Debates of Dec. 13th, 2024

Finance

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, throughout today, the Conservatives have launched personal attacks on the finance minister, who is responsible for, among other things, the Canada child benefit and who is responsible for, among other things, ensuring that child care is a priority in this country, moving toward $10 a day. What has that done for this country's economy? Among other things, 110,000 women have been able to re-enter the workforce because child care has now moved to an affordable level.

The Conservatives want to cancel that. They say all these things about families, but, in the end, they do not care about families.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, from that answer, it is clear that the Liberals have abandoned all hope of keeping their $40-billion guardrail promise that was made to Canadians. While the unelected, unaccountable and phantom finance minister, carbon tax Carney, pulls the strings from the shadows, the Liberals are following their Prime Minister and the economy of Canada right off the fiscal cliff. Already, interest charges on our debt will cost taxpayers more than the feds send to the provinces in health care transfers.

Will the Prime Minister confirm that the deficit will not be over $46 billion?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, there is some really good news. Last night, the Senate of Canada passed the legislation that is going to give a GST tax break starting tomorrow for all Canadians in all regions of the country. That is actually good news. It is something the Conservatives campaigned on, but oops, they voted against it.

The Conservatives are the grinch of Christmas, whereas we are giving a tax break during the holiday season. That is good news.

Innovation, Science and Industry

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, time is running out for Lion Electric, and the federal government must play its part.

Lion Electric has until December 16 to reach an agreement with its creditors. That is this coming Monday. Today, the federal government must send a clear message to investors that all the conditions are in place to restart Lion Electric's orders. It must immediately announce to potential buyers of electric buses that they will receive the much-touted subsidy provided for in the zero emission transit fund.

Will Ottawa finally get moving?

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to work with the province. We will continue to work with investors. We are going to make sure we do everything we can, because this industry is the future of Canada, the future of Quebec.

We absolutely want this to work.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear a yes.

The employees at Lion Electric deserve better than that from the federal government. There are three days left to save the Quebec flagship of electric transportation. The investors, the cities involved, the Government of Quebec; everyone is fighting to save Lion Electric in Quebec. In the meantime, there is just Ottawa who is asleep at the switch.

The federal government must grant the full subsidies to the potential clients of Lion Electric. That is its role. It must do so right away, not when the flagship is gone.

Will the government wake up?

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, through the zero emission transit fund, the federal government is helping the public transit and school bus operators in the country electrify their fleet. This initiative builds on the work of the Canada Infrastructure Bank to provide to public transit and school bus operators low-cost loans for electrification. Through these two initiatives, the federal government is supporting the acquisition of more than 5,000 new electric buses across the country.

We will continue to do this work. We want to save these jobs.

Finance

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Mr. Speaker, $40 billion was a guardrail set by the Liberal finance minister. Listen to this: “not an unlimited pot”, “need to show fiscal restraint”, and “if...we have a $40-billion guardrail...stay [there]”. That is not Stephen Harper; it is Liberal members of Parliament.

If the deficit is over the $40-billion guardrail, will the Prime Minister allow a free vote for his NDP-Liberals?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, the members opposite are very fond of quoting from the Parliamentary Budget Officer; it is their right. They can go one step further and actually look at what he recently said on the country's finances: We have a more than sustainable fiscal situation. If it were up to the Conservatives, that would reverse.

We know what the Conservative record is when it comes to running up deficits, but more importantly, to the point that has been raised, because they talk about families, what programs would they cut? They talk about the idea of fixing the budget. For them that means cutting, and they would cut dental care, pharma care, support for families across the board and pensions. They are not serious.

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about what could be more than $40 billion; a carbon-taxing, coal-loving Carney; a finance minister on the run; and a Prime Minister not into monetary policy. The Liberals hike taxes, fuel inflation and crash through the fiscal guardrails and off the cliff.

The government is a chaotic clown show. Which one of them will call a carbon tax election?

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I ask everybody to watch the words they use.

The hon. parliamentary secretary has the floor.

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

Mr. Speaker, once again the Conservatives dive into insults because they actually have no plan for the economy. I think they just cannot stand the fact that we have a finance minister who was able to renegotiate NAFTA with the previous Trump administration, we were able to see supports being delivered to businesses and Canadians through the worst global pandemic, we continue to see interest rates drop, and tomorrow we will see a tax break for all Canadians.

While the Conservatives want to know about a free vote, I am wondering whether they will have a free question.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister has lost control of the public purse and of his ministers. The squabble has to do with the massive deficit. The Prime Minister is forcing his Minister of Finance to add another $6 billion to the government's credit card to try to win votes.

The Minister of Finance was forced to break her promise not to exceed her already irresponsible deficit of $40 billion.

Will the Prime Minister confirm that the deficit will not exceed $46 billion?

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, today, in my riding, Fondation Rock Guertin is distributing Christmas hampers. I would like to thank all of the volunteers and the executive director, Solange, for the work that they do.

