants showed bad faith and was essentially a refusal to listen to what is going on.

Let me tell members what shows bad faith: setting record immigration thresholds without even trying to determine our integration capacity. Let me tell members a refusal to listen really is: refusing to consult Quebec. “Bad faith and a refusal to listen” could have been the title of the plan the minister unveiled yesterday.

Will the minister scrap his plan and consult Quebec in order to present thresholds that are based on reality?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and to the Minister of Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Bloc Québécois wants to pick a fight with the federal government. Our government is making investments in French, even in Quebec. We have invested tens of millions of dollars in additional funding as part of our action plan for French integration.

We have also given the province of Quebec $500 million to invest in immigration each year. Does the leader of the Bloc Québécois disagree with giving Quebec that money? We have a plan to support Quebec and operate with investments in French integration across the country and in Quebec as well.

Carbon Pricing

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, we will be voting on a common-sense Conservative motion to axe the carbon tax on home heating for every single Canadian. It is snowing in southern Alberta; it is cold. It should not be a luxury to heat our homes, yet when the Prime Minister quadruples his carbon tax, Mountainview Farms in my riding will be paying $480,000 a year in carbon taxes. The Prime Minister says that there is no carbon tax relief for Alberta.

However, on Monday, the Liberal members for Calgary Skyview and Edmonton Centre have a chance to defend Alberta and vote with us to end the tax and keep the heat on. Will they do it?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend across the aisle is forgetting some facts. One is that the price on pollution works in such a way that there is a rebate, where 80% of Canadians get more money back. In fact, an Alberta family of four gets $386 per quarter. It is more than what people pay in terms of the price on pollution.

The pause for three years for home heating oil is based on the specific issue around the cost associated with home heating. It is done in a manner that is consistent with continuing to fight climate change, which is what a price on pollution is all about.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the NDP will have the opportunity to show who they work for: the Prime Minister or Canadians who want the tax off and the heat on. It is cold in Edmonton, yet Edmontonians are being penalized as a result of this NDP-Liberal government's punitive carbon tax on home heating.

Is the Liberal minister from Edmonton going to order the NDP MP for Edmonton Griesbach to once again vote against his constituents, or will he be permitted to vote with Conservatives to axe the tax and keep the heat on?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we work each and every day for all Canadians, Canadians who live in every province and territory in this country. We do so in a manner that ensures that we are addressing critical issues in a thoughtful way and making good public policy decisions. We are not playing the partisan games that are played by the members opposite.

At the end of the day, we are focused on ensuring that we address legitimate affordability concerns in a manner that is consistent with addressing climate change. Once again, I say it is shameful to have a bunch of climate deniers on that side of the House.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Mr. Speaker, last year, the NDP voted against our common-sense Conservative motion to scrap the carbon tax on home heating. The Liberals have admitted that these taxes are not worth the cost after they exempted Atlantic Canada, but, once again, they left Albertans out in the cold.

Is the Liberal minister from Edmonton going to order the NDP MP for Edmonton Strathcona to vote against the wishes and interests of her constituents, or will she be permitted to axe the tax to keep the heat on?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, there were $340 million in damages from storms in Ontario, over $720 million from wildfires in B.C., over $300 million from storms in Alberta and the Prairies and over $170 million from flooding in Nova Scotia. This is what climate change has cost Canadians just this summer, and these are insured costs. The total costs are three times that.

The climate-denying Conservative Party of Canada wants us to believe that climate change is not costing Canadians anything. It is costing Canadians hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Foreign Affairs

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, more than 400 Canadians are trapped in Gaza, including Ahmed Alheluo of Edmonton, who is recovering from surgery and unable to transport himself. First, he was told by Canadian authorities to stay where he is, then to evacuate to Rafah, then to stay put again as Canadians may not be allowed to cross into Egypt. While the government ignores calls for a ceasefire, Ahmed is struggling to survive, and today we have learned that not a single Canadian is on the evacuation list.

Why is Canada not advocating for the lives of Canadians in Gaza, and when will the Liberals call for a ceasefire?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs)]

Mr. Speaker, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire. Many Canadians are worried about their family and friends.

Yesterday, we saw the first wave of foreign nationals leave. I want to reassure Canadians that we are in regular close contact with Egypt and Israel, to push for Canadians to leave as soon as possible. We continually try to reach all Canadians, permanent residents and their family members to give them the latest information. This is why we continue to call for humanitarian pauses to get Canadians out and to get humanitarian aid in, and for all hostages to be released.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, with the cost of living crisis, Canadians cannot afford the therapy they need. If they try for public care, wait-lists are months to years long. There is no postpandemic recovery plan to help people with their mental health. So many people are suffering in silence. This is not acceptable, especially when the Liberals have yet to deliver on the $4.5-billion mental health transfer. For a government that claims to champion mental health, it sure does delay and disappoint. Breaking this promise will cost lives.

Will the Liberals change course and deliver the mental health transfer to get people the help they so urgently need?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's commitment to mental health is something I share deeply and profoundly. In his home province of British Columbia, the agreement we made to see, over the next three years, a historic amount of money flow to help in all aspects of health care, including mental health, was exceptionally important. We are committed to seeing it not only in British Columbia but also across the country.

We have much more work to do in all aspects of mental health. This is going to require a whole-of-government approach, and it really requires all of us to think about how we can do everything we can to treat each other better and put mental health at the front of our workplaces and our lives.

Housing

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, people in my riding of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country and right across the country are grappling with the housing crisis. Now, more than ever, they need more affordable housing options like co-ops.

In my home province of British Columbia, 275 co-ops provide safe and affordable housing to well over 15,000 people. We need governments to build on this by promoting and expanding co-op housing across the country, but earlier this week, when asked about social and co-op housing, the Conservative leader said, “We do not need a Soviet-style takeover of housing”.

How does the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities respond to that?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to affordable housing, the Conservative Party could not be more out of touch. Referring to co-ops as “Soviet-style” housing is a slap in the face to the quarter-million Canadians who live in homes like that. This is not the first time I have heard the Conservative leader criticize middle-class Canadians' living arrangements. Just this past summer, on a live video, he labelled a woman's home in Niagara a “shack”.

Canadians need bold federal leadership to solve the housing crisis, and that is what we are going to deliver. The Conservative leader, who insults middle-class homes while he goes home to his own government-paid-for housing arrangement, simply does not get it. It is reckless behaviour. We will not stand for it.

Carbon Pricing

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

Mr. Speaker, The B.C. NDP premier has demanded carbon tax fairness and equal treatment for British Columbians. The NDP member for North Island—Powell River votes with her Ottawa boss, the Prime Minister, punishing people in Campbell River struggling with high home heating costs. On Monday, we will vote for our common-sense plan to take the tax off all home heating for all Canadians for good.

How does the carbon tax coalition work? Will the PM require the NDP member for North Island—Powell River to vote against the Conservative plan, or will she vote with us to keep the heat on and axe the tax?