Debates of Nov. 29th, 2023

Finance

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition leader is not being completely logical. He is right that Canadians are struggling because of high grocery prices, but he is proposing government austerity as a solution to help those families. It is completely ridiculous.

We are here to help families with investments in housing and investments to lower and stabilize grocery prices. We are here to invest in careers and jobs for the future.

Meanwhile, the Conservative Party is against dental care for seniors and against help for businesses that will increase the employment rate.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, never has a prime minister been so ashamed of his own economic update that he wants to avoid talking about it for the week that follows, and we can understand why. Next year, the Prime Minister wants to spend $53 billion on debt interest, a record-smashing amount that is higher than the amount we spend on health care. It works out to $3,000 for every Canadian family. According to the Bank of Nova Scotia, this is going to increase interest rates by two full percentage points, or $700 a year, directly attributable to the government's deficit spending.

Will the Prime Minister get control of himself and his spending so Canadians can get control of their mortgage costs?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I will admit openly to you and to others in the House that the media did not cover our fall economic statement as much as we would have liked last week because they were so busy talking about what a terrible week the Conservative Party had on Ukraine, on allegations of terrorism, and on attacking Stellantis and jobs in southern Ontario. Yes, the media were totally wrapped up in the Leader of the Opposition's terrible week.

We stay focused on investing in housing for Canadians, on stepping up, on more competition to help with grocery prices, and on moving forward and creating great jobs and careers for Canadians for decades to come.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, maybe he should just give the media even more money to cover the news how he would like it, because we know he is so desperate to debate me on the carbon tax, a debate he has been losing badly. Canadians overwhelmingly want him to axe the tax. That is why he panicked and flip-flopped to take the tax off for a short time, and only for those people who are in a region where he is plummeting in the polls and his caucus is revolting.

With two million Canadians forced to go to a food bank, will he stop thinking about buying himself better news coverage and start thinking about the Canadians who have to buy themselves better food?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to hear the Conservative leader again attacking the media, particularly on a day when we stood up and arranged a deal with Google to make sure that local journalism, independent journalism and the work that our news media is going to do will be able to stand the test of time through the transforming times we live in.

The Leader of the Opposition continues to want to stand with big data and with internet giants, and to sidle up to his billionaire buddies down south. We are going to continue to stand up for local journalism, for the work that professionals do to support our democracy in small towns and communities right across the country.

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he does not want to debate on the carbon tax because he knows that Canadians know they cannot afford the cost of food as he intends to continue raising taxes, so instead, he tries to distract with media buyouts and by censoring views with which he disagrees.

Will he have the courage to actually defend his carbon tax as two million people line up in breadlines like those we have not seen since the Great Depression, and will he support our common-sense bill to axe the tax on the farmers who feed us?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians right across the country, including and especially our hard-working farm families, are seeing the impacts of climate change increasingly, every single year. It has become glaringly obvious to everyone, except for certain MAGA Conservatives, that the fight against climate change is a fight for the future of our economy. We cannot separate fighting climate change from growing good jobs in a strong economy into the future, yet that is exactly what Conservatives continue to say.

We put a price on pollution. We are putting more money back into the pockets of Canadians, and we are creating great jobs for the long term.

Public Services and Procurement

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

Mr. Speaker, according to media reports, the government is still refusing to launch a competition for the replacement of the surveillance aircraft fleet. What is worse, it has no interest in finding out what the results of a competition would be. Instead, it is taking on that role itself and, based on its own analysis, it has chosen an American company. We have nothing against the Americans, but we want the process to be fair and equitable.

Has the government actually ruled out a competition? Has it actually ruled out Bombardier? Has it actually ruled out Quebec?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, in these uncertain times, we have two main priorities. First, we must ensure that our military and armed forces have the equipment they need to do their jobs. We also need to ensure that there are good jobs in the aerospace industry for Canadians across the country. Those are our two goals, and that is what we are going to continue working on. The ministers involved will make an announcement in due course.

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

Mr. Speaker, when we agree with something, it is always important to say so. We need security for military members and good jobs. However, why rule out Bombardier? The people at Bombardier are capable of doing this. They are capable of providing this. We could at least check with them. The government is ruling out a modern Quebec and Canadian company in favour of the American dinosaur, Boeing. We are not asking for special treatment. We are just asking for a fair and equitable competition process.

Can the Prime Minister show some statesmanship, bring in a real competition process and tell us that what we read this morning is not true?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, our Canadian Armed Forces need the right equipment to keep us safe and to fulfill the responsibility that we share with our allies to keep the world more prosperous and safe. At the same time, we need investments that will generate good jobs and a bright future for our aerospace industry in Quebec and across Canada. We share those priorities, and we will stay on this path.

Public Safety

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, the Prime Minister promised to pass legislation within the first 100 days to protect Canadians from toxic online content and to hold platforms accountable. Last month, a 12-year-old boy in Prince George took his own life in response to online sextortion. It has been 764 days since the government was sworn in, and more of these incidents have been happening every year.

When will the government introduce the online harm bill to protect kids?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to protecting our kids, I think we all agree that we have to do everything we possibly can.

That is why we have spent such a significant amount of time working with communities, including racialized communities, and working with experts, moving forward in the right way to keep our kids safe from online harms and to keep them safe in the virtual world, where more and more of us spend increasing amounts of time.

