Debates of Dec. 6th, 2023

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what is shameful is that this Prime Minister is causing homelessness in this country. He has caused the doubling of the number of people eating at a food bank in Toronto. One single mother in Sydney said, “Well, this month, I had to choose between eating and having heat. My kids are getting fed, but my house is freezing.” The Prime Minister's solution is to quadruple the carbon tax on that single mother and on seniors.

We have a common-sense Conservative bill to take the carbon tax off farmers and food. Why did the Prime Minister manipulate and intimidate Liberal senators into blocking that bill? Why does he want to tax food right before Christmas?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, after all of the intimidation and threats from the Conservatives towards parliamentarians concerning Bill C-234, it turns out that the only farming the Conservative Party cares about is rage farming, because all of this was just an attempt to fundraise off the backs of farmers.

Time and time again, the Conservative leader has shown that he wants to take Canadians back to the Stone Age instead of helping them get ahead. On this side of the House, the Liberal government will always be there to support farmers.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister raises taxes on food, brings back malnutrition and brings in record-smashing food bank use, the best he can come up with is a bunch of scripted talking points from junior staffers in the PMO. That is outrageous. Canadians are going hungry as Christmas is just around the corner. A common-sense Conservative bill to take the tax off farmers and food could have helped solve the problem.

Why did the Prime Minister manipulate and intimidate senators to keep the tax on food and make our people go hungry right before Christmas?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have an opposition leader who is so ideologically opposed to protecting the planet that he is willing to take Parliament hostage and stop Parliament from supporting workers, stop Parliament from supporting families and stop Parliament from supporting Ukraine as well. The Leader of the Opposition has threatened to ruin the holidays if his ideological demands are not met.

Let us be clear. We will keep working for Canadians, while the Conservative leader is fuelled only by the sound of his own voice and has no real plan for this country. We will never back down from supporting Canadians.

CBC/Radio-Canada

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

Mr. Speaker, while there are people who see themselves as prime minister but then have the crazy idea of grinding Parliament to a halt, there is work to be done.

For example, the government appointed Catherine Tait as interim CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada. Her mandate is to fight against disinformation; fight against disinformation by cutting jobs in French in the regions.

Does the Prime Minister agree with me that Ms. Tait should come to Parliament to explain her decisions, which are shocking, to say the least?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as a government, we have always supported CBC/Radio-Canada and the services it provides to local communities across the country.

One of the first measures we took as government was to cancel the Harper government's cuts to our public broadcaster. Supporting local news and journalists during these difficult times for the industry is exactly why we introduced Bill C‑18.

While the Leader of the Opposition celebrates Canadian families being laid off, we will continue to support local journalists and local news in Canada. We are very open to working with the Bloc Québécois on this, as always.

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

Mr. Speaker, I hope we are not supposed to think that Liberal cuts are better than Conservative cuts.

More people in Canada tune in to Radio-Canada than the CBC. Radio-Canada generates more advertising revenue in Canada than the CBC. In fact, French-language Radio-Canada subsidizes CBC's English-language services.

Nevertheless, Ms. Tait is calling on French-language Radio-Canada to absorb half the cuts she is demanding, at the expense of French and at the expense of the regions.

Should the Prime Minister not personally summon Ms. Tait to come and explain herself to francophone parliamentarians in the House of Commons?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as the leader of the Bloc Québécois knows full well, we will always be here to stand up for Canada's two official languages. We are going to focus special attention on protecting French, including French in Quebec.

CBC/Radio-Canada has an important mandate in this area. We are concerned about the situation confronting all of our media outlets these days, what with digitization, web giants and the Conservatives' attacks on the media, especially on CBC/Radio-Canada. We will always be here to stand up for journalism as an essential pillar of our democracy.

Gender-Based Violence

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, three women in London have been killed by their male partners over the past year. Our women's shelters are doing everything they can, but they just cannot keep up. Anova's women's shelter had to turn people away 2,400 times this year. This is an epidemic, but what are the Liberals doing? They are cutting funding to women's shelters when they need them the most.

When will the Prime Minister reverse his $150-million cut to women's shelters?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, today and every day, we reinforce that everyone has the right to live free from violence. We have made historic investments, including precedented investments during the pandemic, to support shelters, and we are taking real action to end gender-based violence in our communities.

We are also working with provinces and territories to develop a national action plan to prevent gender-based violence and support survivors. We know there is an urgent need for more action, and we will not stop until gender-based violence comes to an end.

Indigenous Affairs

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, indigenous women and their children are forced to live in violent situations because of the lack of adequate housing. The Liberals are actively keeping indigenous people marginalized by delaying the release of housing investments promised. The NDP fought to secure $4 billion to help build homes indigenous people need, but the Liberals keep delaying these investments, keeping indigenous people out in the cold.

When will the government help indigenous communities get the homes they so desperately need?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are taking action to address housing gaps in indigenous communities swiftly, effectively and in equal partnership. Budget 2023 included an additional investment of $4 billion in the indigenous housing strategy on top of the $6.7 billion since 2015. In fact, since 2016, we have supported the construction and renovation of over 30,000 homes in first nations communities, and we continue to work with first nations partners to co-develop a 10-year housing infrastructure strategy.

We will continue working with first nations, Inuit and Métis, along with all levels of government, to co-develop and implement community-based housing solutions because they are desperately needed.

