Peter Julian

[Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C‑78, November 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, just to follow up on the comment by my colleague from Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies about forestry, was he kidding? The Conservatives under Harper, with Harper's softwood sellout, lost a billion dollars, basically snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Not only that, but they closed 200 softwood plants across the country. That cost us 100,000 workers. There is a lot of resentment about Harper's softwood sellout and the lost jobs, not only in Prince George but also right across the country.

I am sorry, but when the Conservatives start talking about softwood workers, they should give me a break. Their policies were terrible. That was the worse, most corrupt government in Canadian history; it was incompetent in financial management and had many scandals, which were all covered up by the Conservatives. Now they have the audacity to say they took care of forestry workers. They sure did: They threw them out of work. That is not how an NDP government works. We make sure that people get good, unionized jobs. People have the wherewithal to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head.

I want to come back to what the NDP has accomplished. When we look at the bill that we will be voting on tomorrow, it is another example of the NDP putting pressure on the government to get it to actually do the right thing. The government does the wrong thing. It has followed what the Conservatives put into place far too many times, such as the massive overseas tax havens that cost us over $30 billion a year, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, courtesy of the Harper regime and every single Conservative MP. Their constituents cannot thank them for pharmacare, dental care, anti-scab legislation or affordable housing, but they can thank their Conservatives MPs for allowing the richest and most entitled people in Canada, as well as the most profitable corporations, to take over $30 billion in taxpayer money offshore every year. That is thanks to the Harper regime. Its most notable achievement was to hollow out and gut the federal budget.

It is because of those things that we have the current motion before us tonight. We simply cannot ever trust Conservatives to do the right thing. We cannot always trust the Liberals to do the right thing either, but when they accept NDP leadership, they do end up doing the right thing. As far as Conservatives are concerned, Conservatives simply do not. That is why we need a motion that actually gets us through all the gates and obstacles, so we can get this GST relief to Canadians.

Colleagues will recall, of course, that it was the member for Burnaby South who called for this, who said we needed to take the GST off family essentials. The NDP members think differently from the Liberals and the Conservatives, who are always just paying lip service. In the case of the Conservatives, they are badly damaging the country every time they get the reins of power.

The NDP called for taking the GST off all essentials. That includes the cellphones that we use, which are an essential service. We pay far too much for our cellphone bills. We are being gouged in this country. We also want to take the GST off home heating, children's clothing and a variety of other essentials. The government has done part of that, but certainly not all of it. We believe that, this Christmas season, we have a responsibility as parliamentarians to step up and actually get the GST relief adopted. Now, Conservatives do not feel that way. They prefer to be imposters. They would love never to do anything to help anybody. That is their modus operandi: They come into the House and pontificate but never accomplish a damn thing.

If we compare the leaders who will be contesting the next election, we know that the Liberals are not popular. There is no doubt that they have made a number of mistakes. I will take the member for Carleton and the member for Burnaby South and compare both of their accomplishments. I will take one for the last 20 years and the other one for the last 20 weeks. Let us take the member for Carleton over the last 20 years. What is his singular accomplishment? I have been in the House for that same period of time, and I can tell members that the one thing he did in 20—

[Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C‑78, November 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I worked with people who are deaf, deafened and hard of hearing before coming into Parliament. There are certain acoustic weaknesses in the House of Commons, and one of them is that when people are talking under this roof, the sound carries quite heavily.

During COVID, the NDP provided a lot of supports. Members will recall that subsequent to that, whether talking about dental health, pharmacare, affordable housing or the red dress alert, we were ensuring that unionized people who go on strike are not undermined by replacement workers with the anti-scab legislation. The NDP did all of those things that made a real difference in the quality of life for people, particularly when we talk about dental care. This is a reality that is, effectively, changing the lives of so many Canadians.

