Debates of Feb. 8th, 2023

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister has done is double the rent to $2,200 a month as an average in the 10 biggest cities. He has doubled the home heating bills right across the country, and he has doubled the average mortgage payment to well over $3,000 a month. No wonder nine out of 10 young people who do not own a home believe they never will.

This is after eight years of inflationary policies that have driven up the cost of housing and driven up interest rates to pay for it. Why will the Prime Minister not admit that these things are broken after eight years of his leadership so that we can fix them?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, over the past eight years we have stepped up on investing in housing. We have invested in low-income rentals, and we have made sure that seniors have extra supports so they can retire with dignity. The previous Conservative government consistently nickelled and dimed seniors and veterans and refused to support young families. These are the kinds of things we have been working on, and yes, there is more to do. This is why we were so surprised that the Conservative Party stood against extra supports for low-income renters and supporting families to send their kids to dentists when they could not afford it.

These are things we will continue to do.

Public Services and Procurement

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said he was drawing the line to ban anyone from pointing out that things are broken after eight years of his leadership. His own Parliamentary Budget Officer has crossed the line, saying, “there is a system that is broken” and “anybody who has recently applied for a passport, Employment Insurance, Old Age Security and the list goes on” probably realizes very well that the “level of service Canadians are getting is not what one would expect from a world-class public service.” There is “room for enhanced leadership”.

Will the Prime Minister call to the carpet this rogue parliamentary officer for saying that things are broken?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, through a very difficult pandemic, yes, there have been challenges for service delivery. That is why this government has been stepping up. One area we are stepping up in is recognizing that our universal public health care system needs more support. That is why we are moving forward with investments worth $198 billion in additional money to support provinces and territories in delivering better health care for Canadians.

Whether it is with more access to family doctors, better mental health supports, better support for frontline health workers or better data and information to underpin our system, we are there to invest as Conservatives continue to push cuts.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, far be it from me to stick my nose in other people's business, but media reports suggest all is not well in the Liberal caucus. The Prime Minister is adding to an already long list of major problems.

Quebec and the provinces calculated they need $300 billion in new money for health care. The government ponied up $46 billion over 10 years, which nobody thinks is nearly enough.

Let us start at the beginning. Will the Prime Minister admit that this is not $200 billion in new money, it is actually $46 billion?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, over the next 10 years, the federal government will invest an additional $198 billion in health care systems across the country, and that includes $46 billion in new money for the provinces and territories. The purpose of this money is to provide access to family doctors, provide access to better mental health services, especially for our youth, ensure that frontline health workers get appropriate support, and create better data and information systems for Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, this is progress. He is no longer pretending it is $20 billion a year; it is $4.6 billion a year. The provinces were asking for $28 billion. This is a far cry from what is needed to care for people. This requires a proper assessment of what it takes to care for people.

Now we see that the government is indexing underfunding. It is publicly announcing that a problem that is real today is going to be just as real for the next 10 years.

Can the Prime Minister admit that this money is not enough and commit to improving his offer?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, while my hon. colleague talks about what the provinces want, we are focused on what Canadians need.

Canadians need more family doctors. They need more mental health help. Canadians need to see that frontline workers in hospitals and other facilities are better paid and supported. Canadians need to know where their medical records are and they need better information to understand the system they rely on.

That is what we are doing in partnership with the provinces. We are going to improve health care systems for tomorrow.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the Prime Minister's meeting with the premiers, he had a chance to tell premiers not to double down on for-profit care and poach from our hospitals. However, Premier Doug Ford confirms that this never came up in any conversation. The Prime Minister had a chance to stand up for public health care and increasing staffing levels. Instead, he stood down.

The Prime Minister used to believe in public health care. Why the flip-flop?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure my hon. NDP colleague will be pleased to know that he has been misinformed.

One of the very first things I said when I sat down with the premiers yesterday was about respect for our universal public system and how the principles of the Canada Health Act are foundational for this government and for any money that we flow to the provinces and to health care systems across this country over the coming years.

On this side of the aisle, we will always stand up for universal public health care.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, during the last election, the Prime Minister spoke out against the for-profit privatization of our health care system. He said that would not be innovation, and I agree.

However, it has been confirmed that, yesterday, he did not raise this issue in his meeting with the premiers. He had the opportunity to defend our health care system and he rolled over.

Why this big flip-flop?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat my answer to make sure that my NDP colleague hears me properly.

The first thing I said when I sat down with the premiers yesterday to talk about health care and the investments that the federal government will make to help people is that we need to uphold the Canada Health Act and continue with our universal public system, which provides services to Canadians across the country.

That is a fundamental principle that we will always defend. We are always there to defend our public health care system.

The Economy

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years under the Liberal Prime Minister, Canadians cannot afford groceries, which are up 11%. They cannot afford rent; it has doubled. Nine out of 10 young people say that they will never be able to afford a home. To add insult to injury, he is tripling the carbon tax.

