House of Commons Hansard #348 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was documents.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
I would like to remind the hon. Leader of the Opposition, as well as all members of Parliament, that all questions and answers should be directed through the Chair.
The hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
Arif Virani LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Mr. Speaker, when the men and women in uniform in my city of Toronto or right across the country are harmed in the course of their work, they deserve our absolute respect and solidarity, which we always provide to them.
In terms of decisions made about bail, these are important considerations and considerations where we have made amendments to the bail regime. What happens after amendments are made at the federal Parliament is the ball turns over to the provinces.
We need to ask genuine questions about who is making decisions about granting or denying bail, about provincially appointed JPs, about provincial Crowns who are making decisions about whether to review bail and what kinds of conditions to impose. Those are questions that need to be asked, because we—
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
The hon. member for Brantford—Brant will not take the floor until he is recognized, please.
The hon. member for La Prairie.
Alain Therrien Bloc La Prairie, QC
Mr. Speaker, the will of the House is clear. Yesterday, it demanded that the government grant a royal recommendation for Bill C‑319, which increases old age security by 10% for people aged 65 to 74. This would permanently end the two separate classes of seniors.
The Liberals have a choice. They can respect the will of elected representatives, or they can learn the hard way that voters will side with seniors.
Will they grant a royal recommendation for Bill C‑319, or are they going to start brushing up their résumés?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalMinister of Labour and Seniors
Mr. Speaker, there is something very important on the member for La Prairie's résumé. He voted against the new federal Canadian dental care plan that 6,900 people in the riding of La Prairie have signed up for.
Every time we come up with ways to help Quebec seniors, the Bloc Québécois votes no.
Alain Therrien Bloc La Prairie, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minister surely knows that in his riding alone, in Gatineau, 30,000 seniors 65 and up are being denied access to the 10% increase in old age security. He is responsible for all that. He is the Minister of Seniors. He and his pals are the ones who created two classes of seniors and who are now fighting to maintain this injustice, contrary to the will of the House.
Can he explain to these 30,000 seniors that he would rather not give them a penny more and end up in an election?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalMinister of Labour and Seniors
Mr. Speaker, the 30,000 seniors in Gatineau, like all seniors in Quebec, like all seniors in Canada, are amazed by the Liberal Party of Canada's record, especially when it comes to targeting and helping the most vulnerable seniors in society.
When we improved the guaranteed income supplement, when we brought in dental services for seniors, when we invested in housing, the Bloc was against that.
The Liberal Party of Canada was there for the 30,000 seniors of Gatineau and seniors across Canada.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
I would like to remind the members for Rivière-du-Nord and New Westminster—Burnaby that they are not to speak until they are recognized by the Chair.
The hon. member for Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie.
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, the housing crisis is raging across the country. Rents have doubled under the Liberals. People cannot find housing they can afford.
The Conservatives want us to believe they hold the solution, but they are part of the problem. When the Conservative leader was the minister responsible for housing, he built six housing units. He let big developers snap up 800,000 homes so they could get rich off ordinary folks.
The Liberals and Conservatives created this crisis. Why should we trust them to solve it?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalMinister of Public Services and Procurement
Mr. Speaker, my colleague, whom I hold in high esteem, has been too generous to the Conservative Party leader.
During his entire career as minister responsible for housing, he built six affordable housing units across the country. However, that does not stop the Conservative leader from telling Quebec municipalities they are incompetent even though they are building 8,000 affordable housing units.
On top of that, he said that Quebec's seniors are living in Soviet-style conditions if they live in low-income housing, co-op housing or non-profit housing. He says social housing is Soviet-style housing.
Bonita Zarrillo NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals continue to violate the human rights of persons with disabilities.
Even while it is getting sued by its own accessibility commissioner, the government continues to propose an inadequate and inaccessible Canada disability benefit. This is cruel and callous. The government has received over 10,000 pieces of input through consultation, and the cabinet needs to act on it.
Will the Liberals finally listen to the disability community, increase the benefit, unlock it from behind the inaccessible disability tax credit and get it out to people now?
Kamal Khera LiberalMinister of Diversity
Mr. Speaker, our government has done more than any other government when it comes to supporting and building a more accessible Canada. Once again, our government is stepping up and delivering a new historic support in the Canada disability benefit, which is going to help over 600,000 Canadians with disabilities.
