Debates of Feb. 8th, 2023

Carbon Pricing

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, farmers are concerned about their futures, about their kids, about their next generations of farmers and their communities. That is why they know that fighting climate change is important, but they also know they should not be carrying that burden alone. That is why we are continuing to support them in innovation, transformation and success so that they are going to be able to continue to feed Canadians with pride for generations.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in December 2019, Dan's heating bill was $175. In January of this year, using the same amount of heat, it nearly tripled to almost $400.

After eight years of the Prime Minister, the Liberals continue to take away what Canadians need to survive: heating, housing and food. There are no solutions, just more tax. How is this compassionate? How is this leadership?

We know they are capable of backtracking. Will the Liberals do it? Will they keep the heat on and take the tax off?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the price on pollution that we brought in delivers, as well, a carbon incentive, a climate action rebate that gives more money back to average families than they pay, in the areas that have the carbon tax federal backstop applied.

These are things that are facts, that the Conservatives continue to deny. On top of that, Conservatives continue to pretend that we can have a plan for the future of the economy without having a plan to fight climate change, which is simply wrong.

We will be there to fight climate change and support Canadians.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, Canadians are out of money.

The $40 a month of carbon tax may not be anything to him, but in reality it is a lot to most Canadian families. It is the difference between giving their kids snacks or not. Read the room. Talk to real Canadians. Listen to them instead of listening to yourself.

Will you keep the heat on, Mr. Prime Minister, and take the tax off?

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

I just want to remind the hon. members to speak through the Speaker not directly to each other.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member were listening to her constituents instead of Conservative misinformation, she would have heard that a family of four in her riding just received the first of four cheques for $185 with the climate action incentive, just this past month.

We are there to invest in supporting Canadians, while at the same time we fight against the impacts of climate change. We are there putting more money in families' pockets with a plan to fight climate change, which is what people across Ontario and across the country need from their governments.

Official Languages

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Standing Committee on Official Languages turned into a full-blown circus because some Liberal members refused to acknowledge French as the common language of Quebec. The Liberal government is even jeopardizing its own Bill C-13, which is unprecedented.

Yesterday, a Franco-Ontarian member had the courage to speak out against the appalling spectacle these members were putting on and the false information they are spreading about Bill 101. However, to date, not a single Liberal member from Quebec has shown this kind of courage and stood up for French.

Will the Prime Minister condemn the Liberal disinformation?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a member from Quebec and a proud Quebecker who stands up in the House today and every day—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

Order.

The right hon. Prime Minister can start over.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am a proud Quebecker who stands up in the House every day to defend French in Quebec and across Canada.

Our government was the first to recognize in a throne speech that we must protect French, and not just as one of our country's official languages. We also need to do more to protect French in Quebec.

That is exactly what we are doing with Bill C-13, which seeks to protect linguistic minorities across the country and protect French in Quebec. We are here to protect French. We are here for our beautiful French language.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of talk about the Liberal members who have turned the Standing Committee on Official Languages into a circus. There has been less talk about the responsibility of the Prime Minister, who continued day after day to delegate these members despite their shameful missteps.

The Prime Minister sanctioned the disinformation that needlessly caused anxiety. Could he now do the right thing and reassure anglophones by confirming that neither Bill C‑13 nor Bill 96 will prevent them from receiving health care in their language?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a statement that I know will get a reaction out of the Bloc Québécois MPs. I fundamentally believe that the Bloc Québécois is not concerned one bit about the fate of French in Canada. The Bloc is concerned about the fate of French in Quebec, certainly. However, they do not give a damn about francophone minorities across the country.

It is the federal government's job to be there for francophones across the country, just like we are there for francophones in Quebec. We will continue to be there and we will always stand up for our official languages.

Health

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Liberal government has added more to the national debt than every other government combined. Wait times for health care are the longest they have been in three decades. Canadians cannot buy medicines for their sick children. Canadians do not have a family doctor. I bet many Canadians watching this today are in that group. Canadians are tragically dying in emergency rooms around this country. The cupboard has been spent bare.

When will the Prime Minister take responsibility for the broken health care system and step aside so that we can fix what he broke?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform the member opposite that yesterday we announced $198 billion worth of additional funds in health care over the coming 10 years. This is money that the provinces will be investing to make sure that people have better access to family doctors, that there is better and more timely mental health care, that we are supporting our frontline workers and that we are grounding our systems in better data and better health information.

