Debates of Nov. 25th, 2025

Intergovernmental Relations

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, again, the Liberals rigged the referendum.

The “yes” side acted democratically. The proof is in the noble way Quebeckers accepted the results in 1995, believing that democracy had spoken, even though that democracy was tainted by the Liberals.

The Liberals rigged the results and Jean Chrétien would have gone even further if the “yes” side had won to prevent Quebeckers' votes from being recognized.

With a third referendum looming, will federalists finally engage in democratic debate instead of relying on cheating and fearmongering?

[Mark Carney, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois remains focused on the past, while the government is focusing on the future, taking a confident, bold and ambitious approach for Quebec and Canada.

I invite the Bloc to join us.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, people are waiting for years to get their citizenship, while Ottawa drags out the process, dithers, twiddles its thumbs and sits on its backside. We know what the Liberal solution is. All it would take for Ottawa to finally get moving is a referendum in Quebec. Imagine how the conversation would go. If people want their file to be processed faster, they would be instructed to vote no, out of gratitude to the great Canadian government.

How is it that Canada's immigration system never seems to work, except when it is time to hurt Quebec?

[Mark Carney, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is just more fearmongering.

Canada is attracting the best in the world. The best in the world, the best Canadians, all Canadians and all Quebeckers want to build this great country with the government.

Intergovernmental Affairs

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has apparently not read our Constitution, which indicates that the federal government alone has jurisdiction over pipelines that cross borders. Let me quote subsection 92(10), which says that federal jurisdiction applies to “Works and Undertakings connecting the Province with any other...or extending beyond the Limits of the Province”.

In other words, it is exclusively the federal government's decision whether to approve a pipeline. It was the federal government that blocked the last pipeline.

Can he confirm once and for all, is he deciding, unilaterally, to give veto to the NDP B.C. premier, to block a project that Canada needs?

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

Mr. Speaker, last week, we talked about that big, long, giant pipeline of hot air that animated the country for 10 years during the government of which that member was a member. Not a single millilitre of oil reached tidewater under the Harper era. Under the Liberal government, oil exports have increased. Oil exports to tidewater, thanks to the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline, have increased.

Canada is a conventional and renewable energy superpower, and that will continue.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it really is embarrassing that a Prime Minister who claimed that he was the man with the plan cannot even stand up and debate me about pipelines on the floor of the House of Commons. He is afraid. The previous Conservative government approved a pipeline to tidewater, the Northern Gateway pipeline, which the Liberals then defeated and destroyed, giving massive power to the Americans to monopolize our oil.

Will the Prime Minister, who promised to act with unimaginable speed eight months ago, finally stand up for Canadian workers and confirm that he will approve a pipe—

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

The hon. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

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

Mr. Speaker, our government fully understands that the ultimate jurisdiction for interprovincial pipelines rests with the federal government. At the same time, our government has been clear that we expect a proponent for a major project, for it to be designated, to work with the impacted jurisdictions and with first nations.

They do not understand that.

The Premier of Alberta understands that. They want to work with us.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it really is pathetic that the Prime Minister cannot stand in his place and defend his position. He is afraid to defend the fact that on Thursday, he will not sign on to a new pipeline. He will sign on to a public relations stunt while planning to hide behind the Premier of B.C. and abdicate his unique constitutional responsibilities.

If he wanted a pipeline, if he no longer believed in the keep-it-in-the-ground extremist ideology he supported for 10 years, he would stand up today and say that he will approve a pipe to the Pacific.

Will he—

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Excuse me.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I'm waiting for it to get a little quieter.

The hon. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition does not seem to understand how to get a pipeline built. The Premier of Alberta does. It is by working with the government to build Canada strong.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the question was for the Prime Minister. He is here in Ottawa today. He has the ability to stand up and state his position. He claimed that he was going to act with unimaginable speed. Here we are, eight months later, and he refuses to state whether he even supports a new oil pipeline and whether he would like to continue to pump oil at a discount to the United States of America while Canadians pay the price.

What does it take to get a pipeline approved by the Prime Minister? Does it have to be a Brookfield pipeline?

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

Mr. Speaker, on natural resources projects and interprovincial resource projects, there are indeed a great deal of those. The federal government has a unique role and must ensure that our obligations to first nations, to other provinces, to communities and to consulting are present and that those conditions are met, and then we are able to proceed. The Leader of the Opposition, now that he is standing right there, may want to stand up and say what part of that process he would not respect.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I do not respect the idea of standing in the way of Canadian energy workers and giving our oil to the Americans at a discount. What we would do is get the government out of the way and get the project built. The Prime Minister has the unique constitutional opportunity to do that. Subsection 92.10 of the BNA Act makes it exclusively a federal decision.

This Prime Minister is hiding under his desk rather than answering the question. Eight months after promising that he would take unprecedented action with unimaginable speed, he has done nothing. Why does he not get out of the way?

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

Mr. Speaker, this is nonsense. We have dozens of major projects in play and under study, and we are building the country at unimaginable speed. We are creating opportunities for energy workers, young people, housing, steel, lumber, aluminum and autos in this country. That is what we are doing.

What is shocking is that the Leader of the Opposition stands in his place and somehow pretends in his whole fake way that he is going to override and steamroll the rights of Canadians who have a right to have a say in these projects. We are going to give them a say. He will not.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister hides under his desk, he puts up his House leader to rant and rave and pump his fists in the air.

The Prime Minister said that we faced an existential crisis requiring that we act with unimaginable speed, and here we are, eight months later, and he does not even have the courage to tell Canadians whether he supports a pipeline that would allow us to go around the American monopoly of our energy and get our product to the world.

Will he finally stand up for workers, stand up in this House and answer the question: a pipeline or a pipe dream?

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

Mr. Speaker, speaking of ranting and raving, I asked the Leader of the Opposition yesterday about two significant things that were said by members of his caucus last week. Number one, the member for Calgary Midnapore suggested that the Prime Minister was disloyal to Canada. Second, the member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies repeated MAGA claims that immigrants were the cause of economic slowdown in Canada.

The Leader of the Opposition should stand in his place right now and apologize for those comments, take those members to task and do something for once.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I cannot imagine what we have in store for Wednesday.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it is not us who questioned the loyalty of the Prime Minister. He is the one who is blocking a pipeline that would allow Canada to become energy-independent and reach markets outside of Canada, while he and his company invest in pipelines in the Middle East and Latin America. He is the one who forces Canadians to spend more on taxes than on food, clothing and shelter combined, while he stashes his cash in a Bermuda tax haven above a bicycle shop.

If he wants to say that he is Canada first, why does he not stand up in this House and start acting like it?

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

Mr. Speaker, Canada's Building Trades Unions, the Canadian Labour Congress and LiUNA are all unions that have praised budget 2025. Do members know why? It is because it makes historic investments in the major infrastructure projects that are going to create great jobs all across this country.

Whether it is on supporting Canadians through things like the Canada child benefit, indexing it to inflation; by creating jobs; or by helping people get the skills to do them, the Conservatives vote against Canadians every single time. Canadians know better.

Climate Change

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is official: Canada is giving up the fight against climate change. The Prime Minister will announce it on Thursday by launching a brand new pipeline for dirty oil from western Canada, on top of Trans Mountain, which has cost taxpayers $34 billion and which will cost us even more in climate disruptions. Thanks to Bill C-5 and Bill C-15, this new pipeline will be exempt from environmental assessments and laws—