Oh, oh!
House of Commons Hansard #386 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was conservatives.
House of Commons Hansard #386 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was conservatives.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
Order. I hope the hon. member can understand and can hear my voice when I say that we should not make reference to what has happened or has not happened in the gallery.
I will invite the hon. member to rephrase her question for the last time before I move on.
Bonita Zarrillo NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are hurting, and we saw in Ottawa today that it was expressed around homelessness. Renters in Canada are facing exploitation and eviction because of corporate greed. It is so bad that a class-action lawsuit has started against corporate landlords, accusing them of price fixing using the AI program, YieldStar.
For months, the New Democrats have called on the Liberals to protect renters, but the Liberals and Conservatives chose to protect corporate profits over people.
Why is the Prime Minister letting down renters and caving to corporate landlord CEOs?
Sean Fraser LiberalMinister of Housing
Mr. Speaker, no one in the country is choosing to be homeless and no one is choosing to live in an encampment. We know that the cost of housing has gotten too high. That is why we are putting billions of dollars of investments on the table to help build out more affordable housing and help community entities provide services to people who do not have a roof over their head.
What is fascinating is that the Conservatives seek to make a joke out of a very serious issue such as homelessness. We are going to be willing to do the hard work to build more homes, including for the most vulnerable.
As the jeering continues, Canadians should be ashamed of the behaviour of the Conservative Party, which uses homeless people as props.
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, in January, Air Canada will become the latest big airline to charge junk fees for basic services like checked baggage. What is the minister's reaction to this? She is taking a page from the industry minister's playbook and is going to sit down with the CEOs and ask very nicely if they would please change their ways. It did not work for grocery prices and it is not going to work for these airlines' junk fees.
It turns out, the minister has the regulatory power she needs to stand up for Canadians who are tired of being gouged. Will she use it?
Anita Anand LiberalPresident of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member opposite actually has it inaccurate. If I could clarify, we are extremely concerned with airlines putting forward junk fees, and the Minister of Finance has specified this in successive budgets.
I will be speaking with the airline executives. I will be calling them out for charging these extra fees. Canadians want excellent service, not excellent fees, and our government will be standing for passengers and Canadians every step of the way.
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Mr. Speaker, Canadians received great news last week about a temporary tax break that we would be implementing for all Canadians. Our government is exempting essentials like groceries, snacks, children's clothing and gifts from the GST, starting December 14. This will deliver tangible and immediate support to Canadians struggling with the cost of living.
Could the minister share why all members of the House should support this tax break?
Chrystia Freeland LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my neighbour, the hon. member for Davenport, for her very hard work on behalf of her constituents.
It is expensive to raise a family, especially around the holidays, so our government is stepping up to support Canadians by giving them a tax break. This includes children's clothing, diapers and car seats. With the holidays coming up, we are also making children's toys, puzzles, books and board games tax free.
For a party that claims to want to lower taxes, the Conservatives sure seem keen on taxing Canadians' holidays. Why will the Conservatives not support—
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Finance Minister said that the government would not crash through the deficit guardrail. The Globe and Mail reports today that all the Prime Minister's new spending is upending the deficit target and that finance officials view it as “unwise” and “making little sense.”
Tonight, we vote on $24.8 billion in new spending. Will the Finance Minister tell us why we should vote for something that upends the deficit target, that is unwise and that makes little sense?
Chrystia Freeland LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I do look forward to tabling the fall economic statement in the House on Monday. In next week's fall economic statement, we will show that the government is maintaining its fiscal anchor. Specifically, it is reducing the federal debt as a share of the economy over the medium term. In addition, I expect that the debt-to-GDP ratio we projected in the spring budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 will be met.
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Globe also reports that the finance minister and the Prime Minister are “at odds” over all this new spending. It reports that the Prime Minister's Office has viewed the finance minister as “ineffective” at communicating. It also stated that a senior Liberal said that the current dynamic appears to be similar to what happened to Bill Morneau before he resigned in 2020.
John Turner resigned as finance minister in 1975, when he was at odds with the then prime minister. I have a simple question: Does the finance minister still have confidence in the Prime Minister?
Michelle Ferreri Conservative Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
Mr. Speaker, according to The Globe and Mail, the finance minister herself said that radical Liberal spending risks blowing past her promised fiscal guardrails. She has a choice. She can break rank and join the Liberal minister graveyard, like former finance minister Bill Morneau, or she can abide by the weak Prime Minister and drive Canadians off of a fiscal cliff.
