Debates of Sept. 24th, 2024

Opposition Motion—Confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased we have this moment to come together to vote non-confidence in the Conservative leader yet again. I do not want to say I do not respect him. He is living in his 19-room mansion with his own private chef, and he thinks we need to get this election happening right away. I am wondering what he is so worried about.

Then I read Erin O'Toole's statements that Erin O'Toole was taken down by foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party. Who was put in place? It is the guy now living in the 19-room mansion, the only leader in Canadian history who has never obtained a security clearance. Is it that he cannot get the security clearance? What are my hon. colleagues trying to hide over there? They all supported the member, who obviously did well from the Chinese interference that took down a credible leader like Erin O'Toole.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask my NDP colleague the same question. What is he trying to hide?

We are here to talk about a non-confidence motion against this government and to say that the House does not have confidence in this bad Liberal government. What I am hearing from my NDP colleague is a whole different story.

I understand where he is coming from. Earlier, I was talking about the little orange frog. If I were a member of the NDP caucus, I too would also be ashamed of the nine years of this Liberal government. I would be ashamed of having supported this bad Prime Minister. I would be ashamed of the fact that, because of our actions, millions of Canadians now have to turn to food banks, the cost of housing has doubled, food is getting more and more expensive and people can no longer afford groceries.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the Prime Minister and the Liberal government, our country is broken. Canadians are struggling more than they have in decades. Our communities, our provinces and our cities look like war zones. We have a Prime Minister who has lost his way.

Today, we have more Canadians who are facing homelessness, more Canadians who cannot afford to feed their children and more Canadians accessing food banks than ever before. What does the Prime Minister do? He takes to the U.S. airwaves to deliver his message. Why? He is afraid to stand before Canadians and answer the tough questions. Once again, he runs and takes to the U.S. airwaves that pander to him and he answers lob questions.

We are all here to deliver for our constituents. There are 338 members of Parliament who have been elected to be the voices of Canadians. The House is a House of Commons for the common people. The carpet is green for the common people. We said before, early on in the Prime Minister's tenure, that if the carpet was red or if there was a red carpet going up to his seat, maybe he would appear here more often than he has. Maybe he would take it more seriously.

What I am hearing on the doorsteps, and not just in my riding of Cariboo—Prince George but all across this country, is that Canadians have lost confidence in the government and in the Prime Minister. The Liberal government has given up on Canadians. It has failed Canadians.

I received a call from Tina, a constituent of mine from Horsefly, B.C., just yesterday. She is a disabled indigenous childhood trauma survivor who said, “When the Liberals stand in the House of Commons and claim they are helping the most vulnerable Canadians, they are lying. I am being impoverished by the NDP and Liberals—”

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We do not even know if this person he is quoting exists, but he is using that voice in order to use unparliamentary language. It is unacceptable. He needs to withdraw and apologize.

[The Deputy Speaker, Chris d'Entremont]

I would suggest that all of us have to be cognizant of the words we are using, even when we are quoting, and to try to stay away from unparliamentary words as much as possible. Maybe I can ask the hon. member to rephrase and continue. I understand it is a quote, but we cannot use derogatory names. We cannot use words that are seen as unparliamentary in this chamber.

The hon. member for Cariboo—Prince George.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Tina went on to say, “I am being impoverished by the NDP and Liberals. I can call and order MAID as a disabled person before I am deemed worthy of being able to afford to live.”

I rise today in the chamber to declare what millions of Canadians already know to be true: The Liberal government, led by the Prime Minister, has failed our country. The Prime Minister has failed the Canadian people. He has failed to uphold the trust that was placed upon him, not once, not twice, but three times. After nine long years of broken promises, skyrocketing costs, crumbling institutions and countless scandals, it is now crystal clear that the Liberal government no longer commands the confidence of the Canadian people, nor should it command the confidence of the House.

Let us be clear: Our country is broken. This is not just the rhetoric of the opposition; it is a fact evident in the daily lives of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Nine years ago, the Prime Minister promised us “sunny ways”. He promised to uplift the middle class, make life more affordable and restore confidence in government.

However, after almost a decade, what do we have to show for it? We have a country where everything is more expensive, where families struggle to afford the most basic necessities, where crime is surging, where overdoses are claiming thousands of lives, where mental health is at its worst level ever, where hope for the future is dwindling and where overdose is the leading cause of death for youth aged 12 to 18 in my province of British Columbia. That is the record of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and the Liberal government are to blame for this.

