Debates of June 13th, 2023

The Economy

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we know how much the Leader of the Opposition has asked us to trust independent experts and not Liberals on various issues of importance. We disagree. We think Liberals have important things to say.

However, if he is looking for a strong independent voice, he can look no further than the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who recently confirmed that government spending was not “contributing to the slowing” of the economy. Nor was it “standing in the way of getting inflation back to target.”

We continue to invest in supporting Canadians in targeted ways, while the Conservatives continue to talk about cuts to programs and services.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, if he does not trust Liberals on the economy, why should anybody else?

It was, in fact, his own finance minister who, just weeks before she introduced her budget, said that deficits were like pouring gas on the inflationary fire. Then weeks later she introduced $60 billion, or $4,200 per family, of brand-new gas on that fire.

Our children are screaming because of the debt they are going to inherit from the government. Will the Prime Minister act responsibly and introduce a plan to balance the budget to bring down inflation and interest rates?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister said that, and then she brought in a responsible and fiscally sound budget that continues to contribute.

I know the Conservatives do not like it because it gets in the way of a good political argument, but if we look at the facts, we have the lowest deficit in the G7 and the best debt-to-GDP ratio, and we have preserved our AAA credit rating, while being there to support Canadians who need it in targeted non-inflationary ways.

While the Conservatives continue to propose cuts in programs, cuts in help for Canadians and cuts to services, we will continue to be there in a way that continues to fight inflation and support Canadians.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's inflationary spending binge caused the price of everything to go up. All that spending and all that money he flooded into the financial system bid up housing prices, which doubled, leading to the most expensive housing prices in the G7. It now takes 25 years for the average family in Toronto to save for a down payment. They used to be able to pay off an entire mortgage in that time period. It takes roughly 90% of a Vancouver family's monthly income to pay the average monthly mortgage.

Will the Prime Minister balance the budget to bring down inflation and interest rates so that Canadians do not lose their homes?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition were serious about housing, he would have supported our housing investments. Instead, he is focused on cutting services, picking fights with municipalities and protecting wealthy landlords.

On this side, our plan includes collaborating with municipalities, including investing $4 billion to fast-track new housing approvals to create 100,000 new homes; tying infrastructure investments to housing; helping Canadians save up for their first homes; providing support for low-income renters; and converting surplus federal lands into affordable housing.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has had eight years to deliver on those promises. The only thing he has done is double the average rent, double the average mortgage payment and double the down payment on the average house. He has made Vancouver and Toronto two of the 10 most expensive cities in the world. It now takes 25 years to save enough money for a down payment.

Will the Prime Minister finally put an end to his inflationary deficits so as to reduce interest rates and enable Canadians to keep their homes?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, over the past few years, we have helped Canadians save for their first home through measures like the first-time homebuyer incentive and the tax-free first home savings account. We are investing in building and repairing more housing, including by helping municipalities accelerate the construction of 100,000 new units. We are making sure housing units are used as homes by putting an end to unfair practices that drive up prices. For example, we are prohibiting foreign actors from buying a home, and we are introducing a federal rule to discourage flipping.

Democratic Institutions

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

Mr. Speaker, the resignation of the special rapporteur appointed by the Prime Minister could turn out to be a turning point in the crisis surrounding the independent public inquiry. The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities showed signs of openness that I welcome with a mixture of enthusiasm and caution.

I would like the Prime Minister to tell me if he would agree that the first thing that needs to be done, before any further action can be taken to bring this matter to a positive conclusion, is to put in place an independent public inquiry.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Bloc Québécois leader for suggesting some credible and reasonable names. We are quite willing to look at them and to continue working with the Bloc to establish a process that has the confidence of the House and of Canadians. The importance of the foreign interference issue far transcends partisan rhetoric or personal attacks.

We will work constructively, as we always have, to take this issue seriously, to continue the work we started and to restore Canadians' confidence in our electoral system and in our democracy.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have to come back to this. We have to first agree on one fundamental principle: A commission of inquiry and the one or more commission chairs who are appointed must be completely independent from the government in order to do their job properly.

If we agree on that principle, then and only then can we move forward and look at potential candidates. If the minister or the Prime Minister wants to talk to me about it, I can be reached at any time.

However, I do have a question for the Prime Minister. Can we agree that all of this should be clearly and formally resolved before we rise for the summer?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we agree that we need to move forward quickly and appropriately. I am very open to such discussions with the opposition parties. Unfortunately, over the past few months, we have seen a lot of partisanship, toxicity and personal attacks, which is shameful, but I am pleased that people are now open to taking the matter of foreign interference seriously.

We are here to work in good faith and to continue our work on foreign interference in order to protect our democracy, our institutions and our electoral system.

Housing

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, when I was at university, my brother had to live with me and I had to work three jobs. It was a tough time, but things are even harder these days for students, who have to cram together into apartments that are too small, too expensive and substandard, just to make ends meet.

It is a matter of dignity. When will this government stop wasting time and start taking action to lower rent for students?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, for years, we have been investing in housing, in various programs to help students and low-income families and to encourage housing construction. We will continue to do that.

