House of Commons Hansard #370 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was conservative.
EthicsOral Questions
The Speaker Greg Fergus
I want to invite all members to be very judicious in terms of their use of language in this place.
The hon. Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.
Karina Gould LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, my colleague has addressed this issue and stated that those claims are false. We addressed the fact that the business was never listed as an indigenous business on the procurement site and it in fact received no funding from the Government of Canada.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, the company did actually receive funding from the Government of Canada.
The Minister of Employment's business partner claimed that their company was fully indigenous-owned. How would he have gotten that impression? Maybe it was because the Liberal Party repeatedly said that the minister was indigenous. Now, it is possible to get kicked out of the Liberals' indigenous caucus, not for corruption, but for refusing to participate in corruption, as Jody Wilson-Raybould found out.
After nine years, the Liberals have gone from firing the first indigenous attorney general to keeping the first fake-indigenous Minister of Employment. When will the Prime Minister fire this phony minister?
EthicsOral Questions
The Speaker Greg Fergus
I am going to encourage all members to be more judicious in their use of words when referring to other members.
The hon. Minister of Public Services and Procurement.
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalMinister of Public Services and Procurement
Mr. Speaker, our colleague is well aware that, in the House, members have to choose the right words to express things properly. If he would like to learn more about indigenous procurement, which is very important to the Canadian government, then he should ask respectfully and I will be more than happy to meet with him to explain how it works.
EthicsOral Questions
The Speaker Greg Fergus
I would ask the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent not to speak until he is recognized by the Chair.
The hon. member for Edmonton West.
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's only minister from Alberta is accused of being a fake and a fraud. The member for Edmonton Centre said that he was not the Randy involved in his company, yet we know he is the only Randy involved in that company. He said that he was not involved with his company while in cabinet, yet text messages clearly show that he was. He pretended to be indigenous to profit from government contracts, effectively stealing from first nations businesses.
Enough is enough. When will the Prime Minister do his job and fire that minister?
Karina Gould LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, as I said, my colleague has addressed those issues that my colleague raises and he has clarified that they are false. We have stated that business was not listed as an indigenous business and it did not receive funding through that program.
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, families are getting gouged on essentials by greedy CEOs. The Liberals have let families down, and all the Conservatives are planning to do is cut programs like the national school food program, making kids go hungry. However, there is good news. The NDP's plan to remove the GST on life essentials like kids' clothing and diapers will bring relief to so many families.
Will the Liberals follow the NDP's lead and cut the GST so that families can get ahead?
Jenna Sudds LiberalMinister of Families
Mr. Speaker, as the member has rightly pointed out, on this side of the House, we are moving forward with a national school food program, which we have heard, again and again, the leader of the Conservative Party call bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is not what is happening. We are seeing thousands of children already this school year receive food at school because of this investment in our children.
We will continue to work with the provinces to see this roll out across the country.
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, Canadian families are getting gouged on essentials, while the biggest corporations are posting massive profits. The Liberals could have prevented this, but, instead, they have let Canadians down. Conservative cuts would make matters far worse. In fact, cutting child care alone would cost Canadian families up to $13,000 per child.
The NDP has a plan to take the GST off essentials like home heat, phone and Internet bills, kids' clothing. Will the Liberals do it?
Jenna Sudds LiberalMinister of Families
Mr. Speaker, it is great to hear the member speak about the importance of the investments that we have made in child care. We have been able to help almost a million families, real people we have been able to support, to get them into affordable, high-quality child care, saving them thousands of dollars each and every year.
The Conservatives have made it clear that they do not support affordable child care. They will do everything they can to take this away from the families that need it.
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Mr. Speaker, we found out that the Conservative leader is silencing his own caucus, barring them from promoting federal housing funds in their own constituencies. One Conservative MP told CBC that MPs were being stopped from helping their cities “for partisan reasons”.
Conservative MPs, like the member for Kelowna—Lake Country, whose community is receiving over $31 million in federal funding through the housing accelerator fund, have had a pretty rough time back in their riding.
Could the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities tell us about the impact the Conservative leader's cuts would have on Kelowna?
Sean Fraser LiberalMinister of Housing
You may have seen the news, Mr. Speaker, but last week the Conservatives had a very bad week. First their leader went out in public to announce that he was cutting billions of dollars in funding directly to communities to build more homes, but later it was revealed that his MPs were advocating for that fund and were since banned from advocating on behalf of their communities.