Let us begin by talking about the cost of living, which has spiralled out of control under the Liberal government's watch. Under the Prime Minister's leadership, the dream of home ownership has slipped away from millions of young Canadians. In 2015, the average price of a home in Canada was just under $440,000. Today that price has ballooned to over $750,000, a staggering 66% increase. In cities like Vancouver and Toronto, the numbers are even more horrifying.

How are young families supposed to save for a down payment when prices soar at this rate? Consequently, a staggering two-thirds of young Canadians believe they will never be able to afford a home. Rent has doubled. The needed down payment has doubled. Home prices have doubled.

Not only that, but homeless encampments are springing up all across our country by the hundreds. There are 1,800 homeless encampments in this province alone. In my province, rest areas along the highway are becoming encampments with RVs and trailers because people cannot afford to buy a home and cannot afford to pay rent. That is the stark reality. That is the record under the Prime Minister.

It is not just housing. Let us talk about groceries. Food prices have increased by almost 10% over the past year alone, and 20% of Canadians, two million Canadians, accessed a food bank just last month. That is staggering. The average family of four now spends over $15,000 per year just to put food on the table. What has the Liberal government done? It has dismissed these hardships with platitudes while ordinary Canadians are forced to make impossible decisions between feeding their families and paying their bills. Liberals said that Canadians have never had it so good.

The Prime Minister has printed money like it is his job, recklessly adding more to the national debt than all other prime ministers in the history of our country combined.

The cost of gas has shot through the roof, with prices reaching over $2 per litre in some provinces this year alone. Families are paying more at the pumps. Truckers are paying more to deliver goods.

We know that if they tax the farmer that produces the food and tax the trucker that ships the food, it is Canadians that pay the price for that food. What is the Liberal response to this? They will raise the taxes. They will move to quadruple their carbon tax to 61¢ per litre, punishing hard-working Canadians even further.

Our communities look like war zones. I ask Canadians who are watching this from the gallery today and at home to take a look at their neighbourhoods and their communities. Do they look the way they did nine years ago? No, they do not. Crime is up. Overdoses are up. The failures of the current government go far beyond economics. Under the Prime Minister and his Liberal government, our communities have become less safe. Crime is on the rise in every part of this country. Violent crime has increased by 50% since the Prime Minister took office in 2015.

Violent gun crime is up by 116%. Murders are up 28%. Gang-related murders are up 78%. Sexual assaults are up 75%. Auto theft is up 46%, and extortion is up a whopping 357%. The streets of our cities, once safe and welcoming, now bear the scars of neglect with spikes in gang violence, drug-related crimes and random assaults. The Prime Minister's solution to this is a hug-a-thug, catch-and-release, soft-on-crime, revolving-door justice system that benefits the criminals at the expense of Canadians' safety.

Now I will move on to a topic that is near and dear to me. Since 2016, over 47,000 Canadians have lost their life to overdose. The government has spent over a billion dollars on failed drug policies. When I think about this, I think about Mr. Charles and Mrs. MacDonald, whose daughter Brianna, aged just 13, died in a homeless encampment due to overdose just last month. I think about my own brother, who is on the street, gripped in this crisis. We can perpetuate somebody's addiction but we cannot get them into treatment.

That is the failed record of the Prime Minister. I have spent nine minutes speaking about the Liberals' failed record. I have not even touched on the scandals and the corruption the Prime Minister has brought to the House. We are the laughingstock on the international stage. The Prime Minister wants to be known more for his socks than for the work he does here at home.

The Prime Minister kicked to the curb the first indigenous female Attorney General because she spoke truth to power and would not back his corrupt ways.

I will leave the House with this: We can do better. The time for change is now. We can no longer allow the government to stumble from scandal to scandal, leaving Canadians to pick up the pieces. Taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up, and time is up for the Prime Minister.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the member started his speech by saying that Canada is broken. I disagree.

The Conservatives are good at bumper stickers and they are great at slogans, as clearly demonstrated by members opposite, but I can assure members opposite that Canada is not broken. All one needs to do is travel to any region of the country and they will see individuals who are very proud to call themselves Canadians and an economy that is doing relatively well in comparison to that of any other country in the world.

