Debates of June 3rd, 2024

Italian Heritage Month

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Humber River—Black Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House today to recognize June as Italian Heritage Month. Canada is home to over 1.5 million people of Italian descent, one of the largest diasporas globally.

I would like to take this time to acknowledge a tireless labour rights activist and author by the name of Marino Toppan. Marino is the creator behind the Italian fallen workers memorial project, established in 2016, which commemorates nearly 2,000 Italian workers who lost their lives on the job over a century ago. I thank Marino for all that he has done for the families of the Italian fallen workers.

To all the Italian Canadians who have contributed to our wonderful country, including my husband and his family, I say grazie mille and happy Italian Heritage Month.

The Economy

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Bill Morneau, John Manley, David Dodge and even future Liberal leader Mark Carney all agree that our lack of economic growth is making Canadians poorer, and things just got worse. Statistics Canada revised Canada's GDP growth for Q4 from 1.0 to 0.1. Further, our GDP per capita fell again 0.7%, marking the eighth quarter of decline.

While Canada is just barely avoiding a technical recession, Canadians themselves have been in the longest recession since the Great Depression. Canada's stagnating economy is having a devastating impact on Canadians. Food banks are overwhelmed. Students are living under bridges, and workers are living out of their cars.

There is no denying it: After nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, it is not worth the cost.

Carbon Tax

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, today Conservatives will vote for our motion that calls on the government to axe the carbon tax, the fuel tax and the GST at the pumps this summer. After nine years of the “do as I say, not as I do”, high-carbon, hypocritical Prime Minister, fuel prices have surged by more than 50% in Canada. However, despite the historic cost of living crisis his tax-and-spend inflationary agenda caused, and even though 70% of Canadians and premiers want him to spike the hike, he will quadruple the carbon tax to make everything more expensive for all Canadians anyway.

This year alone, the carbon tax will cost Alberta families nearly $3,000, while one in five Albertans is going hungry and 60,000 Alberta kids have to access food banks to survive. Since 2019, Alberta food bank use has skyrocketed by more than 73%.

Conservatives will axe the carbon tax for all for good, because we know it is all economic pain and no environmental gain and is just not worth the cost. Until then, the NDP-Liberal costly coalition should support the common-sense option to give Canadians just a little bit of a break this summer.

Indigenous Affairs

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada. It is a month to celebrate indigenous culture and indigenous contributions to our country. As we celebrate National Indigenous History Month, all parliamentarians could indeed make history by sending the first nations clean water act to committee for study.

Bill C-61 would recognize first nations' inherent right to water, ensure that there are minimum standards for first nations' clean water and protect first nations' water sources from pollution and contamination now and into the future. This historic and crucial legislation would ensure that first nations have the funding and self-determination to lay the groundwork for a water institution led by first nations.

All Canadians would expect access to clean water. Surely on this, the first sitting week of National Indigenous History Month, parties from all sides of the House can agree to support first nations' need for clean water. Let us turn the page on this shameful legacy in Canadian history and give unanimous consent to get the important legislation to committee.

Pride Month

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is June, and Canadians from coast to coast to coast are celebrating Pride Month. In Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, people are off to a very festive start. This past weekend, Elliot Lake Pride kicked off Pride Month with a rainbow flag-raising, a karaoke night and a rainbow dinner.

This is just the beginning of the season. The Conseil des arts de Hearst is presenting Cabaret Queer on June 7 with drag queen Mona de Grenoble.

Pride Manitoulin kicks off on June 6, with a parade in Sheshegwaning First Nation on June 8. Espanola Pride's second pride weekend is on June 21, and the Pride Family Colour Run in Wawa is on June 29.

I also want to take a moment to recognize my constituent Douglas Elliott, who has dedicated his life to the LGBTQ+ community and was instrumental in winning a legal battle against the government for its role in the LGBT purge. Douglas was on hand to break ground for the national LGBTQ+ Thunderhead monument last month.

Wherever we may be, let our rainbow pride shine.

Official Languages

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last Thursday was the Canadian Open golf tournament in Hamilton.

Clearly that Ontario town learned nothing from the last Grey Cup final and the heartfelt plea from Marc‑Antoine Dequoy. At the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, almost all the signage and ads were in English only.

It goes beyond signs. For example, Quebec golfer Marc‑Olivier Plasse was introduced by the former president of Golf Québec in English only. A francophone introducing a francophone competitor in English must be some sort of joke.

