We have been away for a while, but please address the question through the Chair.
House of Commons Hansard #4 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was riding.
House of Commons Hansard #4 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was riding.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Canada Health Act First reading of Bill C-201. The bill amends the Canada Health Act to include community-based mental health, addictions, and substance use services as insured services, aiming to address the disparity between physical and mental health care coverage. 300 words.
Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act First reading of Bill C-202. The bill amends the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act to protect the supply management system, aimed at benefiting producers and consumers and supporting regional economies. 100 words.
Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply Members continue debate on the Speech from the Throne, discussing the new government's priorities and opposition concerns. The Prime Minister's plan outlines economic transformation, affordability measures like tax cuts and housing support, strengthening sovereignty, and reducing operating spending growth. Conservatives criticize rising government spending, the absence of a spring budget, and policies on crime and energy, while advocating for lower costs and public safety. Bloc members stress the need to respect provincial jurisdictions and protect supply management. Debate also touches on housing affordability, immigration levels, and the opioid crisis. 56600 words, 8 hours in 2 segments: 1 2.
Resumption of Debate on Address in ReplySpeech from the Throne
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
We have been away for a while, but please address the question through the Chair.
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford, BC
Mr. Speaker, through you, I congratulate the member for Victoria. As the member knows, my riding of Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford suffered one of the most devastating natural disasters in the history of Canada. Our major roadways were washed out. Sumas Prairie, the breadbasket of British Columbia, was flooded. It was turmoil. Since that natural disaster, the federal government has not come forward with any additional infrastructure dollars for Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley.
Would the member agree that to support British Columbia's breadbasket, British Columbian food security and British Columbia's ability to transfer goods throughout all of Asia, Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley need additional infrastructure dollars to protect Canadian supply chains?
Will Greaves Liberal Victoria, BC
Mr. Speaker, the impacts that Abbotsford experienced from extreme weather events and natural disasters show the vulnerability of British Columbian communities, and communities from coast to coast to coast, to the effects of climate change. The natural disasters and climate-related impacts in 2021 alone cost British Columbia between 3% and 5% of our GDP. That is exactly why we cannot afford to not take action on climate change and why the government is committed to continuing to invest in critical infrastructure and adaptation that will prevent such disasters in the future.
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Mr. Speaker, in this first week of sittings, I want to take the opportunity to sincerely thank the people of Berthier—Maskinongé, who not only elected me to a third term, but to a third term with a clear majority. I thank them from the bottom of my heart, and I will honour their trust.
I would like my colleague to answer the following simple question. At home, does his family draw up a budget before spending money? Does he think he could work within his party to try to convince his Liberal friends to share the state of our public finances before presenting us with new spending?
Will Greaves Liberal Victoria, BC
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada, like the governments of all other countries, is not quite the same thing as a family. We are a Canadian family, but government finances look a little bit different. We will be seeing the government introduce a budget in the fall, and we look forward to being able to address the member's concerns then.
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your election as Chair. I look forward to working with you. The hon. member is a new member, and I thank him for his speech.
I know that any number of us in the House of Commons have identified priorities that we wish to deliver to our communities. The member comes from a beautiful part of the country in Victoria. What is the number one priority that he wishes to deliver for his riding in the coming years?
Will Greaves Liberal Victoria, BC
Mr. Speaker, the priorities that I have been sent here to Ottawa to advocate for by my community are very clear. As a community, we have deep concerns about the state of critical infrastructure across Victoria and across the south island. We need to invest in infrastructure that will make us more resilient in the face of climate impacts and extreme weather events, as well as the kind of infrastructure that will help us to actually reduce our emissions, such as more dense and sustainable housing built with Canadian materials and public transit so that people can get to work without driving their vehicles. That is how we are going to tackle climate change every day.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot of this talking point about the strongest economy in the G7. The reality is that youth unemployment of over 14% is really killing opportunities for young people. We are headed into a summer without summer jobs for so many. The lack of private sector job growth is killing opportunity for the next generation.
In that context, why can the government not offer a budget that shows what it is going to do to reverse its failures on youth unemployment?
Will Greaves Liberal Victoria, BC
Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt about the impact that the trade war thrust upon us by the United States is having on Canada's economy. That is why the government is focused on ensuring and strengthening our domestic economy so that we can provide employment to all Canadians, including young Canadians.
Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Speaker, congratulations on taking that seat. I hope you bring back dignity and honour to that office, and I know you will.
I would like to start off by saying that I am splitting my time with the member for Battle River—Crowfoot, somebody I have known to be a great colleague and friend. We are going to miss him around here. When he made the decision he is going to tell you about, I called him a mensch and told him he could look it up. I want to thank him, Danielle and the entire family for what he is going to do in putting his country first.
I also want to thank the people of Thornhill for entrusting me a second time to take their seat here in the House of Commons. The first time around, they took a chance on a relatively unknown quantity to fill the shoes of a long-time Conservative MP and former cabinet minister.
The second victory feels a bit more profound. I think the people of Thornhill have entrusted me with this honour to serve them because of the work we have done, our advocacy and what the team and this party have promised to Canadians. We have done that with the biggest mandate in the riding's history of any MP. I am so proud and honoured, always, to have this seat.