However, the Conservatives consistently go around and mislead people, whether it is by making the derogatory statement that Canada is broken, when we know it is not, or the many different types of disinformation they continuously pump out to please the far “MAGA” right.

When will the Conservatives start being honest with Canadians and recognize Canada for what it is: the best country in the world to call home?

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is the best country in the world; I absolutely agree with the member.

Unfortunately, under the Liberal government and the Prime Minister, over two million Canadians access a food bank every month. There are more homeless Canadians, more people losing the hope and the dream of home ownership, more Canadians out of work and more overdoses. That is the record. There are 47,000 Canadians who have lost their life to overdose since 2016. That is the record of the current government.

Only a Liberal will stand up and tell us that Canadians have never had it so good. Only a Liberal will stand up and say, “You ain't seen nothing here.”

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as I listened to the speech given by my colleague from Cariboo—Prince George, I was surprised that I did not hear him talk about the Conservatives' priorities. Members will recall that today's motion is very simple. It talks about confidence.

Personally, one of the reasons I do not trust this government is because of its action, and especially its lack of action, on the current climate crisis, particularly when we see it giving oil companies $83 billion in tax giveaways and investing $34 billion in the acquisition and construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline. If the Minister of Environment and Climate Change wanted to do something for the environment and to save the planet, I think that an order on the member for Cariboo—Prince George might be appropriate, but we are not there yet. We need strong environmental measures if we want to move forward.

I would like my colleague to comment on that.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I find it a little rich that our colleague from the Bloc will stand here and talk about the environment, when his province, in partnership with the Government of Canada and the Prime Minister, dumped billions of litres of raw sewage into rivers. Perhaps the member should ask the Prime Minister's new Quebec lieutenant, the leader of the Bloc Party, if he was allowed to say that.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's comments, particularly his faith that we still have the best country in the world, which we are going to turn around.

I would ask the member what metrics he would like to show us that show, in the nine years the government has been in power, how much crime has risen, how much unemployment has risen, how much the economy has gone down in Canada, how much further every measure that we count on here to make a great country has to go down before we are actually going to be below the standard, and what our response should be as politicians in the House to respond to the concerns of Canadians who see those results.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, two million Canadians are using a food bank. More Canadians are facing homelessness. We know that more Canadians are about $200 away from being bankrupt at the end of every month. Murders are up 28%. Gang-related murders are up 78%. Assaults are up 75%. Violent crime is up 50% since the Prime Minister came to power.

I will end with, again, the fact that over 47,000 Canadians have lost their lives due to overdose. What is the Prime Minister's response to that? It is to give them more free drugs, enable them, not get them into recovery and not do everything in our power to bring our loved ones home safe and sound. The Prime Minister will have us believe that everything is fine, everything is rosy, but the reality is that Canadians have suffered more in the last nine years than ever before.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge that I will be splitting my time this afternoon with the member for Winnipeg North. I look forward to his remarks as well.

Today we have a motion from the opposition on non-confidence in the Prime Minister and the government. Although it is not binding, of course, the convention would be that, if a majority of members of Parliament voted in favour, it would trigger an election.

I will be very clear that I will be voting against this motion. It gives me an opportunity to talk about why I have confidence in the Prime Minister and the government, as well as an opportunity to opine a bit on what I have observed through five years sitting in this House with the member for Carleton. It is very clear that the members of the Conservative Party want an election right now. I look forward to digging into the rationale and some of the concerns that I would have, in contrasting our approach to theirs. That is where I am going to start, because if Conservatives are hell-bent on an election, it is important for Canadians to understand the different approaches that we would take as political parties and as members of Parliament.

As I have sat in this House and listened over the last couple of hours of this debate, particularly to the member for Cariboo—Prince George, who was just up, there is no nuance to the positions. It is simply all-in that this is to be true, with very few statistics to back it up. The member quoted some statistics, some of which have no or very little correlation to the Prime Minister or the Government of Canada with respect to even its jurisdiction to govern these issues. This is the reality. It is more of an emotional appeal than a rational appeal. Therefore, I look forward to trying to explain some of where I stand on this as a member of Parliament.

