Debates of Sept. 24th, 2024

Opposition Motion—Confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am not going to concede to the Conservative Party. That is for a simple reason: I truly believe that the more people get to know who the leader of the Conservative Party is, the more they will turn away from the Conservative Party. It is a question of being able to communicate messages. We got a bit of a sense of that when the leader of the Conservative Party attacked our national networks. It is not just CTV. It is also CBC and other news agencies.

Unless it is something like Rebel News or social media, the Conservatives are always offside because they do not want Canadians to know the hidden Conservative agenda or the personality of the leader of the Conservative Party.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to build on the leader of the Conservative Party's constant attack against freedom of the press in this fake freedom crusade of the Conservatives. They have spent most of their time protecting freedom of speech for people who have been accused of hate speech.

I will give an example: Jordan Peterson had his licence as an Ontario psychologist taken away by the governing body because of hate that he was spreading on social media. He fought in court against having to take training because of the harm he was causing as a psychologist; he lost in the Supreme Court. He does not support freedom of speech; he supports hate speech and going against reputable networks in favour of think tanks, such as Frontier, that are on the record for residential school denialism.

Could my hon. colleague from Winnipeg North build on that?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, on many occasions I have amplified, or at least attempted to amplify, the fact that the leader of the Conservative Party is very much part of the far-right movement that seeps up from the United States into Canada, and he is lapping it up. He loves this stuff, and he espouses it. Part of that is attacking mainstream media in favour of feeding that extreme right. The amount of misinformation that flows through the Conservative caucus, in particular the leader of the Conservative Party, is truly amazing, and, unfortunately, it continues to grow.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member of Parliament for Calgary Forest Lawn.

Canadians are desperate. They are desperate for a new government. That is because after nine years of the Prime Minister, life has never been harder for Canadians. His failed policies, propped up by the NDP at every opportunity, have doubled the debt, doubled housing costs, caused the worst inflation in 40 years, sent a record number of Canadians to food banks and unleashed crime and chaos in our communities.

Canadians deserve better. They should be able to come home from work with a paycheque that puts a roof over their heads and food on their tables. However, that is not the reality for far too many Canadians.

The Prime Minister's cost of living crisis has become so severe that even working Canadians have to depend on food banks or are skipping meals just to get by. In a single month last year, food banks had a record two million visits. Year over year, the Prime Minister's inflation and taxes have caused grocery prices to surge. The average Canadian family will pay $700 more above and beyond the high prices they paid last year.

The Prime Minister's plan to quadruple his punishing carbon tax is only going to make things worse. In the midst of an ongoing affordability crisis in our country, the Prime Minister hiked taxes again on groceries, he ignored Canadians who are begging for relief and he turned a deaf ear to premiers across the country.

Despite the NDP leader's recent claim that he opposed the carbon tax because of the burden it places on workers, Canadians know that the Prime Minister hiked the carbon tax with the enthusiastic support of his NDP partner. In fact, NDP members voted for the carbon tax at least 24 times in this place. They are every bit as responsible as the Prime Minister for adding to the cost of fuel, groceries, home heating and just about every necessity that Canadians need.

The NDP-Liberal carbon tax is punishing Canadians for going to work, taxing moms and dads for driving their kids to hockey or to dance classes, penalizing the seniors who are on fixed incomes for eating a nutritious meal and diving deep into the pockets of Canadians for simply trying to stay warm in the winter. Punishing Canadians for life's basic necessities is cruel and it does nothing to safeguard the environment.

The costly carbon tax is even more punishing in my province of Saskatchewan. When people live in a rural or small community, public transit simply is not an option. They simply have to drive further distances to get to work or to simply go to school. The reality is that people are going to drive a little further to get groceries or prescriptions, never mind a doctor or specialist appointment that could literally be hours away. When temperatures dip to -50C, heat is not a luxury; it is a necessity. That is the lived experience in Saskatchewan and for so many rural Canadians across the country. It is a reality that the government conveniently ignores time and time again.

