Debates of Oct. 25th, 2024

Foreign Interference

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the RCMP revealed that agents of the Indian government committed serious crimes on Canadian soil, including murder, extortion and foreign interference in our democratic process. At a time when the members of the House should be united against these appalling crimes, the Conservative leader's decision to prioritize his campaign over national security sends a message to Canadians that he will not protect them and tells the rest of the world that under a Conservative government, there will not be any consequences for foreign interference.

People are rightly concerned. The NSICOP report earlier this year also alleged that India interfered in a Conservative Party leadership race. The Conservative leader would rather let his party be a target of foreign interference than get his security clearance. That does not add up. It certainly lacks the common sense he is so proud of.

Why will he not get his clearance? Canadians have a right to know what the Conservative leader is hiding.

Liberal Party of Canada

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, 24 Liberal MPs are calling on the Prime Minister to step down for the same reasons that Canadians are calling for an election, namely, the cost of living, the long lineups at food banks, unaffordable housing and the debt, which has doubled.

The thing that escapes me is that those who should be supporting the Prime Minister are abandoning him while the Bloc Québécois continues to keep him in power. The Prime Minister has failed. He failed to live up to his responsibilities, including in immigration. Can he call an election now?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party sure does a lot of talking about the current problems in the country.

The member keeps talking about people's problems, but where is her plan? The first step is clear, but for the second step there is no plan.

That is what you get from the Conservative Party, a populist party, a right-wing party.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of this government, the country is in chaos. Things are so bad that two million Canadians are turning to food banks to put food on the table. Homelessness now affects ordinary Canadians, and 24 Liberal members no longer support the Prime Minister.

Right now, Parliament is paralyzed by the government's refusal to be transparent in yet another scandal. The Bloc Québécois, which supported the Liberal government 200 times, owes Quebeckers an explanation.

Is the Prime Minister prepared to do the right thing and call an election?

That is the plan.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for my hon. colleague. She is right. Canadians have been going through tough times, but where was she when we voted to support Canadian seniors? Where were she and her caucus when we cut taxes for Canadians? Where was she when we established a dental care plan for Canadians?

I know what this member and all of the Conservatives did. They voted against those measures. They voted against Canadians.

We are here for Canadians and for all Quebeckers.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, where were those 24 MPs? The cost of housing has risen, the number of visits to food banks has increased, more homeless camps have sprung up and are now sheltering students and grandmothers who are unable to pay rent or find a place to live, and the debt has doubled. This is the disastrous Liberal record, all supported by the Bloc Québécois.

The latest blunder on the list is that the immigration system is once again rudderless due to the great Liberal penchant for improvising.

One thing is certain: There will be an election. When are they going to call it?

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth]

Mr. Speaker, what concerns me is the increasing number of Conservative caucus members who oppose abortion. We have heard it from Conservatives who are still in caucus and we have heard it from caucus members who are no longer there because they have values.

On this side, we will always fight for women's rights, like abortion.

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

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, the cost of housing has doubled, our national debt has doubled and Canadians cannot afford to feed themselves or their families. Now we have learned there are 24 Liberal MPs who are looking for the Prime Minister to resign. After nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up for the Prime Minister, who cannot fix what he has broken in this country while he is dealing with his revolting caucus, so will he stand up today and call a carbon tax election?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, for years we have been hearing rumours about the Conservative Party of Canada's leader, and now it is out in the open: His party is full of people fighting to restrict the freedom of women.

The MP for Richmond—Arthabaska, a former Conservative member, acted with his conscience to stand up for women. Why will the other members of the Conservative caucus not do the same? In fact, what they are doing is fraternizing with the lobbyists who want to attack the rights of women across this country.

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

Mr. Speaker, did you hear that? It is the sound of desperation from a government that has broken absolutely everything in this country. It broke housing and it broke immigration. Canadians cannot afford to eat, heat or house themselves after nine years of the failed NDP-Liberals. All Canadians want is to be able to afford a home and to be able to have a home in a good, safe neighbourhood, where they can retire comfortably. All they are asking to do is to be able to work hard in exchange for that privilege.

It was a promise we made to Canadians and the government broke it. Instead of fighting with his 24 members who want him to resign, why will the Prime Minister not stand up and call a carbon tax election?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure my hon. colleague that we understand the challenges that families are experiencing in our communities, but those families are right to ask who is actually fighting for them. Seniors who have earned their pensions, not just with their premiums but with decades of hard work, bad backs and busted joints, are facing an opposition leader who has a history of gutting their pensions. The Conservative Party has members who voted against removing the interest on student loans. Families who receive the Canada child benefit should know there is not one Conservative member of Parliament who voted to support them with thousands of dollars every year.

There are two choices: a Liberal government that will stand up for families and a Conservative leader who will stand up for himself.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is great that the federal government is finally lowering its immigration levels, but the new ones still do not line up with integration capacity in Quebec. To meet the new target of 365,000 people in 2027 without losing political weight, Quebec would need to welcome more than 80,000 newcomers a year. Those who know the situation in Quebec best are the political parties in the Quebec National Assembly, and not one of them is proposing as much as 80,000 newcomers.

