Debates of Feb. 1st, 2024

Indigenous Affairs

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, supporting the growth and future of indigenous communities is critical in advancing reconciliation. This includes land.

Last weekend, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations was in Nanaimo for the signing of a historic land reconciliation agreement.

Can the minister elaborate on how this historic agreement with the Snuneymuxw First Nation aligns with Canada's broader commitments to reconciliation and the protection of indigenous rights?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, the history of Canada is built on displacement of indigenous peoples from their lands, which they hold very sacred. This landmark agreement with the Snuneymuxw First Nation, involving the return of Camp Nanaimo lands, represents a significant step in honouring our commitments to reconciliation.

By returning these lands and supporting the nation's vision for development, we are rectifying past injustices and walking the path of reconciliation. I want to thank the tireless advocacy of generations of people who have advocated for this.

Carbon Pricing

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this NDP-Liberal coalition, Canadians cannot afford to eat. Forcing those who grow the food we need to pay the carbon tax is nonsensical policy. In fact, Vermeer's Dairy, a farm near Camrose, paid $1,700 in the carbon tax alone in December. They expect that to double when the bill comes for this past January.

The Liberals will, once again, increase the carbon tax on April 1.

Can someone over there please stand up and admit that it is time to finally lower the cost of food by axing the tax so Canadians can afford to eat?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, being a farmer and being a former dairy farmer, it is hard to imagine what farmers had to deal with with hurricane Fiona. Farmers woke up and went out to their barn. The barn was destroyed. The cattle were killed. It killed the dairy cattle. That is a great cost to the cost of food.

I am so proud to be part of a government that has an environmental plan, that will make sure that we will continue to work with farmers and to make sure that they are able to deal with the climate issues that they have to deal with in this country. We have and will continue to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. member for King—Vaughan.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today is the birthday of Vishal, the founder of Sai Dham Food Bank, which serves 3.17 million meals per month and delivers groceries to 3,000 seniors.

The carbon tax has made life and food unaffordable for our seniors. The carbon tax is not an environmental plan. It is a tax plan.

Vishal's birthday wish today is to donate to Sai Dham Food Bank so that he can provide more food for our seniors.

Will these Liberals support the motion to stop the April 1 increase of their costly carbon tax—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. Minister of Labour and Seniors.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, Minister of Labour and Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, let me emphasize, once again, that with this carbon plan, eight out of 10 Canadian households do better than they would otherwise.

The question is: unless they revert to their platform commitment of the Erin O'Toole Christmas wish book, where government will decide what they will do with their money, what will they do with the cash that Canadians currently get, that seniors get every month, that seniors know that they can rely on, that they put toward food, that they put toward rent?

Where will that money go?

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, 40% of Nova Scotians are struggling to pay their electricity bills. Rates have jumped 14% in the last two years and Nova Scotians have to choose between heating and eating. After eight long years, this Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.

This NDP-Liberal government is going to make things worse on April 1, when its next tax hike comes into effect, when it quadruples the carbon tax.

Will this costly coalition show some common decency and cancel the tax hike, so Nova Scotians can feed themselves, keep a roof over their heads and keep the heat on?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the price on pollution is an affordability measure. The vast majority of Canadians receive more money through the carbon price than what they pay. Research from the University of Calgary shows that the Conservatives' plan to cut the carbon price would only benefit the richest 1% and hurt the other 99%.

While the Conservatives are fighting to give money to the rich and take money away from those who are most vulnerable, we are building a climate plan that addresses climate change in a manner that—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I would please ask all members to keep their comments to themselves. I would ask the hon. member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands to please allow the minister to answer without interruption.

The hon. minister has 10 seconds on the clock.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, we have the reverse Robin Hoods over here who want to take money out of the pockets of the most vulnerable in Canada and give it to the wealthy in a manner that actually has nothing to do—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this government, people are running out of money. Food banks were emptied over the holidays.

We have found out that the Bloc Québécois fully supports the Liberals' policies and wants to hike the infamous carbon tax yet again. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is costly for people in the regions, because the Bloc Québécois has lost touch with regional realities, as we know.

