Debates of Nov. 28th, 2025

Ethics

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and to the Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)]

Madam Speaker, the member would rather question the loyalty of our Prime Minister, who is securing deals all around the world to drive investment into Canada and protect jobs and who is stepping up with packages of support for tariff-impacted industries.

The member will not even stand up to support a hospital in Durham Region with the health care infrastructure funding that we put in the federal budget. He will not stand up to support a major project that will provide 1.2 million homes in our region with clean energy and 21,700 jobs. How can he say he cares about anybody but himself?

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

Madam Speaker, Black Friday is here, but there are no deals for Canadians. This week, we found out that the Liberals gave $528 million to the European Space Agency, 10 times more than the amount specified in the previous agreement under the former prime minister. Guess who owns 50% of the European Space Agency campus? That would be Brookfield.

Once again, the Prime Minister is putting his personal interests ahead of the interests of Canadians, or should I say, putting his interests first at the expense of Canadians' interests, at the expense of investments here, in Canada, and at the expense of jobs for Quebec and Canada.

Why is the Prime Minister incapable of putting Canadians first, ahead of his personal interests?

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

Madam Speaker, it is not complicated. Everything we do is for Canadians. Bringing up ethics is an attempt to distract certain people from the real work we are doing. The budget includes a package of measures for Quebec that will benefit our economy and our workers: ports, roads, work being done with Hydro-Québec to boost its production, mines and jobs. That is what building Canada is all about. Let us stop creating distractions and start working with us on the real issues.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

Madam Speaker, the devil is in the details. Yesterday, the Liberal government made a series of announcements in Alberta, and the Prime Minister once again found a way to benefit himself. He announced a carbon capture plan. Which outstanding company has the technology for this kind of megaproject? Brookfield does. If Brookfield makes money, the Prime Minister makes money.

Each announcement seems like another opportunity for the Liberal government to dip into Brookfield's catalogue for its megaprojects. Why?

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, I want my colleague to know that we are working with all provinces and all sectors. We have a mission. Our government was elected to build a strong economy, a sustainable economy and a future for our children. The proof that our approach is working is that we learned today that our productivity is increasing. That is very good news. Our policies are working. I urge my colleagues to join us and vote in favour of our measures.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

Madam Speaker, every time the Prime Minister talks trade, he seems to be closing deals for his old firm Brookfield, while Canadian workers and taxpayers are left out on the sidelines. He went to Washington and Brookfield walked away with an $80-billion nuclear deal. He went to London and Brookfield got over $500 million for the European Space Agency. He hosted Swedish royalty and Brookfield announced an AI deal with Sweden. Now he is forcing Alberta to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into carbon capture just to get a pipeline, exactly where Brookfield holds major stakes.

When the Prime Minister said he would build at scale and speed not seen in generations, did he really mean just for Brookfield and not for Canadians?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Madam Speaker, it appears that my hon. colleague has not really been cognizant of what the Prime Minister has been doing: $70 billion in a financial commitment of investment from the U.A.E. We can also list the Philippines, Indonesia, Germany, Thailand and India. These are the trade deals we are embarking upon.

On the other side of the House, they focus on issues that Canadians are not going to benefit from. We are here for Canadians, building Canada strong.

Climate Change

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Madam Speaker, the new Minister of Energy and Natural Resources seriously crossed the line yesterday. When commenting on the resignation of the former environment minister, he said that people who are concerned about the Liberal shift towards more oil are nostalgic for the past and are looking for magical solutions. It seems that nowadays, caring about the environment is considered nostalgia and wishful thinking. This is very troubling, knowing that the minister and the Prime Minister have been very close ever since their early days as bankers at Goldman Sachs.

Has the fight against climate change become nothing more than nostalgia for the Liberals?

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

Madam Speaker, as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources mentioned, the economic and trade situation has changed recently. I think that all Quebeckers understand that we are in a new era when it comes to trade with the United States and perhaps with the rest of the world. That is forcing us to secure our economy, work with the provinces, meet our economic objectives and implement major renewable energy and critical mineral projects in Quebec.

We were elected to build and that is what we—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès), Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Madam Speaker, what we are hearing is frightening.

This same minister also called his worried Liberal colleagues boy scouts and naive, according to the Toronto Star. In Canada today, it is normal for a natural resources minister to think that worrying about the expansion of dirty oil pipelines is simply nostalgia, magical thinking, naïveté and behaving like boy scouts. Even the Conservative leader is not that much of a climate denier.

Quite frankly, how can the Liberals from Quebec support the comments coming from this minister?

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

Madam Speaker, we used to have one province that was reluctant to join us in our fight to achieve net-zero emissions. Today, that same province has just agreed to increase the price on carbon. More importantly, it has just agreed to reduce its methane emissions by 75%.

