Debates of May 10th, 2024

Mental Health and Addictions

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Madam Speaker, having eyes, why can the Liberals and NDP not see the death and destruction their radical drug experiment is having in Canada? Having ears, why can they not hear the cries of weeping parents and of the loved ones of 42,000 who have died from opioids?

When will the Liberals and NDP realize that their wacko safe supply and hard drug legalization is destroying this nation? Will they vote with common-sense Conservatives to ban hard drugs, to stop taxpayer-funded drugs, and put that money into detox and recovery?

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

Madam Speaker, it is because we are listening to the experts, listening to the public and listening the needs of the people in the street who use drugs that we are proposing harm reduction, prevention, enforcement and supervised consumption.

That is what the experts are telling us, and that is what we will do.

[Jamil Jivani, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals are more offended by their policies being called “wacko” than they are by finding needles on kids' soccer fields or skyrocketing overdose rates.

Conservatives have put forward a motion calling on the government to ban hard drugs and to offer recovery programs across Canada. Will the government vote in support of a common-sense motion, or will they continue pearl-clutching over words like “wacko”?

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

Madam Speaker, harm reduction is health care. Harm reduction is the door to the system. Safe consumption sites have responded to more than 53,000 overdoses since 2017.

Our government has invested $200 billion to support provinces and territories, delivering services needed in addition to the $1 billion we have directly invested to address this crisis. We will use every tool at our disposal to end the toxic drug and overdose crisis.

National Defence

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Speaker, for 117 days, the federal government has been ignoring its civilian employees at Quebec's military bases, who are on strike. The government cannot ignore them anymore, because their representatives from Saint‑Jean, Bagotville and Valcartier are here today.

They are here to ask why Quebeckers have the lowest salaries in Canada, why Quebeckers are treated like second-class workers and why the Liberals have been ignoring them for 117 days now.

Will the government standardize the pay scale and stop discriminating against Quebec defence employees?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's question because it gives me the opportunity to talk about an announcement that was made earlier this year, in April, with the Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services.

A settlement was negotiated with the non-public funds workers in Petawawa, Kingston and here in Ottawa, which includes a significant wage increase of 13.75% over three years. To be clear, no employee is paid less than minimum wage.

We hope that a settlement can be reached with the three parties that are on strike right now, and we encourage them to return to the bargaining table.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Speaker, historically speaking, most of the armed forces' civilian employees in Quebec have been women.

They are rightfully asking why the federal government discriminates against them. For example, they are rightfully asking why a financial assistant in Bagotville gets paid $10 less an hour than an assistant doing the same job in Ottawa. The striking workers are rightfully demanding equal treatment across all bases. At a time when the armed forces are struggling to recruit, they should be demonstrating that they respect their employees.

The striking workers are returning to the table. They are ready. They will be tabling a counter-offer at 3:30 pm. Will the defence department finally listen to them?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Madam Speaker, once again, I appreciate my colleague's question, because we know that it is possible to find solutions and come to an agreement at the bargaining table, as we did in Kingston, Petawawa and right here in Ottawa.

Once again, I would just like to say that the agreement that was negotiated will significantly increase wages by 13.75% over three years. We hope that the three parties that are on strike will return to the negotiating table.

I would like to thank all the employees who work so closely with our military members and their families.

Housing

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, after nine years of this Bloc-Liberal government, the housing crisis is reaching unparalleled proportions. This July 1 will go down in history, but for all the wrong reasons. The crisis is not limited to large urban centres. It affects the regions as well.

An article published in this morning's La Presse says that Quebec's association of police chiefs has noticed a significant rise in homelessness. This sad state of affairs results from insufficient housing and a rising cost of living.

When will this government, backed by the Bloc Québécois, stop announcing programs that simply add to the bureaucracy instead of ensuring that housing gets built in the regions too?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question.

It is a very interesting question, coming from a member who supports a plan that is devoid of any measures to assist renters or build affordable housing, but that does include measures that increase tax rates on new apartments.

That is no good. We have a plan for making investments to build affordable housing. For example, we signed an agreement with Quebec to build 8,000 housing units. In contrast, when the leader of the Conservative Party was the minister responsible for housing, he built only six units across the entire country.

Finance

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, rents were half as expensive then. It took nine years for this government to get its act together.