I want to start with the economy. Conservatives will often stand up, as an opposition in this place, and talk about the economy. They will talk about some of the affordability challenges out there which, by the way, are very real. The government has acknowledged that and I think many members of Parliament have acknowledged that, as well as the initiatives we can take on as parliamentarians to support Canadians who are going through a difficult time. However, Conservatives never talk about Canada in comparison to other countries in the world of comparable fashion. They never talk about Canadian successes. Yes, it is their job to oppose, but if they want to keep some level of credibility in this place, we would think that they would be able to contrast some of the things that are happening in the country that are good and some of the things that are challenging that they want to see the government work on harder.

Here are a few facts and statistics. As it relates to interest cuts, around the world we have seen central banks raise interest rates as a result of the inflation that is being felt around the world. We would not know that when we hear from the members of the official opposition, who would suggest that it is only in Canada that inflation exists. That is simply not the case. Canada is actually leading the G7 in relation to interest rate cuts. That is as a direct result of the fact that the government has laid out a fiscal plan that it intends to maintain with respect to balancing investments that matter for Canadians, but at the same time making sure that there is a credible path to a declining debt-to-GDP ratio over time. We never hear that from the opposition benches.

We are actually expected to be second in overall economic growth on a GDP basis in the G7 in 2024, and leading in the G7 in 2025. We would not find that in the Hansard from the official opposition whatsoever, but those are the statistics that are being projected in the days ahead. We have been second in overall cumulative economic growth in the G7 since 2015. If we listen to the opposition, who would suggest that the country is broken, nothing good is happening and there have been no successes, how do they contend with that fact? How do they contend with the fact that we have had the second-highest GDP growth of all G7 comparative countries? That is a reality. That is a fact. It is a statistic, not an emotion. It is not a feeling; it is real.

I will grant, and I have been critical in this House, including against the government caucus that I sit in, that productivity is an issue and that we have to focus on that, but it is something the government has acknowledged in its own remarks and presentations. Yes, there is more work to be done.

With respect to this idea that the country is broken, that nothing good has happened and what have we seen in nine years, we have the second-highest GDP growth in the G7. That would be my response to the member for Cariboo—Prince George. Inflation is back down to 2%. That is a really important thing. We know that when inflation is high, it has an impact on everyday, working Canadians.

What I want to highlight, because I hear it in my riding, and I am sympathetic to the challenges that are there, is this. People are saying that inflation is back down, but their wages have not gone up. In some cases, I am sure that is true, there are some Canadians who may not have seen a pay increase in their particular circumstances, but when we look at the totality of the Canadian economy, for the last 18 months we have seen wage growth in this country outpace inflation. We have seen that Canada is leading the G7 on wage growth relative to inflation from the fourth quarter of 2019 to now. We would never hear the opposition talk about that.

Again, I am not trying to negate the fact that there are challenges out there; there are. However, we have to have a bit of reality in this place and try to find some balance about what we should be doing and how we should be presenting to Canadians. I do not stand here to suggest that everything is perfect, but I stand here in contrast to the official opposition, who want to burn it down, with every speech sounding very similar in its outlook. The Conservatives' message discipline is great. I wonder who is writing those speeches, because it does not seem like it is an authentic message coming from the opposition benches.

How about foreign direct investment? There was the third-highest amount of foreign direct investment in this country of all countries, in 2023, whether that is Michelin in Nova Scotia, BHP in Saskatchewan or maybe Volkswagen in Ontario, and I could go on. There are good things happening in this country because the government is laying the foundation to draw in generational investment that is going to matter for Canadian jobs, today and in the years ahead. Conservatives do not recognize those positions.

Let us talk about debt position. We heard the member for Cariboo—Prince George talk about a debt and the fact that it has accumulated under the current Prime Minister. The member failed to mention that we had a pandemic that was a once-in-100-years event that required the government to step in and support Canadians. If the member for Carleton had his way, those big fat government programs that supported Canadians at the height of their need would not have been available. Where would we have been on the economic recovery, had the Conservatives actually been in power? I suggest they would not have stepped up for small business owners and individuals who were being impacted at the most uncertain time in the last 100 years as it relates to global health. The Conservatives do not acknowledge that whatsoever.

