Justin Trudeau

[Intergovernmental Affairs, October 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois's attempts to reignite a debate on federal-provincial bickering continue to boggle my mind. The reality is that, of course, Quebeckers are a proud people from a proud nation ready to build a better future, but they know very well that their brightest future is within Canada.

That is why, as the Canadian government, we are here to invest in things like the Réseau express métropolitain de Montréal, Northvolt, Davie and the lithium mines, all hand in hand with the Quebec government to build a better future for all Quebeckers and all Canadians.

[Housing, October 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, as the Leader of the Opposition has put forward no plan for housing, he lacks credibility on this issue. We are taking bold action to get more affordable homes built. Indeed, just today, the Minister of Housing is in British Columbia, in Kelowna, for our most recent housing accelerator announcement. This will streamline building permits and allow for high-density housing near public transit, spurring the construction of up to 20,000 new housing units over the next decade in Kelowna. We are also working with Kelowna to make city-owned lands available for housing, in partnership with non-profits, and we look forward to signing more agreements right across the country, delivering for Canadians on housing.

[Carbon Pricing, October 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member actually cared about seniors, he would not have been part of the government that raised the retirement age, driving seniors further into poverty. We brought it back to 65. We continued to step up with supports for seniors, and we are going to continue to stand to defend their pensions as well. While his Conservative colleagues are attacking the CPP, he has finally realized that perhaps the CPP is a good thing and has come out in defence of it. This is after a decade of attacking seniors and their pensions, of attacking the CPP. We are going to continue unequivocally to stand to support seniors right across the country, unlike the Leader of the Opposition.

[Carbon Pricing, October 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadians are struggling with the costs of food and groceries and housing. That is why we continue to step up to support them with measures like $10-a-day child care, dental care for children and child benefit cheques, all measures that the Conservative Party has stood against.

We will continue to help Canadians. We will continue our work to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty and to lift over a million Canadians out of poverty. However, there is much more to do, and we will keep doing it instead of giving in to the Conservatives' demands for more cuts, cuts to services for Canadians and cuts to supports that people rely on.

[Carbon Pricing, October 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, over the years, we have helped lift 500,000 children out of poverty with the Canada child benefit, a measure that the Conservatives campaigned against. We have helped people create economic opportunities.

We know that people are struggling right now. That is why we are stepping up to help them with measures like $10-a-day child care, dental care for children and even more family allowance cheques. The Conservative Party opposed all of those measures.

We will continue to be there to help families in these difficult times. We will continue to invest in them and help them rather than making cuts like the Conservative Party is proposing.

[Carbon Pricing, October 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I will answer that question in a moment.

I want to begin by sharing a few thoughts about Senator Shugart.

It is with incredible sadness that I rise in this place to mourn the loss of our friend and fellow parliamentarian, Senator Ian Shugart.

Senator Shugart spent his entire career in the service of others and his contributions have been invaluable.

He was an incredible clerk to the current government, and I know he was also a valuable deputy minister to the Leader of the Opposition when he was in government.

I offer my deepest condolences to his family, his friends, his Senate colleagues and his former public service colleagues.

[Housing, October 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we are very pleased to have been able to sign a new housing agreement with the Province of Quebec. The Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities will have more to say about that unprecedented agreement. We will continue to work in collaboration with the Quebec government to put forward a plan that works for Quebeckers and that will enable the construction of more housing, more quickly.

That remains our priority. That is why we are working not just in Quebec, but across the country with the housing accelerator. We are delivering for Canadians, and we are going to continue to do so by working together, not by bickering as others would have us do.

[Housing, October 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to be in the member opposite's hometown of Brampton just the other day to deliver great news for Bramptonians, in line with the great news we have been announcing across the country: 24,000 homes over the coming years in Brampton because of the housing accelerator fund that we put on the table. That is $4 billion that councils across the country are talking about and passing motions and debating on because of the federal initiative that is putting more homes on lots and creating construction opportunities across the country. We look forward to continuing to step up with municipal partners right across the country.

[Foreign Affairs, October 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we are extremely busy with all the work that people expect us to do. Yes, we will create a time so that we can sit down with party leaders to talk about this extremely difficult situation and how we can bring Canadians together. I understand that a lot of people are grieving, a lot of people are angry and a lot of people have very legitimate and understandable emotions. However, our role as politicians and as leaders is to bring people together and find consensus, and that is what we are going to work on.

[Foreign Affairs, October 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, I spoke with President Biden this weekend, and we continue to do everything necessary as allies to ensure that humanitarian goods and aid are delivered through access corridors into Gaza. We will continue to push for that and for humanitarian truces that will allow aid to reach innocent civilians.

The hostages must be released, and we need to protect the lives of innocent civilians. Canada is fully involved, including with shipments of humanitarian aid that are much bigger than average.