Debates of Nov. 22nd, 2023

Finance

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we did table the fall economic statement, which is the next step in our plan to build more homes right across the country and to build them faster, to crack down on short-term rentals and Airbnbs by supporting municipalities and their own regulations, and, of course, to strengthen competition laws in this country in order to stabilize prices.

That was our plan, and it took only minutes for the Conservative leader to call it “disgusting”. What is actually disgusting is that the Conservative leader refuses to tell Canadians what he is going to cut.

Automotive Industry

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it has come to light that the Prime Minister will spend 15 billion tax dollars, which is $1,000 for every single family in Canada, on a grant that will pay for 1,600 replacement workers to come in and displace union jobs in Windsor, in a battery plant there.

The Prime Minister is desperately claiming that he had no choice in the matter. Why does he not open up the contract so all Canadians can see whether there were any guarantees that this massive $15-billion grant would actually lead to Canadian and not foreign paycheques?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, this is a little bit rich coming from a political party that not only does not stand for auto workers and does not stand for Canadian workers at all, but also has no interest in a green economic plan like we have. The Conservatives have not been with workers. They have not been with the auto sector. We are building battery plants in parts of this country. We are building a green economic plan.

Let us look at the facts: One temporary foreign worker has been approved.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, yes, and there are 1,600. That is 1,599 more, at least, foreign replacement workers who will be coming to use the 15 billion tax dollars that the Prime Minister is making Canadians pay for a single plant. In fact, here I have an advertisement for a position as an electrode quality engineer that states that the skills required include being bilingual in English and Korean. That is true of countless of the job advertisements.

Will the Prime Minister release the contract on this $15-billion deal to see whether any of the money is going to go to Canadian workers or whether it is all going to foreign replacement workers?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the official opposition's misinformation cannot hide the transformational nature of this investment and investments like it across the country. Let us be extremely clear and focus on the facts, which are that there are 2,500 permanent jobs in the Windsor area to operate the plant and 2,300 Canadian jobs to construct the plant. Those are the facts.

He is risky and reckless, and he is just dealing in pure misinformation.

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

I would like to remind members to use language that does not impugn the member's use of information.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, my information comes from the Windsor police, who had a visit from the South Korean ambassador to set up the arrival of 1,600 South Korean replacement workers who will displace union workers in Windsor. Unions are up in arms as the government is displacing their workers to bring in replacement workers from abroad.

If anything I am saying is wrong, why does the government not just announce that it will release the contract to show any guarantees there are that the jobs will go to Canadians?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts and let us look at an authority in this matter. Dave Cassidy, president of Unifor Local 444, called out the disinformation from the Conservative Party as absolutely false and baseless. There is simply no justification for what the ambassador of South Korea has suggested. Instead, the facts are that there are 2,500 Canadian jobs to operate this plant and 2,300 Canadian jobs to construct this plant. Those are the facts. Those are the investments.

We are building for the future. Everything else is just risk and recklessness from the Conservatives.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what is risky and reckless is to spend $15 billion, which works out to $1,000 for every family in Canada, for a project that will employ foreign replacement workers. Those workers will displace our union jobs in this country, in other words, our money for foreign workers. That is according to the police from Windsor and the local Windsor municipal government.

Those are the facts, and if the Prime Minister has any other facts he would like to share, why will he not just give us the contract?

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

Mr. Speaker, let us get real. The Conservatives have never been for workers. They do not understand that the fight against climate change creates prosperity for generations to come. These once-in-a-generation investments in a Nexstar facility are bringing 2,500 permanent jobs to Windsor, which is bringing back the auto industry. It is beyond me how the Conservatives can somehow spin this negatively—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

I will ask all members, please, to take the floor only when they are recognized by the Speaker, so we can make sure we have order in the House.

The hon. member for Joliette.

Housing

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the economic update proves once again that the Prime Minister does not understand the word “emergency”. The housing crisis is an emergency. Nevertheless, not only will the new funding be inadequate, but there is not a single new measure that will take effect before 2025, in other words, after the next election. The only thing the Prime Minister is offering is money starting in 2025 if people vote in a Liberal government.

When will he understand that what we need today is money for housing, not election promises?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, I disagree with my hon. colleague, and I would encourage him to read the entirety of the fall economic statement. There are a number of measures that take effect very quickly, some in the next number of weeks and some in the next number of months. He must be referring to our recapitalization, though, of certain programs that are actually helping get homes built now.

We continue to have funds on the table. In fact, just last week, we landed agreements worth $4 billion that are going to see nearly 12,000 new homes constructed right across this country at prices that ordinary people can actually afford. We are now locking in long-term investments that are going to provide certainty to builders so they can continue to build the homes that are necessary to defeat the housing crisis.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would encourage him to have a look at the tables that say “zero” for this year and “zero” for next year.

