Debates of April 20th, 2023

Ethics

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, again for the third day in a row, I am happy to talk about this if this is the members' priority.

Yes, the Prime Minister went on vacation with his family over Christmas. This is a home that he had been at when he was one year old. It is a friend whom he has had for his entire life. It is a family friendship that has gone on forever. I do not know if the member opposite has stayed at a friend's before over Christmas or done something like that, but in any event I have answered this question. I would imagine that there are other more pressing things that Canadians are facing than spending three days asking about whether the Prime Minister took a family vacation over Christmas.

Telecommunications

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, sadly my kids spend half their lives on the Internet. Even my two-year-old, Miguel, needs his daily dose of PAW Patrol or of his or my favourite, Peppa Pig. However, the Internet is not just for kids. I think all of us, in our daily lives, would have a hard time getting by without access to the Internet.

I know our government has done a lot to help rural Canadians access the Internet. Can the Minister of Rural Economic Development please update this House on her recent broadband announcement and what this will mean to us in northern Ontario?

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Minister of Rural Economic Development]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his advocacy on behalf of his constituents and for all rural and remote Canadians. Last month, we made, in partnership with the Government of Ontario, an announcement of $61 million. That is going to bring high-speed Internet service to over 16,000 homes throughout 47 rural communities and three first nations communities in northern Ontario.

Therefore, Miguel can tell his friends who live in Hymers and Moose Hill and surrounding Thunder Bay areas that they are now going to have better access to essential services with more opportunity to grow their business and keep in touch with loved ones and their friends.

Government Appointments

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

Mr. Speaker, for eight years, the Liberals have repeatedly broken ethics laws: the Prime Minister caught breaking ethics laws twice, the trade minister, the intergovernmental affairs minister and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

They got so sick of getting found guilty that they appointed the sister-in-law of the intergovernmental affairs minister to be the new Ethics Commissioner. The only problem is that they got caught and so she resigned. Will the Prime Minister stand today and assure Canadians that he is not going to appoint any more friends, family or Trudeau Foundation members to this important position?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

The person whom they are referring to was appointed actually under Stephen Harper when he was prime minister. She worked in that office for 10 years.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We actually started early, but we are losing some time here. I am not sure when we are going to get out of question period. Maybe we will ask the government House leader to start over from the top, please.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the person whom they are referring to had worked in the Ethics Commissioner's Office for 10 years. She was number two in that office. She was appointed or came into that position when Stephen Harper was in fact prime minister. What happens when they attack people and engage in these partisan attacks is, yes, those people do leave because this is what happens. Their partisan attacks, whether on CBC or on the Ethics Commissioner or on wherever they go, yes, has an impact. That position is now vacant. It is an extremely important position. We will work as quickly as possible to get a replacement.

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

Woe is them, I suppose, Mr. Speaker. They are probably just sad that they could not get that family and friends discount. They tried to get the bulk purchasing discount or the frequent flyer discount with the Ethics Commissioner's office and that did not work. Maybe this time, though, they will just leave the job empty so that when there is the next conflict of interest there is no one there to investigate it. Following that path, perhaps they will just eliminate the position of the Ethics Commissioner altogether.

The question is very simple. The member was not able to answer it, so we will put it this way: Which will it be? Will they appoint a family member, a friend or a Trudeau Foundation board member to be the next Ethics Commissioner?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, as always, we will appoint qualified people who are working in those positions with expertise. That is assuredly what we are going to do in the future.

With what we have seen over the last three days, as we are going through some of the most difficult times in human history around the planet, as there is a war in Ukraine, as our planet is being ravaged by climate change, I wonder, 20, 30 years from now, when people are looking back on these question periods and watching the priority of Conservatives, if they will wonder where the heck they were on the issues that actually affected Canadians, and why they were not talking about, or asking questions about, the budget or Canadian finances or the environment. I certainly wonder that.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, they do not want to talk about the Prime Minister because they know that we will talk about ethics and ethics violations.

There was the Prime Minister for vacationing on a private island, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities for giving a permit to a company with ties to his family, the Prime Minister a second time in the SNC-Lavalin matter, the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development for awarding her best friend a contract, the member for Hull—Aylmer, and we learned yesterday that the interim Ethics Commissioner, the sister-in-law of the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, had resigned.

To whom will the Prime Minister now turn for advice about his next vacation at the estate of his rich friends from the Trudeau Foundation?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, what Canadians watching today are most concerned about is seeing the Conservative Party obsessed with issues that do not concern Canadians. Canadians are concerned about three things. The Conservatives would do well to listen to Canadians a little more.

The first thing is the cost of living and the cost of food. That is why we are giving 11 million Canadians the rebate. The second thing is health care and family doctors. The third thing is building the economy of the future. That is exactly what we are doing with Volkswagen, which we will be celebrating tomorrow in St. Thomas.

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are concerned about ethics, but the Liberals are not.

No doubt a pile of work is waiting for the next Ethics Commissioner, what with the Trudeau Foundation and its ties to the Prime Minister, the Beijing regime and its influence over the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister's fondness for luxury vacations at the homes of his wealthy friends.

