Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that the particular motion we are debating today in fact reflects the leadership of the Conservative Party. I should say the “Conservative-Reform party”. That far-right influence continues to dictate the type of policy directives that we see. It does kind of seep out at times from the Conservative Party today. As I listen to members, I would like them to reflect on what we are actually voting on.
The Conservatives say it is a motion of confidence in the government. I would put the question in a different way. I would suggest that this is a question of confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party, who has one mission and one mission only, and it is driven by a thirst for power. He is not concerned about what is taking place in our communities in all the different regions of the country. He is not concerned about issues of inflation or affordability. He has the slogans, and he has the bumper stickers ready. His only focus is that thirst for power.
At the very first opportunity he gets, he brings in a motion of non-confidence. We are in to debate now for five or six days, and they have already brought in four days on which we debated concurrence motions, instead of having a debate on government and private members' legislation that could, in fact, be passing. I am thinking of the military to civil courts legislation that the Conservatives support, but they continue to filibuster it. They have a constant attitude of trying to play the role of a destructive force on the floor of the House of Commons. They are prepared to put their self-interest ahead of the interests of Canadians.
I hope that when we see the ultimate vote on today's motion, they will take the time to reflect that it is time to cool down on their thirst for power and start putting more of a focus on what is in the best interest of Canadians.
I listened to the leader of the Conservative Party's personal attack on CTV and how disgraceful it was. We are used to CBC. We have three national television networks, and because he does not like the factual information that is going out on them, he takes the opportunity here on the floor of the House of Commons to attack them. It does not surprise me, because I suspect that there has never been a leader of any national political party that has been as intentionally misleading as this leader has on many different fronts.
We just started the session back up for the fall. Caucus meetings took place in all the political parties. I will quote an interesting headline that came out in regard to the Conservative caucus: “Carbon pricing to cause economic ‘nuclear winter’”. So says the leader of the Conservative Party.
Get this, Mr. Speaker, if we want to talk about something that is so ridiculous, it is a joke. The leader of the Conservative Party actually said that to the Conservative members of Parliament when they convened to have their power meeting. Here is what an article had to say:
...the Liberal government’s plans to increase the [carbon] price would cause a “nuclear winter” for the economy.
“There would be mass hunger and malnutrition with a tax this high…our seniors would have to turn the heat down to 14 or 13 C just to make it through the [winter]”....
He went on to say:
“Inflation would run rampant and people would not be able to leave their homes or drive anywhere.”
This is what the Conservative brain trust had to say to the Conservative members of Parliament. There is no doubt that he likely got applause. We can think about how ridiculous a statement that is.
It is almost as bad as the leader of the Conservative Party and members of the Conservative Party travelling everywhere in Canada and trying to give the false impression that Canada is broken. The only thing that is broken in Canada is the Conservative-Reform party of Canada. They need to re-evaluate where they are getting their ideas from. What about their performance and personal attacks? I just finished sharing some thoughts in regard to the leader of the Conservative Party. These thoughts are mild compared to the attitudes that the Conservative Party took against the current Prime Minister, even before he was prime minister.
I say, we can look at the results and at the things the government has actually been able to achieve. In his speech, the leader of the Conservative Party said that they are going to be there for health care. That is balderdash. The Liberal government brought in our health care system, and people such as Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin preserved it.
Just an hour or so ago, the leader of the Conservative Party said that Conservatives delivered on health care and provided the money. That is garbage. It was a Paul Martin agreement with the health accord that saw a 6% increase for provinces in health care transfers. That is what delivered the health care increases. It had nothing to do with Stephen Harper. In fact, when those agreements expired, what was the first thing Harper did? He decreased them. That is the reality.
What does the current government do? No government in the last 60 years has committed as many dollars to public health care as this one has, including $198 billion over 10 years. What are the Conservatives going to do about that? They are trying to say they care about health care, but their attitude towards health care is to get rid of it. We see that in their actions and the words they often use. They do not believe the federal government needs to play that role. Will they, in fact, enforce such things as the Canada Health Act? We can look at their response to pharmacare: The leader of the Conservative Party mocked the government for pursuing a national pharmacare program.
I have news for members opposite. The original idea or plan for the health care system was to have a pharmacare program, to ensure that there was more financial accountability and to ensure that we had things like the Canada Health Act. I remind the Conservatives of this: They can campaign against health care all they want, but a vast majority of Canadians care deeply and passionately about our health care system. The leader of the Conservative Party is way off base on that issue.
I had a tough time listening when the leader of the Conservative Party was glorifying Stephen Harper. He said that immigration policy was wonderful under Stephen Harper and that he would do what he could to emulate it.