Debates of Nov. 7th, 2024

International Trade

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, senators Peter Harder and Peter Boehm confirm that the one thing they have wanted from the start is to kill Bill C‑282. Their amendment practically guarantees that supply management will be sacrificed again during the renegotiation of CUSMA with Donald Trump. They are attacking the votes of every party in the House. They are attacking 6,000 Quebec companies. They are attacking 100,000 Quebec workers. They are attacking our regions. They are ruining our producers and weakening our agricultural model.

I am addressing the government House leader, but this goes for all the parties here.

Is she going to ask senators to vote against this outright sabotage?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, we have indeed asked senators to support this bill in its original form. It is important to support supply management. It is important to protect it. This is a commitment that the Liberal Party and the Liberal government have made.

We created the supply management system, and we are going to continue to protect it.

I would like to know whether the Leader of the Opposition is going to encourage Conservative senators to vote for the bill in its original form.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, the government's environmental performance is pathetic.

We are in a climate crisis, and the Liberals are not getting the job done. First of all, the minister announced regulations on the emissions cap for the oil and gas sector, supposedly to meet our 2030 targets, but they will not even apply until 2030. Today, the environment commissioner confirmed that the Liberal plan is not working. Canada ranks last in the G7.

Will the minister finally do his job, or is he going to climb the CN Tower again?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie to read the report from the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, which indicates that our measures are working in Canada. We have the best performance of all G7 countries from 2019 to 2021.

It is true that not much progress was made in the fight against climate change under the Conservatives. Since we took office, we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 41% compared to what they would have been.

This is the first time in Canadian history that greenhouse gas emissions are falling while the economy is operating at full capacity. That is thanks to our plan.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians deserve better than that excuse. There is another climate report and another massive Liberal failure. Canadians are terrified of the impacts of the climate crisis. They need action.

Today's report has given the Liberals a failing grade. We have the worst climate record in the G7, while the government caves to the biggest and richest polluters. The Conservatives will always put the interests of the rich before the planet.

When are the Liberals going to stop putting oil and gas CEOs ahead of Canadians?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, one of the key measures of our climate change plan is putting a price on pollution.

On May 8, the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie said, “This is why, as New Democrats, as progressives, as environmentalists, we are in favour of putting a price on pollution.” I guess that, under the pressure from the Conservative Party of Canada, the New Democrats are no longer progressives and are no longer environmentalists.

On this side of the House, we will continue to fight against climate change. We will continue to fight for Canadians.

Natural Resources

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the government's own data revealed that oil and gas is the only sector of the economy showing signs of life. On Monday, the NDP-Liberals announced a job-killing cap on oil and gas production.

The government's own analysis admits that its cap on production will cost thousands of jobs and billions of dollars, destroying Canadian paycheques. It is no wonder Canadian-based Enbridge is building a $700-million pipeline in the United States.

The Prime Minister is creating powerful paycheques for American energy workers and American steel workers, while Canadian workers cannot afford their food or rent.

Why is the Prime Minister driving investment jobs away from Canada and toward the United States?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, what the member is saying is simply false. It is a cap on pollution. Pollution is a bad thing, which is something the Conservative Party of Canada should understand.

Does the member want to talk about investment? Let us talk about the $2-billion investment that Strathcona, an oil company in Alberta, is making in Canada to make sure that workers in Alberta and the energy sector can have a future in a carbon-constrained world, something the Conservative Party of Canada is incapable of understanding.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

When the Speaker stands up and the House is quieting, that, especially, is not the time to interfere. I will ask the hon. member for Edmonton Manning to please allow the responses to be given.

The hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot has the floor.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister may not understand how the energy industry works, but Canadians do. Regardless of the name, the cap is going to drive investment out of Canada, costing Canadians their jobs.

It has been nine long years of a Liberal government bent on destroying the Canadian energy sector, despite the industry's being the biggest driver of the Canadian economy and employing hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers.

I will ask the question again: Why are the extremist minister and the Prime Minister helping Donald Trump create American jobs?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, foreign direct investment is up in Canada. Investors are coming to Canada because we provide stability. We provide opportunity.

Canada has a long-standing history of standing up for and protecting Canadian workers. With respect to the last NAFTA negotiations, it was the Conservative Party of Canada that asked us to back down. We did not. We stood up for steelworkers. We stood up for our auto workers. We stood up for our agricultural workers and our farmers, and we will do it again.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberals are not worth the cost as they continue to crush the Canadian energy sector. This week, they announced their job-killing oil and gas production cap. Enbridge, a company based in Calgary, is taking its $700-million investment out of Canada to build a pipeline in America. That is jobs and powerful paycheques for American pipeline workers, for American engineers and for American truckers.

