Debates of Nov. 19th, 2025

International Trade

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions]

Mr. Speaker, the only person hiding under a rock right now is the Leader of the Opposition when he looks at his caucus.

I think the Leader of the Opposition wants to make sure that the Canadian economy remains dependent on the U.S. economy. I think that is his strategy and he is not being up front about it with Canadians.

On our side of the House, the strategy is to diversify our markets and create jobs, including by going to the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf countries, Europe and Asia. In fact, the Swedes are in town. That is good news. We are doing good business.

Finance

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are paying the price for the Prime Minister through record-high grocery and housing cost inflation, but he wants them to pay even more. He has doubled Justin Trudeau's deficit. It is the biggest deficit in Canadian history outside of COVID and $16 billion bigger than he promised. He shattered his other promise to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio.

The bureaucracy is taking the lion's share, which is 80% more costly than when the Liberals took office. The Liberal House leader said just yesterday there will be only minimal reductions in the bureaucracy. Why must starving Canadians pay to feed the bureaucracy, rather than to feed their families?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, do members know what helps families? Good-paying jobs do. That is why we have had such a tremendous response to this budget, including from Canada’s Building Trades Unions, which has said it is grateful to all parliamentarians who supported the federal budget and acted in the best interests of Canadians.

I guess that does not include the Conservatives, who voted against the very Canadians they say they stand up for.

International Trade

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is beginning another costly photo op tour. It is time to start asking for the results of the more than 20 international trips and the 150,000 kilometres, which are enough to circle the globe four times. It would be great if he were actually getting something done.

When he met with the Americans, they doubled tariffs on our products. He met with the Chinese and they hit us with new tariffs on our farmers and fish harvesters. He met with the Indians and they hit us with new tariffs on Canadian peas. The British are still blocking our beef.

Can the Prime Minister give us even one example of a tariff his international meetings have succeeded in reducing?

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has been in this House for more than 20 years with not much to show for it.

Here is what we have accomplished in the last few months in trade. We have signed new trade deals with Ecuador and Indonesia. We are advancing trade discussions with ASEAN, the Philippines and Thailand, and we are wrapping up—

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Again, it was a bit too noisy.

Could the hon. minister continue, please?

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have signed new trade deals with Ecuador and Indonesia. We are advancing trade negotiations with ASEAN, the Philippines and Thailand and are wrapping up a FIPA with the U.A.E. We have legislation before the House to expand our trade ties with the U.K. Together these countries represent 750 million potential consumers. While the Prime Minister is opening doors for workers and businesses, the other side is focused on shutting them.

Natural Resources

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, all that adds up to not a single tariff reduced in the Prime Minister's eight months of travelling the globe.

Now let us move on to his costly agenda on pipelines. In June 2014, the Conservative government approved a pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific. On November 29, 2016, the Liberal government cancelled that pipeline, ordering the energy board to dismiss it. On March 27, 2021, the current Liberal Prime Minister said that he supported cancelling the pipeline.

Will the Prime Minister admit he was wrong, that his Liberal government was wrong and that Conservatives were right? We need a pipe to the Pacific now.

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and the premier have publicly stated that they are having productive discussions on advancing an MOU between Canada and Alberta. They have each stated that those discussions are premised on building a pathways decarbonization project, strengthening the industrial carbon price and receiving support from affected first nations jurisdictions.

When the Prime Minister and the premier are ready to make an announcement, they will, to all Canadians.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we are hoping the Prime Minister will announce he was wrong and that the Liberal government was wrong to kill the northern gateway pipeline that had been approved back in 2014. Nine years have since been lost after the Liberal government blocked it. However, it also put in a ban on shipping Canadian energy off the northwest coast of B.C., so if there is a pipeline while the Liberal ban remains in place, it would have to be a pipeline to nowhere.