Just like how the Liberal-NDP government pretends that Canadians are somehow better off because of its punishing carbon tax, it conveniently ignores all the evidence around it, including reports from the independent Parliamentary Budget Office. In fact, we learned last spring that the government hid its own reports to that effect.

The PBO has been clear that most families will pay more in carbon tax than they get back in rebates. This year, families in Saskatchewan will pay, on average, $2,618 in carbon taxes alone. That is money better spent on their own families' priorities and needs.

Let us not forget about our farmers, who are paying massive carbon tax bills. By 2030, Canadian farmers are expected to pay $1 billion in carbon taxes on the propane and natural gas they use to heat and cool their barns, greenhouses and grain-drying operations. Never mind the carbon tax costs that are added to every purchase they make for their farm operations.

Farmers are leaders in sustainability and they deserve relief. The Prime Minister is dead set on getting those dollars from our farmers, using his Liberal-appointed Senators to gut Bill C-234, a Conservative bill that would have offered carbon tax relief for our farmers.

Shamefully, the Prime Minister is willing to jeopardize the viability of farm businesses and food security in our country just to drive home his own activist-driven agenda and pay for his own reckless spending. Farmers in my riding have had enough. They want a government that does not punish them for their hard work. They just want to earn an honest living and grow safe, delicious, nutritious food for Canada and for the world.

Fortunately, there is hope on the horizon. A Conservative government will restore common sense in Ottawa. The Conservatives have a plan to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. We will bring down inflation with a dollar in savings for every new dollar spent. We will cut the carbon tax that is adding to the cost of everything for Canadians. The Conservatives will bring home lower prices so that Canadians can reap the rewards of their hard work. We will remove the gatekeepers who have slowed housing construction. We will create well-paying jobs for Canadians by green-lighting energy projects at home instead of driving away production into the hands of dirty dictators.

The Conservatives will take meaningful action to address the crime and the chaos that have become far too commonplace in communities across the country. We will do that by dismantling the Prime Minister's catch-and-release system that is endangering the lives of Canadians. We will also end the Prime Minister's dangerous drug experiment that is flooding our streets with taxpayer-funded hard drugs. Instead, we will invest in treatment and recovery so that Canadians can bring their loved ones home drug-free.

After nine years of the Prime Minister, Canadians are desperate. They are so desperate for much-needed relief. What Canadians do not need are media stunts from the NDP leader.

The NDP leader told Canadians that he was tearing up his coalition agreement with the Liberal government. He told Canadians that the deal was done, that the Prime Minister did not deserve to govern. Now that the votes have been counted in that Winnipeg by-election, and there is a simple motion in front of the House, the NDP leader has conveniently changed his tune.

The motion we are debating today is very straightforward, “That the House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the government.” If the NDP leader were sincere in his declarations to Canadians, there should be no question. However, what Canadians are once again learning is that NDP members are not focused on what is best for Canadians. They are focused on their own interests and protecting their own pensions. Despite their desperation to try to distance themselves from the terrible record of the Prime Minister, which, to be clear, is equally their own record, having voted hand in hand with the Liberal government for its failed policies and activist-driven agenda, the NDP is once again failing to be the opposition party that it was elected to be. It must be arts-and-crafts time as it is too busy taping up that coalition agreement that the NDP leader ripped up.

Across the country, Canadians are begging for relief. It is time for the Bloc and the NDP to stop protecting the costly Prime Minister who is hurting Canadians. Enough is enough, and time is up for the Prime Minister. The NDP and Bloc need to join Conservatives and give Canadians the carbon tax election that they so desperately need.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, every member of Parliament is entitled to his or her own view in this place, but I did not hear anything about the fact that Canada is expected to lead the G7 in economic growth next year. I did not hear anything about BHP's investment in her home province of Saskatchewan and how that is a good thing. I did not hear much about Canada's best deficit position in the G7 or the fact that wage growth has outpaced inflation for the last 18 months. There are challenges, undoubtedly, but there are some good things happening, although we would never know that from the opposition.