While the NDP and the Conservatives are focused on their own political ambitions, we are focused on delivering for some of the most vulnerable in our communities. We are on track to deliver this benefit next July.
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Mr. Speaker, the bad news keeps rolling in from credible financial experts.
This week's Economist says, “Were Canada's ten provinces and three territories an American state, they would have gone from being slightly richer than Montana, America's ninth-poorest state, to being a bit worse off than Alabama, the fourth poorest.”
To fix a problem, one has to admit that it exists. Will the government admit that, under its policies, Canada is now poorer than Alabama, America's fourth-poorest state?
Terry Beech LiberalMinister of Citizens’ Services
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are very particular about what statistics they choose to share.
If they want to compare us to the United States, we might start with health care or dental care or pharmacare or child care. However, if they want to focus on the economy, they might focus on the fact that we have a lower deficit, that we have lower debt-servicing costs and that we pay lower interest rates than America does, as well as that we have higher forecasted economic growth.
Unfortunately, because of the dangerous promises of the Leader of the Opposition, they do not want Canadians to hear about that. This is why Conservatives are promising to cancel the CBC.
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Mr. Speaker, the data, these statistics, are not coming from Conservatives. They are coming from credible financial experts at the Financial Times of London and The Economist, two organizations for which the finance minister once worked. Surely, the government is not suggesting these organizations are biased.
Again, to fix a problem, one has to admit that it exists. Will the government admit that, under its spending, its budgets and its plans, Canada is now poorer than Alabama, America's fourth-poorest state?
Terry Beech LiberalMinister of Citizens’ Services
Mr. Speaker, what the member opposite is saying is ridiculous.
The truth is that the Leader of the Opposition offers Canadians no viable solutions. On housing, they want to add 5%—
Terry Beech Liberal Burnaby North—Seymour, BC
Mr. Speaker, they do not want to hear this information.
The Leader of the Opposition wants to add 5% tax on apartment construction. On affordability, he does not support dental care, pharmacare or child care. He does not support the tax cuts that we gave the middle class or the tax cuts we gave for small business.
Worst of all, he does not want anybody to hear about this. This is why he wants to cancel the CBC and take that away from Canadians as well.
Adam Chambers Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Financial Times wrote one year ago that, if current trends continued, Canadian living standards would continue to decline. After a year, it has gotten worse.
This week, The Economist said that Canada is now “poorer than Alabama”.
Will any minister over there admit that Canadian living standards are in decline?
Mark Holland LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is now the second member to admire Alabama and say that Alabama is doing better than Canada. I think Canada is the greatest nation on earth. I am really proud of this country and what we are doing. I am proud of our health care system.
When we take a look at the Conservatives filibustering a study of privatizing health care in committee right now, no wonder they have an admiration of the American model. They want to clear-cut our health care system. Talk about not acknowledging a problem. They have no solutions for the gaps we have in care. We do. We are delivering. We are going to keep doing it.
Adam Chambers Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Mr. Speaker, the minister wants Canadians to believe that they have never had it so good, but here is what Canadians are actually experiencing: the worst housing inflation, the worst mortgage debt, the worst consumer debt in the G7 and income per person today that is lower than it was 10 years ago. Now the OECD says that Canada's real GDP growth will be last among its member nations until 2060.
Will the Liberals finally admit that, under their leadership, Canadian living standards are declining?
Mark Holland LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, nobody is denying that there are challenges in every corner of the globe. Members can cherry-pick statistics here or there, but the question is this: What do we do as a country to meet the challenging moments we are in? The Conservatives' answer is to provide a slogan and no plan. I just invite people to pull back the curtain, as in The Wizard of Oz, and see what is back there. There is not a single thing. In contrast, we have a plan. Since I last spoke in the House, we have gained 50,000 people in dental care. That is 800,000 people getting care on something Conservatives will not even admit exists. This is about doing hard work and doing the right thing.
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Mr. Speaker, this government came to power nine years ago on the strength of false promises that were never kept. Canada is completely broken.
The government has spent like a drunken sailor and has also tabled deficit budgets year after year. As a result, the debt doubled during that time. This Prime Minister has increased the debt more than all other prime ministers combined.
The OECD predicts that Canada will have the worst economic growth of all its member states for the next three decades. Canadians deserve better.
Will the government do the only honourable thing left and call an election?