We know we have to be there for our students, because support for them in the short term will contribute to society in the long term. That is why we eliminated interest on federal student loans in the last budget. We will continue to be there with more help for students, which includes continuing to look at ways to help them with rent.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want the Prime Minister to imagine what it is like for students trying to find a place to rent in this country right now. Take for example a student in Windsor. The CBC reports that a 24-year-old student living in an apartment in Windsor with his sister is on the verge of homelessness because the cost of rent has gone up by so much. Sadly, this is the story of so many students who cannot find a place to rent that is within their budget. The reality is that the government has been a failure when it comes to housing.

When will the government take this issue seriously and take concrete steps to bring down the cost of rent for students?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we took this issue seriously back in 2017 when we put forward a $40-billion national housing strategy that the Conservatives opposed, even though they had not engaged in housing for 10 years and then got up to about $70 billion in the national housing strategy.

More recently, we put $4 billion on the table directly to invest with municipalities instead of fighting with them like the Conservatives wanted to do; to work with them, to accelerate investments, to accelerate zoning processes, to accelerate permitting, to build more supply of housing and to take the pressure off so many Canadians around the housing market.

Democratic Institutions

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

Mr. Speaker, for months now the Prime Minister has tried to cover up Beijing's interference in our democracy. He has denied, he has changed his story and he has hired as many members of the Trudeau Foundation as will accept the job to try and help him with that cover-up.

Now that David Johnston has done what this House called on him to do and resigned from the made-up position that the Prime Minister gave him for $1,500 a day, will the Prime Minister do what this House has called on him to do three times and call a public inquiry?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I think the Prime Minister was clear in his response to a previous question today. Our government is looking to collaborate in a constructive way with opposition parties, to hear from experts and other professionals in this space, to design precisely those next steps forward since Mr. Johnston has decided to leave his position as special rapporteur.

We think that Canadians would benefit from a collaborative conversation, one that we have always been inclined to have. We found it difficult on the other side to find a willing partner, but we are more encouraged this week than we were a week ago.

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have not been encouraged by the inaction of the government. We heard today at committee that the deputy minister for foreign affairs knew for two years that members of this House were being targeted for intimidation by foreign state actors like the dictatorship in Beijing. What did the government do? Absolutely nothing. It is not a comedy of errors, it is a tragedy of errors with the government. Opposition parties have three times called for the government to have a public inquiry and have been ready to collaborate the entire time.

Will the government now make up for lost time and the wasted months on this issue and finally call a transparent public inquiry?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I was surprised to hear a Conservative member speak about inaction on this file because that is exactly what the Leader of the Opposition did for two years when he was the minister responsible for democratic institutions.

Our government is the first government to take concrete steps to counter foreign interference in democratic institutions. We have strengthened these measures time and time again, and now we are looking forward again to hearing constructive suggestions from the opposition about how we can work together to further strengthen these measures. That has always been our approach and we will continue to do that.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, here we are. The government has wasted three months deflecting and dodging on this issue. Canadians have not been duped; no public inquiry, no truth and no responsibility has been shown by this government. Now, with David Johnston's resignation, the government has only one option, an open and independent inquiry. Canadians support it, the majority of this House supports it and even their very own Liberal minister declared that it was never off the table.

When will this government call a public inquiry?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, there is one thing that the hon. member said across the way that I do agree with, which is that we continue to look at all options including a public process to shine a light on the way in which we are fighting foreign interference. What is important now is that the Conservatives stop with the partisan attacks, roll up their sleeves and get down to work so that we can better protect our democratic institutions. That is work that the government has been committed to doing since day one.

This is not a partisan issue. We need to work together to overcome the challenges of foreign interference.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the whole government is about partisanship. From day one, the Prime Minister has had zero interest in letting Canadians learn the truth. He refused to tell us what he knew and why he did nothing about it. He selfishly used David Johnston to delay the process and cool the air around the issue.

Now that Mr. Johnston has resigned, it is time for the Prime Minister to do what Canadians are demanding. While he laughs at me, I will ask him this question. Will he call a public inquiry right here, right now?

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

Mr. Speaker, when I was in opposition, I was a critic for public safety. We asked for information on national security. We asked to be able to see into every corner of government. The minister at that time, who is now the Leader of the Opposition, said no. He said no to an independent group of parliamentarians who could look into every aspect of national security.

We said yes. The members opposite had an opportunity using NSICOP. They then had an opportunity offered by the Prime Minister for the Leader of the Opposition to get a briefing. They also said no. They have another opportunity now to collaborate, to stop being so partisan, to put the national interests first and to participate.

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

Mr. Speaker, we learned this morning that the RCMP has opened more than 100 investigations into foreign interference. The RCMP is conducting investigations involving more than 100 Canadians who were influenced by a foreign state.

A real leader makes real decisions. A real leader takes responsibility for his decisions. The Prime Minister does neither. He has no backbone. He is incapable of making important decisions. That is why he chose a special rapporteur and gave his friend, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, the option of trying to waltz around the issue and not have an independent public inquiry.

Will he stop waltzing around and finally launch an independent public inquiry?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I want to express my gratitude to the commissioner of the RCMP for the update on RCMP investigations he provided to the committee earlier today. It is proof of the concrete action that the RCMP is taking to fight foreign interference.

Now the Conservatives must stop their squabbling and partisan games and do the work that will better protect our democratic institutions.