House of Commons Hansard #180 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was budget.
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, this was the only time I have gone to see these friends since I became Prime Minister.
From memory, I believe I only went once during the years I served as an MP, before becoming Prime Minister.
We are working with the Office of the Ethics Commissioner, as we must always do, to ensure that all the rules are followed, even when we go visit friends.
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC
Mr. Speaker, one in five Canadians are skipping meals, and 1.5 million Canadians are using a food bank every month. Their rents or mortgage payments have doubled since the Prime Minister took office, and many of them do not know how they will be able to pay the bills at the end of each month.
While Canadians are struggling with the cost of living, the Prime Minister jets off on a Jamaican vacation for $81,000 at a private villa, courtesy of a big-time Trudeau foundation donor. How much of that gift did the Prime Minister pay back out of his own pocket?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, if the Conservative Party really cared about Canadians and affordability, instead of personal attacks on me, they would move forward on supporting the budget we are putting forward tonight, which is delivering affordability supports, and mental, dental and health care supports to Canadians, as well as building great jobs in the growing green economy right across the country.
Indeed, Conservatives will have an even sooner opportunity to do that. Will they let pass the unanimous consent motion to accelerate delivery of the grocery rebate to 11 million Canadians across the country? I hope they support that motion now.
Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB
Mr. Speaker, since 2015, the Prime Minister has spent $21 billion more on the public service and $22 billion on outside consultants, yet he was not capable of negotiating an agreement with the public service. It is Canadians who are suffering. It is Canadians who are not receiving their passports, Canadians' loved ones whose immigration processes will be elongated and Canadians who will not receive their tax refunds.
Will the Prime Minister take responsibility and apologize, not only to the public service, but also to Canadians, for failing to reach a negotiation?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, we know all too well what the Conservative playbook would be on this: back-to-work legislation even before the picket lines were brought up. That is what they have done before. That is their go-to on this.
On this side of the House, we actually respect and work with unions as partners. We respect the right to collective bargaining. We have been at the table working constructively. They continue to be at the table, right now, in constructive conversations. We will continue to be there to make sure that Canadians get the services they need and that public servants continue to get the respect they deserve, but they do not get that from the Conservatives.
Yves-François Blanchet Bloc Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's Office has admitted that it sent questions to the Trudeau Foundation, which is named after his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau. This is the same foundation for which his brother, Alexandre Trudeau, received or solicited a donation of $200,000, plus $50,000 for a statue of his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
By admitting that his office is in touch with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, is the Prime Minister not saying that he has had relatively direct involvement with the Trudeau Foundation?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, a lot of questions were being asked in 2016, questions that were being put to me in the House, about the Trudeau Foundation. That is why my office asked for answers to various questions, so that we could understand exactly what bearing they had on the foundation. As I have said, I have had no direct or indirect involvement with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation for 10 years. I fail to understand what part of this response the leader of the Bloc Québécois refuses to accept, but it is the truth, and it is what I have been saying for a long time.
Yves-François Blanchet Bloc Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is being grilled like burgers on the barbeque he was talking about earlier. Meanwhile, he is not doing his job, which was already not going well.
I have a solution to help him put an end to the torture. Why not let Parliament choose someone to lead an independent public inquiry that he will not have anything more to do with so that he can finally try to get back to doing his job?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, if the leader of the Bloc Québécois wants this government to continue to do its job, all he has to do is vote in favour of our budget this evening.
We are here to implement measures that will help Canadians with the cost of living. We are here to help small businesses with credit card costs. We are here to help Canadians with investments in the health care system and dental care. We are here to create good jobs for the middle class for the years to come with a green shift that will create good jobs and growth across the country.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois has a very simple choice. Will he support our budget, which meets Canadians' expectations?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, all that matters is the results. The result is that after eight years under the Prime Minister, one in five Canadians is skipping meals and 1.5 million are eating at food banks every single month. Some people are eating out of garbage bins because of the Prime Minister's inflationary policies. His solution is to bring in a 41¢-per-litre carbon tax that will cost $1,500 per household in net expenses after rebates on higher home bills, higher grocery bills and higher gas bills. We are voting against it.
Will the Prime Minister axe his tax if he really wants to help?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the leader opposite wants to talk about what we have done since 2015, so let us talk about that. We have lifted over 435,000 children out of poverty through the Canada child benefit, which his party campaigned against. We have created over 50,000 child care spaces to date and cut child care fees in half across the country, including six provinces and territories that are at $10 a day, and he voted against it. We have helped over 230,000 kids access dental care so far, which his party voted against.
Every step of the way, we have been there for Canadians; he has been there for himself.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, this is from the guy who just stuffed his face with a free $80,000 vacation. Sometimes you make it easy for me, Justin. If only it were a laughing matter that one in five Canadians are eating at food banks. Some of them are going to the CEO of those food banks and asking for help with medical assistance in dying. The Prime Minister's solution is to raise taxes on farmers and truckers who bring food to our grocery stores, which will inevitably lead to more hunger and famine.