Which one?
Karina Gould LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, what we are seeing from the Conservatives is an attempt to distract from the fact that, when they had an opportunity to support a tax reduction for Canadians, they actually voted against it. They talk out of one side of their mouths and do the absolute opposite all of the time.
On this side of the House, we are absolutely united in our support for Canadians. Over the holidays, we are proud to offer them a GST holiday to make sure they can have toys, clothing, car seats and diapers at a reduced price for their children. That is what matters to us.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
I am going to ask the hon. member for Barrie—Innisfil to please not take the floor.
The hon. member for Peterborough—Kawartha.
Michelle Ferreri Conservative Peterborough—Kawartha, ON
Mr. Speaker, we cannot spend our way out of debt. The fact that Conservatives have to say that to the finance minister speaks volumes as to why we have record-high usage of food banks in this country. She has a choice today. Everyone knows there is tension. She promised a guardrail of $40 billion, which in itself is outrageous. Bill Morneau, the former finance minister, was in the same position. He would not abide by the weak Prime Minister and quit.
The question is, will she have the courage to do the same and stand up for Canadians, not the Prime Minister?
Karina Gould LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the only people who are engaging in bullying tactics in the House are the members of the Conservative Party. If they truly cared about supporting Canadians through these tough times, they would have voted in favour of the GST tax break over the holidays. This is par for the course with the members opposite. They cry crocodile tears, but whenever it comes to helping Canadians, they oppose it. Whether it is the school food program that is already supporting 200,000 kids across this country or the Canada child benefit that puts over $7,000 a year in the pockets of Canadian families, they oppose it.
We are united in our support for Canadians and we will continue to stand up against those bullies.
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Mr. Speaker, first it was the ArriveCAN fiasco, and now the CBSA assessment and revenue management, or CARM, fiasco is taking down the Canada Border Services Agency.
This app for clearing goods at the border crashed 22 times in its first 30 days, paralyzing imports. It is a complete failure with a 50% cost overrun, inconclusive testing and documentation being hidden from parliamentarians. Clearly there is a reason why the Standing Committee on International Trade unanimously asked the Auditor General to investigate. Even the Liberal members agreed.
Will the minister listen to his colleagues and agree to an investigation by the Auditor General of Canada?
Dominic LeBlanc LiberalMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, I do not want to correct my colleague, but he said that the committee adopted a motion unanimously, implying that our Liberal colleagues also adopted it. This confirms our desire to see parliamentary committees fulfill their responsibilities while respecting the independence of the Auditor General.
If the Auditor General decides to investigate, the government will obviously be very happy to co-operate. We expect her to do her job well. That is what she always does.
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minister responded yesterday by praising the work of border officers. We too salute their work. It is their bosses in the offices we are not so sure about.
The CBSA was already in the hot seat because of ArriveCAN. Now the CARM app is creating another fiasco, with its irregularities and cost overruns. At least ArriveCAN worked. CARM does not even work. If Ottawa fixes this as quickly as it fixed the Phoenix pay system, we still have a long way to go, and businesses will suffer terribly.
Will the minister put the agency under administrative supervision and switch to problem-solving mode?
Dominic LeBlanc LiberalMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, we are always in problem-solving mode. As my colleague knows, this system replaced a 36-year-old system that was at risk of failing across the board. It is used for assessing $40 billion in duties and taxes every year.
A responsible government always tries to secure such an important system for the Canadian economy. We are addressing all the problems quickly to guarantee quick responses for importers. We will continue to do this work.
Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal government recklessly pushed through its costly temporary GST tax trick that is going to hurt our small businesses, and it is trying to buy votes with a $250 cheque. However, the finance minister's own department called this over $6-billion spend “fiscally unwise” and described it as making no fiscal economic sense.
Because of spending like this, we know that the finance minister is going to blow through her $40.1-billion fiscal guardrail. Will she confirm that her deficit will not be a penny over $46 billion?
Rechie Valdez LiberalMinister of Small Business
Mr. Speaker, this is coming from a member whose leader calls our government supports big, fat government spending. When it is time to step up, the Conservative Party never steps up to support small businesses.
We have cut taxes for small businesses from 11% to 9%, saving small businesses $6.3 billion every single year. We are putting more money back into the pockets of small businesses through our Canada carbon rebate. That is $2.5 billion going out to 600,000 small businesses across the country. We will always be there to support them.