Why is the Prime Minister so focused on creating powerful paycheques for Americans and not for Canadians?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, we consult experts who disagree with the member, but recently the Conservatives' go-to guy, Sylvain Charlebois, said that climate change is the agri-food sector's greatest challenge and agreed that climate change is a major driver of food price inflation, so if Conservatives actually cared about elevated food prices, they would have a plan to address climate change, but they do not.

They have nothing: no plan to address the biggest challenge in the agri-food sector and no plan to address the biggest driver of food price inflation. Now are they going to start attacking this expert too?

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is time for the Liberals to get back to the real world where Canadians are struggling to eat, heat their home and house themselves.

While the minister tries to claim that the production cap is going to create thousands of jobs, his own department is saying that it is going to cost the Canadian economy billions of dollars and that we are going to lose thousands of jobs.

The Canadian oil and gas industry already provides powerful paycheques for our people, so why is the Prime Minister so hell-bent on destroying those powerful paycheques and giving them to Americans?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we love powerful paycheques. Actually, wages have outpaced inflation in Canada for the last 20 months.

The member opposite wants to talk about the United States. I have some information for him. Last week, the economist David Rosenberg said, “US-based investors should strongly consider moving from New York to Toronto”. I am not a Leafs fan, but I happen to agree with that economist, and I know that investors right around the world are looking to Canada.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberal government is not worth the cost. The government's own analysis admits that its cap on production will cost Canadians thousands of jobs and billions of dollars. Meanwhile, a Canadian company that cannot get a pipeline approved in Canada is investing $700 million in a U.S. project, and in 2023, the Liberals increased oil and gas imports to Canada, with over 40 million barrels shipped across the Atlantic from Nigeria and Saudi Arabia alone.

Why is the Prime Minister so intent on funding powerful paycheques in the U.S. and everywhere else, while Canadians struggle to afford food and housing?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I know that Conservatives like to cherry-pick per capita measures to try to talk down the Canadian economy, but in fact if we look at per capita foreign direct investment, Canada is number one in the world, ahead of Brazil and ahead of the United States. If we look at the IMF's projections of growth in Canada, our GDP is projected to grow more in the year 2025 than any other G7 country.

We will not apologize on this side of the House for being optimistic about Canada's future.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the NDP-Liberals are not worth the cost, especially for Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil and gas industry, where for the second year in a row, there were no bids for new exploration licenses. Energy NL says it was not unexpected, pointing to a complex, inconsistent and burdensome regulatory system, including the only emissions cap in the world.

Therefore, will the economic assassins get rid of the stupid cap so that we can export Canadian oil and gas instead of jobs?

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

I would just like to encourage members to be judicious in their use of language.

The hon. Leader of the Government in the House of Commons has the floor.

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

Mr. Speaker, it was 50% higher. What was? It was the amount more of imports of foreign oil into Canada when the Conservatives were in government than when we are.

When it comes to standing up for our industries, whether it is the energy sector, whether it is steel workers or whether it is agricultural workers, there is one party in the House that does that consistently, and it is the Liberal Party of Canada. The Conservatives say to give it all away, and we will not do that. We will always stand up for Canadians, our workers and our economy.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals claim they are prepared for a potential surge of migrants in response to Donald Trump's threats of deportation. However, being prepared means keeping an eye on the borders. Under the safe third country agreement, anyone who crosses the border secretly can apply for asylum in Canada after 14 days.

Since the closure of Roxham Road, the vast majority of the RCMP officers have been redeployed. There used to be about a hundred of them covering 160 kilometres around Roxham Road, but on June 29, Radio-Canada reported that there were only six. I have a question for the minister. As of today, how many officers are there at the border?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP commissioner and the RCMP's commanding officer in Quebec have both made it clear that the RCMP has not reduced its numbers in Quebec. In fact, we have invested more in the RCMP and in border services. I have great confidence that they are prepared to deal with any eventuality at any time. It is their job to be ready and to anticipate events at the border, and that is precisely what they are doing. We must have faith in their preparedness and in their work.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec is so worried that it is considering patrolling the border itself. This morning, in committee, the Minister of Public Safety told me that he is surprised that François Legault would want to send officers to the border when that is strictly and completely a federal responsibility. That is the problem. It is a federal responsibility, but the federal government does not seem to have any plan for the border. Nature abhors a vacuum, so since the federal government does not seem to be taking any action on the border, Quebec has to step in.

What is the plan and how many officers are being deployed to the border?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I greatly appreciate my colleague's question. What is more, I enjoyed appearing before the committee today. We discussed this specific issue. I reassured the committee that the RCMP and border services are always prepared for any eventuality. My colleague was there. The plans have been in place for several months. I think we have to trust them and understand that describing the details of police plans in the House of Commons is not very responsible from a security standpoint.