Debates of Sept. 26th, 2024

Opposition Motion—Confidence in the Government

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, fine, I will withdraw that, and I will—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I do not need an explanation.

I would ask the hon. member for Cariboo—Prince George to withdraw the mention of lying.

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

Madam Speaker, I withdraw it.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Now I want the hon. member for Edmonton Griesbach to withdraw the use of the word “cowardice”.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Madam Speaker, at what point, the Leader of the Opposition gets to say—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I ask the hon. member to withdraw so we can go on with the debate. That is all I am asking for. The hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona is waiting to go on. Can the hon. member please withdraw?

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Madam Speaker, I need to understand what comment was offensive. Is it offensive to say that a statement is cowardice?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Order. I would ask the hon. member to please withdraw the comment.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Madam Speaker, I need to understand why this comment about a statement—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member will not be recognized again until he withdraws the comment.

The hon. member for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am very happy you have put your foot down on this. It is clear that there is a vexatious use of the Standing Orders here to interrupt what should be a legitimate debate on a non-confidence motion. I hope the Speaker will continue to punish those who are utilizing the opportunity to come to their feet and to use a standing order to cast an allegation against another member.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate that you have demanded for people to withdraw their comments or to sit down, and I would support you doing that in the future. It should not be vexatious use of—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I thank the member for the additional information. This applies to all members in the House of Commons. It is very difficult for the House to get its work done when these situations arise. I would hope that this is a lesson for members and that they will be respectful to one another in the House.

The hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona has the floor.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, I would just like to very briefly say that, if somebody had said something horrendous and homophobic in this chamber, one would expect that hon. member to have the dignity and bravery to admit what they had done. One would expect them not to have cowardliness. I am not necessarily attributing this to any one person, but I am certainly saying they would probably be able to be much braver and admit they had done that, particularly as it is on film and there are tape recordings of it.

I will now continue with my speech on why this motion and this day, frankly, are so embarrassing. We need to be working to make sure there are things happening for Canadians, that the things Canadians need to make their lives more affordable, easier and better are being done. That is our job in the House. It is what we do here.

Of course I am extraordinarily proud of the way New Democrats were able to push the Liberal government to bring things such as dental care forward. Hundreds of thousands of people across this country will benefit from dental care; I see this as one of the wonderful things that have happened in this Parliament. That the NDP was finally able to get the government to move on pharmacare is important. These are important pieces of legislation, things that will help Canadians across the country. They will help seniors and children, and I am very proud of that.

The reason I will not be supporting this ridiculous motion, or the next five ridiculous motions I assume Conservatives will bring forward, which will be exactly the same as this one, is that the Conservatives are so dangerous for Canadians. I was not in politics when Stephen Harper's government was in power. I was not a parliamentarian then, but I saw the way Stephen Harper cut supports for women and defunded women's organizations. We know the Conservatives will cut supports for women.

There are members on their bench who, time and time again, have been clear. It is not just the member for Peace River—Westlock but also the member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands and the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. They do not believe in a woman's right to choose, and they will try to take away a woman's right to reproductive health care. We have seen it happen before, and they will do it internationally as well. We know they will cut health care.

I live in Alberta, where Danielle Smith is dismantling our cherished health care system.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, it is shocking to me that there are members from Alberta heckling me right now. They do not understand that 58% of doctors in Alberta have said they are going to leave their practices because of the current provincial Conservative government. The cuts to health care are fundamental, and we cannot allow a Conservative government to take away those things that are vitally important for so many people.

Conservatives have made it very clear that they will cut dental care, pharmacare and health care. I want to talk a little about pensions. The CPP is rated the number one pension in the world. Currently, Danielle Smith is trying to take Alberta out of that pension, despite the fact that there is little support for that in Alberta. The overwhelming message that Albertans are giving their elected leaders is that they do not want Danielle Smith messing around with their pensions.

Right now, in this country, protecting our pension would require the government to implement a private member's bill. I have drafted such a bill, put it on the Order Paper and even sent it to the Deputy Prime Minister and said she could have it. The government could copy our homework again; they should just do it to protect pensions. We are seeing an attack on pensions. If the Conservative Party becomes government, we know it will cut the pensions our seniors depend on.

Members should not get me wrong. The Liberals have failed to live up to their obligations to seniors. We have talked about how terrible it is that they have a two-tiered system of OAS, where seniors between 65 and 74 are not given the same support as other seniors.

