Debates of May 31st, 2024

Housing

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Madam Speaker, nine years under this Prime Minister has meant nine years of misery for Quebeckers. They have no affordable housing and are now forced to live in motels and on the streets.

The Bloc Québécois claims to stand up for Quebeckers, but it is turning its back on them and voting against every measure that would ease their suffering. Bloc members voted against the Conservatives' common-sense bill to build housing, but in favour of $500 billion in centralizing and inflationary spending. They had no problem with that.

Can the Liberal-Bloc government help Quebeckers instead of recklessly wasting their money?

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

Madam Speaker, let me try a different approach. It was not 10, nine, eight or seven affordable housing units that the Conservative leader built across the country during his entire career as the minister responsible for housing. It was only six.

It is surprising to hear about affordable housing and to hear the insults from my colleague from Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-loup, whom I really like, when, in his riding alone, 134 affordable housing units have been built in recent months, with the support of the Canadian government.

Electoral Reform

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

Madam Speaker, New Democrats want to make voting easier and more accessible for Canadians. That is why we pushed the government to make changes to the electoral reform bill. However, the government has proposed changing the election date, allowing 80 additional MPs to qualify for a pension. Canadians are struggling with high costs. They do not want politicians to make laws for their own financial gain.

New Democrats will introduce an amendment to keep the original election date. Will the government support it?

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Madam Speaker, while some members in the House seem to be focused on pensions, we are focused on fair elections. We are focused on participatory elections. We are focused on elections where people can vote and vote fairly.

Obviously, every party in this place wants to have a fair election, and everybody wants to engage. We will ensure, through Bill C-65, to make it easier for Canadians to vote, we will make sure there is no foreign interference and we will get the job done.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Madam Speaker, grain farmers are anxiously waiting for the Liberals to make a decision on the Bunge and Viterra merger. If this merger goes forward, they would dominate the market in the Prairies and own 47% of Vancouver ports. This would mean less competition, and hard-working farmers would lose about $770 million a year.

The Minister of Transport has until Sunday to send his recommendation. Will the minister meet with the farmers unions and grain terminal workers before making a decision?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, obviously we take competition very seriously in Canada, and we want to ensure that farmers get fair access when they export their grains. We will be speaking with the Minister of Transport about this issue, and I know he is already seized with it.

Mental Health and Addictions

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

Madam Speaker, every year, approximately 4,500 people die by suicide in Canada. That is equivalent to 12 deaths every day. The impacts of suicide extend far beyond the individual. It affects families, friends and communities.

Canadians need timely access to suicide prevention supports, no matter where they live. Can the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions tell the House how we are working with all partners to strengthen our suicide prevention framework?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health]

Madam Speaker, today we released Canada's first national suicide prevention action plan. My heart goes out to the many families and friends who have lost a loved one to suicide, with the ripples of pain that are felt throughout communities. The new national suicide prevention action plan brings together all orders of government and indigenous partners toward better collaboration on suicide prevention. This is about working together to save lives.

If a person or someone they know is thinking about suicide, call or text 988.

Finance

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Madam Speaker, Mark “carbon tax” Carney should show some courage, show up to the finance committee and answer what he will do when he is coronated Liberal leader. Canadians are terrified that he will take the country down the same destructive path that the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister did. It caused carnage, it doubled rents and mortgages and it made food unaffordable, all on the path to quadrupling the carbon tax. After nine years, none of these carbon tax crusaders are worth the cost.

Will the Liberal lapdog NDP and its costly, cover-up coalition partner get their future leader to testify at finance committee, yes or no?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, I am old enough to remember when the member was running under Erin “carbon tax” O'Toole.

The fact is that the finance committee has a lot of work to do in passing a budget that ensures fairness for every generation. There are major investments in housing and major investments in making sure that Canadians, especially young Canadians, can get ahead in life.

On the games the Conservatives play, they have to get off them. Obviously, math is not a criteria to be the finance critic over there. Here is what we suggest he do: get to work on passing the budget.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Madam Speaker, Liberal math says that budgets balance themselves.

The minister should give courage to carbon tax Carney to show up. He will be his leader soon enough, after all. Canadians are terrified to know what path carbon tax Carney is going to take the country down once he becomes the Liberal leader. They need to know if he is going to continue down the same extremist, woke, wacko policy, ideologically driven path as the current Liberal-NDP Prime Minister.

Will the costly coalition step up, give Carney some courage and get him to testify at the finance committee, yes or no?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

I just answered that gimmick question, Madam Speaker.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am not sure what words we are still allowed to use here, but I think it is okay and fair to say that this is the most incompetent, reckless government in Canada's history, consistently undertaking radical experiments with objectively terrible results. An RBC report from today says, “a slow bleed over the last 2 years has left per-capita output back at 2016 levels”.

Canada's per person income has been falling for two years now. When will the NDP-Liberal government recognize that the more it borrows and spends, the worse it makes things for Canadians?