When I meet with them, they always remind me of how important the Canada child benefit is for the families they serve. This benefit can provide up to $7,800 per child. The Conservatives would do away with this vital support that was put in place by the Minister of Finance.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. After nine years of this Liberal government and nine consecutive deficits, Canada's debt has more than doubled. Even the Minister of Finance is at odds with the Prime Minister because it is so irresponsible.

To clean up the mess, the Prime Minister is quietly grooming a successor, the radical Mark Carney. He has been pulling the strings for too long with the carbon tax and monster deficits.

Is the finance minister just living out her final days before being replaced by Mark Carney, the Prime Minister's close buddy?

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizens' Services]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers in my riding who help those in need.

I also thank the Deputy Prime Minister for making this important gesture and giving us a GST holiday, a measure the Conservatives voted against. I invite my colleague opposite to meet with his constituents over the holidays and tell them that his party voted against the GST relief measure intended to help those in need.

Canada Post Corporation

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

Mr. Speaker, postal workers have been left without a fair deal for too long. They deserve safe working conditions, to retire with dignity, and livable wages. Now small businesses and everyday people are being hit hard, all because the Liberals refuse to do right by workers. As for the Conservatives, well, they do not care about workers; they protect CEOs like Canada Post's Doug Ettinger, padding his pockets while workers and communities struggle.

Why is the minister refusing to protect postal workers' rights to a fair deal?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Minister of Labour and Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, of course we did respect and do respect workers' rights to negotiate a collective agreement. That is why the government has proposed, and I have proposed, a way forward where we can avoid the postal workers' being on picket lines for an untold and unknown amount of time, take a pause and have an independent, respected arbitrator look at the situation, propose a way forward and indeed ensure sustainability for Canada Post.

We will always be there for postal workers and other workers, and we need to make sure Canadians are well served in the process.

Housing

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Port Alberni is short 1,200 homes. It is nearly impossible to find an affordable place to live. Rents doubled under the Conservatives and then again under the Liberals. Liberal disappointment and Conservative cuts mean that non-market housing in Canada has dropped to 3.5% of our housing stock. Other countries are doing much better, like France at 17%, the Netherlands at 34% and Denmark at 21%. Safe, secure and affordable housing saves lives.

When will the Liberal-Conservative coalition stop caving to rich investors and rapidly start building up Canada's non-market housing supply?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, the member is right to talk about non-market housing. We do need more non-market housing options in this country. There has been, over the past few years, an enormous increase in exactly that. Eighty-seven thousand people who were on the street are now living in non-market housing. Close to 150,000 people who were going to be homeless have been housed as a result of the investments the current government has made.

We agree with the NDP that we need to do more, of course, but where we part company with the NDP is on the issue of market-based housing. We want to see more rental apartments for middle-income and lower-income Canadians. The NDP does not have a plan on that.

Taxation

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, our government announced new measures to put more money back in the pockets of Canadians to help them afford the things they need and to save for the things they want. Unfortunately, some members on the other side of the House are spreading misinformation about our tax cut, like the member of Parliament for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, who described it as “sending people pennies”.

Could the minister please educate the member opposite on what a tax break means for Canadians this holiday season?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me commend the member, who comes from a proud family that built up a successful small business. She understands what the tax cut means for small business owners and also for Canadians who want to see savings, especially during the holidays. It begins this Saturday and extends into February.

What we hear with the Conservatives is sloganeering. Their leader is not too worried; he has a $2-million pension. He is not worried at all. Conservatives talk about tax cuts, but when it comes down to it, they are not in favour of them. They do not care.

Finance

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister admitted that deficits cause inflation. She promised she would cap Canada's deficit at an already crazy $40 billion and would not go a penny over. Now the Prime Minister is pressuring her to spend even more, by pushing through her own guardrail and making her fall off a fiscal cliff.

Is the Prime Minister going to pressure the female finance minister to read conflict of interest, carbon tax Carney's fiscal update, and blame her for breaking the $40-billion deficit promise?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat that Canada has the lowest debt and deficit in the G7. The PBO is coming out and affirming that we have a very fiscally sustainable situation. What would the Conservatives do? They would make cuts.

In fact the member, with all due respect to her, ought to listen to what the mayor of Kelowna recently said. The Conservatives are proposing cuts for housing; this would mean less money for Kelowna. In fact he is worried that because of the prospective cuts, Kelowna would have to increase property taxes and go into the reserves.

The Conservative plan is a plan to increase property tax.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we have seen the fake feminist Prime Minister do this before, pushing strong women out of cabinet. The Prime Minister's hypocrisy is on display as he lectures about his being a proud feminist. The Globe and Mail reported on the Prime Minister's aggressive recruitment of conflict of interest, carbon tax Carney as tensions increased with the current finance minister.

Will the fake feminist Prime Minister park the hypocrisy and admit his inflationary spending is forcing the finance minister to break her $40-billion deficit promise?