None of this is done on our own. I would like to thank all the staff and volunteers, not only leading up to the election and election campaign but also for the years before, travelling the country from riding to riding. I thank all of those who helped, who came in the snow and the rain, who stuffed envelopes, who banged in signs and who went door to door talking to everyday Canadians about the issues that matter to them.
I thank my family, both blood and the ones we acquire on this journey. Everybody knows that politics is a family business, and I have the best family in the business. They are the ones who are honest with us, who tell us that we are not eating enough, that a slushy is not considered lunch, that we look tired or that our jacket does not match. They are the very ones who tell us to go a bit more, go to one more event or one more door and talk to one more person; they also know when it is time to go home because it is better for us. I thank all of them.
I thank my partner, who is lax in all the things that I miss: the dinners and birthdays of family members, the celebrations that normal people with normal jobs get to do much more often than we do. She has never once put that ahead of what we do for the people of Thornhill.
When I ran the first time, I did not have my mom with me. I am part of a club that not a lot of people my age are a part of. I am part of the orphan club. I have lost both my parents. I lost my father between the first and second elections. He was here for my first election. I often tell their story, because I think it is the embodiment of one that so many share in this country. I come by conservatism honestly. I often tell people that I am a product of a mixed marriage: My mom was a Liberal, and my father was a Conservative. My mom always said that she did not leave the Liberal Party, but that the Liberal Party left her. Boy, is that ever true today. She left a long time ago and supported me throughout my journey to elected politics.
I say that because my parents are the embodiment of the Canadian immigrant story. They immigrated here from the former Soviet Union. My dad was an uncredentialed engineer who drove a taxi to put my mom through school. They put two kids through university and watched them get jobs and homes. I also tell a joke that my parents bought their first home, in the place I now represent, for about seven raspberries and 12 almonds. They did that on a taxi driver's salary and with a woman who was still in school, trying to make it in the corporate world. They did that in a safe neighbourhood where they could raise kids the way they wanted to, in the freedom of this country, the freedom they ran from the Soviet Union to attain.
People cannot do that anymore. They cannot do any of that, and that is what I heard every single day at every single door in more than 40 ridings across the country, from east to west: Young people cannot afford a home. I heard that if someone came here and drove a taxi today, or probably an Uber, there is no way they could buy a home in the suburbs, raise two kids and send them through university. There is no way that today, somebody with my last name, whose father was a cab driver, can go from the front seat of a taxi to the front row of Parliament Hill in one generation. That dream is absolutely dead in this country, which brings me to a government that was a big part of killing that dream.
Over the last 10 years, we saw the same ministers. There are 13 of the same ministers on the front bench. It feels a bit déjà vu. They are saying the exact same things, except for some of the new things they are saying, which they borrowed from the Conservative platform. I invite them to borrow more and go all the way, not with these half measures that we are seeing, with a GST cut that does not go far enough and includes only first-time homebuyers, or a tax cut that is about half of the one that we promised. That is not going to stand up when someone has a $5,000 mortgage to pay. If they are going to take our ideas, they should go all the way with them.
That brings me to the Speech from the Throne, which is an exact regurgitation of what we heard on the campaign, except without detail. There is no detail. There is no meat on the bones of any of this. It is a lot of grand, lofty statements about what is going to happen and what they are going to do. This is coming from a Prime Minister who said that a plan is better than no plan and that he was the man with a plan. We do not see that right now, and I suspect that we are not going to see that, because it is what they do in the government of the 13 ministers who are still there and some of the new ones who now fill that second row. It is a government of lofty statements, and it is the exact reason that, when we knocked on doors, affordability, crime and immigration were the number one things that people talked about in so many different regions. The immigration system had a consensus in this country for a generation.
Let me talk about what the throne speech did not say, because I would be remiss if I did not say it. I come from a community whose people are terrified of living in this country. It is not that they feel scared; they are actually in danger. The government has been absolutely silent on Jews in this country, the ones who were shot at and harassed and whose businesses were being firebombed. We have seen lawless mobs in the streets screaming genocidal slogans at their fellow Canadians. If one goes to the faculty clubs of our universities or, frankly, the halls of this place or even close to it—
Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Speaker, I actually did not think it would be worse than with the last foreign minister, but we have a new foreign minister who, whether she knows it or not, is parroting Hamas talking points.
That very same terrorist organization that is listed as a terrorist organization in this country has thanked this country for its position, for a second time now. If they are thanked for a second time by a terrorist organization, we all know that they are probably on the wrong side of history. I do not know if they need to be thanked for a third time to actually get it, but we have gone from “free Palestine” chants to full-blown extremism in this country, just as long as it targets Jews who look a bit too complicit for comfort. Forget nuance and forget humanity. If we squint hard enough, anyone with a Hebrew name or an Israeli cousin is now a war criminal in this country. That is what the Liberals have allowed to happen in our streets.
