Debates of Dec. 12th, 2024

Finance

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

Mr. Speaker, the nature of the questions coming from the opposition today speaks more about its opposition to feminism than it does about our commitment to feminism. That is typical, because actions speak louder than words in this case. When we brought forward things like the Canada child benefit or child care, actual policies that help women, what did the Conservatives do? They voted against them.

When we stand up for a woman's right to choose, what do the Conservatives do? They vote against it and bring in backdoor legislation to make it harder to access sexual health and reproductive rights in this country.

When we work to make contraceptives free in this country, what do the Conservatives do? They stand in opposition. The real fake feminists are the folks on the other side in the Conservative—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order.

The hon. member for Rivière-du-Nord has the floor.

Diversity and Inclusion

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the report on Islamophobia tabled by the Standing Committee on Justice yesterday recommends that the federal government implement all of the recommendations made by the Senate in 2023 regarding Islamophobia. However, the Senate's recommendations are an all-out attack on Quebec's secularism, which the Senate considers to be racist and Islamophobic. If this report is intended to combat Islamophobia, it has failed. Instead, it promotes Quebec-bashing by claiming that Quebec's Bill 21 on secularism encourages racism in Quebec. The government must reject the Standing Committee on Justice's anti-Quebec report in its entirety.

Will the government do so?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague is well aware, committees of the House are independent. They have the right and the duty to do the work they want to do. Obviously, their recommendations are shared publicly.

Like all other members of the House, we will review the recommendations and we will see how they can be used or not be used.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Justice is echoing Amira Elghawaby's request that professors be hired based on their religion rather than their skills.

First, why is Ottawa getting involved in the hiring of university professors? Is there a minister of higher education here, and Ottawa forgot to tell us?

Second, this proposal flies in the face of secularism. This brings religion back into our schools. We saw what happened in Bedford and Saint-Maxime. Quebeckers want no part of that.

When will this government stop attacking Quebec's model of secularism?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the committees of the House are independent. They do the work that they deem relevant to the well-being of Canadians.

The second thing I would add is that Quebec universities are also independent and do their work as they see fit, with the skills and responsibilities that are their own.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Senate issued a report that blames Quebec's secularism for everything, and the Minister of Immigration said nothing. Amira Elghawaby called Quebeckers anti-Muslim, and the Minister of Immigration said nothing. The Standing Committee on Justice tabled a report that repeats the Senate's anti-secularism arguments, and the Minister of Immigration has no problem with that. Ottawa is proposing that teachers be chosen based on their religion and that is totally fine with the Minister of Immigration. On the other hand, when François Legault tries to defend Quebec's secularism, the minister loses his cool and condemns the Premier of Quebec.

Why is this minister attacking Quebec?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, the members of the Bloc Québécois are doing everything they can to pick a fight, cause division and stir up trouble. We are not going to get into that kind of discussion.

Finance

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has lost control of spending in his cabinet. The Liberals are about to smash through a $40-billion deficit guardrail. The media is reporting that the Prime Minister is forcing inflationary spending on Canada's first female finance minister by forcing her to break through the $40-billion deficit guardrail and pushing our country over a fiscal cliff.

Everybody knows that Mark Carney is the de facto finance minister, so why is the Prime Minister bullying the first female finance minister and forcing her to take the fall?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I think what we are seeing here today is Conservatives trying to make feminism great again, but what they actually do is not elect women to their party. The leader actually uses misogynistic hashtags that promote violence against women. They do not support reproductive health care for women. They want to ban abortion health care for women.

When it comes to feminism, it is pretty clear that Conservatives are struggling, and this seems like a fight they do not want to take with us.

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, feminism will always be great when there is no tokenism.

The hypocrisy of the Prime Minister knows no bounds. He lectures everybody else about progress, saying that women's rights and women's progress are—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order.

The hon. member for Haldimand—Norfolk will please start again.

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, feminism will always be great when there is no tokenism.

The hypocrisy of the Prime Minister knows no bounds. He lectures everyone else about progress, saying that women's rights and women's progress are under attack.

My question for the Prime Minister is this: Will he park his hypocrisy and stop attacking the rights of women in his own caucus? Is the fake feminist Prime Minister going to really bully Canada's first female finance minister and have her read carbon tax Carney's update on Monday?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, that member is fully endorsed by the anti-abortion organizations that look for candidates, indeed, a full 40 of them over there, who bully women when they want to make choices about their own reproductive freedom. It is a little rich for members of Parliament from the opposition to get up and say they stand up for women when on the back side they are working as hard as they can to restrict women's freedom in this country.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order.

The hon. member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister, a fake feminist, is losing control. If we look at his record, we can see he has lost control over immigration, over the management of public funds, over his ministers, and the list goes on.

Now he is squabbling with his Minister of Finance. She is already saddling Canada with a huge deficit, but the Prime Minister wants more. He even plans to replace her with Mark Carney, an unelected individual, if she does not follow his orders.

On Monday, will the minister be presenting her economic statement or Mark Carney's?

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

Mr. Speaker, what is disgusting about what we are hearing today is that they have the gall to call our Prime Minister a fake feminist when he has demonstrated his commitment to equality, to women and to women's rights in so many ways.

These people are engaging in petty politics by using hashtags to attract misogynistic men. They are disrespecting a great woman, namely the Minister of Finance.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier had an opportunity to ask a question. I asked some members to be quiet so they could listen to the question. I would ask him to set the same example for others and not speak unless he has been recognized by the Chair.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, settlement services agencies have received notice of massive funding cuts of up to 70% to their budget. This will decimate the delivery of critical services to help integrate newcomers. Two NDP provinces, B.C. and Manitoba, seem to be targeted with the deepest cuts. As a case in point, after three decades of providing essential language training to newcomers, Vancouver Community College will lose all of its funding even though 92% of the students get employment afterward.

Why are the Liberals punishing newcomers, settlement services agencies and VCC's wildly successful language training program?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, every five years we review the funding model for the settlement services to welcome newcomers, to make sure they learn English, to make sure they learn French, to integrate them to a new country and to help them to overcome trauma. This is something we can be very proud of as a country. Obviously, this year we have reduced the levels of people we are welcoming to the country. That comes with some cuts and some readjustments, but clearly, this is a sector that is critical to the integration of newcomers. We will continue to fund it generously and continue to help people integrate to this beautiful country that is the best in the world.