Debates of Nov. 27th, 2024

Government Priorities

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we can tell that he stood up all night in front of the mirror, trying to practise that line.

The reality is that we have our sleeves rolled up. We are fighting for Canadians every single day. We will stand up for good Canadian jobs. We will make sure we continue to have great relations with the United States as we build a stronger future on both sides of the border.

We are going to continue to deliver the kinds of things that matter for Canadians: dental care, free insulin, school food programs. Those are all programs the Conservatives voted against, and now they are going to vote against a GST break for Canadians right across the country for the next few months. That is not being there for Canadians. That is being there for themselves.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it just proves how weak and out of control the Prime Minister has become that he just engaged in a mass hallucination, listing off a bunch of programs that actually do not even exist outside his own head.

If he is not prepared to stand up for the country when it comes to trade, then why do we not have a real election about taxes? He can run on his tiny two-month tax trick, and I will run on my common-sense plan to axe the tax and to axe the sales tax on new homes.

How about a carbon tax election now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we saw perfectly clearly just now the fact that the Leader of the Opposition is trying to gaslight Canadians. He just said that the dental care program, to pick one, does not even exist. Tell that to the one million-plus Canadians who have gone to see the dentist, many for the first time in years, because of the Canada dental care benefit. This is what he is standing against.

The Leader of the Opposition is trying to convince Canadians everything is broken, while he forces his MPs to vote against a GST break that is going to help Canadians over the coming months. That is not leadership; that is pandering to the lowest common denominator.

The Economy

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is turning the entire country against him and his Santa's sack of goodies.

The people do not want it. Retailers do not want it. Pensioners do not want it. Students do not want it. Economists do not want it. Even the wealthy with common sense do not want it. Nobody wants their sack of goodies.

Does the Prime Minister realize that votes cannot be bought?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are struggling. That is why, for the next few months, we are giving all Canadians a tax holiday on dinners out and trips to the grocery store. We know that Canadians are facing challenges. With one of the best fiscal positions in the G7, we can help Canadians a little bit more.

Maybe the Bloc Québécois does not want it, but that is because the Bloc Québécois only wants to pick fights. They do not want the federal government to actually be there to help Quebeckers and Canadians.

Despite that, this is exactly what we are going to do.

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians who are struggling are the ones who will not be getting a cheque. However, we can see that the Liberals themselves are struggling.

The Conservatives do not seem to support the Liberals' proposal and neither do the NDP or the Bloc Québécois. No one in the House seems to support this proposal.

If the Prime Minister is so sure of himself, why not make this a confidence vote?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we clearly see that the opposition parties are looking for any political excuse to vote against something that Canadians want.

Canadians need a tax break and that is exactly what we are offering them. It will be up to the opposition parties to decide whether they want to be there for their constituents and for Canadians who are struggling or whether they would rather play petty politics, pick fights and oppose measures in order to show that Canada is broken. That is what the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois will do.

We are here to help Canadians. We are here to invest in their future and we are here to support them through tough times.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what is wrong with this picture? Danielle is retired for medical reasons. Her disability pension is $45,000. Danielle has a partner who earns $125,000. Guess who is getting a $250 cheque this spring? Well, according to the Liberals, Danielle's partner will get one, but she will not. She is being punished for being too sick to work. It makes no sense, damn it.

My question to the Prime Minister is simple. What does he have to say to Danielle and all retirees?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I would like to remind all members to be very judicious in their choice of words and to use acceptable parliamentary language.

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have been in the House long enough to remember a time when, back in the day, the NDP was there to support the working people of Canada. It was the workers' party.

We are trying to acknowledge the burden that workers have shouldered during the pandemic and the inflation crisis. We are acknowledging the work that Canadians do, but that does not take anything away from the investments we have made in seniors and young people. We are acknowledging workers and the fact that they need help, but the NDP is totally opposed to this.

What happened to the workers' party?

It became the government.

Seniors

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, like most Canadians, seniors are doing what they can to get by, but things are tough. The Liberals have let people down and are watching seniors struggle even to buy their groceries. What is the Liberals' latest disappointment? It is cutting seniors out of their $250 rebate. Meanwhile, the Conservatives rub elbows with the same grocery CEOs who are jacking up costs.

Will the Prime Minister listen and give seniors a much-needed break? I mean, come on, even his own MPs are asking for him to fix the rebate.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I remember when the party of Tommy Douglas, Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton was actually a party that stood up for workers. Now we have a government that is recognizing that workers carried us through the pandemic. The Canadian workers saw us through one of the worst global inflation crises the world has ever seen, and we want to give them support because we know things are tough for workers.

This is not to take away anything from the help we are giving seniors or youth. We want to be there for workers. Is the NDP is suddenly against benefits for workers? It makes no sense.

Taxation

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it makes no sense; I could not agree more. Here we have the New Democrats claiming to have torn up their deal, their carbon tax coalition, with the Prime Minister, but then they taped it back together when he promised a two-month tax trick. Then, after taking credit for it, the NDP says it did not know what was in it and that it is now opposed to it. The two leaders cannot even figure out how to give away $6 billion properly.

