Debates of Nov. 20th, 2024

Ethics

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, telling the truth would be MPs continuing to stand up to advocate for their communities, but the Leader of the Opposition has asked them not to be their community's voices here in Ottawa but instead to be his voice in their communities. That is supposedly the party of freedom and freedom of speech, but he is muzzling his MPs. He is not letting them talk to the media. He is not letting them talk to committees. The reality is he is afraid of what they might say about him because there is no call to be muzzling MPs this way.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this is from a Prime Minister who has 20 caucus members who have signed a letter saying they are ready to fire him. Why would they not? This is a guy who has doubled housing costs, doubled gun crime, doubled food bank use, doubled the national debt and kept in place a minister with a double identity. Even his own caucus members know he is not worth the cost, crime or corruption. If he is not afraid of anything, why does he not call a carbon tax election like Canadians want?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition just made, very clearly, the point that the MPs on this side of the House are free to share their opinions publicly, even when they are ones I disagree with. Absolutely—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

Order. Colleagues, the more time we spend here with the Chair interrupting the process so that we get order in the House, the fewer questions and answers we will be able to have in question period, so I ask that members please control themselves today.

The right hon. Prime Minister, from the top.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the minds of Conservatives, we just saw a big gotcha moment where I admitted that Liberal MPs are free to speak their minds and voice their opinions, even when we have disagreements. That was astonishing to the members of the Conservative Party because they are not allowed to do that. They are not allowed to speak to the media. They are not allowed to speak their minds. They are not allowed to be voices for their communities. They are not allowed to stand up for investments in their cities on housing. That is the real scandal in this place.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

Order. Order.

The hon. member for Beloeil—Chambly.

International Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, every day, the House of Commons shows Quebec just why we really need to get the hell out of here. Until that time comes, we keep having to repeat ourselves, so let us repeat ourselves a bit more. All four parties in the House supported Bill C‑282 on supply management. It was one of the few points of consensus ever reached and, incidentally, was reached at an outdoor gathering. Two senators are blocking the bill.

Does the Prime Minister think that the Senate is worth more than the votes of all Quebec's elected members?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as the Leader of the Bloc Québécois pointed out, we gave our unanimous support in the House to protecting supply management.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it was almost unanimous. We were on that side. The reality is that the Senate is doing its job and is looking at the bill. We will not accept any bill that minimizes or eliminates the House's obligation to protect supply management in any future trade agreement. We have been very clear on that. No matter what the Senate does, the will of the House is clear.

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

Mr. Speaker, democracy has spoken. Approximately 50 Conservative MPs voted against supply management. That said, to try and clean up this mess, I will be going to the Senate this afternoon to meet with senators in person, and I will be going there again tomorrow. Clearly, this is not how we usually do business.

Will the Prime Minister be meeting with these senators himself?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have often met with senators and will continue to do so. I want to be absolutely unequivocal and very clear about this: We will always protect supply management, whatever the opinion of the august senators.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

I was being ironic, Mr. Speaker. We will defend the integrity of our supply management system, even when negotiating a new free trade agreement.

Taxation

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, do you know what families are telling me? They are telling me their cell phone bills and their Internet bills are so high that they have to cut back on monthly costs, like swimming lessons for their kids. The Liberals are hurting Canadians by taxing essentials, and king cut and the Conservatives are going to make things even worse. They want to cut the benefit for children, the child benefit. That could lose families $600 a month.

Will the Liberals stop taxing essentials like cell phone and Internet bills right now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, if the NDP wants to join us in making life more affordable for Canadians, all they have to do is put an end to the obstruction of the work of Parliament that the Conservatives are leading on. Parliament is supposed to do the work of Canadians in making their lives better, but with the Conservative Party's obstruction, there are bills being slowed down, measures around dental care, around indigenous services and school food. These are things we need to unblock in this House, and if the NDP will help us stop the obstructionism of the Conservatives, we can deliver for Canadians.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister can help people by stopping taxing the essentials.

Every time Bell or Rogers increases their cellphone bill, the GST they pay goes up. The GST should never have been applied to essentials.

The Liberals are failing Canadians. It is time to fix that. Will the Prime Minister give people a break by cancelling the GST on essentials, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, if the NDP wants to join with us in making life more affordable for Canadians, all it has to do is help us end the Conservatives' filibuster in Parliament.

Parliament is supposed to be working on behalf of Canadians to lower the cost of living, but the Conservative Party's filibuster and the NDP's inaction on this issue are delaying critical legislation from passing, including funding for dental care, school meals, housing, indigenous services and so much more. The NDP has to work with us. We need to stop the Conservatives from blocking the help that Canadians need.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has now admitted that the immigration system is broken after nine years of his government. He blames “bad actors”, so let us put our detective hat on and find out who those bad actors were. Who was the head of the federal government that increased permits for temporary foreign workers by 154%? Who was the head of the federal government that issued 211% more permits for international students and a population growth plan that boosted growth by 300%? Can we identify who that bad actor was?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, following a pandemic that had devastated our economy in a short-term way, Canadians needed, and businesses needed, extra support and so asked for more temporary foreign workers, asked for more international students, and we gave them. Our economy grew. Our economy got back faster than the United States and got back faster than many other countries of the world.

We are now in a different situation where we have had to step up and reduce immigration numbers to make sure our housing issues can catch up. This is what a responsible government does. It puts forward solutions that are right in the moment and corrects them when they are no longer needed.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think we have found the bad actor yet. The Prime Minister blames it on labour market needs, but the biggest growth happened in non-labour market immigration. For example, he boosted permits for international students by 211% and refugees by 726%, which has nothing to do with filling job vacancies. When it comes to temporary foreign workers, he allowed more to go to places with already high unemployment.

Once again, who was the bad actor who made these terrible decisions?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, these little performances that the Leader of the Opposition—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!