People had better brace themselves, because this winter is going to be very long. It is going to be long for anyone who cannot find housing, because there is no new money for housing until 2025. It is going to be long for anyone who becomes part of the 5% increase in homelessness, because there is no emergency funding. It is going to be long for media workers who are faced with job losses, because there is no emergency funding for them either. It is going to be long for our SMEs, which will not survive the winter if the deadline for repayment of the Canada emergency business account is not pushed back from January.

The time to take care of these people is now. It is not in the spring, and certainly not in 2025. What is the Prime Minister waiting for?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member. Investments are necessary to address the housing crisis. On top of the new measures included in yesterday's document are other investments that our government has already announced.

For example, we signed an agreement with the Province of Quebec to the tune of $1.8 billion just to support investments in affordable housing. We will continue making the investments necessary to end the housing crisis across the country.

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister had a chance yesterday to cancel his plan to quadruple the carbon tax. It is important to understand how much he wants to raise taxes on Canadians. He wants to raise the carbon tax to 61¢ a litre. That will raise the cost of heat and gas, and also of food, because when we tax the farmers who make the food and the truckers who ship the food, we tax all who buy the food.

Will the Prime Minister finally tell us how much it will cost the average family when he quadruples the tax, and will he call an election on the carbon tax so Canadians can decide for themselves?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity]

Mr. Speaker, the agri-food sector is affected probably more than any other sector by climate change. In a year when we saw increased floods, more frequent storms, soil erosion, sporadic and unpredictable rainfall, and fires across this country that devastated rural communities, driving people out of their homes and causing destruction, it is really disappointing that the Conservatives still do not believe in climate change.

All of those impacts result from climate change, and a price on pollution is working to reduce our emissions and fight the fight.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it is not working. The Liberals have missed every emissions target but one in the year that the economy was entirely locked down. The Liberal government ranks 58th out of 63 in the world, and its own environment commissioner says it will not meet its emissions targets, yet the Liberals still go ahead with the carbon tax, which has proven not to work. They want to quadruple the tax, including on farmers, who have no other choice than to use traditional hydrocarbons to power their machinery, their barns and their drying.

Once again, how much will the carbon tax cost the average Canadian farmer when the Prime Minister quadruples it?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives were concerned about the cost of food and the cost of fuel, they would stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, because it is Russia's illegal war of aggression that is driving up global food prices and global fuel prices. However, they are ideologically committed to ignoring climate change and doing anything they could to possibly fight it, so much so that they threw Ukraine under the bus and voted against the very agreement that the Ukrainian government has asked Canada to support. Conservatives need to give their heads a shake and stand with the people who are fighting for freedom around the world.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this is the minister who stood and had a photo taken with a Nazi that helped Russian propaganda all around the world.

The question was about the carbon tax cost on the average Canadian farmer. I have here a power bill from Enbridge for a farm in my riding that has $11,000 in carbon taxes alone. That is today. Now the Prime Minister wants to quadruple the tax on Canadian farmers, which will drive up the cost of production, drive food growth out of this country and drive prices up for everyday Canadian families.

Once again, how much will the average farmer pay in carbon taxes once the Prime Minister implements his plan to quadruple the tax?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, what is unbelievable is that the Leader of the Opposition, who claims to stand for freedom and who claims to stand for democracy, will do everything he can to ideologically oppose fighting climate change, including not standing with Ukrainians, who are facing an illegal war of aggression by Russia that is driving up food and fuel prices around the world.

If he truly cared about supporting Canadian families and Canadian farmers, he would support the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement and would not abandon them in their time of need.

Housing

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in yesterday's economic statement, the government announced measures to support housing co-operatives. There are 1,130 co-ops in Quebec, representing more than 22,000 housing units. The Leader of the Opposition referred to co-ops as Soviet-style housing. That shows his contempt for this type of housing.

Can the minister explain to Canadians the impact that yesterday's measures will have on housing co-ops across the country?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel for her hard work and her question.

People need more housing, and co-ops are part of the solution. That is why we announced yesterday that the GST will be removed from new co-op rental housing. We also announced that we will be strengthening the co-operative housing development program. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, who despises co-ops, we support them and the people who live in them.

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's tax on the farmers who produce the food and on the truckers who transport the food is a tax on everyone who eats food. The Bloc Québécois wants to radically increase taxes on farmers. There will be more costs for farmers in Quebec.

How much will the second carbon tax cost each farmer in Quebec?