Debates of Feb. 28th, 2024

Carbon Pricing

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. Prime Minister has the floor, from the top.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with record-setting wildfires across the country, with droughts and with floods, Canadians know the costs of the impacts of climate change. The Leader of the Opposition has no plan to fight climate change. He is not proposing anything except to pull away the price on pollution that forces polluters to pay right across the country and puts more money, through cheques that arrive four times a year, in Canadians' pockets in jurisdictions where there is a carbon price.

We have a plan to fight climate change and put money in people's pockets. He has no plan.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not need to get angry about it. I am just asking for some numbers here.

He was very anxious to talk about these wonderful rebates up until a moment ago, and now he does not want to say a thing about them. He even gave them a fancy new name. I am going to say it again: In Ontario, the gross cost of the carbon tax is $1,674 for the average family.

How much is the rebate?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the member suggests that I do not have to get angry about climate change. I am sorry; Canadians are worried and angry about climate change. They saw the wildfires that cut across this country last summer and that have already started up in Alberta. They see the droughts. They see the floods.

The Conservatives have no plan. Their plan is to withdraw the four-times-a-year cheques that land in the bank accounts of Canadians and that the Parliamentary Budget Officer demonstrated give more money to eight out of 10 families right across the country in jurisdictions where the rebate is applied.

We have a plan. He does not.

Seniors

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

Mr. Speaker, there was a unanimous vote in committee to support the bill introduced by my colleague from Shefford, which seeks to end the discriminatory treatment of seniors with respect to old age pensions; this discrimination is between those aged 65 to 75 and those over 75.

Since the vote was unanimous, it is safe to assume that the Liberal members were instructed to vote in favour of the bill. Consequently, that it will likely be part of the budget.

My question for the Prime Minister is this: Will increasing the pension and putting an end to age discrimination be included in the budget?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to seniors, we have taken steps to recognize seniors who face higher costs, namely those who are 75 and older, and to give them a little more support.

On top of that, we are implementing dental care for seniors. This week, seniors aged 70 and over can register to start receiving their dental care in May.

We are here to help seniors. We are here to invest. We are here to help the most vulnerable. We will continue to be here to support our seniors across the country.

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

Mr. Speaker, that is all well and good, but it is in the past. I want to know what he is going to do in the future.

I would remind the Prime Minister that his committee members voted in favour of the bill, which will be sent back to the House. I am therefore going to assume that the Prime Minister is not leading us on, that he is not leading on those who were the most vulnerable during the pandemic, who are the most vulnerable in general and who are the most vulnerable to inflation.

Will he use the budget as an opportunity to end age discrimination between seniors and to increase benefits for all seniors?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, since 2015, we have increased benefits, we have increased the guaranteed income supplement and we have recognized that, yes, seniors are facing difficult times, especially older seniors. Vulnerable seniors over the age of 75 have more expenses.

That is why we are in the process of giving more targeted help to those seniors while also helping all seniors through investments in housing, dental care, the new horizons for seniors programs and so on. We are investing across the country to help seniors. That said, we are always going to recognize those who are the most vulnerable.

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister is not worth the cost of food, as we were reminded by a tragic report by Second Harvest that came out this week showing that there will be another million extra visits to food banks above last year's record-breaking numbers. This is because of the collusion of the NDP and the Liberals on price fixing that is the carbon tax.

Will the Prime Minister cancel his April 1, 23% carbon tax hike on food?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as one of the Conservative leader's own MPs recognized, there is absolutely no data or proof to link their theory around the price on pollution and the price of groceries.

However, if the Conservatives actually cared about affordability for Canadians, they would have voted in favour of dental care for our most vulnerable seniors and for young families who cannot afford to send their kids to a dentist. That is what we are delivering and what they are voting against. They would not be stalling on the competition reforms to ensure that we are actually moving forward on greater competition to stabilize grocery prices.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, this NDP-Liberal Prime Minister is just not worth the cost of food. It is not just that two million people a month cannot afford groceries and are forced to line up at food banks, but also that now those food banks are running out of food, and Canadians are diving into dumpsters, literally. There is an 8,000-member Facebook group called the “Dumpster Diving Network”. How can the Prime Minister look those people in the eyes and raise taxes on their food when they are eating out of garbage cans?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we recognize that many Canadians are facing extremely difficult times, which is why we are continuing to step up our supports across the country for food banks, for programs and for supports for vulnerable Canadians. This is something that we have taken seriously, and we will continue to.

At the same time, we are continuing to move forward on concrete measures to help Canadians, such as dental care, pharmacare and child care. These are things the Conservative Party continues to vote against in terms of helping vulnerable Canadians and in helping with affordability. The Leader of the Opposition is there to instrumentalize vulnerable Canadians and to try to play politics off of them. He is not there to help them.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, that is the best answer he can come up with after eight years of record food price increases that has forced people not just to food banks, but to literally jump into dumpsters and to bring their phones so that they network on Facebook to share tips on how to eat out of garbage cans in Canada.

