Debates of March 20th, 2024

Carbon Pricing

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, in a question and a contrast on facts, the reality is that the B.C. government has had a price on pollution since 2008, and the federal government has no involvement in British Columbia's price on pollution. It is a simple error of fact that the leader of the Conservative Party is trying to share with the House. He must be mistaken. Maybe it is an honest mistake, but the reality is that he is wrong on that fact, just like he is wrong on the fact that he does not understand that eight out of 10 Canadian families do better with the price on pollution.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, page 75 of the B.C. budget confirmed that the province was bringing in the tax hike on April 1 because it is forced to by federal law. According to the Vancouver Sun, “[The NDP] budget and fiscal plan, presented in February, says the carbon tax will raise $9 billion over three years. The New Democrats plan to give back $3.5 billion in climate action tax credits to low- and middle-income folks, and spend the rest as they see fit.”

Will the Prime Minister end the carbon tax coalition with his B.C. provincial NDP counterparts so that British Columbians can get their money back?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, one would think that for someone who has been railing against our plan to fight climate change and put more money in people's pockets for months now, he would actually have done his research to understand how it works.

Every single province has the ability to put forward its own plan to fight climate change as long as it is sufficiently rigorous to be fair to the other provinces that are also doing the same. That is what a Canada-wide plan to fight climate change is all about. Yes, the federal backstop gives back more money directly to Canadians in eight out of 10 cases, but B.C. and others are free to do their own thing.

Intergovernmental Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, seated in the middle of a hundred or so Liberal members who are at risk of losing their jobs, the Prime Minister continues to interfere in provincial affairs. He boasts about pharmacare, which already exists, and talks about seniors, when he has refused to increase old age security.

Another example is the Canada community-building fund. We are not talking about a lot of money, really, but the municipalities are used to using it as they see fit. The government wants to impose its own choices on them.

With 12 mayors from Charlevoix looking on, can he back off and let the municipalities do what they want?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Québécois is mistaken. We increased old age security for seniors 75 and up because we know that they have more expenses than other families.

Yes, we recognize that even in Quebec and across the country, there are people who cannot afford their diabetes medication or their birth control because they are not covered.

We are here to work with Quebec to deliver results and ensure that people can get their diabetes medication and their birth control. We will be here to ensure that people stay healthy.

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

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if seniors use a lot of birth control, but I know that in Quebec, diabetes medication is paid for.

I will come back to one point, because I do not think he knows what I am talking about. The Canada community-building fund should allow municipalities to do whatever work they choose to do. However, to make it look like it is putting money into housing, the government wants to force small municipalities to invest money from the Canada community-building fund in housing.

Can the government be honest and let municipalities do what they want with their money?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it seems there are some challenges today when it comes to the facts.

Our housing accelerator fund gives money directly to municipalities across the country so that they can build more housing more quickly, except in Quebec, where we gave the Government of Quebec $900 million. It then combined that with another $900 million for municipalities across Quebec to build housing more quickly.

We are here to work in a manner that is respectful of jurisdictions, in partnership with Quebec, to deliver for municipalities large and small across the province.

Public Safety

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister's catch-and-release policies and his mismanagement of our ports, car thefts have gone up by over 200% in Toronto and 100% in Montreal. There are 12,000 cars stolen in Canada's biggest city every single year. That is one car stolen every 40 minutes.

Will the Prime Minister accept my common-sense plan to scan every shipping container, reinforce our ports and put career car thieves behind bars?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, cracking down on auto theft starts with going after organized crime. We are doing that with $121 million for Ontario to crack down on organized crime and car theft, and the Conservative Party voted against it. The public safety minister also announced $28 million for border services in collaboration with police across the country. To stop organized crime, we are cracking down on money laundering, which is something the Conservative Party also voted against.