Will the Prime Minister admit the Liberal government was wrong to ban Canadian energy shipping, and will he scrap the ban so we can pipe our product over to Asia?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Minister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, in those long, barren Harper years when the member was a minister, the only pipeline that was built was the pipeline full of hot air that led to nothing. Not a single energy-exporting piece of tidewater infrastructure was ever constructed under a Conservative government. We have built one. We just heard the minister talking about a process on another.

If someone wants to vote for energy security, vote for energy exports or vote for major projects and opportunity in this country, they should cast a Liberal vote.

Canadian Identity and Culture

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture announced $500 million a year for arts and culture in the budget. However, he could have announced $1.5 billion at no cost to taxpayers—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Order.

I am going to ask the hon. member for Beloeil—Chambly to start over.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture announced $500 million a year for arts and culture in the budget.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[Yves‑François Blanchet]

Mr. Speaker, could you please get those clowns under control?

The minister could have announced $1.5 billion, at no cost to taxpayers, had he not scrapped the tax on multinational Internet companies. It would have been paid for by multinationals, which do not pay taxes in Canada. Now, Quebeckers and Canadians are on the hook for that $500 million.

Am I supposed to congratulate the minister for that?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to correct the leader of the Bloc Québécois. We did not announce $500 million in the budget for arts and culture across the country. We announced $770 million, the largest investment in Canadian history.

That includes $38 million for local media, and the Bloc Québécois voted against that. It includes $6 million a year for the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Bloc Québécois voted against that. It includes $150 million for Telefilm Canada, and the Bloc Québécois voted against that. It also includes $26 million for the National Film Board of Canada, the largest investment in decades for that organization, and the Bloc Québécois voted against that.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister scrapped $1.5 billion that could have gone to arts and culture. In response to my colleague's question about the lack of funding for private television and radio, the minister said that he is giving $150 million to Radio-Canada and the CBC. I was a Radio-Canada commentator myself, and I have the utmost respect for the professionals who work there.

However, am I expected to congratulate the minister for completely turning his back on private television and radio?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Québécois was once the president of ADISQ. This budget provides $41 million for the music sector over the next three years, yet the Bloc Québécois voted against it. It provides $38 million a year for local media, and the Bloc Québécois voted against it. Quebecor is receiving millions of dollars under this budget, and the Bloc Québécois voted against it. The Bloc Québécois's position is outrageous.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if the minister wants to play that game, I can remind him that he was once senior director of Equiterre.

The minister does not seem to appreciate the scale of the crisis. News thrives on diversity, regional services, the French language and independence. The $150 million for CBC/Radio-Canada does not serve that goal. Private television and radio stations are essential. They are feeling threatened, swept aside and abandoned.

Is the government actually planning the end of private media? Is it doing this on purpose? Are Quebeckers supposed to applaud it for that?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the leader of the Bloc Québécois to read CBC/Radio-Canada's annual report and the strategic plan that was recently released, which states quite clearly that CBC/Radio-Canada will invest in opening local news stations across the country, including in Quebec. It is $150 million, and it is our first investment in CBC/Radio-Canada. Bloc members voted against the largest investment in culture for Quebec. The Bloc Québécois's position is frankly outrageous.

Finance

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the new Liberal Prime Minister's first budget is a credit card budget, with a $78 billion deficit. That is $16 billion more than the Liberals promised during the election campaign. I do not need a Ph.D. from Oxford University to know that running deficits means fobbing the bill off on our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren. In fact, Fitch Ratings has warned that federal finances run a high risk of further deterioration.

When will this government respond positively and manage the situation responsibly?

[Nathalie Provost, Liberal, Secretary of State (Nature)]

Mr. Speaker, I am surprised to hear my colleague criticizing this budget. I want to approach this budget from a woman's perspective. I am a woman, and I have had all kinds of experiences as a woman. Whenever the other side talks about women, they often talk about them as victims: victims of violence in their private lives or victims because they have trouble paying for groceries.

This budget will enable women to regain their purchasing power through social programs. It will give women the ability to get good jobs through economic diversification. It also supports—

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

The hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.