Debates of May 30th, 2025

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the member on her re-election.

She mentioned in her speech the lack of infrastructure in the north, in Nunavut, for our military. I would like her to share her opinion on the economic benefits, not just to the military but to the community in the north, when the federal government invests in military infrastructure.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji , as much as I appreciate that there are focuses towards national defence, I really do hope that the focus on Arctic security and Arctic sovereignty helps Nunavummiut to be engaged in it. At this point, if the military is just flown in with a cookie-cutter approach, more social issues will arise. However, if we lift barriers so that Nunavummiut can be engaged in Arctic security and Arctic sovereignty, like investing in Canadian Rangers, I could see the benefits going both ways.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her comprehensive explanation of the variety of major challenges that Nunavut is facing.

Nunavik in Quebec is also facing significant challenges. Recent events have led us to consider what we can do to improve drinking water and sewer infrastructure, particularly for the community of Puvirnituq.

Can my colleague enlighten the House on how Nunavut is responding to this type of challenge?

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji , I congratulate the member on his first term. We have had a quick conversation, and I think we will be able to work really well together.

I think one way to make sure we can increase investments in the north is to help use NATO spending. If we are going to reach our 2% target, a way to reach it is to say that northerners need to be engaged in Arctic sovereignty and Arctic security. Investing in infrastructure in the north could mean reaching those targets. It could mean northerners' participating in the security of the Arctic.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate members of the House who have successfully won their ridings after an election. It is an exhausting experience. To those who were elected for the first time, I say congratulations. To those who were re-elected, I welcome them back.

It is an honour for anyone to serve in this place. In my case, it is for a community of over 100,000 people. I am here with the tremendous responsibility and weight of being their voice in Canada's Parliament. The people of Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, like all Canadians, want to have a government, a Parliament and a country that works for them.

While we have differing views across the aisle and throughout the House on the best way Canada can serve its citizens and the role we play in the world, I believe that everyone shares in the belief that this is the greatest country in the world and that our best days are ahead of us.

I look forward to finding opportunities where we can work together to achieve the things that are so important for members in all of our communities: affordability, homes that are within reach for young people, safety and security in the streets, and shorter lines at food banks. When I have met with the good people who work at food banks in my community, I always tell them that I admire their work and their passion so much. There are very few people who want to work in a field in which they will be put out of a job, but the people who help those who have the least among us, who need a hand up, are always committed to doing that so they will see a community where their services are no longer needed. I thank them. I know we all want to help the folks who are using those services, help the folks who cannot afford a home, help grow the power of paycheques in Canada and help unleash our potential on the world stage.

I would not be here following my fourth election victory without support from the most important people in my life: my wife Amanda, and my children, Luke, Ama, Michaela, James and Nathan. When I started this journey in 2018, James was a very new addition to the Barrett household. We could not have dreamed or prayed for Nathan to join us, but by the second time I was returned here, Nathan was with us. I appreciate their love and support so much.

It has been a long time. We have been working long and hard over these last few years. This is the first election during which my wife did not have a baby on her hip and was able to come knocking on doors with me to meet the people in our community to hear what the issues are, what the challenges are, and what the dreams and hopes are for the people in our community. They are just like what our family wants. They want that hope. They know that we cannot turn things around on a dime, but we have to have a plan. That is what Canadians are expecting.

During the election, the right hon. Prime Minister was elected on a promise to be the man with the plan and not the man with slogans. He did offer slogans. We got those, but we have yet to see his plan.

We had a Speech from the Throne delivered by His Majesty. It was a great day. I think it is so important to remind Canadians of the enduring connection between Parliament and the Crown, the strength of our democracy, the foundations of it and the history of our system. It was great to have our Parliament opened that way.

I had the opportunity to meet His Majesty. In an exchange, he expressed his hope that we would return to Centre Block. He hoped that it would not be terribly delayed.