Golf Canada is the Canadian national sport federation for golf and therefore subject to the Official Languages Act. It receives subsidies from Quebeckers' money. They even received $15,000 specifically for official languages.

Why the need for this constant reminder that the presence of French at the Canadian Open should be normal?

Stanley Cup Championship

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is a glorious day for hockey fans in Canada. The Edmonton Oilers are on the way to the Stanley Cup finals after sending the Dallas Stars packing.

The spirit of the Oilers' fans was on full display last night with excitement, energy and atmosphere that resembled the cup run of 2006 and the successes of the Gretzky years.

I think every Canadian can agree that the Stanley Cup deserves to be back in Canada. With McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, Hyman and the rest of the team, we know the Oilers will axe the Panthers, build the power play, fix the Stanley Cup deficit and stop the pucks. I ask members to join me in cheering on the Oilers so we can bring Lord Stanley's cup back to the city of champions. The cup has been away too long. Let us bring it home.

Community Sport for All Initiative

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our community sport for all initiative has delivered accessible, affordable, inclusive and life-changing sport, physical activity and recreational opportunities to Canadians. Today, I met with the leaders who made it all happen at an impact summit here on Parliament Hill.

We partnered with national sport organizations, such as Wheelchair Basketball and Nordiq Canada; networks, such as PHE Canada, the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association, and ParticipACTION; and charities, such as Spirit North, Right to Play and Jumpstart. Together, we have helped Canadians try new sports and activities.

There are too many barriers between people and physical activity. Whether it is the cost, the anxiety about trying something new or simply not having transportation, the community sport for all initiative has successfully lowered those barriers for over one million participants. That is one million Canadians who have enhanced their physical literacy, met new friends, set some goals and had a lot of fun doing it.

June is also national health and fitness month in Canada, which is a great opportunity for people to try a new activity or get back into one they have not done in a little while.

Once again, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the sport leaders from across this country who deliver sport programming to Canadians of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. I thank them for keeping us all happy, moving and healthy.

Taxation

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Québécois is flipping his lid again because I quoted René Lévesque, and with good reason. Neither René Lévesque nor Lucien Bouchard, real sovereignists, would have voted to force Quebeckers to pay $500 billion more to grow the federal government. They would not have voted to hire an additional 100,000 federal public servants or to increase Quebeckers' taxes.

Will the Prime Minister make the Bloc-Liberal coalition official?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers understand the importance of climate action. They understand the importance of a child care system and early childhood centres. They understand the importance of a government that can manage these programs.

The only thing the Conservatives understand is cut, cut, cut. The Conservatives want to cut programs that Quebeckers need and they want reduce the number of public servants that are working for Quebeckers.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we are going to cut taxes.

It is odd that a so-called sovereignist party is okay with sending Quebeckers' money to Ottawa. Apparently, it does not believe that Quebeckers should have jurisdiction over their own wallets. This party actually votes for taxes. While we propose allowing Quebeckers to keep their money and decide what to do with it, the Bloc Québécois votes with the Liberal Party, its big boss.

Why not give Quebeckers sole jurisdiction over their wallets by cutting taxes?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers, the Quebec nation, understand the importance of a social safety net. They understand that a social safety net is built on social programs.

Revenue is needed to create those programs. That is why Éric Girard has also decided to increase the capital gains inclusion rate.

The Conservatives are against it because they are against the people.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, last week the health minister went into a wacko rant accusing parents who take their kids on a road trip of locking them up in a car for 10 days straight without a washroom break, causing the whole world to burn, and all because we proposed that the government take taxes off gas so that Canadians could have a summer break.

Will the health minister break into the same hysteria over his boss's use of a gas-guzzling private jet to vacation all around the world?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we face an existential crisis in climate change. I was wrong, and I admit it. It is not 37,000 kilometres that they would have to drive. It would be 44,000 kilometres to get the benefit that the Conservatives are talking about. What the Conservatives want to do is not only cut dental care, child care and pharmacare, but also end our climate action and return to the days when the Conservative Party would go into climate conferences to attack the action the world was taking to save our planet. I will stand for climate change action and so will this party.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the minister's wacko math gets even worse. He is talking about vacations of 44,000 kilometres. Those are the vacations his boss takes in a taxpayer-funded, fuel-guzzling private jet. The vacations for which Conservatives want to give Canadians a break are to a local campground where they can support the local economy.