We need to make sure we get it right, both for the grand principles of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly that are so important in our democracies and also for communities that are all too often subject to discrimination and marginalization. That is what we are going to do.

Climate Change

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, government delay is causing harm to kids. We need action.

The COP28 president is looking to secure development agreements in Canada. The minister said they only talked about climate change, but his department is refusing to disclose who will be part of the Canadian delegation until the end of COP28.

Is the Prime Minister sending the Minister of Environment to Dubai to eliminate fossil fuels or to sign new development deals?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we need to be careful about associating a tragedy that happened in Prince George with the actions or inactions of any particular government.

We understand how horrific this is for the family and for the community. We will continue to work to make sure that kids across this country are protected. That is why we are serious about moving forward in protecting them from online harms.

This is an extremely serious issue that we will always handle with the respect and responsibility it deserves. This issue should not serve as an excuse to lob veiled accusations. It is a tragedy that we all need to work on together.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister likes to avoid responsibility for having doubled the cost of housing over the past eight years. He is not worth the cost of rent.

According to the United States' Realtor.com website, October 2023 was the sixth consecutive month of rent decreases over a one-year period. According to the Rentals.ca website, “Canada's rents continued to reach new heights” for the sixth consecutive month.

Why is the cost of rent falling in the United States and rising faster in Canada than at any other time in its history?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we launched our housing accelerator this fall precisely to create more housing in Canada and lower rents for all Canadians. That is part of the actions we have taken since 2017, and even before that, to invest in housing in Canada.

We know how much we have left to do. Our population is growing faster than that of the U.S., but I am sure that the Leader of the Opposition is not speaking out against immigration.

We will continue to be there to build more housing and to grow our economy and our population at the same time.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister loves to blame others for the fact that he has doubled housing costs in eight years. He is not worth the price of rent.

Let me quote the organization realtor.com in the United States: “October 2023 marks the sixth month in a row of year-over-year rent decline”. Rentals.ca in Canada says, “For the sixth month in a row, asking rents in Canada hit a new high”.

Why, after eight years of the Prime Minister, is rent going down in the States and up in Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, since 2015, we have been investing in housing in this country to make up for the 10 years of lost time when the member, as the minister of housing in a previous government, got out of the business of building and supporting housing across this country.

We have done an awful lot, and we recognize there is more to do, which is why part of our fall economic statement was about investing even more in creating homes and unlocking the potential of this country.

As for the difference between Canada and the United States, one of the differences is that our population is growing much faster than the population in the United States. I am certain the leader of the opposition was not about to suggest he was anti-immigration, because we all know immigration creates jobs and prosperity, and that is what we are all for.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it is the Prime Minister who brought up immigration. I was about to point out that in Canada, according to his housing agency, home construction is down 32% year over year and in the United States it is up 5%.

It is true that the Prime Minister has much more expensive federal government programs to build more government bureaucracy and fewer homes. Will he adopt our common-sense plan to build homes, not just bureaucracy?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we all know the mistrust and distaste the Leader of the Opposition has for expert analysis and expert advice, particularly because the experts have roundly panned his approach on housing, as it is not going to create the housing that Canada needs.

What are we doing? For example, concretely, we talked about 9,000 housing units in Hamilton, 7,000 housing units in London, 44,000 housing units in Vaughan, 9,000 housing units in Halifax and more to be created over the next few years. These are investments we are making that are delivering for Canadians right across the country, while he continues to propose cuts and austerity instead of the investments Canadians need.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, every time the Prime Minister gives homebuilding numbers, he is talking about promises that have not been realized. For example, he promised in 2015, eight years ago, that he would sell federal lands to build homes. Now, today, Radio-Canada reports that it takes 23 years for the government to dispose of lands and turn them into new homes. In fact, one project will not be done until 2038.

How many generations of Canadians would have to survive long enough for the Prime Minister to realize any of the promises he makes?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that underscores the importance of being able to work constructively with municipalities to build housing. Those numbers from the City of Ottawa are something we are concerned with, and we are going to be working to make sure they accelerate the construction of housing on federal lands.

We are there for investing in more housing. We are there to release federal lands for the construction of housing. However, instead of doing what the Leader of the Opposition says and picking fights with municipalities, we will work with them to ensure they are building faster. That is what our housing accelerator is all about: unlocking hundreds of thousands of new homes over the coming years.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what he has actually done is unlocked hundreds of new photo ops at the expense of Canadian taxpayers. For example, he has now given $15 billion to the renamed and recycled construction loan program. This is a program that has built fewer than half of its targeted promises, and the new money that he says will build homes will arrive in 2025 and the new homes in 2028.

How many times would the Prime Minister have to be re-elected on his promises for housing for a new home to actually get built?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the irony is that the Leader of the Opposition is attacking us for making announcements of thousands upon thousands of new units built across the country when he does not make any announcements at all because he has no plan. He is not sharing a plan to build more homes. He is not sharing a plan to invest in the economy. He is not sharing his approach on how to create more opportunities for Canadians while fighting climate change and while responding to the climate crisis. He just stands there and makes personal attacks, and sneers at everything and says that it is all broken, instead of doing the hard work, rolling up his sleeves and delivering a real plan for the future of Canada.