The new Ethics Commissioner only needs to meet two essential requirements. They must not be a member of the Trudeau Foundation or a relative of a Liberal cabinet member. Will these two requirements be met, yes or no?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, a lot of people in the House wonder what interests members of the opposition.

In my opinion, there is at least one thing that should interest them. I am referring to the huge, fantastic announcement made a few weeks ago at the Davie shipyard, in the greater Quebec City area. I know that my colleagues from across Quebec, including my Conservative colleagues, will realize what a game-changer the creation of a major international shipbuilding hub will be for the economy, the industry and the technological environment of the greater Quebec City region.

I am sure that even my Conservative colleagues I see here in the House ought to be delighted by this announcement.

Aviation Industry

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec was already outraged to see Ottawa offer Boeing a $9-billion contract for military aircraft without a call for tenders and without a penny in spinoffs for Quebec.

However, it is worse now that we know that the American jets that Ottawa wants to buy are lemons. According to La Presse, the U.S. defence department itself has said that there are so many issues with the Poseidon P‑8As that they were in for repairs half the time from 2018 to 2020.

We will not pay $9 billion for American lemons when we can build better aircraft in Quebec. When will the government hold a real call for tenders?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question.

On this side of the House, we all recognize the importance of the aerospace industry across the country, particularly in Quebec.

I have been in contact with Bombardier executives, and everyone in the House agrees that Bombardier is a leading Canadian company that we can all be proud of. We were there for Bombardier at every opportunity, and we will always be there for Bombardier, both now and in the future.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that was not particularly convincing.

To sum up, Ottawa is pushing aside Quebec's expertise and opting for American planes that even the Americans do not want. This is high treason towards our aerospace industry. Quebec has all the components to assemble an aircraft from A to Z. Ottawa does not have the right to offer Boeing $9 billion of taxpayers' money without a call for tenders, especially for planes that do not even meet the maintenance criteria.

Will the government back down and issue a real call for tenders? That is basic common sense.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we will never back down. We will always push to defend Quebec's aerospace industry. I think my colleagues are clear on that.

As I was saying to my colleague, we are in touch with the aerospace industry, we are in touch with Bombardier.

My colleague left out part of the story. Not too long ago, alongside the Quebec government, we announced the largest aerospace investment ever in Canadian history. There is plenty to celebrate in the aerospace industry. We will always be there for the workers.

The Economy

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Statistics Canada reported that mortgage interest costs rose 26% in March, making the largest increase on record. Under the Prime Minister, mortgage costs have doubled, and food bank usage is up; he also plans for commuters to pay 41¢ a litre in carbon tax.

Does the Prime Minister see that Canadians are struggling, or is he so out of touch that he believes Canadians can just act like him at a Jamaican villa and have their friends pay their bills for them?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should know that the people who are really out of touch are his colleagues, who have said that we should pull back from federal investments in housing. It is the hon. member and his colleagues who have opposed real support for first-time homebuyers. They opposed the $40,000 tax-free first-time homebuyers savings account. They opposed the ban on foreign ownership of Canadian real estate. They opposed the vacancy tax. They opposed investments in affordable housing. Not only did they oppose much-needed rental supports, but they also played procedural games to delay them.

Housing

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Speaker, talking about delays, the minister is the minister of delays. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported an 11% drop in housing starts. This means we can expect higher rents as supply tightens and more hard-working millennials will be stuck in their parents' basements. If blaming others got housing built, this minister would have delivered results for Canadians.

When will the Liberal government stop blaming and start building, or are they just waiting for the Conservative leader to get it done for them?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives are a nightmare for Canadians' goals related to accessing affordable housing, accessing home ownership and getting help with rentals. They voted against every single measure brought in the House to help Canadians with their real housing needs. We are the government that has brought back federal leadership in housing.

One would think that being in opposition would educate them on the need of the federal government to actually be involved and provide resources for housing. Instead, even in opposition, all their members believe that we should actually pull back from investments in affordable housing. That is a shameful record to run on.

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

Mr. Speaker, since this Prime Minister took office, the average cost of mortgage payments has doubled in this country. Worse yet, because of the successive increases in interest rates, the cost of interest on mortgage payments was up by 26.4% in March compared to February. It is the largest increase ever recorded. Canadians continue to go into debt and have to give up their dream of home ownership.

Will the Prime Minister finally take measures to curb the inflation he himself created?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, the biggest gatekeepers to more housing supply, affordable housing, supports for renters and supports for homebuyers are the Conservatives. How do I know that? It is because every single time that we have brought sensible measures to the House to get supports for Canadian homebuyers and renters, to get supports for affordable housing for the most vulnerable and to increase supply in Canadian municipalities, they have voted against it. Then they have the nerve to come back to the House and talk about helping Canadians. That is shameful.

Finance

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, our government tabled the budget implementation act, an essential legislative measure to support a strong working class, an affordable economy and a healthy future.

Could the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance tell the House about some of the important measures this bill would introduce?