The Budget  Madam Speaker, my question is around credit ratings. Last June, Fitch downgraded our national credit rating. At the same time, S&P; warned it could downgrade our credit rating over the next couple of years, “should the deterioration in the government's fiscal position become more severe and prolonged than we currently expect.”

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020  Madam Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague from Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier about part 7. Until 2020, the total cumulative debt of Canada was just over $700 billion. The bill before us, which is essentially buried into a COVID relief bill, would increase that debt limit from roughly $1.1 trillion to $1.8 trillion.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, to pay for raises, jet rides, payments to insiders and other lavish expenses, the Liberal government continues to increase taxes on Canadians who are just barely getting by. For some, a nice cold beer on a hot summer’s day was a relatively inexpensive comfort, but, sadly, that too is being taxed away.

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020  Madam Speaker, I note that in the comments made by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, he spoke pretty much about every aspect of Bill C-14 except the one that actually touches on his portfolio, which is the increase of the debt limit to $1.8 trillion. First, does the member think this is a matter that should be debated under a separate bill?

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020  Madam Speaker, one of the very important aspects of this bill that the member neglected to comment on is the fact that it would actually increase the country's debt limit from roughly $1.1 trillion to $1.8 trillion. This is a sum equivalent to Canada's total combined debt in history, from Confederation to 2020.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, I heard the government House leader, in response to multiple questions, say over and over that committees were “masters of their own work”. That seems to be a standard reply. In other words, committees can decide how to conduct their business. However, today, we have the revelation that he does not really think that anymore.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, would the government House leader agree with his Minister of National Defence at the defence committee on March 12 who, when asked, “Who is responsible and accountable for the failure of this allegation being investigated?”, replied, “Yes. I'm absolutely responsible”?

Petitions  Madam Speaker, today I am presenting three petitions on behalf of concerned Canadians, all regarding the unrest, violence, human rights abuses and humanitarian crisis in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. These petitioners are requesting of the Government of Canada to, one, call for an end to violence and for restraint from all sides and parties involved in the Tigray conflict; two, allow humanitarian access to the region and independent monitoring; three, call for international investigations into credible reports of war crimes and gross violations of human rights law; four, engage directly and consistently with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments on this conflict, and finally, promote short-, medium- and long-term elections monitoring in Ethiopia.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I have been listening to this debate carefully today, and government members consistently say there are jurisdictional issues and that we should not be telling the provinces what to do, because the provinces will have to decide what to do, and we should not be interfering in provincial jurisdiction; hence, the government cannot have a plan at the federal level.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the same question I asked another Bloc member earlier. I realize there are jurisdictional issues, but it just seems to me that the whole issue of reopening comes down to the rate of vaccination, in which Canada has seriously lagged behind other countries.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his insightful comments during his speech. I know that so far the debate has been somewhat muddying the waters around jurisdictional questions. I think we all understand that provinces have their own jurisdictions and that the federal government has its jurisdiction, but really what the motion is about is that Canadians, as a whole, including Québécois, want to get their lives back.

Questions on the Order Paper  With regard to the impact of interest rate hikes on the government’s finances: what are the Department of Finance’s projections on the amount of interest the government will have to pay to service the debt in each of the next 10 years under the (i) current interest rate levels, (ii) increased interest rate levels, broken down by rate?

Questions Passed as Orders for Return  With regard to the government’s decision to grant a travel exemption to family members of Meng Wanzhou: (a) on what date was the exemption granted; (b) which minister signed off on the exemption; (c) why was the exemption granted; (d) did the family members also receive an exemption from the 14-day quarantine requirement and, if so, why was such an exemption granted; and (e) has the government provided any other travel exemptions since April 1, 2020, for family members of individuals awaiting extradition and, if so, how many were granted, broken down by month?

Employment  Mr. Speaker, thousands of students across Canada are struggling to find summer employment in the middle of a pandemic. Families in my community are trying to make ends meet, and students need jobs to pay for their education. Last year, the Liberal government's brilliant solution to this problem was to try and pay their friends at WE Charity half a billion dollars.

Petitions  Madam Speaker, I present a petition on behalf of concerned Canadians in my community about the mistreatment of the Falun Gong practitioners in China. For over 21 years, the Chinese Communist regime's corrupt officials have orchestrated the torture and killing of many who practise Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline promoting the principles of truth, compassion and tolerance, and harvest their organs for the regime's organ transplant trade.