Justin Trudeau

[Government Accountability, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we are proud to be following through on our commitment to strengthen the independence of the parliamentary budget officer; to make him or her a full officer of Parliament, accountable to the Speakers of the House and the Senate and not to the librarian of Parliament; to give him or her greater tools to access information to answer the questions parliamentarians may ask; and even, at the request of political parties, to evaluate political platforms to make sure Canadians know what they are getting when they vote for someone.

[The Budget, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, any budget bill contains a broad range of provisions that will include economic outcomes for Canadians that touch on a broad range of issues, because Canadians want to know that their government is dealing with the broad scope of challenges Canadians are facing at the economic level.

That is exactly why we are proud of all the elements in this budget that are being put forward to help the middle class and those working hard to join it.

[The Budget, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I saw for many years the previous government use omnibus legislation as a way of avoiding debate, as a way of putting everything into a piece of legislation, whether or not it had links to it.

A budget bill contains--

[The Budget, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the previous government used omnibus bills to prevent debate in the House and to limit the ability of MPs to examine what was in the budget by putting all kinds of different things in one single budget.

We made a commitment to put only budget items that are part of Canada's economic plan in the budget implementation bill. That is exactly what we are doing. We will not make inappropriate use of omnibus bills like the former government did.

[Justice, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, not only do we know how important it is to ensure that survivors of sexual assault have strong access to justice, we also need to make sure that our judiciary looks more like Canada. That is why we are proud that 60% of our appointments to judge positions at the federal level were women. That is up from about 35% under the previous government. The fact is, there are a lot of things we can and must do to improve the way our justice system treats survivors of sexual assault.

I am pleased that the committee is looking at many ways of doing it, including the private member's bill brought forward by the member.

[Justice, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the discussions being had at committee right now on the best way to protect survivors within our justice system. I can emphasize again that we have put forward a strategy on gender-based violence and have even put money toward the training of judges, as well.

[Justice, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, as everyone in the House knows, I take very seriously the responsibility of society, to protect survivors of sexual assault, to give them processes through our justice system that will give them the right support. However, as everyone in the House also knows, I respect Parliament and the work done in committees. I encourage everybody to continue to do their—

[Taxation, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am tremendously proud to remind Canadians that this year access to our national parks is absolutely free. We know that for our 150th birthday, encouraging Canadians to get out and discover the amazing beauty of our national parks, our historic sites, is going to be really important to create the kind of pride in our country and to share with our kids the extraordinary natural beauty for future generations to come.

[Taxation, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I agree entirely with the member opposite that Canadians love to get outdoors and enjoy our wilderness, which is why I am so proud that this government has made it free access to Canada's national parks for our 150th birthday. The opportunity for millions of Canadians to get out to discover the extraordinary wild spaces across Canada, to see the amazing parks we have is something I know all members of the House will encourage Canadians to go discover our national parks this summer.

[Taxation, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we are proud of our choices to help the middle class. We raised taxes for the wealthiest 1% so that we could lower them for the middle class. We created a Canada child benefit that gives more money to nine out of ten families and will lift 40% or hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.

Every day, we are working for the middle class and those working hard to join it. We will continue to make choices that will help people across the country.