Debates of Nov. 30th, 2023

Carbon Pricing

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, the Chiefs of Ontario joined the chorus of Canadians decrying the failure of the Liberal carbon tax. This burden inflicted upon first nations, allegedly the most important relationship for this Prime Minister, has forced 133 chiefs to take the government to court in order to get relief.

It is clear indigenous communities are not better off after eight long years of this government, nor is more money being put back in the pockets of the people who pay this tax.

After yet another failure, will the Prime Minister realize that the carbon tax has failed indigenous peoples and finally axe the tax?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, this summer we saw a record wildfire season raging across the country. I, as Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, worked with first nation leaders all across the country as they did the most unimaginable to protect their communities, with evacuations, people displaced for weeks if not months, and land, property and infrastructure destroyed.

We will continue to work on fighting climate change and protecting people as we see this astronomical threat bearing down. I look forward to doing that with first nations leaders.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, actually, the Auditor General had a plan for that. It was to approve the 112 infrastructure projects sitting on that minister's desk that would deal with the effects of climate change, adaptation and mitigation. In fact, it was indigenous projects that talked about dikes, dams and culverts, things that would give indigenous communities a fighting chance to stay on their land in the event of an extreme weather event. However, the minister would rather waste money instead of investing one dollar to save six, and rather than the current plan of evacuation, relocation and rebuilding.

When will the minister get serious about helping indigenous communities, listen to the Chiefs of Ontario and axe the tax?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, it is too bad that the former leader of the opposition did not listen to the Chiefs of Ontario for over a decade as the infrastructure gap grew and grew, as children suffered with discriminatory first nations child welfare, as education rates and levels were underfunded per capita—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

I am having trouble, once again, hearing the hon. member. There are a number of voices close to the Speaker.

I will ask the hon. minister to please start again, because I would like to hear the answer.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have to ask ourselves how that infrastructure gap got so big, and it was a decade of neglect. In fact, the Leader of the Opposition, on the day of the apology from Prime Minister Harper, said that what people really needed to do was actually get to work and show work values. These are the kinds of ethics that these Conservatives hold in terms of first nations.

We will continue to work with first nations on rights and in respectful ways in closing gaps. That is what responsible governments do.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the costly Bloc-Liberal coalition proved once again that it is not worth the cost.

As usual, the Bloc members joined forces with the Liberals to defeat our motion calling on the Senate to pass our common-sense bill, Bill C‑234, to remove the carbon tax on farmers. Eight years in, our food banks are overwhelmed, yet those two parties want to increase the tax even more radically.

Will the Prime Minister tell his senators to stop obstructing Bill C‑234?

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

Mr. Speaker, what Conservative senators should be telling Conservative MPs is that the price on pollution does three things. One, it reduces pollution. Two, it puts more money in the pockets of eight out of 10 families. Three, it creates jobs we need for the economy of the future.

Everyone knows that the Conservative elite's official policy is that climate change does not exist, but this is 2023, and we are counting on Conservative senators and MPs to reconsider their position.

Official Languages

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am a proud Canadian. I am proud of this nation's bilingualism, and I am proud of the federal government's role in promoting both official languages. In the House of Commons, it is a privilege for me to hear both official languages being used. Therefore, I was both shocked and disappointed at the Canadian heritage committee this morning when a Conservative MP asked a francophone minister from Quebec to answer her question in English.

Could the Minister of Canadian Heritage tell the House about the long-standing importance of official language use in the government?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

I want to start by saying that I am a proud Quebecker who is proud to be a francophone and to be able to speak in French. I want to remind the House that we have the right to express ourselves in the language of our choice, regardless of the language in which the questions are asked. Today, I was in committee to talk about our government's success stories, including the Google agreement. Unfortunately, a member of the Conservative caucus hijacked that opportunity and chose to challenge my right to speak in my mother tongue.

Our government was the first to recognize the decline of French. Bilingualism is a fundamental principle of our country, one that we will continue to defend and promote, even if it displeases the Conservatives.

Automotive Industry

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that he would drop $15 billion on Stellantis to create new jobs. What he did not say is that those jobs would not be located in Windsor, in Ontario or even in Canada. He is shipping taxpayer money to a Dutch company that is going to employ Korean foreign workers. This is another slap in the face to hard-working Canadians who are struggling after eight years of the current government.

The Liberals cannot get their story straight on how many foreign jobs the $15 billion is buying, so why not release the contracts for Canadians to see for themselves?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I am afraid I will have to say that we will take no lessons from a party with a leader who, when he was employment minister, oversaw the loss of not 3,000 manufacturing jobs, not the loss of 30,000 of them, but the loss of 300,000 manufacturing jobs in this country. Would this man like to tell us what to do? Canadians know better.

We will continue to invest in Windsor. We will invest in the auto sector. We will invest in our workers. We will invest in a prosperous Canada.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister should take some lessons from this side.

The story changes every single time he is asked. He should admit that Canadians got robbed blind with the deal. The Prime Minister even told his backbench members to keep all of this a secret and talk out the clock so the Liberals do not have to release documents. There is no reason to do that unless they are hiding something.