If he has any common sense at all, will he finally axe his carbon tax?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, everyone in Canada knows that we cannot have a plan for growing the economy if we do not have a plan to fight climate change. Everybody knows that except the Conservative Party of Canada.
We have moved forward by putting a broad price on pollution and bringing down our emissions over the past number of years. We have also put more money back in the pockets of Canadians, and Canadians know that as we fight climate change and support them through this challenging time, they will be able to have better jobs for themselves and their kids for the coming decades.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, and yet the Parliamentary Budget Officer he appointed has calculated that the cost of the carbon tax to the average family is $1,500 more than these phony rebates they get back. This is not just a 41¢-a-litre tax on gas he wants to impose. In addition, it will raise the cost for farmers and truckers to bring food, so it is a food tax.
Is his solution to the fact that 1.5 million Canadians are starving and going to food banks to raise taxes on food?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, our solution is to continue to invest in affordability for Canadians, including with a grocery rebate. We really hope the Conservatives will vote to accelerate this, even though they will probably vote against it tonight in the budget vote.
In regard to the price on pollution, the member knows that constituents in his riding, the average family of four, will be receiving over a thousand dollars in carbon price returns this year. That offsets the cost of the price on pollution they are facing. It is both a plan to fight climate change and to grow the economy while supporting Canadians, and we will continue with it.
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Mr. Speaker, the national shipbuilding strategy is a program that allows us to create and maintain good jobs across the country.
Until now, the strategy relied on the Seaspan and Irving shipyards, but we have just learned that Canada now has a third official shipyard, the Davie shipyard in Lévis.
Would the Prime Minister expand on this announcement and its importance for Canada's economy?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Châteauguay—Lacolle for her question and for the hard work she does.
We recently announced that the Davie shipyard in Lévis has become the third partner under the national shipbuilding strategy.
The deal represents $21 billion in economic benefits and 4,500 jobs in the Quebec City region. Davie is already working on the design for six icebreakers and one polar icebreaker, to be built for the Canadian Coast Guard.
We will be there for the Davie shipyard and we will be there for the workers of Quebec, in a way the Conservative Party was never able to.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, so if people just pay this 41¢-a-litre tax, the Prime Minister will send them something called a “carbon price return”. That is his latest term for it. It is almost like when one gets one of those emails asking for the password to one's bank account, so that a carbon price return can be deposited into it.
Canadians know this tax is a scam. It has not reached any of the climate change targets, and yet it is going to be a net cost to every family of $1,500. Canadians cannot afford to eat, heat or house themselves.
Will the Prime Minister axe his tax?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I suggest that the member opposite choose to spend a little time in his riding of Carleton, because if he did, he would hear from family members and individuals in his riding who just last Friday received a climate action incentive cheque. This went to families right across his riding, right across Ontario, with one payment every three months that will total over $1,000 for Ontario families of four. This will help them offset the price that we have put on pollution and continue to build good jobs and a better future for all Canadians. That is what we are doing. People know we have to fight climate change and support families.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, I have spent time in my riding, and what they are talking about is that they cannot afford to put gas in their car because the Prime Minister's carbon tax is already 14¢ a litre, rising to 41¢ a litre.
On page 3 of the report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, whom he appointed, it says that the net cost to the average Ontario family above and beyond any rebate cheques they will get is $1,820 a year. This is not an environmental plan. It is a tax scam.
Will he axe the tax?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report concurs with our analysis, which points out that eight out of 10 families across the country in regions where the federal backstop is brought in do better with the climate action rebate than the carbon price costs them. This is something that is well established.
What is less clear is how the Conservative Party of Canada plans to grow the economy and create good jobs for the future when it refuses to accept climate change is real and that it also provides an opportunity to innovate and grow the economy.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, page 3 of the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report shows that when they add the fiscal and economic costs, the net cost is $1,820 per Ontario family above and beyond the rebates, with the vast majority paying more than they get back.
Apparently the environment minister did not get the memo. He let the cat out of the bag and admitted that Canadians would pay more in taxes than they got back in any benefits, proving that everything the Prime Minister has said on this tax has been false.
Why will the Prime Minister not admit what his environment minister has already said and say this is a scam?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, it would do some good for the Leader of the Opposition to speak to some of his caucus members, whether from the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley in B.C. or whether from across the Prairies, places where they are dealing with flooding or more extreme wildfires.
To think that there is no cost associated with climate change—
The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
It is getting loud again. I just want to make sure that the hon. member who asks the question gets to hear the answer. We do not want shouting or trying to interrupt anyone. I am going to ask everyone to just take a deep breath.
The Right Hon. Prime Minister, maybe start from the top so the hon. member can hear the answer.