Debates of Sept. 15th, 2025

The Economy

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

Mr. Speaker, when his cabinet was sworn in, the Prime Minister said that Canadians could judge his performance by the cost of groceries.

All summer, the people of Montmorency—Charlevoix talked to me about their interests and concerns, and the cost of groceries was at the top of the list. The federal government promised lower prices, but, once again, it is not keeping its promises. One thing is clear: Since the Liberals came to power, the cost of groceries has risen by 40%.

When the Prime Minister promised food at a fair price, was that another broken promise?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Finance and National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, what young Canadians in general want is to be able to live affordably in Canada, be able to buy a home, have affordable housing and build a resilient economy for the future. On this side of the House, we have always understood that the best thing we can do is build a strong economy for all Canadians.

On this side of the House, I can say that the Liberals will work together to build the strongest economy, make life affordable for Canadians, build more homes and make Canada the best economy in the G7.

The Environment

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in just one summer, 10 years of progress on the environment has been wiped out.

The Prime Minister adopted Bill C‑5 to approve projects that disregard legislation and social acceptability. He says he is open to pipelines circumventing environmental assessments. He has not renewed the incentives for purchasing zero-emission vehicles. He even backtracked on the mandatory sales targets for those vehicles. Last week, he went even further, refusing to commit to meeting his greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Will the government meet its own reduction targets for 2030 in the middle of a climate crisis?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, we are continuing to fight climate change. We know that it is important. It is important for future generations and it is important for our economy. We see that every economy in the world is looking for low-emission products.

That is exactly what we are going to do. We are going to build a strong country, a strong Canada that will be good for future generations.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the major government projects that Bill C‑5 covers. Bill C‑5 takes an inappropriately top-down approach that sullies projects, even good ones.

Good projects do not need to bypass environmental assessments. They do not need to be able to break 12 federal laws. They do not need to spurn social acceptability. If they really need to do all those things, they are not actually good projects.

Will the government promise that all these major projects will abide by environmental assessments, laws and the will of Quebeckers?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I always find it interesting when the Bloc Québécois talks about important projects, given that the Bloc Québécois leader himself authorized drilling and fracking on Anticosti Island when he was Quebec's environment minister.

We are going to build an economy that is strong and clean for our future generations. That is what we are doing. We are going to build Canada for future generations.

Housing

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to double homebuilding to 500,000 homes per year, but today, housing starts are down 13%. It is another broken Liberal promise. Yesterday, the Prime Minister introduced a fourth $13-billion housing bureaucracy to build, wait for it, 4,000 homes.

What blocks homebuilding is government bureaucracy, red tape and taxes. Why does the Prime Minister believe that adding $13 billion in more bureaucracy is now suddenly going to solve the housing crisis?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to share that a significant commitment of $13 billion will be invested in housing and will leverage private investment as well. We are working with private capital, builders, and communities across Canada to make sure we are building the affordable housing that Canadians need, particularly young Canadians who cannot afford to get into the market.

Those 4,000 units are the first start by the Canada Lands Company, and the very beginning of the most comprehensive investment in Canadian affordable housing.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, $13 billion for a fourth federal Ottawa housing bureaucracy to build 4,000 homes is not a solution. It is yet another Liberal boondoggle that will cost Canadians a fortune and will solve nothing.

The Prime Minister said, “The core challenge present in the housing market is it’s just too hard to build.” It is hard to build because of government taxes and red tape. In Toronto and Vancouver, the cost of government on a new home is over 25%. Housing starts there have stopped.

Why does the Prime Minister not understand that if we are going to get homes built, we have to cut the bureaucracy, not add $13 billion more?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite and the Conservatives may not believe in investing in affordable housing, but this government does. This government is making an unprecedented investment in building affordable housing, in partnership with the private sector and in partnership with cities, provinces, territories and indigenous nations. We are going to deliver with our partners like never before.

Public Safety

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Mr. Speaker, under the Liberal government, lawlessness has become the norm in Canada. In many cities, children cannot play safely in parks, families cannot walk down sidewalks, businesses are suffering and residents are living in fear. Tent encampments and lawlessness are taking over public spaces.

This summer, Barrie mayor Alex Nuttall was forced to take the extraordinary step of declaring a state of emergency to try to restore order back to Barrie. Canada was not like this 10 years ago.

When will the Prime Minister stop this reckless Liberal agenda and bring order back to our communities?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, our plan to keep communities safe will keep drugs, guns and criminals off our streets. We are partnering with police services across the country to fight organized crime. We will make it tougher for violent criminals to get bail and will impose stricter sentences on repeat violent offenders. We are hiring 1,000 CBSA and RCMP officers to add to the 10,000 frontline personnel who are already keeping our borders safe. This work will be bolstered by investing in community safety initiatives to stop crime before it starts. We will always be there to keep Canadian communities safe.

Housing

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister swaggered in promising a massive surge in homebuilding, with half a million new homes a year. After all that hype, Vancouver families are still staring at million-dollar price tags. That surge has not even made a ripple. Projects are stalled and permits crawl through red tape, and the only thing going up faster than prices is the bureaucracy he is building. Now that big pledge has shrunk to just 4,000 homes at a cost of $4 billion in yet another Liberal broken promise.