Will the federal government consult Quebec and the provinces and adjust its levels to align with integration capacity?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec has more power over its immigration system than all the other provinces and all the other territories in the country since it controls more than half of the immigration of temporary residents. We asked Quebec for its plan to reduce temporary immigration and we are still waiting for that plan.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the new thresholds also fail to address Quebec's biggest issue, namely, asylum seekers. There are 160,000 of them in Quebec alone, and we continue to take in more than our fair share. Quebeckers cannot continue to house, care for, educate and teach French to so many new people just because the other provinces refuse to share the burden. It is the federal government's responsibility to create the conditions necessary to ensure that all the provinces contribute their fair share, and yet there has been no progress since the summer. Negotiations have come to a standstill.

When will the Liberals get their act together?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I have always worked with the Province of Quebec. Immigration is necessary to grow our economy and strengthen our communities. Canadians want a strong, sustainable immigration system that allows Canada and all those who come here to succeed. That is exactly what we are doing with the announcement we made yesterday about the immigration levels plan. We are reducing the number of temporary and permanent residents in the short term to alleviate pressures on housing and infrastructure.

Health

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, over five million Canadians are left stranded without the health care they need. This is bringing more people into our already overcrowded hospitals for issues that could have been caught earlier and treated earlier. Our health care continues to be in crisis under the Liberals, and the Conservatives want Canadians to pay to get the care they need so CEOs can increase their profits. People deserve quality health care without having to pull out their credit cards.

Why are the Liberals failing to fix our health care system and forcing people to scramble for the health care they need?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we will always stand up for a publicly funded health care system. That is why we are making unprecedented investment in our system, working with provinces and territories, with over $200 billion over 10 years. We have never seen that kind of investment. That is not to mention investments in dental care and pharmacare.

These are the kinds of things we are doing to build a health care system postpandemic so that no Canadians are left behind and they have access to a good, publicly funded health care system.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, while the Liberals talk about abortion as a right but deny access to that right, Conservatives are actively voting for legislation to end safe, trauma-informed abortion care. We can just ask their former caucus members, who say anti-choice MPs are calling the shots.

Whether they need heart surgery, knee surgery or an abortion, people have a right to access public health care. Will the federal government protect access to abortion care by enforcing the Canada Health Act and save our public health care system?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, this morning I woke up and read the most disturbing article. It was an interview with the former Conservative member of Parliament, the member of Parliament for Richmond—Arthabaska. He said he left the party in part because his conscience could not stand for the attack on women's rights and freedoms that embeds the inroads that anti-abortionists have made with the Conservative Party. What was so upsetting was not that he talked about that but that he also alleged the way they are trying to hide their real selves.

Will the Conservative leader stand up and stand firmly with the rights of women in this country?

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, time is up for the Prime Minister's endless chaos and failures. Let us use his own words on immigration from last year to prove it: “as our government is raising immigration levels to the highest levels they've ever been...people are like, ‘Well, we already are facing challenges in housing. Where are we going to house these 500,000 people a year?’” Now, a year too late, the Prime Minister made an announcement that is an admission of a massive failure of his record after nine years.

Will the Prime Minister admit that his flip-flop has caused lasting damage to Canada's housing market, health care and jobs?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, we have answered that question already this week.

My question, and a question that Canadians from the queer community want to know, is, where was the member, who is a member of the queer community, when it came to the kids living on the street, 50% of whom are LGBT, because their straight parents kicked them out? Where was the member when Blaine Higgs went after trans kids in New Brunswick? Where was the member when Danielle Smith said that she was going to take the rights of trans kids away? Where was the member when Scott Moe was focusing on bathrooms in a Saskatchewan election?

He will not show up at Canadian pride events or when we talk about trans issues. He should be ashamed that he is not defending the queer community of Canada.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of who I am and proud of my integrity. The minister cannot even name the other Randy, so I am not going to take any lectures from him.

Here is what the Prime Minister said just last year about the immigration system: “There are a lot of pressures on our system. Increasing the immigration levels, interestingly, will take some of the pressure off of the system”.

The Liberals have absolutely failed. They broke our immigration system. They have doubled housing costs. They did a massive flip-flop yesterday that they are embarrassed to even talk about.

After nine years, why can we not have a carbon tax election to boot the member and the government out of here?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, where is the member's voice and the voices of Conservatives when queer refugees are struggling to come to this country? They are nowhere to be found. Where is the member when he should stick up for trans kids when we have Canadian pride caucus meetings? He is nowhere to be found, nor is the MP for Thornhill.

They try to wrap themselves in the rainbow flag when it is convenient to get Conservative votes. They are simply not truthful with Canadians. They are not truthful with the queer community.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Do you hear the heckling, Mr. Speaker?

The Conservatives cannot handle it when we punch. They cannot handle it when we stick up for the queer community. They do not stick up for the 2SLGBTQ community. We do. We are Liberals. We are the government. We have kids' backs.