Debates of Nov. 28th, 2023

Finance

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I know that, since last week, more and more Canadians are having a hard time believing what the opposition leader says. Let me set the record straight. Canada has the lowest deficit in the G7 and the best debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. Inflation continues to drop, while we maintain the services that Canadians depend on. The Conservative leader would cut child care, dental care for seniors and pensions for seniors.

We know that in order to invest in the future of the country and to be there for Canadians, we need to invest responsibly, and we are continuing to do that.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, that is false. Seniors and Canadians are the ones who now have to make cuts to their grocery budget. The head of Food Banks of Quebec says it is an unprecedented and tragic situation, adding that organizations in his network are facing exceptional and growing pressure, with 71% of them reporting a shortfall of food. That is what misery looks like after eight years of this Prime Minister, who is driving up the price of food with his inflationary deficits and his taxes on our farmers.

Will he finally reverse his inflationary policies so that Canadians can eat?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is becoming a bit hard to believe what the opposition leader is saying, because instead of speeding up passage of Bill C‑56 to help Canadians by increasing competition in the grocery sector and others, he has stalled and found ways to slow down the passage of this bill, which is there to help Canadians.

We will continue to be there to help Canadians by investing in the economy and in support for them and by staying on a responsible financial path.

Automotive Industry

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it is impossible to believe anything the Prime Minister says. First, when he gave $15 billion to one battery plant, he said there would be no foreign workers, that it was all a rumour. Then he said it would be one. Then his minister said there would be a few. Now the company says there will be 900.

This is $15 billion, $1,000 in costs for every single family. Now the Liberals are giving money for 900 foreign workers to do a job that the Canada’s Building Trades Unions said could be done by our people, at a cost of $300 million of lost wages for our union workers.

Will the Prime Minister release the contract so we find out how many Canadian tax dollars are going to foreign replacement workers?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to correct the facts in the House of Commons given what the Leader of the Opposition continues to say. There will be 2,300 local Canadian construction jobs and 2,500 permanent Canadian jobs when the Stellantis plant is completed. There will be 3,000 jobs in the region when the Northvolt plant in Quebec is completed.

We would think the Leader of the Opposition would support those, but he does not. His uncontrollable urge to make everything a partisan issue means he is not supporting the investments that are going to help in Windsor, in St. Thomas, in Quebec or elsewhere across the country. He wants cuts; we want investments in the future of Canadians.

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has forced seven million Canadians to cut back on their diets, to a point where they are no longer healthy. The Prime Minister has forced Canadians to cut their budgets for food. Therefore. a record-smashing two million people are lined up at a food bank every month, around corners in ways that we have not seen since the Great Depression. That is the austerity he has imposed on Canadians. Now he wants to quadruple the carbon tax on the farmers who bring us our food.

We have a common-sense Conservative bill, Bill C-234. Will the Prime Minister stop blocking this bill in the Senate and let it pass so that our farmers can produce food and our people can afford to eat it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition actually cared about Canadians being able to afford their food, the Conservatives would not have dragged their heels on the passage of Bill C-56, which would increase competition in the grocery sector.

Indeed, there are a lot of factors that deliver higher food prices not just for Canadians but for people around the world. One of the key ones is Russia's continued illegal invasion of Ukraine. On this side of the House, we can affirm clearly that we will stand with Ukraine with everything necessary for as long as necessary. As we saw last week, no Conservative politician can say the same in the House.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, actually, we are the only party that has stood with Ukraine rather than trying to impose a carbon tax.

I understand what the Prime Minister is doing. He has imposed so much misery here at home, whether by doubling housing costs, forcing people into tent encampments or forcing two million people to go to a food bank. These are the problems here at home at the kitchen table. He is so desperate to talk about anything else that he avoids talking about what is happening in our country.

Will he answer the question? Will he take his tax off our farmers so our people can afford to eat?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition knows full well that 97% of fuel emissions in the agricultural sector, in the farming sector, are already exempt from our price on pollution. However, he is so desperate to try to score partisan points that he actually refused to stand in support of something Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked us for in the House.

How is the Leader of the Opposition explaining to Ukrainian Canadians right across the country that he no longer stands with Ukraine on things it needs right now to win this war against Russia?

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, gunfire has been heard in Montreal over the past few days. Windows have been broken, and graffiti has been directed specifically against the Jewish community. There are fears that these actions were in some way encouraged by an exception in the Criminal Code that allows hate speech and the incitement of violence.

In light of recent events, would the Prime Minister agree to remove the religious exemption from the Criminal Code?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my hon. colleague that the rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in Canada is alarming. The rise in acts of hatred is even more unacceptable. I strongly condemn the attack on the Jewish Community Council. We condemn all violence.

We will be looking at my hon. colleague's bill to see whether it can help combat hate and incitement of violence. This is a complex issue, but we are here to work constructively to protect Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am cautiously optimistic about this.

I hope that we will get somewhere quickly, but we need to reach agreement. The bill is very short. All that we need to do is remove the exceptions, two sections of the Criminal Code, which are used to excuse, permit and perpetuate hate speech. Does the Prime Minister agree that we should move quickly on a bill that is necessary and easy to pass in the House?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, hate in any form has no place in Canada and must be condemned. More things unite Canadians and Quebeckers than divide them. Obviously, our Criminal Code does not tolerate hate speech. Calls for genocide, public incitement to hate and the deliberate promotion of hatred are already prohibited. We will examine the legislative measure proposed by the leader of the Bloc Québécois carefully. We will be there, working to keep Canadians safe while respecting the free society in which we live.

Labour

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Quebec and Canadian labour movement and the NDP's insistence, we will have anti-scab legislation. This law will make it possible to negotiate better working conditions and wages for workers, but we had to force the Liberals to do it.