After nine years of this Bloc Québécois-backed government, they voted for $500 billion in centralizing, inflationary spending that is driving up prices across the board, pushing more people into homelessness across Canada. The Liberals' inability to control their spending is the cause of all these problems. Add to that a carbon tax, and we can see where that got us.

When will this Prime Minister, supported by the Bloc Québécois, stop his wasteful spending so Quebeckers can afford decent food and shelter again?

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

Madam Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for the member for Beauce, who is a former mayor of a major municipality in Beauce.

I am interested in hearing my colleague from Beauce's opinion of his Conservative leader's attitude. We know that he built six affordable housing units when he was the minister responsible for housing. We also know that he insulted and continues to insult Quebec municipalities by calling them incompetent.

How does it feel, as a former mayor of a Quebec municipality, to be on the receiving end of that kind of insult? Being called incompetent by a Conservative leader who built six housing units while he was the minister responsible for housing—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.

Housing

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, does the minister know Nadia Gagné? Has he heard of Nadia Gagné?

Nadia Gagné is a woman who has been living in her van for the past few days. Why is that? It is because she lost her home. There are currently 24,000 people on the waiting list for low-income housing in Montreal. There is one very important number that the minister keeps forgetting, and that number is nine. Two terms plus one equals nine. The Liberals have been in government for nine years. Is he proud of his government's record today, after nine years of Liberal governance—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. minister.

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

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, for whom I have a great deal of respect. He is an involved and important person in the Quebec City area. I thank him for telling us about Nathalie. There are many other Nathalies in the Quebec City area who need help from the Canadian government. Life is tough in Quebec City in 2024. That is why we need a government that invests, not a Leader of the Opposition who insults. Relationships, in both private and political life, are based on respect.

Does he consider insulting Quebec municipalities, including our own municipality, a sign of respect?

Health

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Madam Speaker, the Conservatives continue to show their true colours. The Conservative leader said he would override the rights of Canadians by using the notwithstanding clause.

On Tuesday, the member for Peace River—Westlock introduced a petition here in the House to restrict abortion access, and on the same day, every Conservative member voted against a bill that would provide contraceptives to women who cannot otherwise afford them. Yesterday, coincidentally, an anti-choice March for Life protest was held here in Ottawa.

Can the Minister of Health assure women across Canada that their —

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. Minister of Health has the floor.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her incredible advocacy in making sure women have autonomy over their own bodies. It was so disappointing, on the one hand, to hear them speaking about this. I understand that over half the Conservative members are anti-choice. Their telling our daughters and our sisters what they should do with their bodies is upsetting enough, but then in the same order, to vote against women's being able to get the reproductive medicine they need means they want them to have no choice whatsoever about their bodies, not a choice—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for St. Albert—Edmonton has the floor.

Ethics

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Madam Speaker, the Minister of Employment pocketed money from his business partner, the same business partner who was lobbying the minister's department while securing $110 million in government contracts. Meanwhile, the minister actively hid the shady arrangement from the Ethics Commissioner.

For two weeks, the minister has refused to answer the most basic question, so I will ask it again: How much did the minister pocket?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Madam Speaker, the member well knows that the minister has answered these questions, and of course the member would not dare say the things he just said in the chamber, where he uses parliamentary privilege, outside, because he knows that to do so would have serious consequences.

National Defence

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Madam Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, the Canadian Armed Forces has 16,000 personnel vacancies and a crisis of morale, recruitment and retention.

That is why the defence committee unanimously voted to cancel the April 1 rent increase for base housing. Like other Canadians, our troops cannot afford rent and groceries, and they know that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost.

Will the Prime Minister show that he actually supports our troops and reverse the April 1 rent increase, yes or no?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Madam Speaker, I will take no lessons from the Conservatives when it comes to defence spending.

The Conservatives let defence spending drop below 1%. They voted against a salary increase for our members. They voted against funding for Ukraine. They voted against Operation Unifier. They voted against $40 billion for NORAD modernization. They badly mismanaged our procurement for years.

Today in the House, I have no lessons to take from that side.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Madam Speaker, when asked by the media, the immigration minister clearly stated that all international students undergo a criminal record check to enter Canada. That is false. Police certificates are not mandatory for international students who enter our country, thanks to the Liberal government. The immigration minister is following the exact same reckless path of his predecessor, who notoriously lost a million people.

Why did the minister mislead Canadians? Can he tell us how many international students were let in without police clearance?