We know Canadians cannot go abroad. All they can do is get in their small vehicle and have a small break. Why will the government not take the tax off so that Canadians can afford to do that?

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

Mr. Speaker, it seems that we have, in fact, underestimated the wacko math of the Conservative Party of Canada. Sara Hastings-Simon, an associate professor at the University of Calgary faculty of science, crunched the alleged numbers of the Conservative Party. Based on the savings, and according to her calculation, someone would have to drive 44,000 kilometres, not 37,000 kilometres. Therefore, one could drive from the North Pole to the South Pole and back and they would have some kilometres left. These are the types of mathematics that these people are doing.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, if that particular minister had his way, Canadians would not even be allowed to drive to the grocery store because he wants to abolish roads. He says we should not fund any more roads, and then he has the audacity to call other people wacko.

Most Canadians do not want to put on an orange jumpsuit or climb a building. They just want to take their kids for a merciful break from this miserable, broken economy, so will the government accept our common-sense plan to take the tax off gas and diesel so Canadians can have a summer?

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

Mr. Speaker, one cannot, in fact, drive from the North Pole to the South Pole. There are no roads, let alone the fact that there are two oceans. I am sure the Conservatives will find ways to blame me for that.

However, if one were to drive from Canada's most northern city accessible by road, Tuktoyaktuk, in the Northwest Territories, and then drove to the most southern city accessible by road, Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, one would have to drive 16,000 kilometres. At an average speed of 100 kilometres an hour without stopping, that would take 160 hours, and one would only be halfway to the savings claim made by the Conservative Party of Canada.

Official Languages

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, although the member for Alfred-Pellan has been criticized for suggesting the idea of promoting English as an official language of Quebec, he is not the first Liberal MP to come up with it.

In fact, none other than the Prime Minister himself raised the matter back in 2016. At the time, he was objecting to the prospect of the city of Ottawa being designated bilingual because Gatineau, right next door in Quebec, was a unilingual French-language city. He opposed bilingualism for Franco-Ontarians unless Quebec stepped up and made English an official language. In fact, he had to apologize and admitted that he was being cheeky.

Will he ask the member to do the same?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois's comments are very hypocritical.

First of all, the action plan that we put forward to strengthen the French language was the most ambitious ever. The Bloc Québécois voted against it.

In budget 2024, we are investing heavily to create substantive equality between the official languages. What did the Bloc Québécois do? Again, it voted no.

The Bloc could at least have the courage to stand by its position and admit that it says one thing and does the opposite.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to French, the Liberals are a horror show.

It starts with the Prime Minister, who wanted to make Gatineau bilingual. Then there is the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, who thinks that people who worry about the decline of French are being extreme and are full of the s-word. Next, there is the member for Mount Royal, who said that it was a disgrace to apply Bill 101 to federally regulated businesses. On top of that, there is the member for Saint-Laurent, who thinks that Bill 96 will prevent anglophones from getting care. It is nonsense.

Why are the Liberals systematically incapable of talking about the French language without going off the rails?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, what is nonsense is my colleague's question. He voted against the official languages plan and he voted against the budget, in which we are investing money to defend English and French.

Now, I am going to tell him something. Being a separatist does not him person more of a Quebecker than the Liberal members from Quebec, or even the Conservatives from Quebec.

There are Quebeckers who are not sovereignists, but who are proud Quebeckers, proud francophones and anglophones who defend French and always will defend it, no matter what the Bloc Québécois does.

Indigenous Affairs

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it has been five years since the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its 231 calls for justice. Only two are fully implemented, and the Liberals continue to ignore this ongoing genocide. Commissioners who led this inquiry are giving the government a failing grade. Rates of violence are up. Families are left looking for answers. It has been five years and things are getting worse.

Will the Liberals stop stalling and implement the calls for justice to save lives now?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, let me thank the member for Winnipeg Centre for her constant advocacy on this issue. Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit and gender-diverse people in Canada are 12 times more likely to go missing or be murdered compared to their non-indigenous counterparts. Urgent action is needed to improve safety, justice and dismantle systemic racism.

Today we tabled the “2023-24 Federal Pathway Annual Progress Report”, noting funding for 52 community safety projects, nine safety plans, 47 shelters and a pilot red dress alert system. Progress includes better health services, expanded Internet for over 25,000 indigenous—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona has the floor.