House of Commons Hansard #346 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was lebanon.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
Order.
For the second time today, I will ask the hon. member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier not to speak while a member is speaking.
The hon. Minister of Labour and Seniors.
Steven MacKinnon LiberalMinister of Labour and Seniors
Mr. Speaker, I welcome the member to the House. I can assure him that I heard him loud and clear, despite the fact that he will be excluded from a position of power until the end of his days in this House.
Over the next five years, our government will spend more on old age security to protect the incomes of retirees than any previous government. For my colleague's information, that is $71 billion more in seniors' pockets thanks to the Liberal Party of Canada.
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. The government is forcing families to pay more for gas, groceries and home heating at a time when they can least afford it. Now the Province of New Brunswick is taking the Liberals to court to hold them accountable for the money their carbon tax is making off the backs of everyday Canadians.
Will the government listen to Canadians and scrap its carbon tax, or will it finally let Canadians choose in a carbon tax election?
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the member opposite can remind some of the members of his own bench that they asked Premier Higgs to go with the federal system because people get more money back, and that is exactly what the premier did. The Premier of New Brunswick decided to go with the federal system because more people in New Brunswick get more money back than what they pay in carbon pricing.
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
Mr. Speaker, we know the Liberals would rather talk about anything else than the fact that their 61¢ per litre carbon tax would mean Canadians would have among the highest fuel prices in the world. Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed that the Liberals' carbon tax costs Canadians more than they get back. Canadians have no confidence in the Prime Minister or in his costly carbon tax.
When will the Liberal government get out of the way so Conservatives can finally axe the tax?
Jonathan Wilkinson LiberalMinister of Energy and Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that the vast majority of Canadian families get more money back than they pay. That has been validated by 300 economists, very much including Trevor Tombe, who Conservatives like to quote these days as an economist of record.
Not having a climate plan or an economic plan for the future would have dire implications for the people who live in Atlantic Canada. These folks, the Conservatives, oppose the Atlantic accord and the work being done to launch an offshore wind industry and a hydrogen industry to ensure we are creating good jobs and economic opportunities in Atlantic Canada. They have no plan for the climate. They have no plan for the economy.
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of NDP-Liberals, tax is up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up for this costly coalition's carbon tax scam. Nine premiers are now against the Liberal carbon tax. Today in New Brunswick, Premier Blaine Higgs is challenging this scam in court. Provinces do not get a rebate for heating schools and fuelling ambulances. Carbon taxes are not revenue-neutral when provinces and municipalities end up paying more for essential services.
Will the Green-Liberal-NDP coalition axe the tax, or keep making health care and education more expensive?
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the member opposite does not remember that he himself asked Premier Higgs to go with the federal system so more people in New Brunswick would get more money back than they pay in carbon pricing. Perhaps he forgot he made that request to his premier.
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Mr. Speaker, in Quebec and across Canada, we are dealing with a housing crisis that is having an impact on people's lives. We need to build more housing more quickly to help Quebeckers and Canadians access affordable housing that meets their needs.
Can the Minister of Public Services and Procurement explain to the people of my riding, Lac-Saint-Louis, what our government is doing to create more affordable housing across the country?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalMinister of Public Services and Procurement
Mr. Speaker, you know that the Conservative leader built six affordable housing units during his entire tenure as minister responsible for housing. What is more, we searched for them all summer and could not find them. Then he added another layer, saying that building affordable housing, including for seniors, on federal property is a form of communism. The good news is that we are going to build 250,000 housing units on federal land over the next few years.
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment's emergency order is an attack on forestry workers in some 30 communities. It will be a disaster. It will kill at least 1,400 jobs, destroy lives and devastate the economy of Quebec's regions.
The Bloc Québécois voted once again to keep this government in power. This illustrates how out of touch they are with the realities of our regions.
Is the “Liberal Bloc” aware of just how disastrous the order will be for Quebec communities?
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that we have come to the table with half a billion dollars in potential investments in Quebec, in the regions, in the forestry sector, for forestry workers and for indigenous communities. We are just waiting for the Quebec government to come to the table with us to talk. We want to find a solution. The Conservatives have nothing to offer, whether for the environment, the economy or jobs.
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Mr. Speaker, Quebec's environment minister is in Ottawa today. Like all Canadians, he is completely at a loss to explain the reason for imposing an order in council that will throw our workers out on the street. Like the Conservatives, he is calling on the government to immediately withdraw this threat and leave Quebec's jurisdictions to Quebec. On this issue, the Bloc Québécois, which claims to be the defender of Quebec's jurisdictions, is missing in action.