When will the Liberals stop building bureaucracy that makes homes more expensive for Canadians?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government focuses on building affordable housing with our partners. This is an unprecedented investment, alongside a cut to the GST for first-time homebuyers, which we are rolling out.

We are focused on delivering solutions and on delivering housing in the communities that need it the most. That investment was never seen from Conservative governments, certainly not in the history that I am familiar with. We saw housing not being a priority for the members opposite. We are focused on delivering.

[Jason Groleau, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are back again with a new housing bureaucracy that basically causes inflation and solves absolutely nothing. The Prime Minister promised Canadians that he would double housing construction and committed to building 500,000 homes a year. What is he actually doing? He is proposing a new bureaucratic machine that, in reality, will only provide for the construction of 4,000 new homes.

Why is this government coming back to us once again with more bureaucracy instead of focusing on building more housing?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, to build more housing, we need to work together. We need to work with municipalities. We need to work with stakeholders on the ground. We need to work with the provinces. Unlike the Conservatives, who think we need to insult people, we believe we should work together.

That is what we did this morning, when the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and I made a historic announcement to build 20,000 homes. That is 20,000 homes in a single announcement, and that is just the beginning. We are going to do this across the country. From coast to coast to coast, we are going to build more homes with our partners.

[Bruce Fanjoy, Liberal, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians made it clear in the last campaign that they expect us to deliver real housing solutions to get more homes built faster and to bring down the cost of housing so that young people, families, the most vulnerable and those along the housing continuum can access housing that meets their needs.

Can the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure please tell this House about the government's recently announced plan to deliver affordable housing to Canadians?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Carleton for the focus today on affordable housing.

I know the member for Carleton is very concerned about making sure it is green and sustainable housing, and we will certainly focus on ensuring that energy costs are low and that there are resilient homes that get us through the challenges ahead with climate change. We will make sure they are affordable, first and foremost, and build a new Canadian industry manufacturing the best homes in the world.

Public Safety

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said he would make streets safer on behalf of the Liberals. He promised to fix the broken Liberal justice system, yet an eight-year-old was killed while sleeping in the place he should have been safest.

The justice minister said this is not the Wild West, and he is right. Eight-year-old children sleeping in their homes and getting killed did not happen in the Wild West. The Liberals say they are tough on crime, but they will not repeal Bill C-5 and Bill C-75. It is another bait and switch from another Liberal prime minister.

When will the same old Liberals get tough on crime and fix the system they broke?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, obviously these circumstances my hon. colleague raises constitute an entire tragedy that should shock the conscience of every Canadian. However, when the hon. member poses a question about repealing Bill C-75, I would suggest it is a good idea to read it first. He does not seem to understand that that bill actually makes it harder for people who are charged with intimate partner violence to receive bail.

I am willing to work in good faith with members of any party to help strengthen the bail system, have harsher penalties for serious crimes and, most importantly, keep Canada safe. The only question remains whether the Conservatives will join us in that effort.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have been waiting for 10 years to help the Liberals create safe streets and the Liberals have brought forward next to nothing. I spent some time with Vancouver police officers this summer. What did we see in Vancouver? Guns, lawlessness and drug overdoses. I saw first-hand the 152% increase in overdoses. The Liberals promised safer streets and fewer overdoses, which was another bait and switch to go with their broken promises. When will the Liberals fix the justice system they broke?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I too had the opportunity to be with the Vancouver police officers and see first-hand the challenges they are facing. I was there with our fentanyl czar, Kevin Brosseau. We saw the incredible work of the Vancouver police officers in ensuring their communities are safer. In fact, just two days ago, the Mayor of Vancouver indicated that the program they put in place is working. Together with the work that we are going to be doing on bail reform and ensuring that repeat violent criminal offenders are put away, we will make our communities safer.

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, violent crime is up over 55% and more than half of Canadians do not feel safe in their own neighbourhoods. The Prime Minister promised to crack down on crime, yet repeat offenders keep getting out on bail. That is another broken promise and Canadians are paying the price. Families are shattered. Lives have been lost. That is why my jail-not-bail act will put these criminals behind bars.

The question is simple: Will the Prime Minister support our bill and restore safe streets or was that another broken Liberal promise?

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)]

Mr. Speaker, it was in our platform. We have a mandate. We promised Canadians that we were going to keep our communities safe. This fall, we are tabling legislation to make bail tougher and have harder and stiffer sentencing for repeat violent criminals. We are going to make sure these types of criminals stay behind bars and that everyone feels safe in their homes and on their streets.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to fix the Liberals' broken bail system, but has not delivered. It is another broken Liberal promise and another Liberal bait and switch because the Prime Minister is just another Liberal.

Chief McBride, Saskatoon's top cop, says that it is a struggle every day with repeat offenders. The Prime Minister said he would get tough on crime, but since the Liberals took power, repeat offenders have fuelled a crime wave in Canada with violent crimes up 55%.

When will the Prime Minister stop breaking promises and put repeat violent offenders behind bars?