Could the Liberals come back down to Earth and support our common-sense motion by at least refraining from raising the tax on April 1?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have lost count of the number of times I have risen in the House to explain to members of the Conservative Party of Canada that federal carbon pricing does not apply in Quebec.

It is not complicated. It does not apply. The Government of Quebec introduced its cap-and-trade program over a decade ago, long before the federal program. If the member opposite has a problem with carbon pricing in Quebec, he can call the Premier of Quebec, François Legault. I would be pleased to give him the premier's telephone number.

CBC/Radio-Canada

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Canadian Heritage opened the door to additional federal funding for Radio-Canada, even though the public broadcaster is about to announce the elimination of 600 positions.

A number of analysts believe that the cuts planned by CEO Catherine Tait were premature, possibly even excessive, and clearly unfair to the francophone side of the network.

Will the minister insist that CBC/Radio-Canada cancel these ill-timed layoffs before it receives any additional funding?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I think the president of CBC/Radio-Canada made it clear that the announcements she made took into account the public broadcaster's current financial situation.

We know how important Radio-Canada is to Quebec. That is why we are currently assessing how we can better support CBC/Radio-Canada and ensure its survival not just for this fiscal year, but for the long term. Obviously, my goal is to protect jobs at both Radio-Canada and CBC.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I like that. That is a good answer. We share the same objective of protecting jobs.

Demanding that CBC maintain the 600 jobs it has decided to cut is the least they can do before doling out any part of the public federal budget, any amount of money.

There is also the question of fairness to our private broadcasters, who are struggling even more. Both Bell and TVA have cut hundreds of jobs, and then with Meta blocking news stories, the entire news sector is hurting. So we are all for supporting the CBC, as long as the jobs are protected.

However, is the minister also going to do her job to help all our broadcasters, all our written online news media, as much as the public broadcaster?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, we are going to continue to work to make sure that we have news media, whether that is private media, our public broadcaster or community media, which play an essential role in every community in Canada.

We have been there by increasing the payroll tax credit for newsrooms. We are currently looking at all the other measures we can take to better support the sector because we know it is essential to have quality information, particularly in order to fight misinformation and propaganda.

We are still convinced that this is the right thing to do, and we are going to be there for our media.

Innovation, Science and Industry

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the past president of the billion-dollar green slush fund shocked committee last night when she revealed that the government was warned of blatant conflicts of interest. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost of his corrupted billion-dollar green slush fund.

The minister claimed that he learned in 2023, but we now know that the ministry was informed in 2019. After eight years, Canadians cannot believe a word from this NDP-Liberal government. So, why is it that this minister chose to mislead Canadians?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour and Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. As soon as we found out about these allegations, the Department of ISED acted quickly. The Minister of Innovation has already accepted the resignation of the CEO and Chair.

We take these allegations extremely seriously, which is why we are doing proper due diligence. Our government is committed to ensuring that organizations that receive federal funding adhere to the highest standards of government. We are committed to get to the bottom of these allegations.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the former CEO of the Liberal green slush fund revealed that she warned Liberals that the Prime Minister's hand-picked chair, Annette Verschuren, should not be appointed because of her conflict of interest and that green slush fund staff also told the minister of this conflict, but Liberals appointed her anyway. Then, Liberal board members went on award to their own companies more than $20 million of green slush fund money. Liberals had officials in every meeting, but did nothing about this corruption until it was in the media.

Why did it take a media story for the Liberals to act on this corruption?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour and Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives will say anything to oppose fighting climate change, including saying they want to slash an organization that was voted in by this Parliament two decades ago. We are sticking to the facts and due process. We will continue fighting to get to the bottom of this.

Public Services and Procurement

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal government has built the worst imaginable system for government contracting. The arrive scam watchdog report found that the government built a system where companies that charge the least are penalized. They actually built a system in which people are rewarded for charging a high price and punished for charging a lower price. “Please sir, we want to pay even more.” It is no wonder the Prime Minister is so out of touch and is not worth the cost.

After eight years, the only explanation for this is complete insanity or outright corruption. Which is it?