At a moment when the cost of living is going through the roof, seniors are struggling to pay for rent and for all of their needs, including food and health care. However, the Liberals somehow believe that, in some magical universe, seniors aged 65 to 74 pay less for that. They promised Canadians that they would fix that, and fixing it halfway is exactly why Canadians are tired of the Liberal government. It is one thing to say something; it is another thing to do it halfway. Frankly, these are some of my concerns.

I am also the foreign affairs critic. I want to say that, when I think of the Conservatives, I am deeply worried about their waning support for Ukraine. At this time, Ukrainians need all of us to be working together to support them. What we have seen from some members of the Conservative Party is that they are willing to turn their back on our ally. That could be because of the Russian misinformation that we know is happening; some Conservative social media people have been clearly identified as being in the pocket of Putin and the Russian Federation. Frankly, I know many of those things have been shared by some members of the Conservative Party.

I worry about some things that we have seen and heard from the member for St. Albert—Edmonton. He says that he accidentally seems to end up in front of Nazi flags. He accidentally ends up at dinners with people who are assaulting the members of my party. He accidentally ends up having conversations with an awful lot of people. It seems strange that no one else accidentally has those things happen to them—

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

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, you clearly set out rules of the House and tried to enforce them earlier on. You had this member withdraw a previous comment. She has just put into the record that members of this caucus are in the pocket of Putin, the Russian president. That is completely false.

Madam Speaker, I ask for you to have the member of Parliament withdraw that comment.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I did not hear that comment directly as I was speaking to the Clerk on a previous matter. For the particular point of order that the hon. member just raised, I will have to go back and listen to Hansard and come back to the House if need be.

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands is rising on a point of order.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, I want to add something for your reflection on that; I would like you to give it serious consideration before making a ruling.

Madam Speaker, please consider all sides of this and the fact that many members on the other side will use such words as “corrupt”. Although we are offended by the word “corrupt”, it has still been considered acceptable. I would encourage you to consider all of this when weighing that, Madam Speaker.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Whether it is the word “corrupt” or anything else, I ask members to be very careful and try not to use those words. Even if the word is used and acceptable in a certain way, sometimes it is the way that it is used in context.

No matter what, as soon as it brings out a reaction and causes disorder, it is really not acceptable. If members were to stop using those words, we would be in a better place today and our House here would be more functional.

The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

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

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I just want to clarify something. You said that the word can be used, but if it gets a reaction, then it is unacceptable. Does the Speaker say it is unacceptable every time the Conservatives shout us down? If that is the case, then we will have to use the same tactics for the language that they throw around against our leader and the Prime Minister.

Madam Speaker, you need to be very clear. If we have to withdraw because Conservatives get upset, then that needs to be clear; we will understand that this is the way the House operates, and we will operate accordingly.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I appreciate these points of order. Everything is being taken into consideration. There is much discussion being had. I know that the Speaker's office is also working very closely with all the Speakers. I would just ask for your co-operation in following the rules of the House to ensure that we can continue our debates in a healthy fashion.

The hon member for Edmonton Strathcona.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, I will finish today by saying that New Democrats come to Ottawa to get help for our constituents, to get help for Canadians. That is the job we do. I am proud of our team and what we have been able to get for workers, seniors, people living with disabilities and children in this country.

We will continue to come here every day to try to make the lives of our constituents and all Canadians better. We will continue in that fight. We will not take any lessons from a party that uses bumper stickers as policies, a party that has shown itself to be deeply unserious and misleading toward Canadians and, frankly, a party that is very dangerous for our democracy.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about pensions. Recently, the Prime Minister announced that Mark Carney, who is the chair of the multinational, mega investment company Brookfield, would be acting as the government's chief economic adviser, and he has not registered as a lobbyist. Investors for Paris Compliance published a report on Brookfield, and it highlights that the company does not account for up to 92% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Also, The Logic recently reported that Brookfield has started talks with the federal government and Canadian pension funds about pooling resources.

My colleague expressed concerns about pensions. Does she feel that it is inappropriate for Mr. Carney to be acting in this way given the potential impact on Canadian pensions? Should Mr. Carney be registered as a lobbyist?

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, my colleague and I share a love for Alberta and a desire to fight for Albertans.

What she brought up is an important issue, and we have seen time and time again that the Liberal government lacks clarity in how to act in a moral manner. However, from my perspective, why was she not interested in bringing that issue forward as a motion for us to debate in the House? The Conservative Party could have brought anything forward to talk about today. We could have had a debate on protecting Canadians' pensions and making sure that the Liberal government is not once again selecting its friends to give benefits. I could have gotten behind that and would have enjoyed debating it in the House today.