Is it not time for a carbon tax election so that we can elect a common-sense government?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, MPs are supposed to represent their constituents here in Ottawa, but the Conservative Party MPs are choosing to represent their leader back in their constituency.

I know that Canadians across the country, including in Conservative ridings, are looking forward to paying no taxes on meals in restaurants, on all groceries or on kids' clothes for the next few months, but the leader is making them vote against these measures to help Canadians. If Conservative MPs want to stand up for Canadians, they need to stand up against their leader.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I think Canadians are ready to stand up and speak for themselves. If the Prime Minister wants to lecture us about democracy, then why not have a referendum, a referendum election where the choice will be the following: a tiny, two-month tax trick with the NDP-Liberals or a permanent axing of the carbon tax and axing the sales tax on new homes?

Why not let Canadians decide now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, for the Leader of the Opposition to end the price on pollution would mean ending the Canada carbon rebate that comes to people's homes four times a year and delivers more money to middle-class Canadians than the price on pollution actually costs, while at the same time decreasing emissions.

In regard to housing, the Leader of the Opposition's failed housing proposal was to cut billions of dollars from cities across this country that are investing in building housing. That would drive up property taxes for homeowners and make it harder to build homes. He has a proposal that is electorally interesting for him but will not do anything for Canadians.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, “electorally interesting” is the Prime Minister's condescending way of saying Canadians actually like my plan. Canadians have figured out that after nine years of the weak Prime Minister's spending $80 billion on housing, with the result being the doubling of housing costs, spending billions more will not make any difference. We are going to slash the bureaucracy and use the savings to axe the sales tax on Canadian homes.

Why will the Prime Minister not let Canadians decide?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, mayors from Kelowna, Abbotsford, Ucluelet and Conservative ridings across the country are speaking up, saying the investments we are making in the housing accelerator are helping them cut red tape, increase densification and create more homes more quickly.

The plan the Conservative Party has put forward to remove those billions of dollars from municipalities, just as they are tackling the housing crisis, would harm Canadians. The Leader of the Opposition does not care about harming Canadians. What he wants to do is gain power, and he will do anything he can to do that. While we stay focused on Canadians, he is focused on himself.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has run a groundbreaking experiment. He has put billions of dollars in a sack and offered it to politicians, and the finding is that they are willing to accept the money. It is incredible. It is a groundbreaking sociological study. He wants to give more money to local politicians who block home building. We want to use the same money to cut taxes for the people who buy homes and build homes.

Why will we not allow Canadians to decide whether they want the money to go to the politicians or to the people, in a carbon tax election?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, at least the Conservative leader is true to form in that he would rather pick fights with everyone than actually deliver for Canadians.

We know, as we saw during the pandemic and we have seen through the inflation challenges, that working together with the provinces and working together with municipalities to get things built for Canadians is what Canadians want.

What does the Leader of the Opposition do? He insults people. He also votes against direct money in Canadians' pockets, whether it is with investments in child care and dental care or it is investments in taking the tax off groceries for the next few months, these are things he is standing against out of political self-interest.

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it just shows how out of control the Prime Minister has become; he cannot stay on a subject. He brings up housing, so I agree. I just threw away my script and said, “Let us debate housing.”

Now the Prime Minister changes the subject back to his two-month tax reform trick. Here is the trick, everyone: After the tax break runs out in February, the Liberals are going to hike the carbon tax on heat, housing, gas and groceries, all as a part of a plan to quadruple the carbon tax to 61¢ a litre.

Will the Prime Minister get himself under control, show some strength for a change and call a carbon tax election?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, every day that I get up in the House, I talk about one thing and one thing only: Canadians and how we are there to help Canadians, how we are there to grow a stronger economy for Canadians with direct investments that will support them with free insulin, with dental care, with more spaces in child care, all things the Leader of the Opposition is voting against.

Yes, we are investing in the most ambitious housing solution this country has ever seen, things the Leader of the Opposition did not do when he was Stephen Harper's failed housing minister. We are going to continue to stand up and fight for Canadians, but the Leader of Opposition gets up, pulls off his little performances and fights against me.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister needs to breathe. He said he was going to talk about one thing, and then he rambled on about 10 or 15 things. They are all things he hallucinates that one day he might do if only he were given another nine years in office, instead of talking about his real record, which is that he doubled housing costs, doubled food bank use, doubled the debt and now wants to quadruple the carbon tax to 61¢ a litre.

We need a prime minister who is in control of himself, so why does he not call a carbon tax election so we can get one?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I will say it again. The Canada carbon rebate puts more money in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadians. The Leader of the Opposition wants to talk about one thing. He talked about food banks. Let us talk about the school food program. This is a program that sends federal dollars directly into school boards, directly to support delivering good food programs for kids, no bureaucracy, just investments in school food programs.

The Conservative leader voted against it, and worse, he forced his own MPs to vote against it, to stand up against their constituents and side with him instead of with Canadians who need help.

Finance

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

Mr. Speaker, imagine all the smart things we could do with $6 billion. Everyone in the House voted for a measure that would pay $3 billion to pensioners aged 65 to 74. We could put $3 billion into housing to address a major crisis that is affecting many young families. We could think about that.

My problem is this: Does the Prime Minister realize that he may no longer have the confidence of a majority of the House?