Debates of Dec. 4th, 2023

Finance

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about some facts and reality. The reality is that Canada has the lowest deficit and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the entire G7. The reality is that when we listen to the objective economists whose job it is to judge our fiscal position, the ratings agencies, we have a AAA rating. We made the necessary investments to support Canadians. That is why there are 1.1 million more jobs in Canada than before COVID and why our economy is more than 104% bigger than it was before COVID.

Veterans Affairs

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for months now, we have been asking who interfered in the competition for the National Monument to Canada's Mission in Afghanistan. Who overturned the jury's selection to cast aside Team Daoust for the benefit of a Toronto team?

Documents obtained by the Bloc Québécois confirm that the Prime Minister's Office was involved. In May 2022, he organized a meeting with the ministers to discuss the competition. Then, in July, he pressured public servants who were reluctant to override the jury.

Why did the Prime Minister's Office interfere in the competition to make the Daoust team lose?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his important question.

The creation of a national monument to Canada's mission in Afghanistan will at last recognize the commitment of the Canadians who served in that mission.

The Department of Veterans Affairs conducted a survey or questionnaire. More than 12,000 Canadians, most of whom were veterans, responded to the survey.

The Stimson concept was chosen because we were told that it better reflected the sacrifice, bravery and loss of our veterans.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the survey the minister is talking about is a sham. It was demolished by Léger. In any case, the jury had already taken it into consideration before ruling.

Here is what really happened. The Prime Minister's Office interfered in the decision at least twice. The Department of Justice provided legal opinions on the consequences of overturning the jury's decision. In committee, expert Jean‑Pierre Chupin confirmed that this had never been seen before in the 500 competitions that have been held in Canada.

Why did the Prime Minister once again interfere in the competition to make the Daoust team lose?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, here is what really happened. The government chose to listen to veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs conducted a survey using a questionnaire to hear what Canadians had to say. Over 12,000 Canadians responded. Most of them were veterans or their family members.

The message was clear. For them, the Stimson concept better represented the courage, sacrifice and loss of veterans. That is why we went with that concept.

Carbon Pricing

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians depend on affordable proteins like chicken, yet over the last eight years, families are forced to cut back on these essentials. Canadian farms lead the world in environmental best practices, but the Liberals choose only to punish them with higher costs, red tape and a quadrupling of the carbon tax. A chicken farmer near Redwater, Alberta, is already paying nearly two grand a month in the carbon tax. Come the middle of winter, that cost will double. Those costs are passed on to Canadians who are already struggling to put food on the table.

Will these Liberals take the tax off families, farmers and first nations, finally?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I speak with farmers across the country. One of the biggest concerns they have is why the opposition party does not have a policy or a plan to deal with the environment. Chicken farmers understand very well, like every other farmer, that we need to have a plan. We have to deal with the environment. Because we do have a plan for our environment, we are able to assist chicken farmers. We are able to make sure the supply management system remains in place.

My hon. colleague can tell chicken farmers that we will make sure that supply management remains strong.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable how out of touch that ag minister is. Jake from Vermeer's Dairy near Camrose saw a bill of $1,700 in carbon tax charges alone last month. It is going to be more as winter settles in on the Canadian Prairies. It is clear that these Liberals do not have an environmental plan but, rather, a tax plan that punishes those who are best equipped to lower the price of food in this country.

My question is simple. Will those Liberals tell their Liberal-appointed senators to pass common-sense Conservative Bill C-234 to axe the tax so farmers can feed our people?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, my office has been in regular contact with the farm of which he spoke about. The operation has benefited from seven of our government programs, including the BRM program and funding through the climate action incentive fund.

We will continue to support large operations in the country and we will continue to work with small agricultural operations in this country to make sure both operations succeed and expand.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, can this government listen to common sense? It has been in power for eight years. Can the Liberals get out of their bubble and worry about real people?

Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly. Here is another example: Aided and abetted by the Bloc Québécois, the Liberals are blocking Bill C‑234, which would give breathing room to our farmers and our Canadians families.

Will the Prime Minister finally drop his plan to drastically increase the carbon tax on the backs of farmers and Canadian families?

[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, it is important for me to say once again that there is no federal tax on carbon for farmers in Quebec.

