Debates of April 26th, 2023

Labour

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, public service workers have been waiting for over two years for a fair contract. Liberals like to talk a lot about workers' rights, but when they offer workers in the public sector what is effectively a pay cut when they are asking for salaries that keep up with inflation, they are no better than Conservatives.

Will the Prime Minister get serious about these workers, cancel his trip and get these workers a fair contract?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we take seriously the responsibility of engaging constructively with labour unions. That is why we are, right now, at the negotiating table. That is why our negotiators have put forward an offer that is aligned perfectly with the recommendation of third-party experts as a pathway to solution, and it is certainly something that we are going to be able to build on together and see built on at the negotiating table.

We have full confidence, not just in our negotiators and our minister, but in the union negotiators, who are fighting for better opportunities for their folks, and we know that is how we get to the right deal at the table.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this is starting to get ridiculous. In our country, Galen Weston earns over 430 times what the median income of an employee at his company—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I would ask everybody to keep it down.

If the member for Burnaby South could start from the top, please, I would appreciate it.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this situation and the Conservatives are getting ridiculous. We have a situation where Galen Weston is earning over 430 times the median income of an employee at his company, and the Prime Minister wants to do nothing about that, but a janitor working in the public service cannot even have a salary that keeps up with inflation. What is going on with that picture?

I know that the janitor cannot offer the Prime Minister a fancy vacation, but the Prime Minister should agree that the janitor deserves respect. Will he cancel his trip and negotiate a fair contract for these workers?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, one of the very first things, no, the very first thing we did when we came to office was lower taxes for the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest 1%. Unfortunately, not just the Conservatives voted against that. The NDP voted against that back when we first got elected.

The reality is that we will continue to step up for the middle class. We will continue to invest in things such as child care, dental care, public health care, and supports for seniors and students. We know that one builds a strong economy from the bottom up and the centre out. That is exactly what we are doing.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Everybody is excited today. I have found something that has worked in the past. I have a list here that has been worked on by both sides. This is the only tool I have. I can work with this list and follow it, or I can bounce around wherever. The folks in the back, who are at the end of the list, might want to prepare because they may be called on for a question.

The hon. member for Guelph.

Automotive Industry

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, workers and families in southwestern Ontario still remember the Ford plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, being shuttered in 2011. It put thousands out of work, and it left the region's once thriving auto sector on life support. These types of closures were just all too common under the Harper Conservatives, which is one reason why this week's historic announcement with Volkswagen has come to them as such welcome news. Of course, not everyone in this chamber welcomed this historic investment.

While Conservatives may choose to attack the deal, could the Prime Minister update the House on what it means for our communities, our economy and our environment?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Guelph for his extraordinary hard work.

Volkswagen's decision to build its first North American battery facility in Canada is a generational investment in jobs and clean growth. The plant will create thousands of direct and tens of thousands indirect jobs in St. Thomas and across Canada's battery and EV ecosystems.

While the Leader of the Opposition continues to bet against Canada and our workers, and prefers to call it a waste, on this side, we will continue to push for a strong economy, good-paying jobs and cleaner air.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the average Canadian household would have to spend 63% of its pre-tax income to make monthly payments on the average home, something that is mathematically impossible. Some are now having to pay $2,400 to rent a room in a townhouse, not the whole townhouse, but a room, and the privilege of having five or six other roommates with them, after house prices and housing costs have doubled under the Prime Minister.

How did he spend so much to achieve such bad results?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of a Conservative government's underinvesting in housing if investing at all, we brought forward in 2017 a national housing strategy that has created new opportunities for millions of Canadians to get into homes. We have continued to invest in things like the housing accelerator that works with municipalities to create hundreds of thousands of new homes over the coming years. We are doubling housing creation over the next 10 years with investments like the rapid housing accelerator, with direct supports for homebuyers and with tax-free savings accounts. There is no one silver bullet on this, but we are delivering them all.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he has an accelerator. I have news for him: People cannot live in an accelerator; they have to live in a house or apartment.

