Debates of Nov. 21st, 2024

The Economy

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order.

I am going to ask the hon. member for Foothills to start again.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, at a time when two million Canadians are forced to go to a food bank in a single month, when food inflation in Canada is 36% higher than it is in the United States and when 25% of children are going to school hungry, the House leader of the Liberal government is making this a partisan thing about protesters at the leader's house.

The Liberals should be disgusted that protesters are going to any house of any member of Parliament. I hope she will stand up and apologize for those comments.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I am really glad to hear that from my hon. colleague, because no protester should be in front of anyone's house. Except that when the convoy was here, the Conservatives cheered it on in front of so many residents in Ottawa and their homes. They cheered on people who prevented them from going to the hospital, who prevented them from going to the grocery store and who prevented ambulances from arriving at their homes. There is a double standard on that side of the House and we cannot stand for that.

Carbon Pricing

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, despite the foolishness that has been going on, there is a crisis that exists in Canada—

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I ask the member for St. Albert—Edmonton to please control himself in this place or take himself outside of this room.

Everyone, relax.

The hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester will start again.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, despite the messy split in September, it looks like Canada's woke NDP-Liberal power couple has gotten back together, and they are coming for Canadians' hard-earned money. Canadians are not fooled by this temporary tax trickery. Nova Scotians are using food banks 53% more now than five years ago. Almost 40,000 Nova Scotians are visiting food banks every month, and 12,000 of them are children. Here is a better and common-sense solution: axe the carbon tax on everything for everyone forever so we get cheaper gas, groceries, home heating and everything that is shipped.

Will the Prime Minister call a carbon tax election?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, if that member and any member of the Conservative Party of Canada actually cared about affordability for Canadians, they would support the measure to remove the GST on essential items that we are putting forward. It is going to help Canadians over the coming months get through these challenging times.

This is a pattern of behaviour. They say one thing; they do another, whether that is with regard to supporting Canadians through affordability challenges, muzzling their members of Parliament who try to speak up on behalf of their constituents or removing protesters who do not agree with them by using the police. They are completely disrespectful to Canadians.

Foreign Affairs

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu, the former Minister Gallant and Hamas leader Deif for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Palestinian and Israeli civilians have faced horrific violence at the hands of the Netanyahu government and Hamas. Unlike many other ICC countries, the Prime Minister has not been clear and Canadians deserve an answer.

Will the government enforce these arrest warrants and ensure that the victims of these war crimes see the justice they deserve?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs)]

Mr. Speaker, we respect the independence of the International Criminal Court. We will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the International Criminal Court. That is just who we are as Canadians.

Let me be clear that all parties must abide by international law. We also know that an immediate ceasefire is urgently needed. Hostages must be released. Hamas must lay down its arms. More aid must get into Gaza. The violence must stop.

Grocery Industry

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we may have another price-fixing scandal in Canada. This time it is not bread, but potatoes.

Allegedly, two of Canada's big food companies have been colluding together to jack up the price of frozen potato products. The cost of these products have shot up by 40% over the last two years. CEOs jack up the prices and gouge Canadians.

The Liberals are letting families down, while Conservatives cater to these CEOs who fund their election campaigns.

Will the Liberals investigate this potential price-fixing french-fry-gate by greedy CEOs?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the NDP on that. In fact, it was a Liberal government that reformed the Competition Act. Now, thanks to our government, consumers at home know that we are going to have their backs. We have given new powers to the competition commissioner to investigate. We expect him to use all his power and to make sure that we restore competition in the country every single time.

The Economy

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we know the last couple of years have been particularly challenging and although inflation is continuing to come down, households have not particularly started to feel that. That is why we introduced very important measures today to provide relief to Canadians.

It is yet to be seen whether or not the Conservative leader will allow his MPs to vote in favour of what is so important for their constituents. We know he prevented them from talking about housing money, and he also continually muzzles them from representing their communities.

I wonder if the President of the Treasury Board can help inform the Conservatives why it is so important to vote in favour of this legislation.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, diapers, groceries, prepared meals and essential goods, what do these things have in common? They are all tax-free for the holidays. That is great news for Canadians, as well as the cashback coming for 18 million Canadian workers.

On the other side of the House, what do we get? Filibustering, obstructing, playing partisan games. It is time for the Conservatives to get serious about supporting Canadians.

On this side of the House, every day is a great day to fight for Canadians.

Public Services and Procurement

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are trying to hide from Canadians that the company owned by the disgraced Liberal from Edmonton Centre is still eligible to get government contracts.