Will the government finally accept, once and for all, that the order in council is a disaster in the making?
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, let me remind my colleague, once again, that at the end of 2022, the federal government and the Government of Quebec signed a joint letter stating that Quebec would submit a caribou recovery plan by June 2023. Here it is October 1, 2024, and we are still waiting for that plan. All we are asking is for Quebec live up to its commitments. We are ready to work with Quebec on finding solutions.
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Mr. Speaker, like the Prime Minister, the leader of the Bloc Québécois likes to entertain us with imaginary tales to try to justify his relevance. For example, on X, he is always selling himself as a hero, the one who put a stop to the order in council that would jeopardize the forestry industry, including in Abitibi‑Témiscamingue, the North Shore and Saguenay—Lac‑Saint‑Jean.
The reality, however, which we found out from the Quebec environment minister this morning, is that the Prime Minister and his Minister of Environment and Climate Change want to shut down the industry. They have no other option. The Bloc Québécois is not much help.
Once again, will the Minister of Environment and Climate Change put an end to his radical order in council once and for all?
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, experts, environmentalists, forestry workers and first nations all agree that the future of forestry in Quebec and elsewhere in the country depends on the health of the forest and on the health of the caribou. We cannot have one without the other. The only people who do not understand that here are the members of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Joanne Thompson Liberal St. John's East, NL
Mr. Speaker, today is National Seniors Day, a day to celebrate and thank seniors across the country. Our government knows the importance of promoting the health and well-being of seniors. That is why we make investments toward programs and services for them.
Can the Minister of Health update Canadians on what we are doing to protect and support the health of seniors across this country?
Mark Holland LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for St. John's East for her tireless advocacy in championing the health of seniors in this country.
Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the 13 agreements signed in every jurisdiction in the country on aging with dignity, helping seniors to age at home and improving our long-term care facilities. Critically, those agreements include, for the first time, common indicators so we can see progress in data and see how provinces are doing. Obviously, there is work to ensure that hundreds of thousands of seniors get dental care, as well as what we are doing with pharmacare.
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council has declared a state of emergency in every single one of its 14 nations' territories. The lack of mental health support, treatment, recovery and harm reduction services is causing irreparable harm. The Liberal government has failed to deliver the urgently needed supports, and young and older people are paying the price. Indigenous people continue to die at a higher rate than non-indigenous people. This is not reconciliation. Action is needed now.
When will the Liberals stop with the empty words and deliver the urgent funding that the Nuu-chah-nulth people need to save lives?
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Mr. Speaker, that is exactly the path that our government has been on, working hand in hand with first nations and indigenous leaders to ensure that programs and services delivered by first nations and indigenous people are available to their members so that people can heal from the trauma of colonization, something that just yesterday our government stood up with many survivors across the country to acknowledge. This has deep impacts on communities, and we will continue this hard work together.
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB
Mr. Speaker, Liberals spent yesterday professing support for first nations, the same first nations that the government is currently fighting in court over something as basic as clean drinking water. Canada's lawyers are saying,“Canada does not owe any legal obligations or duties to operate [first nations] water systems.” They even say that when ministers make promises, it is just context-specific and can be ignored. This is the Liberal approach to reconciliation: promise clean drinking water to first nations and then direct lawyers to fight first nations in court on clean drinking water.
Will the Liberals cut the hypocrisy, stop fighting Shamattawa and other first nations in court and deliver clean drinking water once and for all?
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Mr. Speaker, it is really heartening to hear the member of Parliament from the NDP speak so eloquently about the need to move quicker on alleviating long-term boil water advisories across this country. Since we have taken office, we have lifted over 145 long-term boil water advisories and prevented well over 200. We are going to continue that hard work. I assume her comments mean she is going to support this new legislation and ensure it has safe passage through the House.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
The hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo is rising on a point of order.
Frank Caputo Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Mr. Speaker, I had a member's statement under Standing Order 31 today and that statement had to be delivered twice. It was to salute two veterans, one who is 101 and one who is 104, in my riding. Both times, there was quite a bit of noise in the chamber for what I had hoped to be a very solemn salute to these two living veterans who lived through D-Day.
I bring this to the Chair's attention in hopes that, especially when people are giving heartfelt members' statements like this one on our veterans, there is a bit more quiet.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
I thank the hon. member for raising this issue. It is an important point on the importance of Standing Order 31.
I know that Statements by Members is usually the time that members are coming from committee and entering the House. I would encourage all members to take their seats quietly so that members can give their declarations appropriately and share these important issues and this important time with their constituents.