Charlie Angus

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I was surprised my hon. colleague mentioned the investment tax credits. We know that Biden used them in his first year and they created hundreds of thousands of jobs. There were billions of dollars of investment. There is a complete clean-energy revolution taking place in California, Texas and across the United States, yet the investment tax credits that were promised two years ago by the Liberal government are nowhere to be seen.

Europe is taking off, and others in the G7 are taking off, yet the government is still talking about investment tax credits when they are nowhere to be seen. The government literally moved mountains to get $34 billion into the hands of Suncor and Imperial for the TMX pipeline, yet clean-energy tax credits are still nowhere to be seen. Why have the Liberals failed on this simple task?

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I just want to follow up because I felt a little intimidated when he pointed at me and said that I was missing in action when I am here. However, the Leader of the Opposition is nowhere to be seen. The member should be pointing at his leader, but I guess—

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the question today is really a confidence vote on whether the Leader of the Opposition should be trusted. I would like to ask my hon. colleague a question about values, Quebec values and Canadian values. How does she feel about one of her colleagues using taxpayer money to bring a legislator to Canada to testify, a legislator who called for the death penalty for gay people in Uganda? The member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan was supporting a legislator who believed in the death penalty for gay people. How does she feel about having those values in her caucus?

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that that my hon. colleague the leader of the Green Party is going to miss me. I know the people who are going to miss me the most are the Conservatives, because they are not used to anyone telling the truth. In their caucus, they get fed slogans, so they appreciate someone who can actually talk about facts.

To speak facts, I would like to respond that we have, in the Conservative leader, the only leader in the history of this country who either cannot or will not get security clearance. What does it say about confidence in being a national or international leader, when he came in the middle of the night and voted against Ukraine, voted against support for the Canadian military mission to Ukraine, and stood up and voted against Ukrainian support?

We now know, according to documents that have been filed, that Erin O'Toole, whom I respected, believes he was taken down by foreign interference. Who did that benefit? It benefited the guy who is living in the 19-room mansion, Stornoway. He needs to answer that question. Why is he not here to explain his role in taking down Erin O'Toole? I ask him to stand up and stop hiding behind the desk.

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, certainly I am not here to defend the Liberal government. What I am asked today is to vote on whether or not the opposition is credible, and I would like to ask that hon. member why he and his colleagues targeted a medical doctor on the front lines of the opioid crisis who received death threats. If the member is concerned about the lack of food for children, why did he vote against funding for a national school food program? If he is worried about the mental health crisis, why did he come into the House and vote against the suicide hotline?

These are questions we need to ask, because it is about the confidence that we would have in him as a minister. He is not willing to stand up on these issues, yet he stands up and uses the homeless population and uses the opioid crisis as people are dying, and then he votes obediently to shut down all those programs and target the doctors and the nurses who are trying to keep people alive.

What person would ever have confidence if that person was a minister? My gut feeling is that he is not going to be, so we are not going to have to worry. It is all hypothetical.

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I just raised an issue that happened. That is all. We know it happened because it is on the tape. If you, Madam Speaker, are saying I cannot even mention that an event happened, that is taking it one step too far, I would humbly—

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I got a laugh out of them. They smiled and woke up because they are used to hearing these dumbed-down slogans. That is not leadership.

Why is the Leader of the Opposition, whom I have known for 20 years and I feel is fundamentally unfit for public leadership in any capacity, is so desperate to call an election now? There are a number of reasons, and I think he does not want to be questioned about them because he has incredibly thin skin.

Members will notice that to the Leader of the Opposition, it is carbon tax, carbon tax, carbon tax. Well, Ken Boessenkool, who is a long-time Conservative, said that he is not serious about the carbon tax: “I just don't see any government in any future getting rid of that”. He also said:

Look, there’s a huge gap between what Conservatives say and what Conservatives do. And I hate to admit this, but it’s true. Jason Kenney ran on “Axe The Tax” and he beefed up the industrial carbon price in Alberta. Danielle Smith ran on “Axe to Tax” and she not only beefed up the industrial carbon price in Alberta, she said she was going to go to $170 (a tonne).

When we asked the Conservative leader, who lives in the mansion at Stornoway, what his view of the industrial carbon tax was, he said that it did not exist. He does not like to be questioned. No wonder he is so mad at CTV. No wonder he is so mad at CBC. No wonder he attacks Global TV. He does not want the questions. He is trying to stay ahead, which is why he wants to force an election.

I think it is really important to point out that with the foreign interference inquiry, documents have been tabled that say Erin O'Toole believes he was taken down as leader of the Conservative Party by foreign interference. That was in the documents. We know that many in the cabal over there supported the takedown of Erin O'Toole, and the one who benefited is the man now living in Stornoway. Why is he is not willing to be in the House to answer questions about foreign interference in his caucus? Maybe that is why he is trying to force this election. These are really important questions.