For the project to go ahead, there has to be an agreement with British Columbia. There has to be an agreement with the first nations. There has to be money.

That is what it means to move forward, even nature—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès), Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Beauce.

Forestry Industry

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, the United States is imposing crippling 45% tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.

This weekend, when asked whether he had talked about trade with Donald Trump, the Prime Minister replied, “Who cares?” I can say that people in Beauce care, as do the people in Chaudière-Appalaches, where the softwood lumber industry supports about 8,000 jobs.

Does the Prime Minister have the guts to rise today before the 8,000 workers in our region and repeat that he does not care?

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, we need our forestry workers in rural areas. We need our Canadian softwood lumber, which is a source of pride in Canada. In my riding, I have proud forestry companies.

This week, we announced important measures to support the industry. We know that things are not easy, but when times get tough, we support each other. That is exactly what we are doing in the forestry industry. We will resolve the dispute with the United States, but in the meantime, we are pulling together.

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, unlike the Prime Minister, we care about softwood lumber. No loan program can replace $780 million in annual salaries in Chaudière-Appalaches. The Prime Minister promised a quick deal with the Americans. In reality, things have gotten worse. Tariffs have tripled. Loans are not what businesses want. Businesses want a trade agreement with the Americans, our vital market.

Will the Prime Minister quit hurling insults, quit saying “who cares” and “I don't care”, address the real issues and fix the softwood lumber deal with the Americans, yes or no?

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

Madam Speaker, when it comes to the forestry sector, we will take no lessons from a Conservative member.

We are in a trade war. In the case of softwood lumber, the trade war has been going on for 40 years. The United States has not budged on this issue. What are we doing? We are responding by supporting our workers. We are responding by supporting our businesses. We are responding by modernizing and diversifying our offerings. We are responding by mandating the use of Canadian lumber in large-scale home construction projects in Canada. That is what we are—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès), Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Cariboo—Prince George.

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

Madam Speaker, in 2006, our Conservative government negotiated an end to the longest softwood lumber war. We negotiated a 10-year agreement with a one-year grace period, which the government squandered.

The Liberals have failed to do this in 10 years. This is thousands of jobs. Over 30 mills have closed in the province of British Columbia.

The Prime Minister ran an entire election on the false premise that he was the man with the plan, that he could get the job done. Now he says, “Who cares?” as our lumber industry is crippled and communities are decimated.

[Corey Hogan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Madam Speaker, we are in a trade war. We are in a very difficult situation, and in that situation, this government is standing with affected workers. We are moving heaven and earth to help them. We just announced another $500 million of supports two days ago. The member is fully aware of this. We are open to more ideas for more supports.

We had a take-note debate the other night. I asked the Conservative members for their ideas, and how many ideas did I get from them? It was zero. How about we get some ideas on the table?

We are happy to support. We are happy to work with members to support. Let us get some ideas on the table.

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

Madam Speaker, if they want a flipping idea of what to do, the could get a flipping deal done. It has been 10 years. It is another week, and there has been another mill closure in my riding. That is 100 direct and indirect jobs lost. That is hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes for our municipalities. That is $1 million of taxes from our community of 100 Mile House.

Do the Liberals want to know who matters? It is the families that lost their jobs. They are the ones who matter. I ask the Liberals to get the job done and get an agreement. Will the Prime Minister come to our region to tell them? Will he look them in the eyes and tell them that they do not matter?

[Corey Hogan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Madam Speaker, helpful ideas like “Just get a deal done” are not going to get the deal done. We need ideas. We need support for workers, the workers the member and I both care about. How about we work together to help this industry, instead of these histrionics in the House? How about that?

Automotive Industry

[Rhonda Kirkland, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister was asked whether he had spoken to Trump about trade, and guess what he did. He brushed off the question, saying, “Who cares?”

The Prime Minister may not think it is a serious matter, but Conservatives do and so do auto workers in Oshawa and across Ontario and Quebec, who are seeing their jobs disappear. Thousands of auto jobs are leaving Canada, and workers justifiably feel that their jobs do not matter because the Prime Minister said so.

If the Prime Minister will not fight for Canadian auto workers, then who is he fighting for? Is it Brookfield?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and to the Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)]

Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the member what she cares about.

Does she care about access to critical care and health care in our region? I wonder, because she voted against budget 2025, including the health care infrastructure fund, which would fund hospitals and health care facilities all across Canada, including in Durham region. Does she care about 21,700 jobs at the new nuclear project in Darlington? I wonder, because she voted against that as well. It is clear that she does not care about our region—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès), Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Terrebonne.