Carbon Pricing

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a desperate and panicking Prime Minister spent the weekend calling Liberal senators, pleading with them to keep the carbon tax on farmers. The Conservatives' common-sense plan would take the tax off the people who grow the food, ship the food, and, as a result, off Canadians who buy the food. Yesterday, he got his Christmas wish. Liberal senators gutted Bill C-234, a move that will keep food prices high while Canadians visit food banks in record numbers.

Will the Prime Minister finally listen to the outcry? Will he listen to anyone but his globe-trotting activist environment minister and take the tax off so people can put food on their tables this Christmas?

[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, the only senators who sit in any caucus are Conservative senators, and I would note that up to one-third of those Conservative senators did not vote yesterday.

Climate change, not pollution pricing, is driving food inflation. Farmers are on the front lines of climate change. They know about climate change. They experience the effects of droughts, floods and storms first-hand, and, unlike the Conservative Party, they have no problem saying “climate change”.

The Conservative strategy is to ignore climate change and stay hiding in the pockets of big oil and gas. That is no strategy at all, and it is risky and reckless.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every single senator who voted against the bill was a Liberal senator.

The Prime Minister's carbon tax has already ruined Christmas for millions of Canadian families, so Conservatives are going to ruin Christmas vacation for the Prime Minister and his Liberal MPs. We will stay here as long as it takes to force them to axe the tax so Canadians can afford gas, groceries and home heating.

How long are we going to be here? Is it one week, two weeks or three weeks until the Prime Minister finally relents and cancels his carbon tax on farmers, families and first nations?

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

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Conservatives, who had their senators bully independent senators in the other place, we will stand up to the bullies on the other side. We will continue to stand for Canadians every single day, and we know that when we put a price on pollution with the rebate, Canadians get more back than they pay.

If the Conservatives cared about Canadians and their affordability challenges, they would support the price on pollution because it is putting money in their pockets, but in typical Conservative style, they take from the poor to give to the rich.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this weekend, it was the Prime Minister who was bullying the senators, calling them up and telling them to kill Bill C-234, a common-sense bill to help farmers and families. The Senate listened to him; it gutted the bill. However, people are suffering. People are hungry.

The food bank use in my riding is up over 100%, so will the Prime Minister finally listen to Canadians and take the carbon tax off farmers, first nations and families?

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

Mr. Speaker, the other place actually found one of the Conservative senators in breach of privilege for the actions he took bullying independent senators. The member should be cognizant of the fact that independent senators can make their own decisions.

When it comes to supporting Canadians, the current government has been there the entire time, whether it was through supporting millions of Canadians through the pandemic or whether it is supporting them through the social safety net the Conservatives are looking to gut with their cuts. In typical Conservative fashion, they are looking to take from the poor and give to the rich.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is the Liberal government that is trying to make everybody poor. The Prime Minister is determined to ruin Christmas for Canadians, so Conservatives will ruin his vacation.

We will stay here and we will fight until the Prime Minister decides to take the carbon tax off families, farmers and first nations. Will he do it?

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

Mr. Speaker, the party opposite continues to spread information that is simply incorrect. When Conservatives are talking about the vote in the other place, they should really be asking the Conservative senators, who sit in caucus, why they did not show up to vote yesterday. If they truly cared about it, that would have been the question they were asking instead of posing this question to the government, which has nothing to do with the independent Senate.

What we do on this side of the House is support farmers. We are going to be there for farmers. We are going to be there for all Canadians like we have been since 2015. We are going to keep delivering for them.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Liberal government, everything costs more and, unfortunately, it is not over yet.

As we know, the House passed Bill C-234 and even the Greens voted for this bill, which will give farmers a tax break. Then, on the weekend, the Prime Minister panicked. He picked up the phone and called the senators he appointed to make sure that Bill C-234 did not get passed. Unfortunately, it worked, and that is the problem.

Why is the Prime Minister always so quick to take even more money out of the pockets of Canadian families?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for my colleague opposite, but he knows full well that the only party in the House that is trying to take money out of Canadians' pockets is the Conservative Party. If the Conservatives cancel the price on pollution, most Canadians will be worse off than they are now. If there is anything that we should be asking senators, it is why the Conservative senators did not vote yesterday.

We, on this side of the House, respect democratic institutions, but we know that the Conservatives do not.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for the minister too, but she is going to have to explain to me why, whenever there is a tax hike, it always means taking even more money out of the pockets of Canadian families. That is exactly what the government is doing.

We had the solution with Bill C-234. It would give farmers a break, it would mean less tax to pay, it would stop food prices from continuing to rise under this Liberal government. Sadly, the Liberals decided to once again use their senator friends, whom they themselves appointed, to attack the wallets of Canadian taxpayers.

When will this government understand that it is costly to vote Liberal?

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

Mr. Speaker, what is costly is taking money out of Canadians' pockets, which is what the Conservatives are doing. They voted against the Canada child benefit. They voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for seniors. They voted against the dental benefit for less affluent Canadians.

On this side of the House, we understand that we have to be there to support Canadians. That is something I wish the party opposite could understand.

Oil and Gas Industry

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the number to keep in mind this week is 2,000. That is the number of meetings there have been between the Liberals and fossil fuel lobbyists since last year; 2,000 meetings in two years.

We know that numbers do not lie. When a Liberal offers a choice between listening to his or her speech or looking at the numbers, everyone should do what I did and look at the numbers.

The Liberals keep telling us that they are green. I have a very simple question for them.

Do they realize that the numbers suggest they are actually black as oil?