House of Commons Hansard #344 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was leader.
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, as an MP for the amazing Montreal area, I am proud of the people I represent. Perhaps the member opposite does not feel the same way.
I would like to suggest that he talk to forestry workers in Quebec. As they told me and several public commissions, the future of the forest and the future of their jobs depends on the health of the forest. The Conservative Party of Canada does not seem to understand that.
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Mr. Speaker, Quebec City is the cradle of the French language in America. However, the Governor General cancelled her visit to an organization called Pignon Bleu because she still does not understand French even though she promised to learn it three years ago. Pignon Bleu's preparations for Ms. Simon's visit were all for naught. Pignon Bleu thought it could express itself in its language, French. Ms. Simon is still unable to treat the organization with a modicum of respect.
How can the Liberals consider this acceptable and justifiable?
Randy Boissonnault LiberalMinister of Employment
Mr. Speaker, our government remains firmly committed to protecting the French language here in Canada.
It is important to note that Her Excellency the Governor General did not have the opportunity to learn French when she was young because of discrimination. She is the first indigenous woman to hold the position. She speaks one of our indigenous languages, which we are very proud of.
We expect the Governor General to continue her studies in French. Linguistic duality is at the heart of our identity as Canadians.
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Governor General has had three years to learn French. Taxpayers even paid $28,000 for her to take lessons. Clearly, she has not been trying.
Why should she bother? She already landed the job. This is another example of history repeating itself for francophones. Today, we are talking about Mary Simon, but it was the same thing when Air Canada appointed Michael Rousseau.
When will the Liberals finally understand that appointing English-speaking people on the promise that they will learn French is nothing more than taking francophones for a ride?
Randy Boissonnault LiberalMinister of Employment
Mr. Speaker, Canada is a bilingual country and Canadians expect their leaders to be able to express themselves in both official languages.
It is worth highlighting that the Governor General was unable to learn French when she was young because of the discriminatory policies that existed in Canada at the time. We expect her to continue learning French, as linguistic duality is at the heart of our identity as Canadians.
We are proud of our bilingualism here in Canada.
Arpan Khanna Conservative Oxford, ON
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up, time is up, and now visits to Cambridge food banks are also up nearly 20%. The Liberals' carbon tax scam has forced our seniors and our families to rely on food banks for their survival. The NDP continue to prop up its political masters and deny Canadians the carbon tax election they so desperately want.
Why is the Prime Minister so afraid of a carbon tax election, and why will he not call one now?
Jenna Sudds LiberalMinister of Families
Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to talk about the child care numbers that are up. Just last week, Comox Valley Schools announced a new child care facility with 108 new spots for children. In Winnipeg, the Splash child care centre has announced an additional 40 new spots for children. That is 148 new spots for kids here in our country. High-quality, affordable care is what is up.
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up, and now time is up. However, the NDP leader and his colleagues voted yesterday to keep the Prime Minister in power so he can quadruple the carbon tax to 61¢ a litre, the carbon tax that drives up the cost of everything and is driving a record number of British Columbians to food banks.
Why is the Prime Minister so afraid of a carbon tax election? Why will he not let Canadians decide?
Karina Gould LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, yesterday what we saw was that the House voted non-confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. Speaker, young Quebeckers cannot afford to wait any longer.
After nine years of this Prime Minister, they have been betrayed by the “Liberal Bloc”, which wants to continue with the Liberal government. A total of 72% of young people between the ages of 18 and 40 think that they have a lower standard of living than the previous generation. Half of them are living paycheque to paycheque. The “Liberal Bloc” is supporting a bad government for young Quebeckers.
When will young people be able to vote for a government that will build houses and fix the budget?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalMinister of Public Services and Procurement
Mr. Speaker, what is bad for Quebeckers, including young Quebeckers, are the insults, lies and austerity that the Conservative leader keeps promoting. That is what he does every day. He wants to make cuts, including cuts to housing investments that young Quebeckers need.
Not only is the Conservative leader calling everyone, including Quebec's municipalities, incompetent, but he also wants to rip up the agreement that we signed with the Government of Quebec. We are talking about a $1.8-billion agreement to create tens of thousands of housing units and several thousand affordable housing units.
Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC
Mr. Speaker, our government presented a plan to build 250,000 new housing units on federal public land by 2031. The Conservative leader's housing plan will allow him to sell federal buildings to the highest bidder with no guarantee of affordable housing in return.
Can the Minister of Public Services explain to the people of Alfred-Pellan how our federal lands are going to be used to create affordable housing across the country?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalMinister of Public Services and Procurement
Mr. Speaker, one, two, three, four, five, six affordable housing units is what the Conservative leader built during his entire tenure as the minister responsible for housing. Even so, he calls Quebec's municipalities incompetent despite the fact that they are currently building 8,000 affordable housing units across Quebec under the historic agreement we signed.
