Debates of June 14th, 2024

Innovation, Science and Industry

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, now my friend and colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent is waking up. The French-speaking Conservatives are finally waking up. I know it is Friday, but people seem to finally be waking up. As I said before, we launched the investigation to restore governance within this important organization.

The chair of the board and the CEO both resigned. We suspended the funding. We proposed a new governance model. On this side of the House, we will always fight for small and medium-sized businesses. We will fight climate change, and we will continue to support—

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

The hon. member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.

Disaster Assistance

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Madam Speaker, all regions deserve support in dealing with forest fires. In the supplementary estimates, Ottawa is increasing the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada's budget to rebuild the village of Lytton, British Columbia, which was razed by fires in 2021.

We stand in solidarity with the people of Lytton. We want them to rebuild their lives. That said, there were fires in Quebec last summer, too. Fires burned 4.3 million hectares of forest in Quebec. That is an area bigger than Switzerland. Will the other economic development agencies also be entitled to similar assistance for last year's forest fires?

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

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. As she probably saw in the last budget, this year we have again invested extra money to be better prepared for forest fires. By the end of the year, we will have trained more than 1,000 firefighters across the country.

We are working with our partners in the provinces, territories and indigenous communities, as well as the international community, to ensure that we are as prepared as possible for forest fires. Of course, being prepared for forest fires also means tackling climate change. Sadly, this is something the Conservatives have not yet understood.

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Madam Speaker, my riding of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou was hit particularly hard. More than one million hectares went up in smoke. We all remember the courage of local residents, who fought to save their municipalities and their homes. That is why we cannot help but empathize with the residents of Lytton. We can imagine what they went through.

All we are asking for is fairness. Will any funding be allocated to the other economic development agencies whose regions were also affected by the 2023 forest fires?

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

Madam Speaker, not only did we invest additional funding in the most recent budget to increase our capacity to deal with forest fires, but last year we also implemented the first climate change adaptation plan in the history of the country.

We worked with all the provincial governments. We are working with municipalities. We are working with indigenous communities to implement measures to help our communities be better prepared to deal with climate change.

Ethics

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

Madam Speaker, in a cabinet of serial lawbreakers, the minister from Edmonton is showing that after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, the Prime Minister is not worth the corruption. This is the minister who has been cashing cheques from a lobbying firm that is lobbying his own government. Global News revealed text messages that show a “Randy” is involved in a $500,000 fraud case at the minister's company.

I have a really simple question that we have not been able to get an answer to and maybe the government House leader can answer it today. Why will the Liberals not tell us what Randy's last name is?

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

Madam Speaker, as the member well knows and as has been repeated many times, the minister took an hour to answer the questions from, among others, my hon. colleague opposite. The minister lives under the most stringent conflict of interest and ethics guidelines in the world and he has completely answered all of the questions that have been posed.

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

Madam Speaker, just like the hour we spent not getting answers from the Liberals, we did not get any answers from the minister when he was at committee, just like when Conservatives ordered the minister to produce his phone records and he did not do that. Now the committee has sent for those same records again. Liberals blocked the summons of the other Randy to come to committee. Conservatives have now ordered the minister from Edmonton's two business partners to appear at committee in this case of a $500,000 fraud and another Randy.

The question is very simple, and we will see if the government House Leader can answer it. Is the other Randy in Sunnyvale having a cheeseburger picnic or is he in cabinet with the Prime Minister?

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

Madam Speaker, in an age of climate change, in an age of ensuring tax fairness, in an age of a number of major issues facing the country that we continue to work on, it is amazing to me that every time the member gets up, he asks a question that has been asked dozens of times in this chamber and answered dozens of times in this chamber and in committee. The minister has responded to all of them.

Taxation

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Madam Speaker, after nine years of the incompetent Liberals, nine out of 10 middle-class Canadians are paying more in tax, despite promises that only the ultrarich will pay. A lot of Canadians are surprised to hear that they are now part of the ultrarich, like Karen, a retailer who bought her own commercial strata unit to save for her retirement, but now the Liberals are imposing another capital gains tax on her retirement nest egg.

How is this fair to retailers and entrepreneurs like Karen who just want to work hard, make a good living and save for their retirement?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, let us review the Conservatives' record. In 2015, when our government proposed to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% and cut them for everyone else, the Conservatives voted against it. When our government implemented carbon pricing that put more money in eight out of 10 families' pockets, ensuring everyone but the wealthiest were better off, the Conservatives voted against it. When our government asked those who profit over $250,000 per year to contribute just a little more, the Conservative leader and his party voted against it.

Let us be honest with Canadians. Fairness is just not a Conservative value.

Housing

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Madam Speaker, supportive housing projects across Canada are critical to people's well-being. They provide people a safe place to live and access many services. Having a place to call home is also critical for the path to recovery for people struggling with substance use. Investing in supportive housing is, therefore, key to addressing the overdose crisis. Under a Conservative government, we would see cuts to supportive housing.