Let us talk about the environment. This matters to Canadians. We are seeing it. Mr. Speaker, you are from Nova Scotia. We have seen extreme weather over the last couple of summers in our own constituencies. This is a reality. This is on the ground. We are dealing with this today. This is perhaps where there is the most contrast between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. At the end of the day, we are the only government in Canadian history that has actually reduced emissions and grown the economy at the same time. The Conservatives have slogans. They have very little as it relates to an actual environmental plan. That is getting fleshed out every day here in the House of Commons.

Let me speak about affordability, health and housing. There are the Canada child benefit, the national child care program and dental care for seniors, which the Conservatives are noncommittal about keeping for my seniors and your seniors in West Nova, Mr. Speaker. How about pharmacare? There is no commitment regarding where the Conservatives stand on that. We have had challenges with respect to housing. Three levels of government are responsible. Successive federal governments got out of the business of housing and we are trying to get back in and support it. In 2023, we had the most housing starts in Nova Scotia since 1940. That is a direct result of this government's investment and support and initiatives.

How about increases for seniors? We have actually been there to help support seniors in their need. I will remind my opposition colleagues that the Conservatives actually would have proposed to move the age of eligibility for seniors up to 67 before they even got their entitlement from the OAS. The Conservatives announced that at the World Economic Forum. I know the Conservatives like to play into this idea that the World Economic Forum has taken over the world. It was the Conservatives' prime minister who went there and announced that initiative, back in the day.

Last, I want to talk about the member for Carleton because he is the leader of the official opposition. He is the one who wants to call an election and wants to be prime minister. What is concerning is that I came over here to the House and I heard the leader of the official opposition using the word “cronies” with regard to the idea that people were gouging and making personal attacks of CEOs on the floor of the House of Commons. Other members of Parliament might have a view as it relates to Bell Canada and whether it is a good thing for Canada. However, when someone stands in the House of Commons, wants to be the prime minister of this country and makes personal attacks from that vantage point, they call into question a company that employs thousands of hard-working Canadians. Then, they attack the journalists. It is not just CTV; my God, it is CBC. Is there any media outlet that the leader of the official opposition actually will not attack? He attacks experts.

However, because I have watched the Leader of the Opposition for five years, I will say this to the House. It is concerning when we throw rocks when we live in a glass house. The member for Timmins—James Bay has gone on at great length about the fact that the member for Carleton lives 30 minutes outside of the House of Commons at Stornoway, costing hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. The Leader of the Opposition then calls into question the leader of the NDP with respect to why that individual serves Canadians in Parliament, supposedly around a pension, when that guy, the Leader of the Opposition, has not worked a day in his life outside of this place and collected a pension at 31. I think that is the most hypocritical position I have seen in the House of Commons.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if my hon. colleague could comment on rural Canadians being disproportionately affected by the carbon tax. He especially knows about standing up for constituents, such as my constituents in York—Simcoe, who have been classified by the government as part of Toronto. He knows that I represent the soup and salad bowl. He knows that the government is now dividing Canadians based on geography with that tax and how that tax is so unfair for my residents and farmers right across Canada, not getting Bill C-234 done.

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

Mr. Speaker, as it relates to carbon pricing, I have actually taken this government to task, to adjust the national program in the interest of supporting rural Canadians, but let me be very clear. I do support the government's environmental agenda. When I look across to the opposition, I do not see much of an environmental agenda whatsoever.

I take notice of the hon. member opposite. Yes, he has rightfully fought to try to make sure there are further adjustments and refinements to the national program to make sure his constituents, who I think are demonstrably rural, are supportive. However, let us not mistake the facts on a couple of things. This government does have an environmental agenda that matters. It has actually grown the economy while reducing emissions at the same time. As it relates to Bill C-234, he should walk across and talk to the member for Huron—Bruce about when he is going to let it be called to a vote. Our farmers in this country deserve Bill C-234 to be passed but the Conservatives are standing in the way of letting it be called to a vote. We need to have that vote sooner rather than later.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the clarifications my colleague just made.

He talked a lot about rural areas. I know that his riding is rural and that supply-managed production is important there. He knows as well as I do that Bill C‑282 was passed in the House in June 2023, as hon. members will recall. It is now September 2024. It has been languishing in the Senate for over a year, gathering dust.

I would like to know if he and his caucus have talked about how his Prime Minister could potentially intervene. Are calls being made to senators to tell them that the government voted in favour of this bill, that it officially supports the bill, that the government wants it finished up, that it might allow the Liberals to stay in office a little longer if Quebec gets this win?

