Justin Trudeau

[Natural Resources, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, this pandemic has been difficult on Canadians from coast to coast to coast, but we recognize the extra degree of difficulty that the current oil crisis is having on oil workers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and indeed in Newfoundland and Labrador. We have been there for them with wage subsidies, with the CERB and with EI supports. We will continue to look for ways, like we did with orphan wells, to continue to support those workers who have been working hard to build and contribute to our country's well-being over the past many years.

We need them, going forward, to have strong jobs, strong families and a strong future, and that is what we are committed to working on with them.

[Natural Resources, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, since day one we have taken action to support our oil and gas sector. During the pandemic we invested $1.7 billion to remediate inactive and abandoned wells, which will protect and create thousands of jobs. We continue to support the sector with the wage subsidy: Almost one in every three workers in mining and oil and gas stayed in their jobs thanks to the subsidy, and the Speech from the Throne announced it will continue until next summer. We are getting our resources to new markets and using revenue to fund clean energy and climate solutions, and the workers will continue to be at the heart of everything we do.

[Seniors, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Humber River—Black Creek for her tireless work for her community.

In addition to the Speech from the Throne commitments the member mentioned, we are building at least 7,000 new affordable housing units for seniors under the national housing strategy. To create opportunities for seniors to be more connected, supported and active members of their community, we invested an additional $100 million over five years in the new horizons for seniors program, which helps community groups provide local programs with support.

We will continue to work hard every day to provide more support for our seniors.

[Taxation, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we committed in the throne speech that we would be moving forward and making the web giants pay their fair share. That is something that all Canadians can understand, and we are happy to move forward with that.

On the issue of raising taxes on the wealthiest 1%, that is actually the very first thing we did when we came into office in 2015. We created a new higher tax bracket and forced the wealthiest 1% to pay more. Unfortunately, the NDP voted against it.

We will always look to ensure that we are supporting the middle class, and people working hard to join it, through this pandemic and beyond.

[Child Care, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the need for child care is exactly why we moved forward in the throne speech, and are working forward to ensure we are delivering child care with the provinces right across the country. We understand it is not just a social necessity, but an economic necessity as well.

With regard to Garderie Tunney's Daycare, which is a well-loved day care in Ottawa, during the pandemic PSPC has ensured that rent relief is available to all tenants under the Canada emergency rent assistance program. More recently, we have informed the day care that its November rent will be deferred. We will continue to work with it on a path forward.

[Public Services and Procurement, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, as a government we have negotiated with vaccine manufacturers around the world.

They are not currently manufacturing vaccines, but they are researching potential ones. We do not know which company will find a vaccine first or which vaccine will be the best.

We have negotiated with a lot of companies. We know that Canadians want Canada to have access to vaccines in a timely fashion. That is precisely what we were able to negotiate.

[Public Services and Procurement, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, our approach for vaccines and personal protective equipment is to try to find all kinds of solutions to ensure we have enough.

We have signed seven different contracts for vaccines from around the world, which we hope to provide to Canadians. No one knows which vaccine will be developed first and which one will be the most effective. That is why we signed multiple contracts. We are working with the global COVAX initiative to ensure that we will have other sources of vaccines for Canada.

We are doing everything we can to keep Canadians safe. If the Conservatives do not want to negotiate to protect Canadians, let them say so.

[Foreign Affairs, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, even as we have consistently stood up strongly in defence of the two Michaels, stood up in defence of the Uighurs, and have been concerned for Canadian citizens and indeed all citizens in Hong Kong, we have continued to look at China as a market for our grain farmers, for our seafood producers, and for so many Canadians who recognize that the second-largest economy in the world represents opportunities for Canadian families and businesses. Walking that careful line of being unequivocal on the defence of human rights and recognizing economic ties with the second-largest economy in the world is what we have been doing.

[Foreign Affairs, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we have been clear from the very beginning about our principles, our commitment to the rule of law and our deep concern for our detained citizens. We have worked over the past many months to try to bring them home. We will continue to work extremely hard, not just on our own but with allies around the world who have consistently spoken up against China's arbitrary detention of citizens and its coercive diplomacy. We will continue to be loud and clear on the principles of defending human rights and the rule of law. We will continue to work with countries around the world, even as we highlight the excesses and the wrongs on human rights.

[Intergovernmental Relations, October 28th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians and all political parties in the House condemn the violence we witnessed in France a few weeks ago. We wholeheartedly support the people of France, who were faced with a horrific terrorist attack, the murder of Samuel Paty.

We will always stand united. I thank the Bloc Québécois for moving that motion, but we all would have moved the same motion. It was good of the Bloc to do that. We will continue to stand up to violence and extremism all around the world.