We want to know what is in this deal, why he spent $15 billion to ship Canadian jobs overseas and why they pretend that, after eight years, they care about labour in this country. Why is it so secret? What are they hiding?

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, 2,500 workers building batteries in Windsor are going to be Canadian, local and unionized, There are an additional 2,300 construction jobs, Canadian and local. That message was delivered on Parliament Hill yesterday by Dave Cassidy, the president of Unifor local 444. He represents 5,000 Stellantis workers. He will represent the 2,500 Windsor workers who will build the batteries.

Whom do people trust: the guy who has spent his whole life fighting for workers, or the guy who has spent his whole political career fighting workers?

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers have learned that the Northvolt battery manufacturing plant in Quebec is going to hire hundreds of foreign replacement workers. This means that $7 billion of taxpayers' money will be used to fund these jobs, which should have gone to Quebeckers. This Prime Minister is definitely not worth the cost.

After eight years in power, this Prime Minister is not protecting jobs for Quebeckers. One moment; let me put on my glasses. He needs to make public the contracts awarded to battery manufacturing plants. When will he do that?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right to put on his glasses and he should start writing down some numbers.

The Conservatives have not supported a single investment in the battery industry. They opposed the GM investment, they oppose the Ford investment and they opposed the Northvolt investment. They opposed the Volkswagen investment and now they oppose the Stellantis investment, which will create 2,500 jobs at the plant and up to 2,300 jobs to build the plant. That is outrageous.

Canadians can see which side the Conservatives are on. They are definitely against workers.

Foreign Affairs

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the loss of innocent lives in the Middle East as a result of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has been tragic. There is an increasingly dire need to ensure that aid gets into Gaza, where civilians are suffering. Canadians want to know how the government is helping bring relief to the region.

Can the Minister of International Development please update the House and Canadians on what the government is doing to provide help to those people desperately in need?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, Canada was the first western government to take action, by providing $60 million in aid for civilians affected by the conflict in Gaza. This included a matching fund that brought in 12 Canadian humanitarian organizations. I am pleased to share with the House that Canadians from coast to coast to coast donated almost $14 million to this campaign, and we will double this amount to nearly $28 million. The funding will go to providing much-needed water, food and medicines to all civilians affected by the conflict.

Public Services and Procurement

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

Mr. Speaker, Quebec is known for its expertise in the aerospace sector. We have the skills and the workers.

However, when the time comes to use those skills and workers to meet our need for airplanes, the Liberals opt for an American company, and they get old planes, to boot. Why not launch an open and transparent competition that would give companies like Bombardier a chance to bid?

This under-the-table deal is mismanagement of public funds. Good, well-paid union jobs are being tossed out the window. Why did the Liberals choose to abandon our aerospace sector?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the opportunity to elaborate on what I was saying earlier.

This morning's announcement is good news for the armed forces because they will be better off with equipment suited to their needs and the critical conditions we are facing around the world. This is also good news for the whole country's aerospace sector.

Boeing has 550 suppliers and can invest close to $400 million per year to create some 3,000 jobs. This will be good for suppliers in Quebec, such as Héroux-Devtek, CAE and L3Harris Technologies. There will also be partnerships with the Université de Sherbrooke, the Polytechnique and many other suppliers and industry players in Quebec and the rest of Canada.

News Media Industry

[Alain Rayes, Independent, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, members of the House are often very critical of the government, but we should also applaud its successes. I would like to thank the minister for the work she has done to sign this first agreement with a major online player, Google. This agreement will help our media industry.

However, I would like her to confirm whether measures have been taken to help our local and regional media. I am thinking of local media like www.lanouvelle.net and Actualités l'étincelle. I am also thinking of private radio stations like Attraction Radio or CJAN-FM.

I am hoping she can tell us whether there are any measures, any guidelines, that have actually been put in place so that these players also get their share of the pie and so that we can help them for the future.

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague. I remember when I was at the National Federation of Communications and Culture and I would come talk about the importance of defending our media. My colleague, even though he was in the Conservative caucus at the time, always spoke out in favour of the media, especially regional media.

I am happy to reassure him and tell him that the act stipulates that local and regional media will have a place at the negotiating table with digital platforms. The same holds true for official language minority media. This is good news for media throughout the country. We have reserved a place at the table for local and regional media.

Traditional Statutory Holidays

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent to adopt the following motion:

That the House

(a) recall that Christmas is a tradition celebrated in Quebec and Canada;

(b) denounce the Canadian Human Rights Commission's statement that “Statutory holidays related to Christianity, including Christmas and Easter”, represent an "obvious example" of “systemic religious discrimination”, and that this “discrimination against religious minorities in Canada is grounded in Canada's history of colonialism”;

(c) denounce all attempts to polarize events that have been part of Quebec and Canadian heritage for generations.

(d) invite all Quebecers and Canadians to unite as we approach the Christmas season.

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

All those opposed to the hon. member's moving the motion will please say nay.

It is agreed.

The House has heard the terms of the motion. All those opposed to the motion will please say nay.

(Motion agreed to)