The Conservatives, who claim to be friends of workers, are not sure how they will vote on this bill that will help increase families' purchasing power. This anti-scab legislation needs to be passed and implemented quickly.

Is the Prime Minister going to do it, or is he going to drag his feet again?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the NDP likes to say it is the workers' party. However, since 2015, we have demonstrated that we are here to work hand-in-hand with unions. We did that by reversing the Harper government's anti-union bills, in which the current Leader of the Opposition played a part. We have been doing it for eight years, and we are going to continue doing it.

We are very pleased with the replacement worker bill. We are happy that the NDP is supporting our bill, and we hope that the Conservative party will understand that building a stronger middle class requires union support. We need to support the unions, too.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for decades, New Democrats and the Canadian Labour Congress have fought Liberals and Conservatives for anti-scab legislation. This session, the NDP used its power to force the Liberals to finally respect collective bargaining rights. While the Conservative leader pretends to have the backs of workers, when push comes to shove, he is nowhere to be found in standing up for them. CLC leaders are here on the Hill today demanding that the anti-scab legislation be implemented sooner than the 18-month Liberal timeline.

Will the Prime Minister commit to the necessary changes to truly support workers and implement the anti-scab legislation, Bill C-58, as quickly as possible?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we know to what extent strong unions and collective bargaining are essential to the prosperity of the middle class in this country. That is why, from 2015 onward, the government has been a friend to organized labour and has worked with it to overturn the anti-union legislation that the Stephen Harper government brought in, including the Leader of the Opposition as a minister in that government.

We have continued to stand with workers. We are very pleased that the NDP is supporting our replacement workers bill. We really hope the Conservatives will understand that supporting workers means supporting unions. We hope the Conservatives will stand up and support our anti-scab legislation.

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister continues to dodge the question about the tax he plans to quadruple on Canadian farmers. One farm alone in my riding is spending $150,000 a year on carbon taxes, and the Prime Minister wants to quadruple that number, for up to $600,000. That might put the farm out of business, which would mean we would have to buy more foreign, expensive food from more polluting countries.

The Prime Minister is blocking a common-sense Conservative bill, Bill C-234, in the Senate that would take the tax off our farmers. Will he commit here and now to another carbon tax flip-flop and carve it out for our farmers, so our people can afford to eat?

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

Mr. Speaker, there is only one party in the House that is flip-flopping, and it is the Conservative Party with regard to its support for Ukraine. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has expressed its disappointment with the Conservatives for voting against the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. In fact, it is calling on the Conservatives to change their position, to vote for the bill and to support Ukraine.

It is hard to trust what the Leader of the Opposition says, because he keeps changing his position. He says he supports Ukraine, but he did not in his actions. He could direct his caucus to support this legislation and to support Ukraine.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we are against the carbon tax deal that the Liberals put before the House, and we are against quadrupling the carbon tax on Canadian farmers. The Prime Minister cannot defend his position, nor does he have the courage to just admit, as he did on home heating oil, that he was wrong. He plans to quadruple the tax on our farmers, who feed our people; this will send millions more people to the food bank.

Will the Prime Minister rise today and show the courage to admit he was wrong and back Conservative Bill C-234 to take the tax off our farmers, so our people can afford to eat? He should get up and answer.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is ironic to hear from the leader of the official opposition about courage to admit he was wrong. In fact, on Thursday, when he was called out by the media for falsely alleging that there was a terrorist attack, instead of taking ownership as any Canadian would be expected to do, he blamed the media and doubled down.

The Leader of the Opposition has a real challenge with taking responsibility for his actions and his decisions. Quite frankly, Canadians deserve better, and they deserve to know the truth behind his decisions and his actions.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, farmers from across Canada are calling on Liberal-appointed senators to support a common-sense Conservative bill, Bill C-234, which would lower costs on farming and make food more affordable, but the Liberals' environment minister has threatened to resign if there are any carbon tax carve-outs. This is amazing when we have a record-shattering two million Canadians relying on food banks.

The environment minister's dedication to making life unaffordable is unwavering. Will the Prime Minister ask his environment minister to stop threatening so-called independent senators and allow the passage of Bill C-234, so Canadians can afford to feed themselves?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read an extract from a news article titled “Canadian Senator Flees Home Amid Safety Concerns Following ‘Wanted Poster’ Incident”. It reads:

In a disturbing turn of events, Canadian Senator Bernadette Clement was reportedly forced to leave her home due to fears for her safety. The incident came about after a provocative post, akin to a ‘wanted poster,’ was shared online by [a member of the Conservative Party of Canada].

Who is bullying whom in this House and in the Senate? It is certainly not us. We are not telling senators how to vote; the Conservative Party is.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts that the environment minister refuses to recognize. An Alberta poultry farmer paid $180,000 a year in carbon taxes just to heat and cool his barn. When the Prime Minister quadruples his carbon tax, he will be paying $480,000 a year. That farmer said he cannot afford those tax hikes. His options are to pass on those costs to consumers or just call it quits. Does the environment minister want to bankrupt Canadian farmers and force Canadians to food banks just to save his job?

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

Mr. Speaker, here is what an independent senator said about what the Conservative Party is doing in the House and in the Senate.

According to this article, Senator Saint-Germain said that “Plett ‘violently’ threw his earpiece” and ‘stood before Senator Clement as we sat at our desks, yelling and berating us for proposing this routine motion”. She went on to say that the Conservative senator “‘pointed fingers’ at another ISG member” and “suggested he would block work...on the Senate's human resource subcommittee.”

No matter how much the Conservative Party would like us to believe that this is about taxation, it is not; it is about bullying.