We will take no lessons from the Conservative Party that chose to weaken our borders and pull money back from enforcement services any chance it got while it was in government.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we pulled money back from back-office bureaucracy and costly consultants that now chew up the budget. CBSA is now spending $60 million on arrive scam, while only five CBSA officers are monitoring 500,000 shipping containers at the port of Montreal. Conservatives put more CBSA agents on the front line at the port of Montreal and across the country.

Will the Prime Minister not accept my common-sense plan to cut back on the consultants and put boots on the ground?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government, in which that leader was a minister, cut hundreds, if not thousands, of positions in law enforcement across the country, including those of CBSA officers and those back-office experts who actually analyze the bills of lading and the origins to designate and find out where these auto thefts are happening and which containers have stolen vehicles in them. We are investing in them. We are giving more money, so they can do their work.

The common sense that the Leader of the Opposition is putting forward is nonsense. We know that they are all about cuts, not investments in keeping Canadians safe.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, why do we not just look at the CBSA's own numbers on this. In the first year of the Conservative government, there were a total of 12,673 CBSA officers. In the last year, there were 14,113. I know that the Prime Minister is not great with numbers, but 14,000 is bigger than 12,000.

By the way, if he wants to analyze whether stolen cars are in shipping containers, why does he not accept my plan to scan those shipping containers? Would that not be common sense?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I will let the Leader of the Opposition's high-priced corporate lobbyist friends, who give him so much money at fancy cash-for-access private events, explain to him the impact on supply chains and shipping in Canada to try to scan 600,000 containers a day.

The fact is, we are doing everything necessary to invest in countering organized crime, to track those containers and to do the work. He is not paying attention to the things that actually grow the country, even though he is listening to high-priced lobbyists.

International Trade

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Calgary and my home province of Alberta are home to tens of thousands of proud Ukrainian Canadians. Since Russia's illegal war on Ukraine, Canada's commitment towards Ukraine has never been stronger. That is why our government introduced a modernized Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement, which President Zelenskyy asked for, to be there to help Ukraine rebuild after it defeats Russia. Shamefully, the Conservative Party did not want to accept Ukraine's reasonable request for assistance. Can the Prime Minister update the House on this crucial trade agreement?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, after the Conservative leader turned his back on Ukrainians and forced his own caucus to do the same—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

Colleagues, I ask for order, please.

I will ask the Prime Minister to start from the top.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after the Conservative leader turned his back on Ukrainians and forced his own caucus to do the same, he whipped his senators last night to vote against the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement that Ukraine asked for.

Our Liberal caucus, including the member for Calgary Skyview, never backed down. Despite the Conservative Party's efforts to derail Ukraine's hopes to rebuild after it wins the war, the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement received royal assent last night.

While Conservative politicians sell out to the Kremlin, we will stand with Ukraine.

Public Services and Procurement

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the $60-million arrive scam is just the tip of the iceberg. We have now learned that there is $5 million in additional fraud that has been identified by the department of public procurement, and this is out of the $21 billion the Prime Minister is now spending on outside consultants, which is a 100% increase, done fully with the support of the NDP.

Can the Prime Minister tell us how much of this $21 billion is fraud?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the situation is obviously unacceptable, which is why authorities are looking into the procurement process. Anyone who took advantage of our COVID response to save Canadians' lives should face consequences. All federal contracts with these companies have been suspended as the investigation continues.

However, everyone in the House noticed how quickly the Leader of the Opposition pivoted from the question on Ukraine. The reality is, his members are ashamed of him for forcing them to vote against Ukrainian Canadians, to vote against Ukraine, and to vote against support the Ukrainian president was asking for.

Foreign Affairs

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has demonstrated once again that he is a fake and a phony because—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Greg Fergus]

The hon. Leader of the Opposition is a very experienced member of Parliament. I know that he would understand that that kind of a statement directed at an individual would not be considered parliamentary.

I will ask the hon. member to continue with his question.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is a fake and a phony on this issue, just like on everything else. He says—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!