Can my colleague answer that? Time is of the essence.

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

Mr. Speaker, my riding of Kings—Hants includes a large number of supply-managed farms. That is very important to Nova Scotia, of course, but also to Quebec and all of Canada.

I support Bill C-282 and so does the government. The Senate is independent. I think a conversation with senators on the importance of this bill is, indeed, necessary.

I also have some concerns about the Conservatives' position on this and their support for the supply-managed sector. The reality is that they voted against protecting supply management. This is a major concern for the people in our ridings, especially among farmers.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member mentioned a number of programs. He mentioned child care. I have to say that it has impacted my extended family directly. My daughter finally got a good child care position for my granddaughter that has really brought stability and removed stress from their lives. He mentioned pharmacare. He suggested that the Conservatives have not signalled what they think about that. The Leader of the Opposition made it very clear that he did not like pharmacare for Canadians. We have done so much over the last couple of years, with the NDP forcing the Liberals to do things that they had voted against, such as dental care, pharmacare and anti-scab legislation for workers.

I am just wondering if he can tell me why anyone in the House or anyone in this country should have confidence in the Leader of the Opposition and the Conservative Party.

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I worry about the position of the leader of the official opposition: the way he attacks journalists, the way he attacks experts, and the way he runs down Canadian companies and does so from the floor of the House of Commons. He has an agenda. He has been a member of Parliament for 20 years without working outside this place. His record is very clear. I look forward to sharing what this guy actually stands for with Canadians, along with my hon. colleague.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

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.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, members opposite say “it was” and nod their heads in affirmation. Do they not realize that Stephen Harper actually cancelled, not delayed or postponed, but cancelled the sponsoring of parents and grandparents? It took years for someone's spouse to be able to come to Canada under the Harper regime. Immigration was a disaster in many ways under Stephen Harper, yet the leader of the Conservative Party glorifies it.

I could not believe it when the leader of the Conservative Party talked about housing. He was the minister of housing, but how many houses did he build? A person barely needs two hands to count them. He built six. That is it. If he were a decent minister of housing, we might not have issues to the degree we have them today. If there was a government that did not believe in a national presence on the housing file, it was Stephen Harper's, with the file led by the current leader of the Conservative Party. I cannot imagine how the Conservatives could try to say that they would be able to deal with the housing issue in Canada over what the Liberal government has done. We have invested more and worked more with other levels of government in order to deal with the important issues than has been done in generations. That applies not only to housing but also to a wide spectrum of issues in which the quality of life is improving in all regions of our country.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

There is so much to unpack in that tirade, Mr. Speaker.

I want to remind my hon. colleague across the way that it was the Liberals, under Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien, who cut the health care transfers by 50%. That is part of the reason the Conservative government struggled and increased health care transfers by 3% every year. It invested in health care as no other previous government had.

My colleague talked about the Conservative leader attacking CTV. What CTV did yesterday was to take bits and pieces, excerpts of our leader's statements, and falsely splice them together into one statement. It is a matter of truth and a matter of record. That is what CTV did. It has apologized for it.

Why is my hon. colleague across the way misleading Canadians with that statement?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the member to name another leader who has been as critical of our national media, and maybe I will reconsider some of the comments I made regarding the Conservative leader's attitude toward national media. I can advise him that he will not find one.

With regard to the health care issue, the member is wrong. It was actually Jean Chrétien who ensured ongoing cash transfers to the different provinces because of the tax point changes that were made in previous decades. That marginalized the amount of money flowing to the provinces. It was then Paul Martin who instituted the 6% agreement to ensure that we would have the health care dollars that are flowing today. The current government has invested almost $200 billion over the next 10 years.

It is part of the Conservative Party's hidden agenda. We cannot trust Conservatives when it comes to health care; I can assure the member of that. The Liberals brought in health care, and the Liberals are going to ensure that it is there for future generations.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is almost painful to hear the desperate indignation of my colleague across the way. It reminds me of act 5 of Richard III, when he says, “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

Nevertheless, historically, when Donald Trump was elected in the United States, people said that it made no sense. The thing to remember, however, is that Barack Obama's poor performance is what led Donald Trump to power. The one emboldened the other.

How much responsibility is the Liberal Party willing to accept for the Conservatives' apparent success these days?