In what I am sure would be a break from protocol, I invited His Majesty to return to open Parliament when we return to Centre Block. He liked that idea very much. I look forward very much to that day. We are here in the people's House, and they do want to see that plan.

The Speech from the Throne delivered by the King contained many of the elements in the platform that was offered by the Prime Minister during the election. Following that, we expected to see the framework. What does it look like? How are the Liberals going to pay for their promises? What specific measures are they going to take? How will they pay for building homes that Canadians can afford or reducing the burden on Canadians who are paying taxes?

How are the Liberals going to pay for the increased supports that our Canadian Armed Forces need, the kit that the brave men and women who serve our country need? We need new troops, more troops, and to take care of the ones we have. Of course, how are we going to take care of those who have served? How are we going to take care of our veterans? What does that look like in a budget?

We need new CBSA officers to protect our borders and to protect Canadians from threats on the other side of our borders. We need frontline police officers. How are the Liberals going to fund those programs? What are they going to do to keep Canadians safe in their communities by keeping repeat violent offenders off the streets? We need to see those details in a budget.

The Conservatives have put forward an amendment, and that amendment is absolute common sense. It states:

...we urge Your Majesty’s advisors to include a firm commitment to present to Parliament an economic update or budget this spring, before the House adjourns for the summer, that incorporates measures aimed at unleashing Canada’s economic potential, including full accountability of Canada’s finances, with respect for the areas of jurisdiction and the institutions of Quebec and the provinces.

That is what Canadians are expecting. That is not a new amendment, but this is what Conservatives are expecting. We want to work in collaboration to get these things done for Canadians. We want to cut taxes. We want to build homes. We want safer streets. We want to eliminate those lines at the food banks. We want Canadians to have spending power. When they are working one and two jobs, they are building our country up. We want them to have that spending power and to have the freedom that is the result of the hard work that they have put into building our country.

It is an awesome responsibility that we have, but we, as a Parliament, need to demonstrate that there is a plan. Our role, as His Majesty's loyal opposition, is to hold the government accountable. What we want from the government is a plan so we can scrutinize it and give the best results possible to Canadians. It is why I take the time away from my family. It is why I want to serve my community.

I would be remiss if I did not mention someone. He was not able to join for my swearing-in this time, because of his health. My 96-and-a-half-year-old grandfather, Francis Barrett, is a proud Canadian. He served with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and he loves this country. He has taught me so much about why it is important to deliver for future generations, just as his generation did for us.

I love this country. I am so proud to be back representing the people of my community. I am going to work incredibly hard for them, just as I know members will in this place. We are looking forward to seeing a plan from the government and are calling on them to deliver that today. I thank all Canadians.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague that Canada is the greatest country in the world. These turbulent times have shown that Canadians have what it takes to unite around a plan to strengthen and unify our economy. However, if my colleague believes, as I do, that Canada is the greatest country in the world, I have a hard time understanding how he can stand behind a leader who has been badmouthing our country for years and telling everybody, quite wrongly, that Canada is broken.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the member and congratulate him on his election victory.

It is important that there be accountability. What we saw over the last 10 years, as is evidenced by the change in direction by the leader of the member's party, is a complete reversal or commitment to reverse on many of the very things that his colleagues and his party perpetrated on Canada over the last 10 years. What they broke needs to be fixed, and there needs to be accountability for that.

The best way for the member to contribute, and for all members to contribute, is to make sure that there is a sound plan. However, half a trillion dollars in spending, which has been chucked on the table this week looking for a rubber stamp from parliamentarians, is not a plan. It risks the same kind of economic vandalism that we saw over the last 10 years. We need not repeat it. Let us see a budget.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague on his re-election. As members of the House may be aware, in the previous Parliament, he served as the shadow minister for ethics, which with the previous government was, I believe, three and a half full-time jobs. He was kept so busy with the litany of scandals and ethics lapses from Justin Trudeau and many of his cabinet ministers, and now there is a supposedly new government and a Prime Minister who will not even disclose potential conflicts of interest.