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

Madam Speaker, the Conservatives again use GDP per capita or per person. That is what the member is talking about as a measure of critique, which they can do. It is one measure but not a particularly useful one, as most economists will say.

Let us look at that. On that particular list compiled by the IMF and other organizations, the country leads Japan, the U.K., Germany and France. We have a AAA credit rating reaffirmed by Moody's and the lowest debt and deficit in the G7. We are going to lead the G7 in economic growth going forward in the future.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Madam Speaker, let us take a look at some Liberal history, if we can. Let us take a look at the Trudeau legacy. The Trudeau legacy is 14 deficits in 15 years in the seventies and eighties and a Liberal government that has not run a single balanced budget yet. That is 24 deficits in 25 years.

That is the Trudeau legacy. It led to economic devastation back then. It is leading to economic devastation right now. How can anybody in the NDP or Liberal caucuses support this economic disaster unfolding?

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

Madam Speaker, we have groundbreaking legislation to deal with the crisis that is climate change. We are the first government that has acted meaningfully on the issue of reconciliation. We lifted 2.3 million people out of poverty, hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. We are going to continue that record.

What we do not talk about enough as a country is pensions. The Conservatives want to join Danielle Smith to deplete the Canada pension plan by 53%. We will not let that happen.

Democratic Institutions

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals promised that the Hogue commission would have access to all the information on foreign interference. In her report, however, Justice Hogue criticizes the Liberals for withholding information.

The Prime Minister's Office sends her redacted documents. It even hides entire documents. Worse yet, yesterday, the Prime Minister told Justice Hogue that he has already provided enough information.

I am sorry, but that is not for him to decide. It is up to the judge to decide when she has enough information.

Will the Prime Minister stop sabotaging the foreign interference commission?

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Madam Speaker, the independent commission, to be very clear, has broad access to classified and unclassified documents, as agreed to by all parties. It is a very important point to make that under the commissioner's mandate, all parties agreed to examining foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, bolstering the security of our democratic processes and protecting Canadians of diverse backgrounds.

We will continue to make sure that she has the information she needs, which all parties in this House have agreed to.

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

Madam Speaker, the Liberals promised Justice Hogue access to all the information. The Prime Minister needs to keep his promise.

Let us not forget that the Hogue commission was created because the Liberals were refusing to shed light on Chinese interference. Let us not forget that the Prime Minister even tried to set up a phony investigation by appointing his own investigator, an old family friend. He was unable to cover it up then, and he will not get away with it now either.

Will he get out of Justice Hogue's way and give her what she needs to do her job?

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Madam Speaker, Madam Justice Hogue is a distinguished jurist in this country. The independent commission has broad access to classified and unclassified documents, as agreed to by all parties in this place. The only exceptions relate to access to solicitor-client privilege and cabinet confidence. These exceptions will be applied by the professional and impartial public service.

We want the truth, and we will always do everything in our power to get the truth.

Ethics

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

Madam Speaker, $110 million tax dollars flowed out the door and business was booming for the Liberal employment minister after his lobbying firm got direct access to the Prime Minister's Office and the finance minister. Insiders lined their pockets while Canadians were lined up at food banks. After nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians can see that it is clearly not worth the cost or this kind of corruption.

Will the minister face the ethics committee on Tuesday, or will the government try to deflect and distract like the minister, who is not going to answer the question that I have just put to him?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, Canada has one of the most stringent conflict of interest and ethics guidelines and rules for officials and ministers that exists in the world. The minister has complied with all of them and has answered all of the questions that the member just put.

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

Madam Speaker, it is always great to hear members on the front bench over there talk about the ethics rules in this country, when he sits next to a Prime Minister who has broken our ethics laws twice. The public safety minister broke those laws. The trade minister broke those laws. It is a cabinet of serial lawbreakers. Now there is the minister from Edmonton, who lined the pockets of his firm when it got direct access to the Prime Minister's Office and the finance minister's office.

We know that the minister does not want to answer the question and we know that Liberals are going to try and get him out of his appearance on Tuesday. Will they call in the RCMP?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, once again, the member knows very well that the minister has complied fully with all of his obligations under the conflict of interest and ethics guidelines. The member keeps going on, a bit like Javert, on the issue, but I guess that is the job he has been given, and that is why we have to continue to answer the questions that have been answered repeatedly.

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

Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister's green slush fund chair resigned after lining her pockets with taxpayer money, another NDP-Liberal green slush fund director was caught funnelling $42 million of taxpayer money to companies she owns, and now the Minister of the Environment, before his election, lobbied the PMO more than 25 times to help the director put that $42 million in her pocket. I know you are going to say he was just like John McClane saying he was just “[getting] together [to] have a few laughs”.

Will the Liberals investigate every taxpayer dollar the environment minister stuffed into the corrupt director's companies?