Justin Trudeau

[Health, January 31st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague says, the choice to seek medical assistance in dying is an extremely difficult and personal one. As a society, as a Parliament, we have a responsibility to strike a sometimes difficult balance between respecting the rights, choices and freedoms of an individual and protecting the most vulnerable.

That is why, for years, we have been conducting studies and evaluations, putting measures in place, proposing debates and listening to experts. We will continue to be open to all suggestions as we work responsibly.

[Public Safety, January 31st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has trouble believing that we would actually include real facts in our press release, something he and the former Harper government never did, for years. Yes, there is a real challenge with auto theft in this country, and our solution is to roll up our sleeves, pull together partners from across the country and get to solving it. His solution is to throw his hands in the air and blame a raft of political attacks on us. We continue to see that he is not putting forward any real solutions.

[Public Safety, January 31st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Stephen Harper presented a budget that had slashed funds for policing, slashed funds for CBSA officers and slashed funding for Veterans Affairs services, and we were there to clean up the mess, to cut taxes for the wealthiest 1% and to lower them for the middle class, to support families and to start moving forward on gun control in real ways.

While the Conservatives cozy up to the American gun lobbyists, we have continued to step up in keeping Canadians safe. Let him bring assault weapons back to our streets; we will keep Canadians safe.

[Public Safety, January 31st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this is a serious situation. Canadians are concerned about this, and the Conservative leader just chooses to whip out his empty slogans and continue to blame everyone while we are getting to work.

We are pulling together stakeholders and leaders from across governments to look at what more we can do. We have seen successes. CBSA agents intercepted over 1,600 stolen cars last year, in 2023, but there is more to do. We are going to continue to do the steady work and to make investments necessary to keep Canadians safe and to keep crime down.

[Public Safety, January 31st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of getting everyone on board in combatting auto theft. The ministers have just announced a national summit on auto theft that will bring together leaders from several different jurisdictions and sectors to tackle this issue head-on.

We are already getting results. In 2023, our border officers intercepted more than 1,600 stolen vehicles. We continue to work hard, while the Conservatives prefer to engage in political attacks.

[Public Safety, January 31st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the former Conservative government made cuts to programs to protect civilians and prevent auto theft by cutting funding for police and ports.

We were there to invest, to do more to keep Canadians safe and to protect them from becoming victims of crime. We will continue our work and our investments. We will work with partners and take action.

The Conservative leader is presenting slogans and easy solutions that do not really solve anything. We will do the necessary work.

[Housing, January 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we are taking action on several fronts. We are promoting apartment and co-op construction by eliminating the GST on construction. We are removing barriers in order to get more homes built faster by working directly with municipalities, and we are helping Canadians save for a home with the first home savings account. We know there is still work to be done.

I invite all governments across the country to take bold steps alongside us to improve the cost of housing and speed up the construction of affordable housing.

[Housing, January 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, when we said we would use every tool at our disposal to address housing affordability, we meant it. The Minister of Housing recently announced that post-secondary institutions can now access the apartment construction loan program for low-interest financing to build student housing. This builds on our work to find innovative and bold ideas to accelerate construction, including unlocking over 500,000 new homes through the housing accelerator agreement. These are more examples of the federal government in action.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, January 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we know that Quebec has always been extremely generous to asylum seekers. We saw it at Roxham Road and we are seeing it in the current situation.

The reality is that we will continue to be there to support Quebec's system and the communities that are so generous in welcoming people, while ensuring that everyone contributes.

Yes, we are working with Quebec and other provinces to ensure better distribution, as well as to address the challenges resulting from the increased number of temporary residents and asylum seekers.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, January 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, immigration is essential for Quebec and for Canada. Immigrants contribute to building new housing, they work in our health care system, they participate in growing economies and local businesses and much more.

We are meeting our economic needs, we are remaining true to our humanitarian commitments and we are developing a stabilized approach to immigration.

Our immigration levels are based on our capacity to welcome and integrate newcomers. We will continue to work in close collaboration with the provinces and territories, especially Quebec, to ensure that everyone has the—