House of Commons Hansard #51 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was fish.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
National Framework on Sports Betting Advertising Act First reading of Bill S-211. The bill creates a national framework to limit sports betting advertising. It aims to reduce promotion to youth and vulnerable groups, addressing concerns about the abundance of ads overshadowing sports and protecting Canadian families. 200 words.
Budget Documents Distributed to Members Gabriel Ste-Marie raises a question of privilege regarding incomplete paper budget documents distributed to MPs, arguing it violates their right to full information and impedes their ability to perform parliamentary duties. 800 words.
Financial Statement of Minister of Finance Members debate the government's budgetary policy, with the Leader of the Opposition criticizing the increased national debt, rising cost of living, and the industrial carbon tax. The Bloc Québécois calls the budget a "sham" for ignoring Quebec's needs and climate action, while Liberals defend it as a transformative investment in economic growth, social programs, and infrastructure. 14400 words, 2 hours.
Fisheries Act Second reading of Bill C-237. The bill seeks to amend the Fisheries Act to harmonize recreational groundfish fishing periods across Atlantic Canada and Quebec and to create a monitoring system for catches. The Conservative sponsor argues the bill would allow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to fish seven days a week, like other Atlantic provinces, and would encourage better enforcement to eliminate illegal fishing. Liberal and Bloc members express concerns about the bill's potential impact on commercial fisheries, its shift from stock-based to species-based management, and the possibility of new costs or fees for recreational fishers. Bill C-237 8700 words, 1 hour.
Mark Carney LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, in the spring, the government removed the divisive consumer carbon tax, and that has a consequence for any business, any farm, that emits less than 50 kilotonnes, which is every farm across this country.
The Canadian Climate Institute has done the analysis on the impact of the industrial carbon tax on inflation. It is zero.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, apparently the Prime Minister is still under the misconception that Canadians do not use steel. Do members remember that interview when he asked the CTV interviewer, Steve, if he used steel? Of course, farmers use steel in order to produce their food and in order to store their grains. Processors use steel in the apparatuses of their conveyor belts.
The tax on fertilizer and equipment drives up the cost of food, not according to Conservatives, but according to Sylvain Charlebois.
Is the Prime Minister going to tell Canadians that an industrial carbon tax on Canadian farmers is not driving up the price of groceries?
Mark Carney LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the impact of the industrial carbon tax on food prices in Canada is approximately zero.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
The Prime Minister still thinks we use zero steel, Mr. Speaker.
On another subject, unfortunately a much darker subject, last week, the Supreme Court ruled that a one-year prison sentence was too much for possession of child abuse and exploitation materials. That sentence was already far too low for the two dirtbags who had literally hundreds of impressions and videos of children being tortured.
Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and invoke the notwithstanding clause in order to put the rights of children ahead of the rights of those who abuse them?
Mark Carney LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I am sure I join all members of this House in condemning the exploitation of children as the most reprehensible source of crime. That is why this government will be bringing forth legislation to combat these crimes and penalize those who are responsible that works within our Constitution.
Yves-François Blanchet Bloc Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, you are known for your expertise in financial matters and, in theory, the Prime Minister is as well, so let us be serious and not take people for fools.
I would like the Prime Minister to explain how tax credits for oil companies, the organization of FIFA events and health transfers can be considered government assets.
Mark Carney LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, one of the most important aspects of the budget is the investment tax credits for clean electricity, which represents $4 billion for Quebec, for investment in Quebec.
That is one of the main reasons to support this budget.
Yves-François Blanchet Bloc Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, I did not expect the Prime Minister to want to answer the question.
A tax credit involves paying money to someone who benefits from the tax credit. It comes out of the government coffers. The Liberals cannot claim that it is an investment whose value is kept on their balance sheet.
The Prime Minister is claiming that expenditures are assets. Does he think that accountants are stupid?
Mark Carney LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that the environment and Hydro‑Québec will be among the greatest beneficiaries of this budget.
Finally, with regard to carbon capture, the truth is that Quebec is currently using 350,000 barrels of oil a day. We need to capture the carbon emitted by the production and transfer of these barrels.
Yves-François Blanchet Bloc Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, that reeks of embarrassment. If money is going to worthwhile projects then that is just great, but we do not yet know who will decide which projects are worthwhile. In any case, it is still an expense. The Prime Minister would fail a third-year math exam with his answers.
Will the Prime Minister admit that he is implementing an austerity budget in order to finance oil companies at Quebec's expense?