Just like everyone in this House, I share the goal of ensuring the success of our Canadian farmers. That is why our government has created a rural top-up for rebates to directly return the proceeds of the price on pollution. Our government has already returned $120 million to farmers in the past year.

Housing

[Wilson Miao, Liberal, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, housing is top of mind for my community of Richmond Centre and all Canadians. For many, the rising cost of rent is causing stress and for others, they feel like they will never be able to own a home.

On this side of the House, we have a plan to address those concerns and get more homes built.

Can the hon. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance tell Canadians what our government has been doing to build more homes faster for British Columbians?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking the member for his hard work for the people of Richmond Centre and all the people of B.C.

Our government is stepping up to lead the national effort to build more homes faster. Just last week, I was at an affordable housing project in downtown Vancouver. That project next May will begin welcoming its first residents into 231 beautiful, new, affordable rental homes, and that is less than three years after shovels first went into the ground.

We are going to keep on working to build more homes faster for Canadians.

Automotive Industry

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the NDP-Liberal government has turned its back on Canadian labour. The government is bringing in 1,600 taxpayer-funded foreign replacement workers for the battery assembly plant in Windsor. That is $40 billion or $3,000 in taxes per household. Conservatives have been consistently demanding the release of these contracts publicly, but the NDP has flip-flopped and is working with the Liberals to keep the contracts secret, to hide these bad contracts.

When will the Liberals and the NDP stand up for Canadian auto workers and release the contracts?

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

Mr. Speaker, either the Conservative leader takes us all for fools or he thinks the Canadian public was in a coma for the last 20 years. Either way, no one could take his claim to be protecting local jobs seriously. Not only is his track record as part of the previous Conservative government abysmal, consisting of the loss of over 300,000 manufacturing jobs, he has also proven to be one of the most anti-worker MPs, a legacy that he continues today by opposing legislation that would create good jobs for Canadian workers.

While Conservatives pretend to care about workers, we will continue to create thousands of—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the NDP has turned its back on Canadian workers to back the Prime Minister and his secret deal to bring in overseas replacement workers. It is clear that after eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost to Canadians workers. The NDP member for Windsor West voted to keep secret the contracts from Canadian taxpayers. If the NDP-Liberal government has nothing to hide, then why not show Canadians the details that are going to cost them $3,000 per family?

Will the Prime Minister finally release the contract details so Canadians can see how many replacement workers $40 billion buys?

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

Mr. Speaker, contrary to what the Conservatives claim, our government has always been clear regarding jobs created by investments like LG and Stellantis. In a recent article, Yakabuski writes, “These workers will only be here for a matter of months. The plant could not be built without them, or at least not in time for battery production to be up and running by 2025. They will not 'steal' jobs from Canadian construction workers nor occupy any of the 2,500 permanent jobs”.

I know the opposition leader has a hard time showing respect to journalists, but maybe the Conservatives should stop fearmongering and read The Globe and Mail.

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this government, cover-ups have become the Liberal trademark.

At the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, the Liberals filibustered for hours to avoid having to publicly disclose the battery factory contracts. It is easy to see why they are afraid. This Prime Minister has spent billions of dollars on temporary foreign workers for both Stellantis in Ontario and Northvolt in Quebec. He is absolutely not worth the cost.

Is he finally going to tell Canadians the truth and make the contracts public?

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

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague is well aware, the committees are independent. They make their own decisions.

When it comes to the Stellantis investments, the Conservatives have their heads in the sand. We are talking about 2,500 Canadian jobs in Windsor. What the president of the union local is saying is that the Conservatives' proposal is putting future investments at risk. They should be more responsible when it comes to Canadian jobs.

Carbon Pricing

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Mr. Speaker, last week, Dow Chemical announced a multi-billion dollar investment in Alberta. While the Conservative members from Alberta voted against the policies that helped us land this job-creating deal, Liberals still made it happen. If the Conservatives were in power—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

Order. There is a lot of yelling there. Let us keep the volume down so that the hon. member can ask the question.

The member for Calgary Skyview.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Mr. Speaker, if they were in power, the climate science-denying Conservatives would squander these investments with their alternative-facts-based agenda.

Can the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources update this House on how my home province of Alberta—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

The hon. minister.