House of Commons Hansard #80 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was consultations.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Preventing Coercion of Persons Not Seeking Medical Assistance in Dying Act First reading of Bill C-260. The bill aims to prevent government bureaucrats from coercing individuals not seeking medical assistance in dying into medically facilitated deaths, particularly when accessing unrelated government services. 200 words.
Opposition Motion—Apology to Those Whose Land Was Expropriated in Mirabel Members debate a motion to apologize to those whose land was expropriated in Mirabel for airport construction in 1969, acknowledge the collective trauma caused, and commit to avoiding future expropriations without public consultation, social license, and appropriate compensation. The Bloc Québécois emphasizes the historical injustice and lack of apology, while Liberals acknowledge past mistakes but focus on the high-speed rail project and current robust expropriation laws. 48800 words, 6 hours in 2 segments: 1 2.
National Strategy on Housing for Young Canadians Act Second reading of Bill C-227. The bill proposes to establish a national strategy on housing for young Canadians aged 17 to 34. Liberals support it, citing the need for a coordinated national strategy to address the youth housing crisis and enhance existing initiatives like Build Canada Homes. The Bloc Québécois opposes the bill, calling it a "useless empty shell" and advocating for unconditional housing funding transfers to provinces. Conservatives are skeptical, arguing it's "another framework" that won't fix the crisis caused by federal "red tape." 8400 words, 1 hour.
Bill C-227 National Strategy on Housing for Young Canadians ActPrivate Members' Business
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
The question is on the motion.
If a member participating in person wishes that the motion be carried or carried on division, or if a member of a recognized party participating in person wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.
Bill C-227 National Strategy on Housing for Young Canadians ActPrivate Members' Business
Liberal
Braedon Clark Liberal Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS
Madam Speaker, I would request a recorded vote on this matter.
Bill C-227 National Strategy on Housing for Young Canadians ActPrivate Members' Business
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
Pursuant to Standing Order 93, the division stands deferred until Wednesday, February 11, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.
A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Madam Speaker, over the last few months, I have been visiting university campuses and talking to young people across this country. I was at Carleton earlier this week. I spent some time there talking to students and debating against the member for Winnipeg North. We had a great time. I certainly did, anyway.
The question I have been asking students is whether they are better or worse off than their parents' generation. I have had lots of great conversations with young people about how they perceive their present reality, present challenges and the opportunities they are going to face in the future. Overwhelmingly, young people tell me that they feel they are worse off than their parents' generation. When we talk about why, the areas that they focus on are job opportunities and the inaccessibility of home ownership, as well as the price of rent. This week at Carleton as well, I heard a bit about food prices as a contributing factor to the challenges they are facing: the cost of food, the cost of homes and how difficult it is to find a job.
In this context, combined with the anecdotal evidence I am hearing from students, we see in the job numbers how youth unemployment continues to be very high. It continues to be at recession levels. In the fall, the youth employment rate dropped to its lowest level in over 25 years, and the reasons for this are clear. This issue has been studied at the human resources committee. Various experts have identified the government's failure to support economic growth and economic development, its failure to effectively manage an immigration system in line with Canada's economic interests and its failure to support good training policies, as well as challenges in terms of geography and regions where there is lower versus higher unemployment. Because of this, we have seen high youth unemployment.
Conservatives have been constructive on this. We have put forward the Conservative youth jobs plan. We put this forward in the fall as well, and the Liberals have yet to act on it. Our plan proposes specific initiatives to unleash the economy, to fix immigration, to fix training and to build homes where the jobs are. It is interesting that they have not implemented any of these constructive ideas we have put forward. It is also interesting that in the context of training, Liberals are moving in the wrong direction.
In fact, they announced in the budget that it is their intention to no longer fund student grants for students who are going to private institutions. This means that those who go to a private career college will no longer be eligible for these student grants, but if they take any program at any university, they will be. That is unfair. Penalizing career colleges that are providing practical vocational skills at a time when we have serious skills mismatches in our economy is clearly a big mistake.
Today, the Minister of Jobs and Families was before the human resources committee. I asked her if this was still the government's policy, if it still intended to defund students who were trying to get an education at a career college, and she could not answer. She spent about three minutes refusing to answer the question. I had to go to the deputy minister, who confirmed that it is, in fact, still the government's policy, sadly, even though it is not in the budget implementation act.
Why is the government attacking youth who want to study these vocational programs and why does it not fix the problem?