The Prime Minister may believe that his former and failed employment minister is the victim, but the real victims, of course, are indigenous people and the people who were defrauded by his company.

To this point, the Prime Minister has failed to ban Global Health Imports from bidding on contracts with the Government of Canada. Will he stand up and ban it today?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, we have been very clear in the House that the company was not on the list and that indigenous procurement is for indigenous people.

This is an attempt by the Conservative members of Parliament to distract from what is really good news for Canadians today, the fact that we are going to give a break on the GST for essential goods over the coming months and we are going to support 18.6 million Canadians with a Canada working benefit.

The question that remains is this. Will the Leader of the Opposition allow Conservative MPs to vote for it?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight. The disgraced former minister, the member for Edmonton Centre, a Liberal, started a pandemic-profiteering business, and that business lied about being indigenous to get government contracts. They are under investigation by the Edmonton Police Service for fraud, and this Liberal government is still allowing them to bid on government contracts.

Now they are saying that they are not on the list for approved indigenous-owned businesses, but what about for any other type of contract? Why is this Prime Minister determined to protect Liberal insiders, and why will he not ban his disgraced former minister from having these contracts?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, that company is not on the list for indigenous procurement.

However, yet again, what we see from the Conservatives opposite is that they do not want to talk about the important affordability measures that we have presented today. They do not want to talk about the fact that they are going to vote against and oppose a GST break for millions of Canadians when it comes to essential goods. They do not want to talk about the fact that they are going to oppose a $250 benefit for working Canadians. They are just not there for Canadians.

Ethics

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this government says that it supports women's equality and reconciliation, but its actions show anything but.

This Prime Minister was very quick to fire the first female indigenous minister of justice because she was not willing to lie for him, yet it took him weeks to fire a minister of employment, a white male, who faked his indigenous identity. Why was it so easy to fire one but not the other?

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

Mr. Speaker, what is so encouraging, and I would say that it is not often that I find something encouraging from the Conservative Party, but what is encouraging to hear is their staunch support for indigenous procurement. I agree with the Conservative Party that we have to work hard to make sure that indigenous businesses are the ones that actually profit from indigenous priorities. I want to thank the Conservative Party for keeping their eye on making sure that this country ensures indigenous economic success. We will do that together.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this is not real reconciliation. It took weeks for this Prime Minister to fire the minister of employment, or to allow him to resign. Real reconciliation, according to the former minister of justice, would have been to fire that minister of employment immediately. She says that she is left to “watch white people play ancestry wheel of fortune.” She says that it is “shameful” and it is “destructive”.

Why did it take the Prime Minister so long to fire the minister of employment when it was so easy to fire a real female indigenous minister?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is great to see so many questions on indigenous priorities in this House. I want to thank the member opposite and hope that she will work with her party to ensure the safe passage of Bill C-61, a clean drinking water act for first nations, which was co-developed with first nations in this country. There are many opportunities for the party opposite to support indigenous priorities, and that is certainly one of them.

Canada Revenue Agency

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, to return to the matter of fraud at the Canada Revenue Agency, yesterday, in committee, the minister went on the attack, not against fraudsters, but against whistle-blowers. It makes no sense. She joined in the CRA's witch hunt against its employees.

Without them, we would never have known that taxpayers were robbed of more than $100 million this year. Without them, we would never have known that the CRA had concealed 30,000 privacy breaches from the Privacy Commissioner. Without them, we would never have known anything, because the CRA is covering it up.

Why is the Minister of National Revenue joining the attack on whistle-blowers?

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, there are situations that must be denounced. I have to say that our minister and our government have supported Bill C-290, that party's private member's bill. However, there are situations where we are not able to talk about issues, specifically with respect to section 241 of the Income Tax Act, but there are obligations and there are ways in which we are able to have whistle-blowers report what they need to within the CRA, and we are constantly working on these issues.

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we need whistle-blowers because this government never fixes anything unless its problems make headlines.

Whistle-blowers are the reason that we are talking about the fraud that the CRA covers up whenever it happens. Whistle-blowers are the reason that we know about the extent of foreign interference. Whistle-blowers are the ones who brought about a crackdown on sexual misconduct in the military after the minister swept it under the carpet. The problem is not whistle-blowers. The problem is Liberals who conceal information. Should we be surprised? It is in their DNA.

Will the minister stop attacking whistle-blowers and start attacking the fraudsters instead?