I do want to ask this on agriculture, because she has a lot of grain farmers in Saskatchewan. Bill C-234 is before the House. It has not been called to a vote because consecutive Conservative members have continued to get up and speak without letting it be called to a vote. There is a majority in the House allowing for the grain provisions on grain drying to pass. Will that member commit to pushing her own party to allow that vote to happen so we can get support for grain farmers? Will that happen? Will she talk to the member for Huron—Bruce?

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the member should come to Saskatchewan and tell my farmers and energy workers that they have never had it so good under the Liberal government, propped up by the NDP. They want to work. They want to provide for their families. My farmers know who has been on their side, and it sure as hell has not been the NDP or the Liberals.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I know that passion tends to get to us a little in this chamber, but I would ask members to try to keep their words more judicious, especially when Canadians are watching.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Trois-Rivières.

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when I hear the Conservatives' speeches, I often think of the story about the wolf who promises to become a vegetarian. I have my doubts.

I listened to my hon. colleague's speech, and it made me think of something called obsession. An obsession is something that leads us to imaginary evil. Imaginary evil leads to delirium. When I hear the term “carbon tax”, it strikes me as an imaginary delusion created by an obsession, plain and simple.

I would like my colleague to comment on what she thinks is a fair share of that carbon tax. To hear her tell it, once the Conservatives are in power, the world will be beautiful and there will be rainbows and unicorns everywhere. However, I do not think that has ever really been the case.

How much of the carbon tax is not imaginary evil or a delusion?

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am gravely offended by my colleague suggesting that I am delusional or obsessed. The only thing I am obsessed about is representing the people who put me on the ballot, which is my job. It is the job of other opposition parties to do the same, but also the government to listen. The Liberals are destroying the livelihood of the people who I represent. How dare you suggest that I am delusional?

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

We are starting to go places where we are calling people names, calling someone delusional, and speaking directly. I want to bring the pressure down in the chamber before we go on to the next speaker. “You” has been used a number of times by all parties in the House. I need to remind members to go through the Chair when they ask questions and give comments.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we have all seen the working-class cosplay of the Leader of the Opposition. He has been out there with the hard hat, the high-vis vest and the steel-toed boots. Meanwhile, that very same individual loves going to some of Canada's most exclusive neighbourhoods and clubs, wining and dining with the rich of Canada, over 50 times since 2022.

We are getting two images of the Leader of the Opposition. When was the last time the Leader of the Opposition stood with workers who were on strike, out in the wet and cold, fighting against the corporate greed that has been driving a cost-of-living crisis in Canada and for which both Liberals and Conservatives are directly responsible?

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader of Canada has been to every area of the country, genuinely listening, not just coming in and going out, but listening and talking with Canadians from every background. He is the only leader in the House who is representing Canadians and representing them well.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I find it amazing that the NDP member asked a question about wining and dining when his leader cost the taxpayers $500,000 last year. He is the most expensive man in Parliament, and he does not know the difference between a bag of potatoes and a bag of apples. How will he ever deliver for Canadians?

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, we can see the flip-flopping. An agreement was torn up, and now arts and craft time is here taping up the agreement again. We will see when the rubber hits the road who has confidence in the government. I sure the heck hope that it is not the NDP or the Bloc, because we do not either.

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

Mr. Speaker, “It was all a dream”, as Biggie Smalls once said, and he laid out a vision of his own experience of growing up with absolutely nothing, putting in hard work with determination, being raised by a single mom and making something of himself.

Similarly, that is what the Canadian dream used to be. That is something my family and millions of other Canadians came here for. Canada used to be the kind of country where if people put in hard work, did the right things and played by the rules, they could afford a house and groceries. Most importantly, people could buy a house in a safe neighbourhood. That is what Canada used to be.

However, after nine years of the corrupt Liberal-NDP government, that Canadian dream is broken. It is gone. In fact, for most of the people who are coming here, that Canadian dream is the Canadian nightmare, with drugs, chaos, crime, disorder and extortion running rampant because of failed soft-on-crime policies. The Liberal-NDP government doubled housing costs, increased the cost of groceries and forced two million Canadians to use food banks. For the first time I have ever heard of, one in four Canadians are skipping meals, and that includes children. That is what failed Liberal-NDP policies have done.