Corey Hogan LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Madam Speaker, I am glad my colleague has been visiting university campuses. Members of the House may not know I was vice-president at the University of Calgary before being elected. Youth employment and youth education are issues near and dear to my heart, and I am very happy to have the privilege of answering the member's question.
Students certainly face challenges they did not face in years past. One we hear about a lot on university campuses, of course, concerns the very challenging and tumultuous world we are in: climate change beset by anxieties that students did not have to deal with in previous generations. Of course unemployment is one of those challenges as well. Creating youth opportunities is one of the things the current government and any government should be very fixated on.
As the member said, though, a lot of that is anecdotes, and I captured my share of anecdotes over the years as I was doing my job for the University of Calgary, but I do want to talk a bit about job numbers. In April 2025, when the government was elected, youth unemployment was 14.2%, which we can all agree is too high, with 63% participation. The most recent job numbers from December 2025 show unemployment had reduced to 13.3%, with 63.2% participation: lower unemployment and marginally more participation. It is good progress, but there is still work to be done.
Those numbers are comparing us against ourselves and seeing some progress within the government's mandate, but let us also talk about the United States. In the U.S., youth unemployment was 10.4% in December. That sounds a lot better. I do want to caution though about comparing apples to oranges. Canada and the U.S. measure youth unemployment differently, because Canada includes 15-year-olds, and Canada also has a higher student participation rate.
What I want to point out is that in April 2025, the U.S. youth unemployment rate was 9.6%. The United States is actually going the wrong way, while Canada is going the right way. I think that speaks to the steps the government has taken.
If we want to do more, there is a simple solution. It is called the budget implementation act, which includes a number of supports for youth: $1.5 billion over three years. It has supports for 20,000 youth; student work placements, 55,000 opportunities; and the youth climate corps. That is to say nothing of the general priorities that will create jobs, provide housing and mental health benefits.
While I appreciate the concern, I think the figures tell a bit of a different story. This is work we are going to continue to push on. I am happy to say we will be building on progress we are already seeing.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is completely wrong about the figures. He says that the youth unemployment rate is moving in a good direction, but actually in the previous month it was 12.8%. In the latest numbers we have up until today, it was 13.3%. There is an increase in the youth unemployment rate, which we have seen in the month-over-month numbers, and it is quite a significant increase.
There are also the absolute levels. Overall, these are recession levels of youth unemployment. Young people are experiencing unemployment in larger numbers than we have generally seen in the past. Under the Prime Minister, we hit the worst youth employment rate in over 25 years.
Fundamentally, all the parliamentary secretary has to offer are inaccurate talking points, and he did not really answer the question I asked, which was why there were cuts for students attending career colleges. Why is he attacking students attending career colleges?
Corey Hogan Liberal Calgary Confederation, AB
Madam Speaker, I would invite members and anybody watching to look at the statistics themselves. Of course, someone can pick month-over-month numbers, but if we look at the trend line, we see that it is very clear: Progress is being made, and that progress is absolutely contrary to what the United States is seeing, where the trend is going in the other direction. I think that speaks very well for us here.
In terms of the private colleges question, that is of course very complicated. It brings into it the market prices and the market forces that private colleges have, the incentives and their ability to charge whatever tuition they wish. Of course, there are challenges when we start using public dollars in that way.
Canada has a number of great public institutions, from SAIT in my own riding, which is one of the largest polytechnics in the country, to Seneca in Ontario, as well as many other options that people can continue to make use of government benefits to be able to attend.
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to speak on the importance of Canada's bountiful natural resources, specifically the industries vital to my home province of British Columbia.
Our forestry industry gainfully employs many men and women across my riding. It has put food on the table and a roof over the heads of Canadians for decades and has the potential to do so for decades more, but Canada's lack of a softwood lumber agreement like we had under the Harper government has left our industry at the mercy of tariffs across four presidential administrations now, all under the Liberal government's watch.
The most recent lumber tariffs have caused deep concern in my riding, especially in Grand Forks, where the Interfor mill is now operating at reduced capacity, and that is more than some other mill communities in western Canada can say. Thousands of jobs have been lost just recently. Just last month, we saw the permanent closure of mills in Crofton and 100 Mile House, B.C. Similarly, mills in northern Alberta and northern Ontario have recently closed as well. These are not just jobs but entire communities being lost.