Mark Carney LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, this budget is a generational investment budget. The pace of investment is twice as high, and this budget will spur $1 trillion in investment by the end of the decade. It is a budget for growth, it is a budget for Quebec, and it is a budget for Canada.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, in addition to cooking the books, the Prime Minister also rigged his GST rebate on housing to make sure that 95% of homebuyers would not qualify for any break at all: zero, zip, zilch. The Prime Minister meanwhile would put a new rising tax on steel, aluminum, glass, cement and concrete, all the things that go into making a home. In other words, the industrial carbon tax is a housing tax.
With the Liberals having already doubled housing costs, will the Prime Minister axe the industrial carbon tax so Canadians can afford a home?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalMinister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, once again, the leader persists with and doubles down on these fake, imaginary taxes that exist only in his head and in the talking points that he hands out.
What I will tell him is that this is a budget that Conservative-minded voters, people who think of voting Conservative in elections, can like. What do they like about it? They like the hope. They like the ambition. They like the economic growth. They like bringing this country together from coast to coast to coast to invest in our potential, to invest in our young people and to grow this country to be the best in the G7. That is why—
Carbon PricingOral Questions
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, he says it is imaginary, but it is in his budget. Does that mean the budget is a fictional document? Here it is, on page 106: “Strengthening Industrial Carbon Pricing”—
Carbon PricingOral Questions
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Mr. Speaker, they say their budget is a prop and its contents are imaginary. We are in real trouble today.
Homes take steel. They take aluminum. They take concrete, cement and glass. The industrial carbon tax drives all those things up.
With our youth unable to afford homes, why do the Liberals not get rid of this tax so that we can bring down the cost of housing?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalMinister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, do members know what this budget does? It builds communities. It builds opportunities for young people in our communities. It ties this country together in a common refrain of hope, optimism and investing in ourselves.
We are going to be investing in new homes. We are going to be investing in housing for young people. We are going to build it with Canadian steel. We are going to build it with Canadian lumber. We are going to build it with the best thing we have: the Canadian ingenuity that exists in the youngest and oldest and in the skilled tradespeople of this country.
We are going to build Canada. Conservatives like that. Liberals like that. Let us build the country together.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, after the Prime Minister's depressing speech demanding that young people make more sacrifices, I think the Liberal House leader asked ChatGPT to write him up a little poem about how he could inject hope into his message. It did not work.
Young people need houses for them to have hope. Houses are needed to raise families. Houses are needed to build equity, collateral and credit history, but the Prime Minister insists on applying an escalating industrial carbon tax that will raise the cost of everything that goes into making a home.
With the Liberals doubling housing costs already, why will they not get rid of this tax?
Gregor Robertson LiberalMinister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
Mr. Speaker, we know housing is top of mind for young Canadians, and we have heard them loud and clear. Budget 2025 delivers on affordable housing for young Canadians. It focuses on affordable housing and co-ops. It delivers on GST for first-time homebuyers. Up to 47,000 homes will see a big reduction in GST.
Building all of these homes creates jobs for young people in the trades, great jobs for young Canadians. This budget delivers affordability for young Canadians.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has doubled lineups at food banks to well over two million people, and right now food prices are rising 40% faster in Canada than they are in the United States, which means we cannot blame some global or foreign factor for those rising costs. Sylvain Charlebois, Canada's leading food price expert, says the industrial carbon tax, which not only is still in place but would rise quickly with this costly budget, is partly to blame.
So that single mothers, small businesses and seniors can feed themselves, will the Liberals get rid of this terrible tax on food?
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Mr. Speaker, as a former single mother myself, the kind of thing single mothers and families are looking for is affordability. That is in this budget. Whether it is a middle-class tax cut for 22 million Canadians; protecting $10-a-day child care, which by the way is a game-changer for women, especially single mothers; making the school food program permanent; or investing in building trades, these are the kinds of infrastructure investments that will lead to good-paying jobs.
We are here for young people and Canadians.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, since they started promising that program, the number of children lined up at food banks has doubled to 700,000, and food prices are actually rising 40% faster in Canada than they are in the United States of America.
The questions I have been asking are for the Prime Minister. Apparently, he does not have time to answer questions about homes and food when Canadians cannot afford to feed and lodge themselves.
Once again, will the Prime Minister get rid of his regressive industrial carbon tax on Canadian foods so that single moms and seniors can afford to eat?
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Mr. Speaker, Canadians do not have time for the kinds of antics the Conservative Party performs every single day. What Canadians want is investment in their families, investment in their children and investment in the infrastructure in small communities all across this country, including in my riding, that is going to make life affordable and build up the kind of infrastructure that allows for us to get ahead. Lots of Conservatives feel that way in my riding. They told me so, and they have donated.