I do not know about you, Mr. Speaker, but my constituents want to make sure that they are the boss, not the leader of our party up here. It seems that is not true. However, when we look at the example in Kelowna, let us take a look at what the mayor said. To replace this funding, he would need to look at other options like “borrowing, reserves or tax increases.” Tax increases on the Conservative side; money for communities.
HousingOral Questions
The Speaker Greg Fergus
It is very clear to the Speaker that everybody got a lot of rest during this last week. I am going to ask members once again to please to not take the floor unless they are being addressed.
The hon. member for Sturgeon River—Parkland.
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Mr. Speaker, after nine years, it is clear that the NDP-Liberal government is not worth the cost or the corruption. Now we have a Minister of Employment who says he sees nothing, he hears nothing and he knows nothing, but there is too much here to pass up.
First he claimed he was not the other Randy implicated in his business partner's text messages. We now know that he was. Then he claimed that he had no active role in his company's operations while he served in cabinet. We now know that he did. We also now know that he claimed indigenous heritage and status and it was a complete fabrication. These attempts to steal funds earmarked for indigenous companies is fraudulent.
When will enough be enough for the Prime Minister? When will he fire the minister?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalMinister of Public Services and Procurement
Mr. Speaker, I have two things to say. The first is that what the member just said is false. The second is that the minister has explained himself several times. What we have not heard today is the reason why, after several hundred days, the Conservative leader is still refusing to get his security clearance, not only to protect himself but also to protect his members.
His only priority is to trigger an election. How can he expect to hold an election when he cannot protect the safety of his MPs and candidates?
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps explaining himself, but the answers are not coming. The minister is facing multiple scandals. We know that his company has been charged with fraud. We know that he was illegally involved while he served in cabinet. We know that the minister for years claimed he had indigenous heritage, and we now know that is a complete fabrication. Today, we learned that the minister's company shared a post office box with a known international cocaine dealer. At best, the minister has shown abhorrent judgment and at worst, he is completely corrupt.
The fact that the Prime Minister continues to have confidence in him demonstrates exactly why he is not fit to lead the country. When will the Prime Minister fire the minister?
Karina Gould LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, my colleague has stated that those are all false and he did not know this person in question. However, if he wants to talk about fit for leadership, he should be asking his own leader why he has not yet gotten a security clearance. If that is someone who wants to lead the country, they should probably know what risks are facing Canadians.
Canadians are wondering why the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada has not gotten a security clearance.
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberals are not worth the cost. The Prime Minister is jetting around the globe promoting his failed carbon tax, while Canadians line up at the food banks.
According to the Prime Minister, the carbon tax is the best tool out there and anyone who disagrees is using “propaganda”. However, Canada's environment commissioner disagrees. He revealed that the Liberals would not meet their own emission targets despite quadrupling the carbon tax.
It is all pain and no gain, so will the Prime Minister call a carbon tax election?
Adam van Koeverden LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity
Mr. Speaker, it is disingenuous for the Conservatives to continually link the food bank situation in Canada with carbon pricing. A 108-page report produced by Food Banks Canada made four recommendations around Canada's social safety net. Not once in that 108-page report did it mention the carbon tax or carbon pricing, because it knows that Canada's carbon rebate, which comes out four times a year, supports Canadians, particularly lower and middle-income Canadians.
The Conservatives should cut out the misinformation and stop being so disingenuous, particularly on the backs of lower-income Canadians.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. After nine years of this sanctimonious Liberal government, Canada has the worst environmental record in the G7. That is according to the commissioner of the environment, who concluded in a recently tabled report that the drop in emissions was not due to climate actions taken by the government, but was instead because of revisions to the data or methods used.
The first carbon tax is not working, and the second one is not working either. What is the government's newest idea? Create a third carbon tax. What is it called? It will be a global export tax.
If the Liberals love it so much and are so sure of themselves, why do they not just call an election?
Adam van Koeverden LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his very important question. The climate change performance of Canada and Canadian industries is important.
It is also really important to recognize that the oil and gas sector is the one that is continually increasing its emissions, and we are challenging the oil and gas industry with a pollution cap. We are asking it to invest some of its astonishing $66 billion in profit in making its products more efficient and lowering the carbon intensity of its oil. That is a good challenge.