The hon. member for Kitchener—Conestoga.
House of Commons Hansard #367 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was documents.
House of Commons Hansard #367 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was documents.
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Mr. Speaker, Canadian veterans have bravely stood on the front lines, often at significant personal sacrifice, to protect the values that Canadians hold dear. They deserve our unwavering and ongoing support. Veterans still recall the severe cuts made by the previous Conservative government, which dismantled the very institutions meant to support them.
Can the Prime Minister inform the House about the measures our government has implemented to enhance and expand the important supports our Canadian veterans deserve?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Kitchener—Conestoga for his hard work and leadership.
Conservatives did not think twice when they cut vital supports for veterans and their loved ones. They even had the nerve to tell veterans, and are still saying it, that cutting over 1,000 workers would not impact veterans' abilities to get support, which of course it did.
While Conservatives slashed supports for our veterans, the Liberal government has invested more than $11 billion in supports for veterans and their families. That is the right thing to do.
Innovation, Science and IndustryOral Questions
November 6th, 2024 / 3:10 p.m.
Carleton Ontario
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, crime or corruption.
We know that Parliament has been paralyzed for weeks now because he refuses to hand over evidence to the police in the $400-million Liberal slush fund scandal. We have now found out what he might be hiding. It turns out that his radical environment minister has a stake in one of the companies that got 10 million of those dollars. This is a scam. By the way, the official that handed over the money had an interest in the very same company.
Is the Prime Minister covering this up because he is worried about the questions the police might have for his minister?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, despite the efforts of the Conservative leader to partisanize and polarize everything, we still live in a country where the police are independent and the judiciary is independent. The RCMP has clearly stated that it does not need and does not particularly want the documents that the Leader of the Opposition is freezing Parliament over.
We will continue to stand up for the integrity and independence of our police services, and we will, while we are at it, continue to encourage the Leader of the Opposition to get the necessary security clearance to see the threats to Canadians and protect his own caucus.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, this morning the Journal de Montréal reported that Cycle Capital received $10 million from the green fund, which is at the centre of a major $400-million scandal.
Who owns that company? Who has a stake in in that company? It is the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Is that why the Prime Minister is paralyzing Parliament, to withhold evidence of this scandal from the RCMP?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers and all Canadians understand how important it is for police forces to be independent from politicians, despite the Conservative leader's efforts to polarize and politicize the work of the RCMP and our other police forces.
We will respect the police and allow them to do their work, as we also expect the Conservative leader to take his national security responsibilities seriously and get his security clearance so that he can receive top secret briefings and protect his own members from foreign interference.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
I invite the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable not to speak without first being recognized by the Chair.
The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, after the Prime Minister was caught paying nine million tax dollars to buy a luxury, superexclusive condo on Billionaires' Row for his media pal and diplomat in New York Tom Clark, the diplomat in question denied he had any involvement in it. Well, now we have documents showing that he said his housing “requires immediate replacement”. It was not suitable for hosting or living. Wait until he finds out about the 1,400 homeless encampments in Ontario.
Why, while Canadians live through housing hell, must they spend their tax dollars on a $9-million palace in the sky?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is playing silly games around partisanship, choosing to attack our hard-working diplomats and to use people in homeless encampments as props while offering nothing but cuts of billions of dollars' worth of investments. At the same time as he is doing this, he is refusing to take seriously allegations made by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians that his very leadership, the leadership in which the diplomat in question, as a former journalist, moderated, was interfered with by the Indian government.
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Mr. Speaker, foreign interference poses a real threat to democracies around the world. Bad actors like Russia, China and India use shady tactics to sow division and to further their own goals in countries like Canada, yet there is a deafening silence coming from the Leader of the Opposition.
Can the Prime Minister please explain to Canadians what is at stake and why the Conservative leader needs to take the issue seriously?
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
Colleagues, it is important that people who do not speak the other official language have the opportunity to hear the questions. Please do not talk when you have not been recognized by the Speaker, out of respect for our colleagues.
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader does not do what is best for Canadians; he does what is best for his algorithm. He turns a blind eye to foreign interference in his own party because that boosts his YouTube following. Now he is dodging his security clearance because he is worried that it would not play well in his echo chamber.
The leader of the Conservative Party needs to take care to focus on Canadians instead of worrying about his own troll farm.
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Speaker, young Canadians are facing a serious crisis. Youth unemployment is now double the national average, and job security and workplace benefits are becoming a thing of the past. The cost of food is soaring, rent is skyrocketing and the cost of living is crushing. Young people do not have a fair shot under the Liberals, and the Conservatives' only answer is to cut services.
Young Canadians need hope and opportunity. Why is the Prime Minister letting them down?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I should think that young Canadians are preoccupied that the NDP seems to be letting them down by backing off on its commitment to put a price on pollution that also puts more money in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadians with the Canada carbon rebate.
I should be concerned that the NDP is continuing to allow the House debate to freeze and not pass our capital gains tax measures that would be putting more money in the pockets of young people while asking those who are making over $250,000 a year in capital gains to make a smaller profit on those gains.
We are there for young people. We hope the NDP will be there too.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, at the time that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed, there was no left-right, Republican-Democrat or Liberal-Conservative divide on doing what science required. Maggie Thatcher and Brian Mulroney were front of the pack to get the treaty, but now Donald Trump is re-entering the White House, and we know that one of his first acts was to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
Can the Prime Minister update us on what the Government of Canada and like-minded countries are doing to protect the multilateral international system, as flawed as it may be, to deliver on climate action?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, what has become increasingly clear to everyone around the world, whether citizens, investors or governments of all political stripes, is that we cannot have a plan to grow the economy and support our citizens if we do not at the same time have a plan to reduce emissions and fight climate change. That is how we create the prosperity, the jobs and the opportunities for future generations.
We will continue to work hand in hand with partners from around the world as we protect biodiversity, as we create jobs, as we lower emissions, as we draw on investment and as we create the solutions on energy and technology that are going to bring Canadians forward.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
I wish to draw the attention of members to the presence in the gallery of our former colleague and current Minister of Energy and Minerals for the province of Alberta, the Hon. Brian Jean.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
I also wish to draw the attention of members to the presence in the gallery of the 2024 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering prize winner, Dr. Kerry Rowe.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
Also with us are the winners of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's John C. Polanyi Award, the Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering and the Donna Strickland prize.