Justin Trudeau

[Ethics, June 20th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we promised Canadians that we would invest in the middle class and those working hard to join it.

That is exactly what we have done with historic investments in infrastructure and with the Canada child benefit, which is helping nine out of 10 families and will lift 300,000 children out of poverty. We lowered taxes for the middle class and increased them for the well-off. Not only are we investing for the benefit of Canadians, but we also secured the strongest growth in the G7 last year. We are creating the growth that Canadians need.

[Ethics, June 20th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I also wish to congratulate Richard Martel on his win in Chicoutimi—Le Fjord. I want to thank all the candidates and especially all the voters who participated in the electoral process. It is enormously important for people to get involved, and we are very proud of this.

Since today is our last day, I also want to take this opportunity to thank the House of Commons pages who served us so well this year.

I want to thank all the pages who have been here working hard for us. I thank them for everything they have done throughout this year. I thank all the staffers for seeing us through to the summer.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, June 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians always stand up for human rights everywhere around the world, and we will continue to. What we will not do is to play politics with this. We understand how important it is to be firm and unequivocal as we protect and support human rights around the world, and we will continue to do that, both by example and by engagement with the world. That is what Canadians expect of this government, and that is what we will continue to do.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, June 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, I have been very clear on the role that Canadians expect of me: to stand up firmly and unequivocally for our values, for our interests, to protect Canadians, and make sure we are doing well, as well as having a constructive relationship with the United States. That is what we are going to remain focused on. You may have noticed, Mr. Speaker, that over the past years, we have been very strong in our advocacy, and not just within Canada, to be welcoming as a country for refugees and asylum seekers, but also to promote that around the world, to encourage other countries to understand that people arriving on our shores are a potential benefit to our communities and our economy.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, June 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we will not play politics with this issue. This is an extremely difficult situation, and we know just how important it is not to get things confused. The United Nations has determined that the United States is a safe third country for asylum seekers, but at the same time, we need to do more to protect vulnerable migrants around the world. Canada is always ready to contribute, and we will continue to do so.

[Poverty, June 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I share the passion of the member opposite for this issue and will highlight that those Campaign 2000 numbers, which are so alarming, indicate that action needs to be taken. Those Campaign 2000 numbers were from 2015, and that is why we brought in a Canada child benefit immediately after we were elected that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty, a Canada child benefit, by the way, that helps nine out of 10 Canadian families, and that the Conservatives and the NDP voted against. We are going to continue to fight child poverty.

[Public Safety, June 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we are doing exactly the opposite. We are investing in our security agencies and our security professionals. We are enabling our police officers and national security agents to do their work in a way that Canadians would expect. Unlike the Conservatives, who for years politicized, divided Canadians, and then quietly withdrew funding from the agencies that needed support, we are actually investing in them. We are giving them the tools they need, and we are assuring Canadians that we will not play politics with their safety, that we will instead focus on keeping them safe.

[Public Safety, June 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, our security agencies take all potential threats very seriously and use the full tool kit of measures, including surveillance, the no-fly list, revoking passports, and laying criminal charges, when sufficient evidence exists.

The expertise of Canadian security and law enforcement professionals is highly respected and sought out around the world. They actively engage in identifying, monitoring, and responding to potential threats. Canadians can have confidence in their work.

Our security services are doing their work, in spite of over $1 billion in cuts suffered under the Harper government.

[Public Safety, June 18th, 2018]

Naturally, Mr. Speaker, I have a bit of a hard time hearing that from the Conservatives, who made nearly $400 million in cuts to the agency that protects our borders, the CBSA, when they had a majority. What is more, on this side of the House, we respect the work of our security agencies; they defend our laws and principles and do whatever it takes to keep Canadians safe. We will not use the work of our police officers to play the politics of fear.

[Carbon Pricing, June 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite likes to talk about those votes last week, but he does not want to talk about the fact that the Conservatives voted against funding for clean technology and green infrastructure, and they opposed funding for western economic diversification. That is on top of not understanding that the economy and the environment need to go hand in hand.

We have been clear and transparent, and the details are on our websites, in our approach to creating a pan-Canadian approach to fighting climate change. What is unclear is what the Conservatives will do. They have no plan to fight climate change. That is the climate change cover-up.