Quebec municipalities do not need lectures or insults from the Conservative leader.
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary Forest Lawn, AB
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the Liberal-NDP soft-on-crime coalition, tax is up, cost is up, crime is up, extortion is up and time is up.
In Calgary, disturbing stories emerged of armed criminals committing extortion and kidnappings against families and businesses. The Liberal-NDP coalition voted against the Conservative deputy leader's bill, Bill C-381, to crack down on extortion. Instead, the coalition made it easier for criminals to get bail and to re-offend.
Why is the freedom of criminals more important to the government than protecting extortion victims?
Jennifer O'Connell LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, on every single measure that we have made, including investing in police to combat guns and gang units, Conservatives voted against, and they are against them. In addition to that, when they were in power, they actually cut the CBSA and the RCMP, which did this very work and which worked with our provincial and municipal counterparts in policing.
When it comes to addressing crime, Conservatives are all about cuts and slogans, and we are about action.
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Mr. Speaker, nine years ago, we warned the government about joining the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and so did the Obama-Biden administration. Last year, news about the Chinese Communist Party's infiltration of the bank forced the government to initiate a boycott and to begin a review. The boycott has now been 15 months. Canada still has its shares and Beijing still has the nearly quarter-billion dollars that the government gave the bank.
When will the government release the review, dump the shares and get the money back?
Rachel Bendayan LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, as soon as the minister heard about the very serious allegations, she took action. The minister announced an immediate halt to all Canadian government-led activity at the bank while we conducted a review of the allegations. In December, we announced an expansion of that review in partnership with some of our closest international partners.
The Department of Finance continues to review the matter, as well as Canadians' participation in the organization.
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Mr. Speaker, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. The Minister of Environment says he is proud of his preparations for the catastrophic Jasper wildfire, but one-third of Jasper was destroyed, there are $1 billion in damages and 2,000 people are homeless. This is not something to be proud of, yet this is the record of failure that the NDP supports. Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper are still in danger.
It is time for the minister to take responsibility for his failure so we can prepare for the next fire. Will he do that?
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, the member should be ashamed of himself. Conservatives have deliberately taken out of context emails between Parks Canada officials who were debating which measures to use to fight fires, as opposed to not fighting fires at all. One of those Parks Canada employees has received death threats since the Conservatives put this online. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
Mr. Speaker, today is World Contraception Day, an important day on which to remember that, too often, contraception is not accessible due to political ideology. On this side of the House, we proudly supported pharmacare, which would provide free contraception to Canadians.
Could the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions please tell the House what else the government is doing to expand access to universal contraceptives and support the right of women across Canada to choose?
Ya'ara Saks LiberalMinister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health
Mr. Speaker, we will always defend the freedom of a woman's right to choose. Conservatives time and again have shown that they will claw back women's rights, from presenting backdoor legislation to prevent access to abortion services to voting against a woman's freedom of access to contraceptives. We will never let politicians dictate what a woman can and cannot do with her body, and we will certainly not fly to Florida on all-expenses-paid trips to meet with anti-choice politicians. They need to be honest with Canadians about their hidden agenda because, on this side, we stand for women's rights.
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are appalled by the Liberals' failure to help family members in Gaza get to safety and reunite with their loved ones here in Canada. From the beginning, the government's initiative was marred in red tape and roadblocks. Precious time was wasted and loved ones continue to be killed. Israel's brutal siege and bombardment continue and there is further escalation in the region.
What concrete action has the government taken to ramp up diplomatic efforts and collaborate with NGOs on the ground to help bring loved ones to safety?
Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions
Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs Québec
Liberal
Marc Miller LiberalMinister of Immigration
Mr. Speaker, I think we can all agree as a House that the best way to make sure that Gazans are safe is to make sure there is a ceasefire, so we can continue to work with people to get people here who have connections to family members and who are looking to be reunited with them. We will continue, as a government, to work with the authorities on the ground, whether we agree with their positions or not, to make sure those people are kept safe, and we will continue to work to make sure those people get to Canada in an expeditious fashion.
Kevin Vuong Independent Spadina—Fort York, ON
Mr. Speaker, education is a provincial domain. Still, MPs would agree the safety of children is a concern for all Canadians. Does the government support Ontario's criticism of the abhorrent action of the Toronto District School Board using students as pawns at a foreign protest that hijacked learning about indigenous peoples and their efforts to get clean water?
Activist teachers on a TDSB-sanctioned field trip compromised the safety of children and violated the trust of parents. Will the government stand up to deceit and hatred?
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Mr. Speaker, that is a question for the Ontario government.
On this side of the House, what we have been focused on is ensuring that every indigenous child in this country has a fair chance to succeed in their educational journey. In fact, when we took office 10 years ago, we saw a chronic underfunding of first nations education systems so that education rates were appalling across the country, leading to first nations students not being able to reach their full potential. We have changed that, and we are proud of that.