44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 21, 2022 11:00AM
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions today. The first is, of course, in support of my private member's bill that I am sponsoring in this place: Bill S-223, a bill to finally combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking. Petitioners are hopeful that this Parliament will be the one that finally gets it done.
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- Mar/21/22 3:41:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition highlights the ongoing terrible human rights situation of the Hazara community in Afghanistan. It is a situation that was bad prior to the Taliban takeover and it is certainly getting much worse.
This particular petition asks the House to designate September 25 as Hazara genocide memorial day to recognize a historic event of ethnic cleansing from the 19th century as a genocide against Hazaras, but most importantly to continue advocacy for the rights of Hazaras and other ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan.
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- Mar/21/22 3:52:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it has been interesting for me to observe NDP members over the last few days speaking about gas prices and wanting gas prices to be lower. I thought that Liberal and NDP politicians actually wanted gas prices to be higher. Is it not the point of their carbon tax policy to raise the cost of gas? They think that will discourage people from driving more.
It is curious for me to hear, in the vein of affordability along with the concerns being raised, the New Democrats, in particular, saying that affordability is a problem because gas prices are too high. Why would the NDP not simply reverse its position with respect to the carbon price if it wants gas prices to be lower?
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- Mar/21/22 4:05:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a simple question for my hon. friend with respect to affordability. Gas prices are top of mind for many Canadians. Does the government wish to see gas prices higher, lower or where they are right now?
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- Mar/21/22 4:21:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member mentioned child care in his speech as part of this debate on affordability. He is keen that his province sign on. I will share a big challenge that I am hearing of from child care providers in my province, a province that has signed a deal with the federal government, and that is that the federal plan effectively involves deregulation and limited increases to fees, which are actually below the current rate of inflation.
Child care providers are very concerned. They are being told that they cannot charge more than a certain amount, that they cannot raise their fees beyond a certain amount, and that is severely limiting their ability to expand to offer more child care services and do what this plan is theoretically supposed to do, which is to increase the availability of child care.
In the short term, it sounds great to say the fees are being regulated, but in the long term, if child care providers cannot expand, cannot afford to offer services and are being forced to close as a result of the cost squeeze on them from inflation and other factors, there is a serious problem. It is a real sort of ticking time bomb in the availability of child care services.
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- Mar/21/22 5:06:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I asked a question earlier about gas prices and I did not really get a good answer from the government.
I want to understand just whether the government thinks gas prices in an ideal world would be higher, lower or at the same level. I thought that one of the intentions of the government's policy around the carbon tax, around imposing a tax on things that produce carbon, was to intentionally increase the price of gas. I know that the member will tell me that we rebate portions of it. He might even say all of it, but that does not really answer the core question.
I would like to know this. Does the government wish to see gas prices be higher, lower or at the same level they are now?
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- Mar/21/22 5:23:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member spoke about how, at the beginning of its mandate, the government raised taxes on some people. The promise it had made at the time was that the tax shifting it was doing would be revenue-neutral. However, in the end it was not. It significantly added to the deficit, and we have seen continuing measures that have added to the deficit.
I think what the member glosses over in her remarks is just how unequally and disproportionately the effects of high levels of deficit spending, leading to inflation, fall on middle and lower-income Canadians. Those who are very wealthy have a variety of tools at their disposal for protecting themselves from the effects of inflation, but everyday working Canadians simply do not have the same opportunities. We are passing on costs to those who can least afford it and to subsequent generations.
Does the member acknowledge this problem and believe the government needs to do more to confront inflation and other ways in which out-of-control spending is passing costs on to those who can least afford it?
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- Mar/21/22 5:37:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member talked about concerns regarding corporate power in this country, and that is one of the reasons I put forward Bill C-257, which would add political belief and activity to the federal human rights code. I am concerned about situations where an employer might use their privileged position to discriminate against workers who engage in political activity that an employer does not agree with. In addition to other criteria in the human rights code, it is a reasonable way of limiting the power of government or corporations over a private individual's ability to have and express political beliefs.
I am wondering if the member or her party has a perspective on Bill C-257 and adding political belief and activity as prohibited grounds in the Canadian Human Rights Act.
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- Mar/21/22 5:38:39 p.m.
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What? That is a lie. That is a lie—
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- Mar/21/22 5:39:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, objectively, what the member said was inaccurate. I would invite her to withdraw her comments, and I would be pleased to withdraw mine in the spirit of a similar withdrawal.
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