The Liberal government lacks the clear vision and real, immediate focus on where Canada's lumber market needs to be, which is restoring access to the U.S. market. Promises of loans, domestic building and memorandums of understanding in Asian markets are all welcome, but they will not help if our sawmills shut before these opportunities turn real.
The U.S. represents well over half the market for Canada. Restoring access there needs to be a priority. It should have been a priority for the Liberals when our last deal expired a decade ago. European lumber suppliers operating at lower tariff rates are already trying to seal the supply chain, which for decades has been the lifeblood of lumber communities across Canada and British Columbia.
I also wish to discuss the importance of mining in my riding. Copper Mountain in the Similkameen valley is a vital operation for the region, producing the copper, gold and silver required to build the self-reliant and greener Canada we need. Without these precious metals, electronics and sustainable technologies simply could not function. It is clear that for us to have a prosperous and richer Canada, our critical minerals are essential, but for them to be used they must reach the market.
The Similkameen, however, has seen the basic infrastructure that Copper Mountain relies on, the roads and bridges, damaged and closed because of greater risks of flooding. The Liberal government promised it would help our region build back after the damaging floods in 2021, but instead of working with the region, it refused. It refused the community's mitigation plan and provided nothing in return. We have gone years without proper mitigation infrastructure being installed. If left undone, this will challenge our ability to mine our critical minerals.
Last month, I wrote to the Prime Minister and several of his ministers about this, calling for him to approve the plan presented by the town of Princeton. I have still received no reply. The government says it wants to be a government of action and not words, yet too often, words on paper are its approach to our natural resources.
When will the government show—
Natural ResourcesAdjournment Proceedings
Corey Hogan LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Madam Speaker, I completely agree that the forestry sector is a vitally important sector for Canada. It is part of our Canadian identity. It is, of course, part of our Canadian economy, and the tariffs and duties that are being levelled on us are completely unjustified.
It is true that we are seeing mill closures. We are seeing strain across the entire system, whether that be in primary saw milling or in pulp industries and associated industries, and we do need to resolve this with the United States. Everybody appreciates that. The United States is 85% of our export market for softwood lumber, for example. That is not going to be replaced, at least in any kind of short term, by any of these other opportunities, so we need to make sure that we are working to get a deal.
In the meantime, there are two other streams of activity that we need to do. First, we need to support the companies, workers and communities that are going through these challenges. The government has given $2.5 billion to that effect. We also have a task force that is looking at other supports and other ways we can get through this moment. Second, we need to be thinking about how we make sure we are not in a situation like this going forward. That is where we start talking about a clear vision for a future forestry sector, and I believe we have one.
A forestry sector requires four components. It requires access to capital. The federal government can help with that. We can help make markets. It requires infrastructure. That is certainly something that allows us to get to markets and, in general, produce products. It also requires the skills and the talent, and it requires access to timber. The last of those, of course, is a provincial jurisdiction, but it is something we can work with people on.
We have the wood. We have high-quality timber, and we know that the Americans need the wood. Timber prices are currently low in the United States, which is why the higher costs that come from Europe have been competitive, but that will not always be the case. They need us as much as we need them down south, and we will get a deal. However, in the meantime, we need to work toward supporting our industry.
On mining, I will look into the mitigation plan that the member discussed. I am not familiar with it myself. I am not familiar with the deficiencies or the concerns, but I will certainly look into that. I appreciate the member's advocacy on behalf of her constituency. These are vital sectors that the government needs to support.
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the concern. I wonder why it has taken over 10 years. We still do not have an agreement with the United States, through many presidents, so we cannot blame everything on President Trump.
Energy workers want to see a pipeline. Forestry workers want to see some kind of deal with the Americans. My particular riding crawls along the United States, so it is important that we keep those. We actually have six border crossings, and that is one of the reasons we need to make the deal with the United States.
However, I do want to say I will send the member the letter that I sent to the Prime Minister in the last couple of weeks. These mitigation plans for Princeton were promised since—
Natural ResourcesAdjournment Proceedings
Corey Hogan Liberal Calgary Confederation, AB
Madam Speaker, I will action those when I receive them. I appreciate the member's advocacy.
I want to cap this all by saying we want to grow. We want to build. We want to have the strongest economy in the G7, but some of that requires the plans we have put into motion actually being allowed to be put into motion. That includes passing the budget implementation act.
It is vitally important for this country that we are able to proceed on those economic initiatives that would strengthen our economy, build jobs and provide supports to Canadians.
Natural ResourcesAdjournment Proceedings
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 6:32 p.m.)