Can the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions tell the House about investments our government is making in supportive housing?

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

Madam Speaker, building and supporting low-barrier access to housing is at the core of our response to the overdose crisis. For example, we are supporting the Northreach Society project in Alberta that provides treatment and mental health services to tenants or, I could add, The Neighbourhood Group Community Services project in Toronto, so it can train tenants in overdose prevention and response services.

We are investing in projects like this across the country to support the most vulnerable among us, and we are steadfast in that commitment to support housing solutions that respond to the needs—

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

The hon. member for Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge.

Taxation

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

Madam Speaker, after nine years of the Prime Minister, Canada is going through the worst decline in living standards in 40 years.

I recently spoke to a local mortgage broker. He told me that, since the budget was announced, a dozen doctors have contacted him about closing their practices and moving to the United States. This is terrible for Canadians as millions are without a family doctor.

Does the reckless NDP-Liberal government recognize that its excessive taxation is driving health care professionals out of our country?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Madam Speaker, one thing that is absolutely clear is that the Conservatives do not care. They do not care about Canadians. They want to make sure they keep giving tax breaks to the ultrawealthy in this country. At the same time, they will cut programs for Canadians that Canadians rely on.

What is clear today is that the Conservatives will cut the Canadian dental care program that is serving 200,000 seniors across this country with oral health care. They will cut the pharmacare program so women cannot get—

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

The hon. member for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston.

Health

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Madam Speaker, Health Canada's priority review program exists to allow the expedited review of new, potentially life-saving, therapies. Qualifying drug submissions are able to seek approval for therapeutic use in advance of other, less urgent therapies. Health Canada's posted timeframe for this expedited process is a target of 180 calendar days.

How often is Health Canada meeting this target? How often has this target been missed in each of the years since the priority review program was established?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member opposite for asking a really important question. I know he has asked similar questions before.

As I said earlier in the House, our focus is to make sure that we approve medications through Health Canada, but do so in a manner that maintains the safety of medications for Canadians. We cannot afford to ever take shortcuts that could jeopardize the lives of Canadians.

Of course, through the pandemic, we learned a lot of lessons. We are looking at ways to improve the approval process, and we will continue to work on that.

Housing

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Madam Speaker, I will ask the housing minister something this time.

Carleton Place, in my riding, has been Canada's fastest-growing municipality for the past four years. When the town was given zero dollars from the housing accelerator fund, I wondered why. It turns out there is a pattern here. Of the $1.5 billion awarded to Ontario under the fund, 97% went to cities and towns in which Liberals hold seats.

There are some non-Liberal seats in those cities and towns, but even when this is taken into account, there is a clear pattern. Liberal-held areas received several times more funding per capita than areas held by MPs from other parties.

Why is this so?

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

Madam Speaker, there were 179 agreements signed by the federal government to incent zoning changes at the municipal level that will lead to more missing middle housing. That includes row houses, mid-rise apartments and fourplexes, which the Conservatives are scared of, for some reason. They are against that entire vision, which also includes triplexes and duplexes.

This is the vision that this government has put forward to see more homes built, in particular for young people, so they can have a future. That includes in communities large and small. In fact, just recently, I had meetings with mayors from southwestern Ontario in rural communities who are excited about the $400-million top-up to the housing accelerator fund, which the member and the Conservative party oppose.

The Environment

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Madam Speaker, nature is core to Canada's national identity. From our oceans, to the St. Elias Mountains, to the St. Lawrence River, Canadians take pride in the beauty of our nature, which is also the foundation of our shared well-being and economy.

I am proud that Canada is remaining a competitive world leader as the global community transitions to a nature-positive, net-zero economy. Our government launched the largest nature conservation campaign in Canadian history and funded the establishment of three new national parks in this year's budget.

Can the Minister of Environment and Climate Change provide the House with an update on our nature agenda?

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

Madam Speaker, yesterday, we took a major step toward launching Canada's 2030 nature strategy by introducing Bill C-73, the nature accountability act, in the House. Canada is the second country in the world to do so.

The bill would hold our government and future governments accountable in making progress on our ambitious nature protection goals. The bill and the strategy provide a coordinated approach to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, help protect nature for future generations and ensure we reach our goal of protecting at least 30% of our lands, waters and ice by 2030.

Housing

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

Madam Speaker, rents in Nanaimo have been increasing at record rates and are up more than 8% from just last year. The Liberals are failing to deliver the affordable homes families need. Meanwhile, Conservatives want to leave housing up to luxury condo developers, who are jacking up prices. Neither option will bring down housing costs in Nanaimo—Ladysmith and across Canada.

Why have the Liberals spent nine years following in the footsteps of the corporate Conservatives by putting rich developers first?