Will the Prime Minister take responsibility for the cost-of-living crisis that he created or at least get out of the way so we can fix it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we recognize that Canadians are going through difficult times right now following the challenges of the global pandemic and global inflation. That is why we chose to step up to support Canadians last fall with a doubling of the GST credit, which has helped 11 million Canadians; moving forward on supporting lowest-income renters; and making sure that all families can send their kids to the dentist. Unfortunately, the Conservatives, despite their rhetoric, stood against those last two measures and refused to help Canadians who need it. They are abandoning the middle class in favour of cuts and austerity.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been in that chair for eight years, and for millions of Canadians, things have never been worse. Inflation is at the highest it has been in 40 years, interest rates are the highest in a generation and home prices and rents are the highest they have ever been.

The Prime Minister can try to deflect responsibility; he can try to blame someone or something else. Conservatives are fighting to keep the heat on and the taxes off. Will he at least do the same?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to see the lengths to which Conservatives will go to pretend the pandemic never happened. It was a very difficult time for Conservative politicians at the federal level. They were not convinced about vaccines and did not like all the supports we were sending to Canadians, even though it not only ensured that millions of Canadians were kept safer during the pandemic but also allowed our economy to bounce back stronger than just about any of our fellow economies did.

In regard to supporting Canadians, our price on pollution puts more money back in the pockets of families. At the same time, we are investing $500 million so that families can upgrade their home heating.

Seniors

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this woke Prime Minister's inflationary spending, seniors are going cold, hungry and broke.

Seventy-five-year-old Janet from Montreal says that she is completely out of money because Liberal inflation drove up the cost of her groceries, gas and rent. She is saying that now she cannot even retire.

This Prime Minister will pile-drive more seniors like Janet when he triples his failed carbon tax scam, further breaking seniors and Canada. Are these the sunny ways this Prime Minister was talking about? Will he take some responsibility, show some humility and take the tax off so seniors can keep the heat on?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, while opposition members are simply focused on frightening seniors, what we actually saw 10 years ago was that they raised the age of retirement from 65 to 67 years, which we returned to 65 when we first took office. Then we moved forward with an increase in the guaranteed income supplement of 10% for the most vulnerable single seniors; that party voted against the increase.

We continue to step up in ways to support Canadian seniors right across the country and lift more of them out of poverty while Conservatives continue to argue against those investments.

The Economy

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this guy must be great at dodgeball the way he ducks, dodges and deflects questions here. He sounds like a broken record, although not as broken as Canada feels after eight years of his failures. He is completely out of touch.

Does he actually think that people are patting him on the back because he has raised the costs of gas, groceries and home heating with his out-of-control spending and his failed carbon tax? If he does not want to take the tax off so that Canadians can keep the heat on, why does he not just get out of the way so that we can fix everything he broke?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as a government we stepped up to support Canadians during the pandemic. As a government we continue to step up to support Canadians during these difficult times of high inflation and high interest rates. That is why we put forward initiatives to double the GST rebate for 11 million families. That is why we moved forward with rental support for the lowest-income renters and dental supports for families who cannot send their kids to the dentist.

Despite all the rhetoric from the Conservatives, they cannot dodge the fact that they voted against those initiatives.

Government Priorities

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years as Prime Minister, the member for Papineau is more out of touch with Canadians than ever, to say the least. Let us not forget that in December, the Prime Minister solemnly told 2,000 Liberal pals that “Canada is not broken”.

On Saturday morning, he heard the truth from Canadians, loud and clear: Two out of three Canadians say that Canada is broken. That is what happens when the government is out of touch with Canadians.

When will the Prime Minister take full responsibility for the fact that Canada is broken because of him?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, throughout our history, Canada and Canadians have faced some extremely difficult times.

We are going through a difficult time right now. Instead of throwing our hands up and saying that everything is broken, we know what Canadians are doing. They are there for one another. They are rolling up their sleeves to help one another. That is how we know that they appreciate the fact that we are investing in support for dental care and for low-income renters.

Our hon. colleague voted against these initiatives. We will continue to be there despite the Conservatives' opposition to investing.

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

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, after eight years of Liberal governance, not only is the Prime Minister out of touch with Canadians, he is also out of touch with his officers of Parliament.

Yesterday, before the Senate committee, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Mr. Giroux, said, and I quote, “I think if you ask anybody who has asked recently for a passport, employment insurance, old age security and the list goes on, they are probably very well aware that the level of service Canadians are getting is not what one would expect from a world-class public service”.

In short, Canada is broken. The Conservatives are not the ones saying it. Two out of three Canadians are saying it, including the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

When is the Prime Minister going to take full responsibility—

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are taking action to help Canadians who are facing difficult times. Yes, there have been challenges with service delivery in the wake of the pandemic this past year. We will continue to work to improve services and support Canadians. That is what Canadians expect.

Unfortunately, the Conservative Party voted against help for dental care and help for low-income renters. It has nothing to offer Canadians except recommendations like investing in cryptocurrencies to avoid the effects of inflation. That is ridiculous and irresponsible.