A million Canadians, mainly seniors at this point, have already benefited from the NDP's dental care program. That means each and every Conservative MP, on average, has 3,000 or 3,200 people in their ridings who have benefited from the NDP dental care program. Members will recall that the Conservative members absolutely refused to adopt this. They were kicking and screaming to make sure they could block it at every opportunity. The NDP succeeded, procedurally, in getting dental care and pharmacare through, ensuring that people in the Conservatives' ridings, including in Barrie—Innisfil, benefit from what the NDP has succeeded in doing. Thousands of people in every single Conservative riding have benefited from the NDP's work.

We are not expecting Conservative MPs to thank New Democrats for helping their constituents when they refused to. However, it is important that, with this bill now, given how Conservatives acted in the past, blocking everything that benefits people—

[Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C‑78, November 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, this is just another example of the NDP getting things done in this Parliament. When we look at the past four years, starting with COVID and all the measures, Conservatives basically did not contribute anything to the COVID measures. Members will recall that during that period, it took unanimous consent to get material through. It was the NDP driving the government to provide more supports for families, seniors, people with disabilities, students and small businesses, and trying to ensure that people were taken care of at all times during COVID.

Madam Speaker, I would ask if the member could be brought to order, please. It is very difficult to hear myself, being at the end and under this ceiling.

[Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C‑78, November 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I really appreciate my colleague and I always listen to her speeches with great interest.

There is no doubt that this measure will benefit Quebeckers. We are talking about zero-rating a number of essentials that struggling people need. However, the Bloc Québécois opposes it.

There is another issue supported unanimously by Quebeckers, and that is pharmacare. The largest coalition in Quebec's history, which includes the labour movement, the Union des consommateurs and health care professionals, has unanimously told the Bloc Québécois that it should vote in favour of the NDP's plan to implement pharmacare. Currently, drug plans in Quebec leave 15% of Quebeckers behind. The same applies to dental care. Quebeckers are calling for what the NDP is proposing, but the Bloc Québécois says no. They do not want to listen to Quebeckers. It seems to me that there is a contradiction here.

Can my colleague enlighten me? Why is the Bloc Québécois opposed to all these measures that Quebecers want?

[Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C‑78, November 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that Quebeckers will benefit from this bill. The NDP lobbied hard for taxes to be taken off essentials for families. There are benefits.

I want to come back to another benefit that was brought in by the NDP, namely the dental care program. It is more popular in Quebec than in any other province in the country. One million Quebeckers are participating in the NDP dental care program. To date, 400,000 people have received dental care services. However, the Bloc Québécois is opposed to it. That is what I do not understand. The NDP works to ensure that ordinary people, real people, get benefits. The Bloc Québécois seems to oppose this program that helps people. Quebeckers have already voted. A million of them have said it is a good NDP program.

Why is the Bloc Québécois opposed to a program that helps so many people in Quebec?

[Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C‑78, November 27th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is very straightforward. When a member concludes their speech and sits down, that is it. Other members cannot come in and try to cajole them to change their mind and get up again. It is a little bit of a disservice to Parliament, how the Conservatives are acting right now.

[U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Products, November 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for Winnipeg North is saying that there are no Conservatives in the House—

[U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Products, November 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I apologize. Again, happy birthday.

I just want to be clear. The member for Winnipeg North illegally stated that there were no Conservative MPs in the House for this important debate.

[U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Products, November 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I apologize for interrupting the member, but this is an extremely important debate about a topic on which hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs depend. All the parties are here tonight, except the Conservatives do not have a single member of Parliament in the House. I find that—

[U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Products, November 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am very familiar with my colleague's region, having lived in Chicoutimi—Le Fjord myself. That is where I learned French. I love that region. Its forestry industry was extremely vital before the Harper regime decided to slash everything, not just in Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, but also in British Columbia, Alberta and across the country.

We lost $1 billion, 100,000 jobs and 200 softwood lumber mills because of the Harper regime's irresponsible actions. Does my colleague understand the consequences of the Harper government's irresponsible decision to capitulate on softwood lumber? What does he have to say to the 100,000 workers who lost their jobs?