Debates of Dec. 15th, 2023

Criminal Code

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I would like to seek unanimous consent.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

There is no unanimous consent.

I want to remind members that they should be careful while talking across the way.

The House resumed from November 1 consideration of the motion.

Finance

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, the issue of competition in this country is an incredibly important one when it is set against the backdrop of skyrocketing prices.

After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, we have seen the effect of its policies. Take a look at rent; it has doubled. Take a look at mortgage payments; they have doubled. The cost of borrowing has skyrocketed. What we need in our country right now is not less competition. How would less competition manifest itself with banks? Right now, there are a couple of big banks that are in competition. That has produced record-high interest rates. Everyone who is just trying to get into the housing market or who is looking for a renewal has never seen interest rates at the levels we have today. People who are going to be renewing mortgages in the next two years are going to be renewing their 1.8%, five-year fixed mortgage at, what, 5.5% or 6.5%? People's mortgage payments have doubled, at a time when we have record food bank usage.

Food price inflation has skyrocketed. I was having a conversation with a manager of one of the local food banks in my community. One of the challenges they have is a need for more funding or more volunteers, more folks to be at the food bank longer, because now, it has to have longer operating hours. Why is that? It is a new problem. It needs to be open when people finish their shift at work. People are working one or two jobs, and then they have to find the time to get to the food bank to pick up enough nutritious food to supplement what they are able to afford, in order to be able to feed themselves and their children. A third of all food bank users today are children. Prices are going up. Shelter costs are gobbling up the income, the available funds, that families should have to be able to feed their—

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I believe we are talking about the concurrence motion. I am just wondering about the relevance of what the member opposite is saying, to the merger of HSBC and the Royal Bank of Canada.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I just want to remind members that there is some flexibility during members' speeches. At the same time, I do want to remind members that they need to be speaking to the motion itself.

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, I guess that if the member opposite has not had to worry about the financial pressures that other Canadians have had, because of her personal financial situation and great success, then congratulations to her on her many, many millions of dollars. However, for everyday Canadians, shelter costs will go up when banks merge—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill is rising on a question of privilege.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, I do not know how anything about me personally, which he does not even know about, has any relevance to the motion or to what we are talking about—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

This is becoming a point of debate; it is not a question of privilege.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, that the member opposite can talk about my personal financial situation—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Again, it is a point of debate. However, I do want to remind members that they need to be respectful toward each other here in the House of Commons.

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would encourage the member opposite to crack open the House of Commons Procedure and Practice and take a look at what the Standing Orders are before she rises in the chamber.

What would be really helpful for Canadians is if she was respectful to the people who are falling on hard times. She obviously is not experiencing that. This is why she does not understand that, when these banks merge, if the Liberals permit that to happen, they are going to face rising shelter costs. That is the relevance of a bank merger.

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, we can hear the member for Kingston and the Islands. If he wants to shout me down while I am talking about the hardships that Canadians are facing, it is not a surprise. The champagne Liberals—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Order. This is prolonging the debate. We want to make sure that everybody who wants to speak to it can.

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is no surprise that the Liberals, who are part of the most corrupt government in our country's history, are presiding over an economy where their inflationary spending is driving Canadians to food banks in record numbers, yet they do not want elected representatives to speak to the very real challenges Canadians are facing. Their failure to understand those realities is not a defence for their actions and inactions. We have seen corruption and mismanagement from the government driving these inflationary prices, and that is indefensible.

If we look at the billion-dollar green slush fund that the Prime Minister, his members and the member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill are prepared to stand up and defend, it is egregious. We have the embezzlement of taxpayer dollars by Liberal insiders. This is a situation that, in any other industry, would rise to the level of criminality. We have directors who are Liberal-appointed members of this board; they are putting forward motions and then voting on them to give themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are embezzling the money, putting it into their companies and then drawing salaries out of those companies—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I realize this is my colleague speaking, but how does this discussion exactly relate to the subject we are talking about? I want to make sure that everything is on track and that he is—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The point of order the hon. member is raising is with respect to the relevancy of the speech.

I want to remind members that they should at least mention the motion or something within the motion to make sure that relevancy is there.

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, every time anyone has risen during this, I have circled back to the same point I made before, which is that the merger of banks is going to drive up costs for Canadians at a time when they cannot afford it. What they cannot afford is Liberal—

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I remember the member for Carleton saying that Conservatives would work until Christmas, but we do not have quorum in the House.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Let me check whether we have quorum.

And the count having been taken:

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

We have quorum.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I do believe that, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following motion, that the House shall continue—