I am wondering whether the hon. member is willing to take on what could be a repeat of the last Parliament in terms of the volume of ethics breaches for which he will have to hold the government accountable.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome my hon. colleague to this place. He was obviously a keen observer of what went on over the last 10 years, and it was not an encouraging time for Canadians. The serial ethics law-breaking that we saw with Justin Trudeau was an example that was set, and unfortunately followed by other members of his cabinet.

Hope springs eternal, and I am very optimistic that we will see a change in tack from the new Prime Minister, and there is an opportunity. However, there are unresolved issues, including the Prime Minister's yet having to declare to Canadians on a few important issues, including whether his investments were held in offshore tax havens and not paying his share of taxes for the important services that Canadians need. There is still an opportunity for the Prime Minister to set a new tone. I remain very optimistic but ready to do the hard work to hold him accountable either way.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I reflect on the fact that Pierre Poilievre never did get the security clearance, which is something that was actually brought up at the door, as Canadians were concerned as to why the leader of the Conservative Party chose not to get the security clearance. It was a legitimate question before the election and during the election, and I believe it is a good question today.

I am wondering whether the member, who is the ethics critic, would maybe suggest it to his leader, given that every other leader decided on the merit of getting a security clearance. Does he not believe that maybe his leader should get the security clearance?

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in spite of some of that performance, I welcome my hon. colleague back to the House. He knows it better than most, as he spends an awful lot of time in the chamber, and he is here to serve his constituents as well.

It is important that the leader of the opposition be able to do his job. As past opposition leaders have said, the framework set up by the Trudeau government was one that would have disadvantaged the leader of the opposition in his ability to hold the government to account, and he has a constitutional obligation to do that. For our part, we are going to continue holding the government to account.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, let me say congratulations on your new role in the Speaker's chair. I know that is something you have been wanting to do for quite some time, and I am very confident that you will do very well in your new role.

As this is my first speech in the 45th Parliament, I would like to take a minute to thank the voters of Regina—Wascana for electing me for a third time to represent their interests here in the House of Commons. They have my solemn promise that I will do my very best to fulfill this role each and every day.

Of course, I would like to thank the many campaign volunteers who worked so tirelessly on the election campaign by knocking on doors, putting up lawn signs and giving people rides to the polls on election day.

Certainly, I would like to thank my family for supporting me throughout every step of this long journey, including all the way to Parliament Hill for my swearing-in ceremony last week.

Speaking of long journeys, it was certainly a pleasure to welcome King Charles to Ottawa for the Speech from the Throne. Given that this is a new Parliament and Canadians have said that they want politicians to work together, I will start by highlighting some of the positive things in the throne speech.

The income tax cut and the GST cut on new homes are initiatives that Conservatives have been calling for for quite some time. The Liberals did not go quite as far as we would have liked, but if they want to steal Conservative ideas, we are certainly not going to complain.

For the most part, while the King's speech contained many positive words, it was certainly lacking in details in terms of how its goals would be achieved. This is concerning, especially since Parliament has not sat since Christmas and will not sit again until the fall.

Nevertheless, there was one brief reference in the throne speech about making Canada “the world's leading energy superpower”. Given such a passing reference, I do not think the current government fully appreciates just how important the natural resource sector is to our future prosperity, especially for Saskatchewan. In any given year, between 10% and 15% of the provincial government's budget comes from natural resource royalties. That means that 10% to 15% of the budget of every hospital, school and provincial social service comes from getting Saskatchewan resources to market, and 10% to 15% of the salary of every doctor, nurse, teacher and social worker depends on the natural resource sector. However, if we cannot get Saskatchewan resources to market, if we cannot get oil, gas, potash and uranium to their customers, then it becomes that much more difficult to build hospitals and schools, and to hire more nurses and teachers. As a result, government services and quality of life deteriorate.