Under the Prime Minister's leadership, the cost of an average two-bedroom apartment has doubled from $1,172 to $2,205. The cost of an average mortgage payment has doubled to over $3,000 and now the share of their monthly income that people have to spend to own the average home is two-thirds, which is by far a record-smashing number. Again, how did the Prime Minister spend so much to achieve such horrible results for homebuyers?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, over the past eight years, we have consistently invested in programs and supports for Canadians that have delivered many more opportunities for people, but we know there is more to do. Canadians are free to contrast our multi-layered broad approach on investing in housing with that of the Conservative MPs who got elected in the last election. They promised to give a tax break to landlords who sold their buildings. That was the entirety of the housing plan in the last election from the Conservative Party of Canada. We will continue to have real approaches that work for Canadians.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's main criticism against the former Conservative government is that our housing programs were not expensive enough. If only it had been more expensive to taxpayers, then it would have been a better program. Yes, it is true: This Prime Minister is the heavyweight champion of government spending. The problem is he keeps delivering the worst possible results.

House costs have doubled under this Prime Minister and then they are more expensive for the taxpayers who have to fund his incompetent programs at the same time. Why does he not, instead, stop wasting the money and start delivering more houses?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Conservative politicians still think they can cut their way to growth because that is what they tried for 10 years under Stephen Harper and failed. That is what they are continuing to propose now, cuts and austerity: they can cut their way to new jobs for Canadians; they can cut their way to fighting climate change; and they can cut their way to indigenous reconciliation. Well, they cannot.

The Conservative Party continues to cling to a trickle-down austerity approach that does not work for the middle class and people working hard to join it. That is where we will stay focused, and we will take no lessons from them.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the results. Under the previous Conservative government, the average mortgage payment on the average home, newly purchased, was $1,400. Now, eight years later, it is $3,200. The Prime Minister has delivered a 100% increase in mortgage costs, all while bringing in an $89-billion taxpayer-funded boondoggle in the housing program. Once again, why will he not end the government waste and get out of the way so we can build affordable housing in this country?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I want to see the Leader of the Opposition get up again and explain to Canadians how great the 2008 recession was for people in Canada and for people around the world because that is exactly what he is saying. The fact of the matter is that the cuts, the austerity and the trickle-down approach the Conservatives always put forward failed Canadians.

That is why we have invested in the middle class and people working hard to join it: to create economic growth, to create jobs, to lift people out of poverty, to create a plan to fight climate change and to build a future. That is what we are going to continue to do.

Labour

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today marks one week since public service employees went on strike. It is high time the Prime Minister took charge of this matter. The writing was on the wall with this one: More than 150,000 public servants have not had a collective agreement since 2021.

At this point, the Prime Minister needs to intervene to encourage a quick, negotiated solution that benefits everyone. When will he come to the table?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, government negotiators and union representatives are working in good faith at the bargaining table. That is where this is happening. I should point out that the government has put forward a proposal that aligns with recommendations from an independent expert who said this was the right way to proceed. We have put forward this proposal, and it is definitely a starting point we can build on in the hopes of reaching an agreement in the days to come. That said, we will continue to work with the workers and with the unions in a spirit of respect and co-operation, because that is what we are doing.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is most certainly not what they are doing. The Prime Minister is hiding. He is letting the crisis drag on, just like Roxham Road, the passport crisis, the border closures during the pandemic, and the 2020 rail blockades. Every time he lets a crisis drag on, other people pay the price. It can be workers, Quebeckers or everyone, but not him.

Will he be proactive for once, answer the union's call and sit down at the bargaining table?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this is exactly what we are doing. Our negotiators are making responsible proposals. We are working with the unions in good faith, and we hope to see this union challenge settled shortly because, yes, Canadians expect the same level of service that government employees provided in the difficult years recently behind us. We have to reach an agreement that is good for taxpayers and for public servants. This is exactly the work we are doing together now.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, government deficits are driving up interest and mortgage rates on homebuyers, and government gatekeepers are preventing home construction.

We rank second last for housing permit times in all of the OECD, and we have the fewest houses per capita in the G7 even though we have the most land to build on. That is the Prime Minister's record. His solution is to give tens of billions of dollars more to the same municipal gatekeepers in order to block construction again. Why does he not link the infrastructure dollars that the feds give to the cities to the number of houses that actually get built?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, one thing we know the Leader of the Opposition is good at is picking fights, because that is exactly what he is proposing to do with municipalities. We choose instead to work collaboratively with them, to recognize the important role that municipalities across this country play in delivering housing and in accelerating the processes. That is the way to get things done.

Through the pandemic, it was orders of government working together that supported Canadians. It is respect from municipalities that keeps us moving forward, and that is what we are going to do.

We remember well when that member was in government. The fact is, there were constant fights with municipalities. We are delivering—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The Leader of the Opposition.