Of course, I think the other reason the Leader of the Opposition is trying to force an election is to stay ahead of the extremists in his caucus. The member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands went down to Florida to vow that he would end the right of women to make choices for their bodies, while we see in the United States women dying in parking lots from bleeding to death internally because they are unable to get a proper abortion. This is what the member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands would say. We know the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan brought, on the Canadian dime, a legislator from Uganda who called for the death penalty for gay people. Let us stop and think about that. The member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan had Canadians pay to bring someone here who wanted to bring the death penalty to gay people. That is his caucus.

Therefore, when we see degrading and debased behaviour in this House, and these really ugly slurs against the Prime Minister of the country, and not one Conservative will stand up and admit they were the one who said it, it is because they hide behind their hate machine. However, we see them. We have it on tape, we see the footage and we know those who are making the hate. We know that people like the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan can only get away with it as long as the light is not shone on them, and we will continue to shine that light.

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I invite the member for Edmonton Manning to come into the House and say it. I do not read his Twitter feed. Who does? Not many do, but I know they read mine.

This shows the lack of seriousness about a horrific humanitarian disaster, the genocide happening in Gaza, with people dying, the targeting of medical doctors, the targeting of civilians and the targeting of journalists. This is something we in the House would deal with, but what we have learned from the Leader of the Opposition is that he has no interest in standing on the international stage. He ridicules the Prime Minister for staying at an expensive hotel. Well, he is the leader of a G7 country. I guess the Super 8 was booked the weekend he went to London. The Leader of the Opposition has to show a vision, but he does not have a vision; he has division.

The opposition could have brought in a motion today on the crisis we are facing in our medical system, but the Leader of the Opposition has no vision on that; he has bumper sticker slogans. His great favourite words are “radical” and “extremist”, and he is now saying that providing diabetes medication to people who need it is a radical idea. No, that is just plain human decency. That is what we should doing in Canada, but decency is not part of this leader's mantra.

What we have is a Conservative leader who has taken the fears and uncertainties of Canadians and pushed them down into dumbed-down slogans, which he has insisted that every member on his team repeat. I have been 20 years in the House and have never seen so many members reduced to caricature rhyming schemes. It is like a toxic Dr. Seuss, and the Conservatives repeat them again and again: “I don't like green eggs and ham. I don't like them, Sam-I-am. I don't like the carbon tax.” That is not leadership.

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, as always, it is a great honour to rise in this House, although I have found in my 20 years here that the House has sometimes not lived up to its standards of credibility. People expect us to come here to be their voice, a voice that brings some kind of hope and direction, and I do not see that here most days. Most days, it has become a very dumbed-down and vicious affair.

Today, the Leader of the Opposition is once again demanding an election. We have not really seen much from him, except that he wants the election right now. Yesterday, he wanted an election right then, and the House voted non-confidence in him because there is no trust in the Conservative leader. This is because we have such serious issues facing us as a nation and as a planet, and the Leader of the Opposition is not a serious leader for dealing with them.

We could be here talking this morning about the homeless crisis, which is a devastating crisis. We know that the Liberals have failed multiple times on their housing plans, but what is the plan of the Leader of the Opposition, who lives very well in a 19-room mansion at Stornoway with his own private chef? He attacks municipalities. He ridicules our mayors. When he comes to northern Ontario, he does not bother to meet with any of the frontline people who are trying to solve the housing crisis. He says he is going to go after them and calls them gatekeepers. That is not a plan; that is a slogan.

We talk about the rising use of food banks. The Conservatives wipe crocodile tears every time they talk about hungry children, yet they voted against a national nutrition plan for schools. The New Democrats pushed the government to address and fill the gaps, but the Leader of the Opposition, who has his own private chef, seems to be out of touch with that.

A huge opioid crisis is devastating our communities. What did the Conservative leader and his MPs do? They viciously attacked medical doctors and frontline nurses, to the point that doctors trying to keep people alive have faced death threats. That is not acceptable. It is not acceptable that MPs face death threats from the mob, whom I see Conservatives patting on the back every day. There are people threatening and attacking indigenous MPs, attacking women MPs and attacking racialized MPs, but to attack and threaten medical doctors is not what a leader does. Those are the tactics of the Leader of the Opposition, and he wonders why we do not have confidence in him running our country.

We have a number of huge international crises. With the situation in Lebanon and Gaza, a humanitarian disaster is unfolding, yet the member for Edmonton Manning had nothing to say about the threats facing Lebanese Canadians and the Lebanese people. He had nothing to say about it because if those in the Conservative caucus do not repeat talking points, they do not get a gold star and they sit on the backbench. That is not leadership. We are all brought here to represent our communities. In Edmonton Manning, the Lebanese community is living in terror from the Israeli air assaults, and the member says nothing because he wants to get the gold star from his leader, who lives in the big mansion in Stornoway, by repeating and repeating the same dumbed-down slogans. People's lives are at risk. We are watching—

[Business of Supply, September 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I just want to clarify something. You said that the word can be used, but if it gets a reaction, then it is unacceptable. Does the Speaker say it is unacceptable every time the Conservatives shout us down? If that is the case, then we will have to use the same tactics for the language that they throw around against our leader and the Prime Minister.

Madam Speaker, you need to be very clear. If we have to withdraw because Conservatives get upset, then that needs to be clear; we will understand that this is the way the House operates, and we will operate accordingly.