This raises an obvious question: What is the best way for a landlocked province like Saskatchewan to get its resources to markets, both in Canada and around the world? For oil and gas, the obvious answer is pipelines. We need to get pipelines built in order for the quality of life of Canadians to improve, so it is certainly concerning that the throne speech contained so little about developing our natural resource sector.

There was the mention of creating a new major federal project office, which one would hope would approve and speed up pipeline projects. Unfortunately, in his first question period on Wednesday, the Prime Minister refused to answer whether new pipelines would be approved. He left it to his Minister of Energy and Natural Resources to clarify: “we will support new pipelines if there is consensus in Canada for them.” The Prime Minister cannot even come to a consensus within his own cabinet about getting pipelines built, so how is he going to come to a consensus all across the country? I would suggest that as long as the former minister of the environment, the orange jumpsuit-wearing, CN Tower-climbing member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie, is still sitting around the cabinet table, new pipeline projects will never see the light of day in this country.

During the election campaign, when I was doing door-to-door canvassing in Regina—Wascana, just about every day someone on the doorstep shared with me a story about long waiting lists to see a medical specialist, long nights in a hospital waiting room just to see a doctor, overcrowded classrooms, and overworked and underpaid nurses and teachers. These are the direct results of a provincial budget stretched too thin, because for the past 10 years, the Liberal government has refused to let us build pipelines in this country.

However, the benefits of the resource sector to the Saskatchewan economy are not limited to provincial government coffers. Let us not forget about the actual workers who work in the mines and on the oil rigs. There used to be plenty of jobs in this sector so that people could earn a decent living and raise a family. Unfortunately, the resource sector in southern Saskatchewan has shed thousands of jobs over the last 10 years because of the policies of the Liberal government to keep resources in the ground.

Let us not forget one of Regina's largest employers, Evraz North America, which makes pipelines. The members of United Steelworkers 5890, the union that represents Evraz employees, used to have stable, predictable employment as long as pipelines were being built and as long as there were new pipeline projects on the horizon. However, they too have suffered from hundreds of layoffs because of the Liberal government's opposition to pipelines. Many other people in Regina directly benefit from the development of the natural resource sector, including the numerous oil and gas service companies and, of course, the workers at Regina's co-op refinery.

In order to get more pipelines built, the Liberals must repeal Bill C-69, the “no more pipelines” law. This law, which was passed by the Liberals in 2019, has made it impossible for the private sector to build pipelines in this country. Once Bill C-69 is finally repealed and we can once again build pipelines across Canadian soil, the next step is to ship Canadian oil and gas across the ocean to other countries. This means the Liberals must also repeal Bill C-48, the west coast oil tanker ban. Take, for example, the northern gateway pipeline project. This pipeline, which was applied for and approved under the previous Conservative government, would have piped Canadian oil and gas to the coast of northern B.C. and then on to customers in Asia. Unfortunately, this pipeline project was stopped dead in its tracks when the Liberals announced that they would not allow oil tankers to transport the oil from the end of the pipeline to customers in Asia and around the world.

The Liberal government can no longer overlook the contributions that our natural resource sector can make to international trade and to international peace and security. Our allies should not be buying oil and gas from dictators in Russia or the Middle East. They should be buying from Canada. This is exactly what has been asked of Canada by the Japanese Prime Minister, the German Chancellor, the Greek Prime Minister and many other countries as well.

The House is scheduled to rise for the summer break on June 20. That means that, due to the Liberals' decision to prorogue Parliament and then call an early election, when the House returns in the fall, we will have sat for only 20 days since Christmas. Twenty days is apparently not enough time for the Liberals to table a budget, so I am not going to get my hopes up too high that they will enact legislation to repeal Bill C-69 and Bill C-48, or to fix the many other problems they have created over the last 10 years. If the Liberals do want to work together and steal even more Conservative ideas, especially ones related to pipelines and the natural resource sector, we are happy to co-operate.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

It being 2:30 p.m., the House stands adjourned until Monday at 11 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 2:30 p.m.)