Debates of Dec. 10th, 2024

Finance

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has admitted that deficits drive inflation. His minister admitted the same thing. That is why she said the deficit would not go above $40 billion. That was her guardrail. They were not going to smash into that guardrail.

The minister is like a bus driver saying she is going to come just short of hitting the $40-billion guardrail, and then some crazy lunatic comes in, grabs the steering wheel and jerks it sharply to the left through the guardrail. Does the Prime Minister realize there are 41 million Canadians who are going to go off the cliff in that bus?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

Order. Colleagues, the longer I take to get order in this place, the shorter question period will be in terms of the number of questions members will be able to ask. I ask members to please exercise discipline.

The right hon. Prime Minister has the floor.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, while the Leader of the Opposition continues to talk down Canadians, the Canadian economy and indeed Canada, let me once again put it on the record: Canada is the best country in the world.

We as Canadians are stepping up. Canadians got us through the pandemic. Canadians got us through the challenge of high inflation. Canadians will keep building a positive future for themselves by being there and showing up for each other, unlike the Leader of the Opposition, who has voted against every measure that has been put on the table to support Canadians over the past years and who continues to be in it only for himself.

Diversity and Inclusion

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

Mr. Speaker, against a backdrop of religious practices, bullying in Quebec schools and people literally being asked to move to make space for people to pray, the Minister of Immigration says that Quebec's premier is always picking on Muslims. He talks about freedom of religion, but it looks like the minister has a hard time telling a cathedral in Paris from a park in Montreal.

Does the Prime Minister condemn his minister's constant attacks on the Premier of Quebec, or does he condone them?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we will always stand up for individual freedom and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Freedom of thought, freedom of belief and freedom of expression are rights that our government will always defend. We will certainly continue to protect those rights across the country.

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

Mr. Speaker, just to clarify, we are not talking about secularism with regard to a single religion, but all religions. The vast majority of Quebec Muslims are perfectly happy, integrated and welcome in Quebec. Furthermore, the secularism of government institutions, and, to a certain extent, the public sphere, is necessary for all forms of equality, including gender equality.

Could the Prime Minister at least ask his minister to wait and see what the Quebec government does before expressing such righteous indignation?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers, like all Canadians, cherish individual rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of belief and freedom of assembly. We all have fundamental individual freedoms, and we will always defend them. I understand that, while some people like to play political games here and across the country, various communities are being attacked. On this side, in the federal Liberal government, we will always stand up for individual freedoms.

Taxation

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, get this. The Conservatives bring in a tax cut for the richest CEOs and corporations, costing Canadians $60 billion, but they vote against taking the GST off home heating and diapers, and the Prime Minister sided with them.

Why does the Prime Minister side with the Conservatives and big corporations against working people?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we were equally puzzled when the Conservatives voted against a tax break for Canadians for the next few months.

People are facing challenges right now, counting their pennies at the grocery store as they try to make ends meet. This Parliament stepped up to deliver a tax break for all Canadians, but the Conservative leader forced his MPs to vote against a tax break for Canadians. Even though he wanders around the country talking about taxes, hanging out with certain questionable Diagolon folks, he continues to vote against the interests of Canadians.

Health

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, maybe we should tax the Prime Minister's excuses instead.

It is outrageous. The health care system is collapsing and the Prime Minister stands idly by. Currently, seven times out of 10 François Legault encourages Quebeckers to pay for health care.

Why is this acceptable to the Prime Minister? Why is he abandoning people?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we always respect provincial jurisdictions. However, we have invested $200 million. We are going to invest $200 billion in the coming years in health care across the country to have more family doctors, a better public health care system and more support for our health care workers.

We are there to defend our public health care system. We are there to work hand in hand with the provinces that want to offer a better public system.

Finance

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Prime Minister has lost control of spending, and now we see that he has lost control of his own minister. We have a finance minister who will not tell us what the deficit is and a prime minister who does not think about monetary policy. That seems like a match made in heaven, but then again, maybe not. The Globe and Mail reports that “tensions have risen” between the Prime Minister's office and the finance minister's department, saying that the current dynamic appears to be similar to what happened with Bill Morneau before he quit.

The Prime Minister bullies females and he bullies finance ministers, and now he is bullying a female finance minister. How much longer is she going to put up with that?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

Order.

I invite all members to take their seats.

I would ask the hon. member for Lakeland to please not take the floor unless recognized.

The hon. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are united in working for Canada and Canadians—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

Colleagues, the Chair has stood up for longer than a minute, which would be one question. I am going to ask members to control themselves.

The hon. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, from the top please.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are united in working hard for Canada and Canadians. In fact, the only would-be bullies in the House are directly opposite, but I am very comfortable standing up to them. I look forward, together with my colleagues, to tabling the fall economic statement on Monday in the House.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is so awkward. I do not know why the finance minister takes all of this abuse from the Prime Minister. She told Canadians that the deficit would not go past $40 billion. That was her own self-imposed guardrail. Now she says everything is fine, as her political career collapses and so does her credibility, all because of the Prime Minister. Five senior Liberal veterans and three political staffers confirmed to the Globe that tensions have risen between her office and the PMO over spending. These are the same people who last summer said that she could not communicate.

We know what the Prime Minister thinks of her, but why does she still have confidence in him?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are united, and on this side of the House, we recognize what a privilege it is every single day to work hard for Canada and Canadians and to defend the national interest. That is what we are focused on every single day. I would urge the MPs opposite to remember this is a challenging time in Canada and the world. It is not a time for cheap, partisan games.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is the finance minister who said over and over again that she would not go over her self-imposed guardrail of a $40-billion deficit. Now the Parliamentary Budget Officer says that is yet another broken Liberal promise. We have no idea who is in the driver's seat anymore, driving Canadians through that $40-billion guardrail and off a cliff as they pay more in inflationary spending on the backs of struggling Canadians. What we do know is that Canadians ought to take her driver's licence away.

I can give her another opportunity to prove that she can communicate. She can stand up here and tell us what the deficit is at the moment.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to tabling the fall economic statement in the House on Monday. In the fall economic statement, we will show that the government is maintaining its fiscal anchor, specifically reducing the federal debt as a share of the economy over the medium term. In addition, I expect the debt-to-GDP ratio we projected in the spring budget for fiscal year 2023-24 will be met. Canada has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, the lowest deficit in the G7. This is good news for Canadians.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has failed to table a single balanced budget in nine years, failed to live up to her promise of keeping the deficit below $40 billion and, above all, failed to persuade her leader to abandon his inflationary spending. Incidentally, tensions are rising between the two of them, according to The Globe and Mail. The Prime Minister is losing control of government finances, the borders, his caucus and cabinet.

Can he do something useful and tell us how much higher than $40 billion the deficit is?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I will be tabling the fall economic statement in this House on Monday.

In the fall economic statement, we will show that the government is maintaining its fiscal anchor. More 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 the years 2023-24 will be met.