Justin Trudeau

[Finance, December 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this is very interesting. What we see from the Conservatives is a doubling down on Stephen Harper's economic plan, the plan that Canadians soundly rejected in 2015, giving tax breaks to the wealthiest, cutting things like veterans services, health care for refugees and eliminating the long-form census. These are the things the Harper government did that the Conservatives are once again running on.

The Conservatives have no real plan for the economy. We have created 800,000 new jobs and have the—

[Finance, December 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite wants to talk about the facts. The Conservatives, under Stephen Harper, had the lowest growth rate in Canadian history since the depths of the Great Depression. They added $150 billion to our national debt with stubbornly low growth to show for it.

We made a different choice and Canadians supported us in investing in communities, in investing in the middle class instead of giving boutique tax credits to the wealthiest Canadians. We focused on growing the economy for everyone—

[Finance, December 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, one of the first things we discovered when we came to office in 2015 was that the Conservatives' phony balancing of the budget actually hurt Canadians. It hurt our veterans. It hurt our public service. It cut Canadian border services and police services. The Conservatives cut services that Canadians needed right across the country in order to present a phony balanced budget just in time for the election.

We made a different choice: to invest in Canadians. What has that delivered? It has delivered the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years and 800,000 new jobs in the past three years.

[Finance, December 12th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the commitment we made in 2015 was to create economic growth, which would benefit the middle class and all those working hard to join it. That is exactly what we did by cutting taxes for the middle class and increasing taxes for the wealthiest 1%. We introduced the Canada child benefit, which helped nine in 10 families and lifted 300,000 children out of poverty across the country.

We know that there is still much work to be done on infrastructure investment, fighting poverty and investing in youth and our seniors. We will continue—

[International Trade, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we are proud of our Canadian workers and companies. Indeed, we know that they can successfully compete right around the world. Signing trade deals allows us to access procurement opportunities around the world so that we can see things like Bombardier trains in Africa, in Asia and around the world.

We will continue to promote the extraordinary quality of the work that is done by Canadian companies around the world. We know that as we engage in trade we create better opportunities for our workers and for all Canadians.

[Labour, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we did everything we could to encourage Canada Post and the union to negotiate a new collective agreement. We provided conciliation officers and mediators, appointed a special mediator and offered voluntary arbitration. Despite all that, the parties could not reach an agreement. We only introduced legislation after all other options had been exhausted. We have appointed Elizabeth MacPherson as mediator-arbitrator. She will have 90 days to work with the parties to resolve all outstanding issues.

[Labour, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, one of the first things we did was to repeal the anti-labour legislation passed by Stephen Harper, Bill C-525 and Bill C-377. We know those are the things that matter to labour.

For the past three years, we have worked constructively with organized labour across this country, showing meaningful progress and understanding the tripartite principles, which mean that labour, government and industry work together to create better opportunities for the middle class.

We have been a solid partner to labour. We will continue to do that. We will take no lessons from the NDP.

[International Trade, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, when we are investing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, we want the best deal for all Quebeckers and Canadians.

When companies submit bids, they are aware of the criteria and the process right from the beginning. The opposition is asking me to interfere politically, violate our laws and, ultimately, hurt Canadians, which is unacceptable.

We recognize that Canadians have expertise in the transportation sector, and we believe that we have the best workers in the world. This is why we will always support our workers.

[Finance, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we can tell that when the Conservatives resort to petty personal attacks, they have nothing to say on the basis of fact.

What we have done is invest in Canadians. We invested historic amounts in infrastructure and put more money in the pockets of the middle class so that kids across this country, with the Canada child benefit, can get better school supplies, better after-school programs, and have new shoes and boots for the winter.

We know that investing in Canadians is the way to grow the economy. For 10 years, the Conservatives could not do it, but that is exactly what we did. The lowest unemployment in 40 years—

[Finance, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, what the Conservatives continue not to understand is their phony efforts to balance the budget just in time for the election, cutting millions from veterans by closing their service centres, cutting millions from hard-working Canadians from coast to coast to coast, whether it was the Canada Border Services Agency or hard-working Canadians getting short shrift because of their cuts to programs. The Conservatives' obsession with providing a phony budget balance before an election hurt Canadians.

We invested in Canadians and have the positive results to show for it. They had no plan—