I would like to have seen something in the throne speech on this. I know that there are many constituents in many different ridings. Maybe they do not make up the majority of the constituents in those ridings, but if anyone is scared to live in this country, to walk the streets, to wear a yarmulke, to wear a Star of David or to put a mezuzah on the door, to walk into a synagogue or to walk into a church, because there are officials in Ottawa who said the church burnings are understandable, and that is to say nothing about the Hindu temples that are desecrated in this country, I hope the Prime Minister is successful, because we cannot go on like this.
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Speaker, I disagree with many of the things the member opposite said.
At the end of the day, as a Liberal member of Parliament, I believe that within the very heart of the Liberal caucus the member will find an appreciation of Canada's diversity, which is second to that in no other caucus. We understand the true value of what diversity can do for Canada, not only for today but for tomorrow.
When the Prime Minister talks about looking for opportunities that go beyond the relationship between Canada and the United States, we can look at other countries, whether we are talking about India, Africa, the Philippines and so forth. Using that diversity, we can build a stronger and healthier country.
I challenge the member to be as bold as to say, and to make the attempt to recognize, the important role that diversity plays in our society today.
Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure that was a question, and perhaps it was a comment, but it is more platitudes from this government. It talks about diversity, and its members talk a strong game about diversity, but when it comes to the actual protection of minorities for the lawlessness that is in the streets, and not just in the Jewish community, not just against Christian churches and not just against Hindu temples, they are nowhere to be found. The same repeat violent offenders, the same mobs of people covering their faces are the ones who rule the streets, and the Liberals have been silent about it.
Perhaps the member can tell the Prime Minister that this is actually a problem, since the Prime Minister has come back to Canada, and he can advise him on doing something rather than saying nothing, or, in the case when they do say something, that it is not parroting the talking points of a terrorist organization.
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Mr. Speaker, the first part of my colleague's speech focused on housing, an issue on the minds of a lot of people right now. People are having a hard time finding housing or buying a home.
This throne speech reveals the Liberal government's willingness to play the role of a real estate developer, even though housing is a jurisdiction that belongs to Quebec and the provinces, in co-operation with the municipalities.
Can the member explain how the Conservative Party ultimately persuaded the Liberal Party to adopt its idea of setting conditions on municipalities in order to obtain funds for housing?
Simply put, this is yet another Liberal-Conservative attempt to interfere in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the municipalities.
Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Speaker, I think the member is referring to the decelerator funding or whatever the last scheme of the Liberal government was in terms of giving municipalities more money in order to block more homebuilding. It is the exact opposite of what we have said.
When I talked about home ownership in the speech, I talked about it as an aspiration that so many in this country have, and about the blocking of it from governments right across the board, municipal, federal and provincial, that do not see the value in actually getting homes built. In fact, we have a housing minister whose record in Vancouver was to have housing prices rise 180%, who is now building a bureaucracy rather than building homes, and who is married to the generational divide that the Liberals caused in this last election between those who own their home and those aspiring to get one. That is not the right course of action, and Conservatives will stand ready to make sure that we bring solutions to the floor of the House of Commons and that they take more of our ideas on it.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the member for her powerful words about anti-Semitism. My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. I remember hearing, when I was growing up, some of the stories she would share with us about her experiences. It is very dark to see some of the things that have happened in this country and other western countries around the world.
I did want to ask the member about youth unemployment, the rise we are seeing and what she is seeing in particular in her riding in terms of the unemployment crisis that is going on right now.
Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Speaker, I would be the first one to say that I do not want to talk about anti-Semitism in the House or ever in this country, and I do not think anybody should ever have to. However, the fact that the Liberals do not leads me to use this seat to speak for my community.
With regard to youth unemployment, I think the data is very clear. We are seeing the highest youth unemployment rate in Ontario, and we are seeing the highest unemployment rates in Ontario.
Appointment of Deputy ChairCommittees of the WholeSpeech from the Throne
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
I am now prepared to propose for the ratification of the House a candidate for the position of Assistant Deputy Speaker and deputy chair of committees of the whole.
Pursuant to Standing Order 8, I propose Mrs. Mendès for the position of Assistant Deputy Speaker and deputy chair of committees of the whole.
The motion is deemed moved and seconded. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Appointment of Deputy ChairCommittees of the WholeSpeech from the Throne
Some hon. members
Agreed.
Appointment of Deputy ChairCommittees of the WholeSpeech from the Throne
Appointment of Assistant Deputy ChairCommittees of the WholeSpeech from the Throne
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
I am now prepared to propose for the ratification of the House a candidate for the position of Assistant Deputy Speaker and assistant deputy chair of committees of the whole.
Pursuant to Standing Order 8, I propose Mr. Nater for the position of Assistant Deputy Speaker and assistant deputy chair of committees of the whole.
The motion is deemed moved and seconded. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Appointment of Assistant Deputy ChairCommittees of the WholeSpeech from the Throne
Some hon. members
Agreed.
Appointment of Assistant Deputy ChairCommittees of the WholeSpeech from the Throne
The House resumed consideration of the motion for an address to His Majesty the King in reply to his speech at the opening of the session, of the amendment and of the amendment to the amendment.
