Pierre Poilievre

[The Economy, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, that is what the Prime Minister has to say to the two million people lined up around street corners, clamouring for the food bank, after eight years: that things are just going great.

To the people in Montreal who have seen their rent quadruple after his eight years, life is just great for them too. To the Torontonians who have to spend 25 years now saving up for a down payment on an average home, he says things are just great.

How can he possibly fix the misery he caused if he cannot even realize it is right in front of his face?

[Housing, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, who honours them with a tent to live in? He honours them with a $450 increase in their rent. Before the Prime Minister, we did not have masses of military members living in tent cities. They could put a roof overhead.

In fact, we did not have 30 tent cities in Halifax. We did not have two million people lined up at food banks in lines that are reminiscent of the Great Depression. We did not have young people forced to wait until age 40 to get a home.

The good news is life was not like this before the Prime Minister and it will not be like this after he is gone.

[Housing, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, that is an outrageous non-response to the men and women who put their lives on the line for this country. He rewards them with a tent, or a couch in someone else's basement to sleep on.

After eight years of this Prime Minister, there has been a 177% increase in Bagotville and a 261% increase in the wait line for military housing. Now, he plans a $450 rent increase on the people who protect our country.

Should he not be ashamed of himself?

[Housing, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost of housing, which has doubled since he promised to lower it. Now, we have a brand new phenomenon: the middle-class homeless. In fact, according to the executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion of Nova Scotia, members of the Canadian Forces are now forced to live in tents and cars and to couch surf. There are 30 homeless encampments in Halifax after eight years of the Prime Minister.

Why would the Prime Minister then plan to go ahead with a $450-a-year rent increase for our armed forces members, who are already forced to live in tents?

[Public Safety, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the cold, hard facts. There were two-thirds fewer cases of extortion in the last year of the common-sense Conservative government than there are today. In the 10 years we were in office, the number of car thefts fell by half, and that was because we targeted the worst offenders and kept them in prison, secured our ports and stopped organized crime.

The Prime Minister has only multiplied crime with his catch-and-release policies. Will he follow the evidence and reinstate a common-sense criminal justice—

[Public Safety, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, he wants facts, so here is another fact. Extortions are up 218% since he took office. Why? It is because he got rid of mandatory jail time for extortion with a weapon, so now he allows extortionists to go around with guns, harassing small business owners in Brampton, Surrey, Calgary and Edmonton, where horror stories are unfolding.

Will the Prime Minister agree to our common-sense plan to reverse catch-and-release, so that Canadians are safe from extortion?

[Public Safety, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, actually, people do steal cars when they are on house arrest, because all they have to do is open the door, walk out and steal the car.

Then there is his bail policy, which allowed the same 40 offenders to be arrested 6,000 times in Vancouver in a year, many of them car thieves.

Will the Prime Minister accept my common-sense plan to get rid of house arrest and bring in jail, not bail, for career car thieves, yes or no?

[Public Safety, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, here are the actual facts: Bill C-5 keeps mandatory prison sentences. They were already in place, put there by the previous Conservative government; they were not created by Bill C-5. What Bill C-5 did was bring in house arrest for career car thieves, so they could watch Netflix or perhaps play Grand Theft Auto in their living room and then go out onto the street and steal another car whenever they want.

Will the Prime Minister follow my common-sense plan to end house arrest for career car thieves?

[Public Safety, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is still not worth the crime. He unleashed the car theft crisis by bringing in house arrest and bail, not jail, for repeat career car thieves and by allowing our ports to become sieves where our cars are stolen from, so much so that we are now becoming world-famous for the Prime Minister's failures. Ghana's Economic and Organised Crime Office says, “We are...in possession of the stolen vehicles. The victims...it's all in Canada,” and, “No Canadian agency has approached us directly or made a formal complaint”.

Will the Prime Minister take the money from the back-office bureaucrats and consultants and put it into frontline law enforcement to protect our cars?

[Public Safety, February 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, he makes it too easy. He talks about caucus meetings and Loblaws. Get this, Mr. Speaker: The Prime Minister had someone who is his director of caucus services, named Julie DeWolfe, who is now a lobbyist for Loblaws. Not only that, but he digs up a lot of dirt. His chief dirt digger, Kevin Bosch, left his office so that he could go and work as a lobbyist for Loblaws. Would the Prime Minister like us to continue going down the list of all his Loblaws lobbyists?