Debates of Nov. 6th, 2024

Carbon Pricing

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition demonstrates that he has no understanding of the only way to build a stronger economy for the future. It is to protect the environment while, at the same time, putting more money back in the pockets of Canadians.

The Canada carbon rebate puts more money back in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadians, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, according to top economists and environmentalists across the country. We are putting more money in people's pockets, which the Leader of the Opposition wants to take away at a time when investments in jobs, in growth and in the future are more important than ever before.

International Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, even the Leader of the Opposition is worried about the economic policies of the U.S. president-elect, who is actually one of his role models. Clearly, there is a problem.

I want to talk about trade. There are problems when it comes to supply management, aluminum and wood. Let us focus on supply management.

Is it not high time to protect supply management by passing Bill C-282? Is it not high time for him to pick up the phone and call his senators to get this bill sent back?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I have been saying all along, we agree on this bill. We are in the process of making sure it passes in the Senate. We need to take a firm stand when it comes to supply management, which we have always defended.

Our government is the one that promised to never compromise on supply management in any future trade agreement. We are going to keep our promise.

I really appreciate the Bloc Québécois's support on this. We will continue to make sure that our farmers and supply management are protected.

Seniors

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

Mr. Speaker, the difference between what the government says it is going to stand firm on and what it actually achieves is enough to worry anyone.

Let us talk about the risk of inflation. Many economists are saying that the Republicans' proposed economic policies are going to drive up inflation.

Is it not high time to protect the purchasing power of retirees aged 65 to 74 by restoring fairness for everyone who receives OAS benefits, as the Bloc Québécois is calling for?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we all know how difficult global inflation has been for Canadians, especially seniors.

That is why we have worked so hard as a government to bring inflation down in Canada faster than in the United States and faster than elsewhere in the world. That is also why interest rates are falling faster in Quebec than anywhere else in the world.

We will continue to be a fiscally responsible government to ensure that people in this country continue to benefit from low inflation rates. We will continue to invest in programs like dental care and support for seniors, which will help them as well.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, with the Prime Minister having capitulated and allowed former President Trump to reimpose the softwood lumber tariffs that Stephen Harper took off, and now Biden having doubled those tariffs, our softwood industry is hemorrhaging jobs. One way to boost the industry is to build some homes. It turns out I have a common-sense plan to cut the wasteful bureaucracy that has built zero homes, and use the savings to axe the sales tax and boost home building by 30,000 new homes per year.

Will the Prime Minister accept my common-sense plan?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the problem with the Leader of the Opposition's so-called plan is that it actually cuts billions of dollars of investments to municipalities across the country that are counting on them to build hundreds and even thousands of units of housing Canadians so desperately need. His plan is, once again, cuts and austerity, fights with municipalities and fights with the provinces, not building the homes that matter to Canadians. Once again, he is completely out to lunch and demonstrating an unwillingness to help Canadians, except for a willingness to help himself with political attacks.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the Prime Minister has doubled housing costs and Canada has the fewest homes per capita of any country in the G7. Maybe it is because the housing minister said, of the $8 billion of bureaucracies, “the housing accelerator fund doesn't go toward the cost of building houses”. He also said, “It doesn't actually lead to the construction of specific homes.” The housing accelerator does not actually fund directly building homes and it has built zero homes; zero homes built with this bureaucracy.

Why not follow my common-sense plan to axe the sales tax and build the homes?.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, 18 Conservative caucus members stood up and asked for housing investments in their municipalities across the country from the housing accelerator fund that the Leader of the Opposition is promising to cut.

I am going to channel my old job as a schoolteacher. The Leader of the Opposition actually spent a lot of time and effort rooting out which 18 members had asked for this money for their municipalities for housing. If he spent half as much time rooting out foreign interference as he did rooting out people who are asking for more housing, we might be better off as a country.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, those MPs were just trying to solve a case of unsolved mysteries. Where are all these homes? Can someone point out any one of them? They wrote the minister 18 letters. He got 18 letters and he could not respond with even one home that his $8 billion bureaucracy has built. All of these 18 MPs tried to help the hopeless minister.

Let me try again with a real plan to build the homes: axe the tax.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the MP for St. Albert—Edmonton said, “The requested federal funding is critical to making this needed development a reality—a development that will help address the significant shortage of affordable housing options in the community”.

At the same time, the mayor of Butternut Valley in New Brunswick pointed out that this is a program they need.