The Liberals did it for votes. They spent more money and put more debt on taxpayers than every single prime minister before them combined. That caused the inflation crisis. That caused the pain and suffering we are seeing in Canadians today.

If anyone thinks this is some accident or, oops, the Liberals did not know what they were doing, it is actually the opposite. They knew exactly what they were doing. The Prime Minister, who is known as a narcissist, wants to play God all the time. He causes the problem and then wants to look like the saviour who will fix the problem. Canadians know it is the Liberal-NDP government that has caused this suffering.

Housing used to be affordable and did not take up more than 50% of a paycheque. After nine years of the government, now it takes 60% to 80% of a paycheque. That does not leave much at the end of the month. That paycheque is not as powerful. Then when people go to the grocery store or to fill up the gas tank, because of the carbon tax scam, more and more is being taken.

It has gotten to a point where Canadians now have the most indebted households in the entire G7. Housing, and everything else, is up under the government because of its inflationary policies. That is why we are now seeing business and personal insolvencies skyrocketing like we have never seen before.

If we listen to the Liberal-NDP government, everything is fine. It does not bother the government that two million Canadians are visiting a food bank. There is talk about extravagant things all the time. It is because the government is not talking to any of those two million waiting in a food bank, those who are insolvent or those who have to skip meals. The government is not talking to any of them. It is only talking to Liberal insiders, rewarding them with hefty government contracts. Those are the only people that the Liberal-NDP government is talking to.

This costly coalition has taxed the middle class to death. It is not just the carbon tax scam, which, again, is a total scam that does not stop a single forest fire or flood and also does not reduce emissions, but on top of that, it takes more money out of the pockets of Canadians than what they get back. That is why it is a scam.

Not only is the middle class getting hit with that, but there is a second carbon tax scam where there is no so-called rebate at all, which makes things even more expensive. The government has hiked taxes and has now brought in this job-killing capital gains tax hike that for many families is a punishment for their life's entire work and success. For example, the plumber who opened their own business, working sometimes 12 to 16 hours a day, saving dollars, putting their kids through college or university, barely making it through and sometimes not paying themselves so they could pay their employees, might have done what is now a punishment. They might have saved up to buy a plaza for their retirement later on.

However, the government thought that was too greedy of people, that they would do too well. Now the government is going to punish them with this job-killing capital gains tax hike. These people did everything by the rules. They have suffered through the current government and they know now that success is punished in this country. Liberals do not even let people enjoy drinks because they keep raising the escalator tax.

The economic pain and destruction is unbelievable. In fact, $460 billion of Canadian investment fled to the U.S. That means it went to American workers, American infrastructure and American pipelines when it should have stayed right here at home. It is because of the failed Liberal-NDP policies that that happened.

I recall seeing headlines in 2014, under a strong, common-sense Conservative government, that said the American dream had moved to Canada. Just recently, the Toronto Star came out with an article that said the Canadian dream is gone and has fled to the U.S.

That is nine years of economic vandalism by the Liberal-NDP government. It has over-regulated, overburdened and over-red-taped Canada, and “over-bureaucracy” is the theme of the government, so much so that no one wants to build anything here, manufacture anything here or, in fact, live here anymore. That is what the government has done.

Hundreds of thousands of bright people are leaving our country because they see no hope here. Canada used to look like the beacon of hope. It used to be a place people would talk about and say they could not wait to move to. Now Canada has become not only a laughingstock because of its joke of a Prime Minister but a place where, when they move here, people say the promise that they could work hard and get somewhere was a lie all along. It is because the government will do anything and everything to attack hard work, a powerful paycheque and, most important, success. It does not want anyone to be successful, unless they are Liberal connected insiders.

It is clear that Canadians are getting poorer and their paycheques do not go as far. Our GDP per person, or the success of an individual who lives here, is diminishing quarter after quarter. The government says things are great here, but Canadians, especially our workers, are falling further behind than their American counterparts.