Life was not like this before the Prime Minister, and it will not be like this after he is gone. In the meantime, will he at least have the humanity to cancel his April 1, 23% tax hike?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, farmers across this country know the impacts of climate change on the food supply in Canada and on the growing and the production of food. These are things that we are fighting against by fighting against climate change and by putting more money in the pockets of Canadians right across the country.

We will continue to be there with support for food banks. We will continue to be there with support for vulnerable Canadians. Now, the Leader of the Opposition loves to talk about them and to try to score political points off of these vulnerable people, but he is offering no real solutions for them as we continue to step up and to deliver supports for people from coast to coast to coast.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, according to Second Harvest, food banks can expect a million more visits this year because of the food inflation caused by this Prime Minister.

Professor Sylvain Charlebois, an agri-food expert, says the Prime Minister should at least freeze the carbon tax. The Bloc Québécois voted to drastically increase taxes on the farmers who produce our food.

Will he ignore the Bloc Québécois for once, cancel the costly coalition and stop raising the taxes on our food?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, no party in the House is about to take any lessons from the Conservative Party on helping people in need.

The Conservative Party is still the party that lowers taxes for the rich and gives benefits to the wealthy. Whether we are talking about food banks, dental care, child care or seniors, its goal is not to help the vulnerable. We know that the Conservatives offer nothing but austerity and cuts to programs that Canadians need.

We will continue to be there for people by fighting climate change and by providing them with direct support.

Housing

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, northerners continue to experience the worst housing crisis in the country. Overcrowding is so bad that families sleep in shifts. One home was cracking in half from the melting permafrost and was only held together by duct tape. This cannot continue. For years, the government has ignored the territories' calls for investments to housing. They need the housing funding now.

Will the Prime Minister respect the territorial governments and deliver the funding they need to build homes?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, my thanks to the hon. member for her work as she speaks up for the people in the north. We are always going to be there to invest in housing, to work hand in hand with Premier Akeeagok and others, to make sure we are delivering for people in a situation that is extremely difficult for them.

We recognize these challenges, which is why we have sent millions and millions of dollars to the territories for the building of new housing. We will continue to be there with even more.

Grocery Industry

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

Mr. Speaker, sky-high food prices are driving people to food banks. This did not happen overnight. It is because consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments put the profits of rich grocery CEOs before people. Visits to Nanaimo's Loaves & Fishes food bank were up 44% in just six months. Loaves & Fishes is beyond capacity and requires federal support in building a distribution centre to keep up with demand.

Will the Prime Minister provide this funding so that people on Vancouver Island are not left to go hungry?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have stepped up our supports, as a federal government, to food banks and organizations serving the most vulnerable right across the country, and we will continue to.

In terms of grocery prices, more competition means lower prices, more choices and more innovative products and services for Canadians. We are going to continue to work on our new legislation that empowers the Competition Bureau to hold grocers accountable and to prioritize consumers' interests.

There is much more to do. We are going to continue to do it, working alongside anyone in the House who wants to tackle affordability and ensure that we are helping the most vulnerable across the country.

Labour

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard loud and clear from unionized workers in my riding about how excited they are about the government's bill to ban the use of replacement workers in federally regulated workplaces. Yesterday marked another significant step in the right direction as Bill C-58 received unanimous support in the House. Workers know that our Liberal government stands with them, because the best deals and the most powerful paycheques are made at the bargaining table.

Will the Prime Minister update the House on progress on this historic legislation to ban replacement workers?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville for his continued advocacy for Canadian workers. Indeed, the best deals are made at the bargaining table.

However, when Canadian workers see Conservative politicians like the members for Battlefords—Lloydminster, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan and Louis-Saint-Laurent parrot corporate talking points, they know that the Conservative Party of anti-union bills, Bill C-377 and Bill C-525, is still alive and kicking.

Canadians will not be fooled by the Conservative leader caving to pressure after a steady 19-year political career opposing unions.

Housing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, our common-sense plan will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has doubled housing costs since he promised to bring them down. A National Bank report, out Thursday, revealed that in Victoria and Toronto, it now takes an astonishing 25 years for the average family to save for a down payment. In Vancouver, it would take 29 years. This is after he has created $80 billion of new housing spending that has been vaporized by bureaucracy.

Will the Prime Minister finally follow our common-sense plan to cut the bureaucracy and build the homes?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we just announced two more housing accelerator agreements today in Whitehorse and in Saskatoon, adding to the dozens of agreements we have signed across the country to fast-track the construction of housing, over 600,000 homes. The Conservative Party's plan, which he is talking about, is to insult mayors and to cut critical infrastructure funding. It will not get any more homes built.

Cities understand that we need to change the rules to get more homes built faster. Indeed, the only one gatekeeping this progress is the Conservative leader himself.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister pretends he has not been in government for the last eight years. He acts like this is his first day on the job. The fact that he has to read off notes would suggest it is his first day on the job.

The reality is that housing costs have doubled since he promised to lower them. Yes, he has created massive programs with wonderful new agreements and beautiful photo ops, where politicians pat each other on the backs and smile while they cut ribbons. The problem is that after eight years, nothing is getting built.

Why will the Prime Minister not get out of the way and cut the bureaucracy so that we can build the homes?