Even the local MP said that this funding “will provide much needed housing” in the city.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I do not like to interrupt the Prime Minister. He does have time left on his clock, but it was difficult for the Chair to decipher what was being said. I am going to ask him to take it to the last 15 seconds so that I can hear what is being answered.

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the MP for Fundy Royal wrote that this funding “will provide much needed housing in this area”, so much so that, when the Leader of the Opposition announced he would cancel it, the mayor of Butternut Valley in that riding, Alan Brown, responded very strongly that this money would help build homes and asked why the Conservative leader was blocking it.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has lots of politicians who love to receive other people's money, but he does not have any homes to show for it. He is too afraid to have a carbon tax election. Let us have a compromise here. Why do we not have a housing tax election? Here is how it would work. The NDP-Liberals will campaign on giving billions more to bureaucracies and we will campaign on a plan to axe the tax and build the homes. What does he say to a housing tax election?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the only so-called plan the Leader of the Opposition put forward is a plan for cuts and austerity, a plan to cut billions of dollars of investments that are needed by municipalities to unlock the building of thousands of homes. Why does he not want to see thousands of homes built across the country? Because he would rather instrumentalize, for his own political gain, the sufferings and the challenges faced by Canadians than solve the challenges, just like he refuses to solve the challenge of foreign interference in his own caucus by refusing to get the necessary security briefings and security clearance that will keep his caucus and Canadians safe.

Veterans Affairs

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals continue to break their promise to eliminate the “marriage after 60” pension clause. They label women as “gold diggers” and push veterans and their families into poverty.

The government announced $150 million for veterans five years ago, but has not spent a single penny. Veterans and their families are owed a good life. Will the Prime Minister eliminate this sexist, archaic pension clause or does he still believe veterans are asking for too much?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have invested over $11 billion in supports for veterans over the past years after the Conservative government demonstrated that it was nickel-and-diming veterans for photo ops, shuttering nine veterans service centres and firing thousands of people working to directly support veterans.

We have been there for our veterans. We will continue to invest in supports for them. We will continue to protect them from the Conservative cuts. We will be there to honour and recognize their service, not just this week of Veterans' Week, but every single week throughout the year.

Indigenous Affairs

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, more and more indigenous people are still dying at the hands of law enforcement officers. Despite urgent calls to save lives, the Liberals have done nothing. I grieve with the Inuit family in Salluit, Nunavik after their son Joshua was killed. We need justice for twins Joshua and Garnet Papigatuk. We need more de-escalation tactics and indigenous-led crisis response teams. When will the government listen to the urgent demands from indigenous peoples so they can live in safe communities?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we know how difficult situations are in far too many indigenous communities, including Inuit communities across Nunavut, which is why we have tripled investments into indigenous communities since 2015 with $32 billion in investments expected in 2024-25 alone. We know there is much more to do, including even stronger partnerships with respect to indigenous policing, with respect to community safety, with respect to housing and with respect to supports for young people. There is much more to do. We will continue to work hand in hand with local governments and indigenous governments to get it done.

Housing

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last year, we signed an historic agreement with Quebec to make a joint investment of $1.8 billion in affordable housing under the housing accelerator fund. Last week, the Conservative leader announced that he would eliminate that fund and tear up our agreement with Quebec, putting all of the projects in jeopardy.

The Prime Minister—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin. The Conservative leader's housing plan involves scrapping housing projects and investments across the country. In Quebec, his solution is to tear up the agreement that we signed with the province that will provide $900 million for affordable housing projects. This would affect about 8,000 housing projects.

Even the Quebec finance minister thinks that this Conservative leader is costly and ineffective. Quebeckers cannot count on the Conservative leader. All they will get from him is cuts and austerity.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, after the Prime Minister capitulated and allowed Mr. Trump to reimpose softwood lumber tariffs, three sawmills in Saguenay shut down.

One way to stimulate demand for Canadian lumber is to build houses. However, the Prime Minister is working hard to build bureaucracy instead, by creating programs that he admits do not even build housing. I have proposed eliminating the GST on new homes, which will spur the construction of another 30,000 homes.

Will he allow us to hold an election so that Quebeckers can vote to axe the GST on housing?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers see very clearly what the Conservative Party is offering, and that is cuts and austerity. The Conservative leader is saying he would cut $900 million in joint investments with Quebec that are intended to create roughly 8,000 affordable housing units.

That is what he wants for Quebeckers, to make cuts. He wants to scrap an agreement with Quebec so that he can play his political games. That is not what Quebeckers need. They need housing. They need investments. Those are what he wants to cut.