44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 21, 2022 11:00AM
- Mar/21/22 2:46:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians want to see improved passenger rail but many were shocked to hear that the Liberals want to privatize service between Toronto and Quebec City. If the Liberals hand over their new rail project to a private corporation, it is ordinary passengers who will pay while wealthy investors profit. Ottawa's disastrous experience with LRT shows the risk of handing transit over to private companies.
Will the minister guarantee that passenger rail on the Quebec-Windsor corridor will remain publicly operated?
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- Mar/21/22 2:46:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for giving me the opportunity to stand here today and talk about the great news that I helped announce just last week.
Our government is committed to moving forward with the investment in the high-frequency rail along the busiest corridor in Canada, where 95% of Via passengers use the train to commute between Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and stops in between. This is great news for Via Rail. This is great news for Canadian travellers, and this is great news for public transportation.
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- Mar/21/22 2:47:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are faced with a housing crisis, yet under the Liberals' rental construction program, affordable housing often ends up being 30% to 120% above the average market rent. It is scandalous. Nearly half of the housing the Liberals promised is expected to come from this program, and 90% of the funding has gone to for-profit developers. Canadians deserve better.
Will the government change the requirements to ensure housing built under this program is substantially below market rent?
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- Mar/21/22 2:48:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the national housing strategy has a number of important programs, including the rental construction financing initiative. It is important to assess each program based on the needs of Canadians in different parts of the housing spectrum. The particular program the hon. member mentioned actually has conditions with respect to accessibility and energy efficiency, and it has minimum affordability requirements. It has led to the construction of tens of thousands of new affordable rental housing units across the country.
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- Mar/21/22 2:48:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the past two years have been hard on main streets across Atlantic Canada. Due to COVID, our community hubs have been forced to close or to be open for reduced hours. These closures have been especially hard on businesses in the arts and tourism sectors.
Could the minister responsible for ACOA tell this House what the government is doing for Atlantic Canada's main streets as pandemic restrictions start to ease?
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- Mar/21/22 2:49:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to thank my friend and colleague from Halifax West for her excellent question. As Atlantic Canada's main streets reopen, our government will be there to help them and to help locals and tourists discover the incredible things that they have to offer.
Last week I was honoured to announce the “rediscover main streets” program, which is investing $10 million in helping these resilient businesses show off their amazing products, their services and experience. We have been there for Atlantic Canadian businesses since the pandemic started and we will be there with them to ensure that they become vibrant entities again.
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- Mar/21/22 2:49:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after several requests, the Liberals have finally agreed to send lethal weapons to Ukraine.
Canada has sent 4,500 M72 rocket launchers, 7,500 grenades, 100 Carl Gustav M2 anti-tank weapons, and 2,000 rounds of 84-millimetre ammunition. This morning, the Minister of Foreign Affairs confirmed that all the weapons had reached Ukraine.
My question is simple: Have all the Canadian weapons reached the battlefield, or are they stuck somewhere in Poland?
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- Mar/21/22 2:50:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are leaving no stone unturned to support our Ukrainian friends. We announced six tranches of military aid, both lethal and non-lethal, to Ukraine in February alone. This represents well over $100 million in military aid to Ukraine, and we are working tirelessly with our allies to deliver this aid. The minister continues to be in close contact with her Ukrainian counterpart and with NATO allies to see how best Canada and the alliance can continue supporting Ukraine.
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- Mar/21/22 2:50:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is not an answer. We want to know if the weapons we sent have reached the battlefield.
Are Ukrainian soldiers using our Carl Gustavs, our M72s and our grenades, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs told Mario Dumont this morning on LCN?
It is a simple question: Are the weapons on the battlefield at this time, yes or no?
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- Mar/21/22 2:51:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are working as quickly as possible to deliver new tranches of aid to Ukraine. Last month, nearly $10 million worth of lethal aid was delivered in full. We are working around the clock to get more aid to Ukraine as quickly as possible, alongside our NATO allies. Given the nature of this conflict, we will not be providing details about transit.
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- Mar/21/22 2:51:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week the Minister of Foreign Affairs told CTV that, “Canada is not a nuclear power, it is not a military power. We're a middle-sized power and what we're good at is convening and making sure that diplomacy is happening”, and in so doing, insulted every Canadian who has gone to war for this country or put on its uniform. It is not the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces who are not ready to do their job; it is the minister and the government that are incapable of doing their jobs.
Will the minister apologize to this country's veterans?
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- Mar/21/22 2:52:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear about this. Every single member on this side of the House not only supports the men and women in uniform today, but those who were in uniform yesterday.
While we are not a superpower, let me tell members what we do. Our men and women in uniform supported the people of Afghanistan. We supported the people of Syria and most recently, we have been on the ground and supported troops in Ukraine with training that has trained 30,000 military personnel. We will continue to be there, and that is what Canada does well.
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- Mar/21/22 2:53:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 11 years after Afghanistan and 158 lives lost, the minister thinks we are convenors, not warriors. I have news for the minister, who should take a look at our Canadian history. The victors at Vimy Ridge, the Hundred Days, Juno Beach, Kapyong and Operation Medusa deserve our admiration and our praise but are forgotten by the government.
Will the minister apologize for her hurtful remarks to the military, to veterans and to the families of our fallen?
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- Mar/21/22 2:54:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk a little more recent history. The previous Conservative government dropped defence spending to the lowest level in 60 years. What this government—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Mar/21/22 2:54:19 p.m.
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I do not have to yell or anything. I just have to sit here and wait to get to the point where I can hear the member.
The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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- Mar/21/22 2:54:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will repeat that. What the previous Conservative government did was drop defence spending to the lowest level in the last 60 years. What this government is doing is recommitting to the armed forces to ensure that they are appropriately equipped, that they will be engaged appropriately and they will continue to represent Canada and Canadian interests.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Mar/21/22 2:54:53 p.m.
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Order. I am hearing lots of yelling from the back row. You do not have to yell quite as loud to be heard in this chamber, so I am just looking over and saying to calm it down. Calm it down. Thank you.
The hon. member for Thérèse-De Blainville.
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- Mar/21/22 2:55:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister must grasp the urgent need to resolve the lockout at Canadian Pacific.
The Bloc Québécois wants a quick, negotiated resolution to the dispute, but we can all see that the talks have reached an impasse. We can also see that supply chains are under unprecedented pressure, what with the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Will the minister himself sit down with both sides to signal that he is handling conflict resolution personally?
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- Mar/21/22 2:55:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada's supply chains are still reeling from the floods in British Columbia, COVID‑19 and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Canadians' interests must be a priority, and I urge the parties to reach an agreement. Canadians have worked together throughout the pandemic to find solutions to our collective challenges, and they expect the same from stakeholders in our national economy.
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- Mar/21/22 2:56:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister obviously did not understand my question.
Unfortunately, there is a definite pattern to how this government handles crises. More often than not, it is content to watch them unfold, to be a mere bystander and to allow them to degenerate.
The minister can break free of that pattern right here and now. He said that he will stay in Calgary until the two parties reach a deal. That is the right attitude.
Will he go the distance and personally intervene to bring about a negotiated resolution for CP Rail?
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