However, it is time now. Canadians have had enough. They are calling for a carbon tax election now. It is time for the leader of the NDP to put the greed for his $2.2-million pension aside, and it is time to go to an election to give Canadians the choice. Rather than having the Liberal-NDP government and its radical, wacko ideology of this carbon tax scam that it is absolutely obsessed with, we should put it to Canadians. We already know a majority of them do not want this carbon tax scam. Why do we not leave it to Canadians to decide whether they want more of their food, success and fuel taxed under the costly coalition, or a common-sense Conservative government under the leadership of the member for Carleton?

Conservatives will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. We will bring home that Canadian dream and the Canada we all love and used to know, the one that millions of Canadians used to be proud of, the one when we used to stand tall behind our Canadian flag wherever we went. That has become a joke under the Prime Minister.

Let us bring that Canada home once again under a common-sense Conservative government.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the interesting thing about members of the official opposition is that they like to talk down our country. They like to talk down our economy. They want to talk down the best country in the world. It is the best country in the world. They have not seen it and they do not acknowledge it, but it is.

In our budget, we have about a 1% deficit to GDP versus the U.S. at 7%. We have a AAA credit rating. We went through a global pandemic where we had the backs of Canadians and we assisted them and businesses.

Would the hon. member not admit that any country in the world would love to have our fiscal framework to continue to make key investments in the hard-working Canadians we represent?

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

Mr. Speaker, if the member would admit that he wanted to cross the floor over to us because he was fed up—

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Does the hon. member wish to take that off the record? I am offended by that statement. He knows it is not true.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

That is a discussion between the two members. If they want to take it off-line, they can do so.

The hon. member for Calgary Forest Lawn.

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are offended. Those two million Canadians who are waiting in a food bank line, with a million more projected this year; the moms who are having to double- and triple-check how much they can afford at the grocery store this week; the one in four Canadians who are skipping meals; the kids who are hungry when they go to school: those are the people who are offended. Those are the people common-sense Conservatives are standing up for against the corrupt, out-of-touch Liberal-NDP costly coalition that has punished them for just being Canadian. We are going to bring back the Canada that people will be proud of, where people can afford a house, afford groceries and live in safe communities once again, under the leadership of the member for Carleton.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us have a debate on the content. I know this subject quite well.

The member talked a lot about the carbon tax in his introduction. I would like to talk to him about Bill C‑234. We have had a lot of discussions about it in the House. There has also been a lot of tension around this bill. Yesterday, in my speech, I explained that we had chosen to accept the Senate amendments and that we could put the bill to a vote. This bill has been in the House since January, but the Conservatives will not let us vote on it.

I will ask my colleague the following question. Why not vote in favour of the grain drying exemption? That would give something meaningful to farmers right away. Are the Conservatives ready to put the bill to a vote?

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

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-234 was an amazing, great, common-sense Conservative bill in its original form. However, since the radical, ideological, orange jumpsuit-wearing environment minister bullied senators into changing it into some radical new form, it would do nothing but punish farmers even more. Not only is the government punishing farmers with its carbon tax scam and radical ideologies, but Bill C-234 in its original form would have rewarded our hard-working farmers. This is one thing Liberals have failed to admit: If we are taxing the farmer who is making the food and the trucker who is shipping the food, at the end of the day, that cost all gets passed down to the person who is purchasing the food.

It is time to axe the tax and bring back Bill C-234 in its original form to get the cost of food down again.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I do want to congratulate the member for his ability to memorize the slogans, but he would not know the difference between truth and a slogan if the great goddess of truth herself came down from the heavens, painted herself purple and danced on his desk for a week. He would still be reciting the same dumbed-down slogans.

I want to ask him: Why is it that when Erin O'Toole said it was the Chinese Communist Party that helped take him down, not a single member of the Conservative backbench, or any of them, stood up to question foreign interference that took down a credible Conservative leader and put in the guy who is living in Stornoway now?

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

Mr. Speaker, what a joke. I stood up in the House and said to name the MPs who are working in the best interests of foreign governments and not this one. We are asking for that inquiry to be opened—

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Back to this question of the goddess of truth, name them. Name them in the Conservative ranks. That is what Erin O'Toole is challenging them to do.