On top of that, for the emergency rooms that the member opposite is worried about, we are sending $2 billion immediately to provinces and territories so they can deal with the important pressures facing them. We are here to help on health care.

The Economy

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the member for Papineau that after eight years of the Liberal government everything in Canada is broken. Canadians cannot get a passport, 1.5 million Canadians are visiting a food bank every month, five million Canadians do not have a family doctor and Canadians cannot afford rent or a mortgage. Canadians have to choose between heating their homes and eating. This is all under the watchful gaze of the member for Papineau.

Everything in Canada is broken. When will the Prime Minister take responsibility for these problems and step aside so that Conservatives can fix what he broke?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we fully recognize that Canadians are facing tough times right now, which is why we are stepping up to support them directly. However, Conservatives, other than telling them, “Oh, you can opt out of inflation by buying cryptocurrencies,” which would have been devastating for family savings and totally reckless advice, simply stand against support for low-income renters. They stand against making sure that 200,000 kids, so far, can access dental care that they were not able to access before. These are things that are helping Canadians.

It is the Conservatives who have to stop pushing for cuts and austerity.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years with this Prime Minister at the helm, Canadians are realizing that all his talk about helping the middle class was just grandstanding. As a result of his policies, ordinary Canadians are finding it increasingly difficult to pay their bills. After eight years of this Prime Minister, his inflationary spending has driven up interest rates, depriving young families of their right to dream of home ownership.

After eight years, will the Prime Minister finally take responsibility for the rising cost of groceries, rent and gas so we can finally fix what is broken?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, let me set the record straight. In eight years, 2.7 million Canadians have been lifted out of poverty.

People are going through tough times right now. That is why we are investing to improve our health care system, to help low-income renters, to help seniors and to help pay for dental care for children under 12 whose families could not afford it. We are there to help Canadians.

The Conservatives continue to offer cuts, austerity and conspiracy theories.

Health

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, for weeks now, the Conservative leader has been saying the Liberal government helped Canadians too much during the pandemic. Let me be clear. The government supports included an additional $72 billion for health care to the provinces and territories. My constituents are left to wonder: How much worse off would their hospitals and health care system have been if the leader of the Conservatives had been in charge?

Will the Prime Minister follow the Conservative leader's misguided advice on austerity and cuts to health care spending, or can the Prime Minister provide us with any policy alternatives?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Malpeque for his advocacy, and I reassure him that we will be taking no lessons on cuts and austerity from the Conservative Party. As Canadians, we place a lot of value in our universal public health system, but we know it has not been living up to expectations. That is why yesterday we brought forward a plan to increase health funding over the next decade. We know that the Conservative Party's approach is one of austerity and cuts, but let us be very clear. We do not hire any more doctors or reduce wait times with cuts. On our side, we are focused on making investments and delivering results for Canadians.

Public Services and Procurement

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, we have billions of dollars of waste. The Canada Infrastructure Bank was created on the recommendation of former McKinsey CEO Dominic Barton. The current CEO of the bank was a partner at McKinsey. It is no surprise that McKinsey has received consulting contracts of $1.5 million. This taxpayer-funded bank lacks integrity and transparency.

Will the Prime Minister take responsibility and fix what he broke by cancelling the out-of-control Infrastructure Bank?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when we took office eight years ago, we made a commitment to Canadians that we would invest in the kinds of infrastructure that would grow our economy, would create good jobs and would create opportunities for all Canadians. That is exactly what we have been doing through various ways such as investing in public transit, investing in new trade corridors and investing in record amounts of housing.

We know that Canadians want to see a better future built, every single day, in this country. That is why we will take no lessons from the Conservatives on not spending and investing in infrastructure, other than a few doorknobs here and there. We will continue to move forward on infrastructure.

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, Liberal insiders have been lining their pockets while Canadians have been lining up at food banks. McKinsey, one of those insiders, is the very same company that helped turbocharge opioid sales. It was involved in government corruption scandals the world over and, of course, helped the Government of Saudi Arabia track down and punish its opponents. That is the company that the Prime Minister gave $120 million of taxpayer money to.

Will the Prime Minister finally take responsibility for giving Canadians' tax dollars to a corrupt company, or will he get out of the way so—

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

The right hon. Prime Minister.