44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 31, 2022 11:00AM
- Oct/31/22 2:14:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a resilient, prosperous and inclusive economy is one that fosters and promotes women and their contributions. For 25 years, NLOWE, the Newfoundland and Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs, has been doing exactly that: mentoring, supporting, inspiring and celebrating women entrepreneurs.
Women entrepreneurs are building and growing successful businesses that drive Canada’s economy and better our communities, yet in 2022 they are still facing and overcoming barriers every day. From small, one-person studios to large, high-tech firms, the vision, grit and tenacity of women entrepreneurs have made a real and lasting impact across the province and the country.
To Jennifer Bessell, NLOWE's CEO, and the eight deserving entrepreneur of the year award recipients, congratulations. Well done. My thanks to them for their contribution to the growth and resilience of the Newfoundland community and economy.
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- Oct/31/22 2:15:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this weekend women across Ontario took the opportunity to compete in the Mrs. & Ms. Regional Canada Empowerment Pageant in Sudbury. This was not the traditional pageant people are used to. It was designed for women between the ages of 25 to 65 and focused on their accomplishments, their education, their careers and their commitments to volunteer and community service. It empowered women, offered workshops and self-care, and raised funds for a great cause, the Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer.
The organizers and contestants raised $34,000 for the NOFCC, which will make a big difference for families in the north. There were many impressive contestants from my riding of Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, including Andréane Blais from Mattice, Alex Powers from Val Rita-Harty, Rosalind Russell from the LaCloche Foothills, and Shannon Kennedy from Manitoulin Island.
Please join me in thanking organizers Cheryl Kozera and Natalie Carriere for making this event so impactful for the contestants and for raising so much for a great cause.
Congratulations to those who were crowned as winners: Melanie Champagne, Nathalie Restoule, Sammie Barrette and Jennifer Natti.
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- Oct/31/22 2:16:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of the end of the LGBT purge. Between 1950 and 1992, LGBTQ+ members of the military, RCMP officers and other federal employees were subjected to discriminatory policies and practices based on their sexual orientation.
On this sad 30th anniversary, the LGBT Purge Fund and Egale Canada came to the Hill to raise awareness among elected officials about the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. They want the federal government to implement the recommendations set out in the report titled “Emerging From the Purge” to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace for LGBTQ+ people.
I also met with the leaders of Fondation Émergence, Laurent Breault and Patrick Desmarais. They spoke to me about the importance of the federal government doing its fair share to ensure that LGBTQ+ people are included in the civil service.
In a world where established rights are increasingly coming under attack, I urge everyone to remember this tragic anniversary so that we do not wipe out years of progress.
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- Oct/31/22 2:17:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are bracing for hard times ahead due to the costly Liberal-NDP coalition.
Its carbon tax is making everything more expensive: groceries, home heating and gas. Saskatchewan families can expect an extra $1,500 bill. Conservatives moved a motion on October 24 to remove the carbon tax on home heating and cancel the tripling of the carbon tax.
What did the NDP do? It voted in favour of keeping these crippling taxes, yet this week the leader of the NDP flip-flopped and tweeted that he is demanding the government remove the GST from home heating. No wonder the Saskatchewan NDP did not invite the federal NDP leader to its recent convention.
By voting to triple the carbon tax, the NDP has abandoned working families and seniors in Canada.
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- Oct/31/22 2:19:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it has been 48 days since the Leader of the Opposition last spoke to the mainstream media, 48 days of ducking, dodging and hiding from basic, simple questions.
In fact, the last time the Leader of the Opposition took questions from the mainstream media, he used the exchange as an opportunity to politically profit and fundraise, telling prospective supporters, “We can’t count on the media to communicate our messages to Canadians.”
The same political playbook was used by former president Trump, who bashed and demonized the press with his nonsensical “fake news” narrative and went so far as to state that the press was the enemy of the people. Like former president Trump, the Leader of the Opposition has turned to Twitter and Facebook to sow mistrust in mainstream media and silence critical voices.
Canadians demand and deserve answers from elected officials at all levels. Freedom of the press is critical to a democracy in which the government is transparent and accountable to the people. Without it, our democracy is in trouble.
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- Oct/31/22 2:20:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the $500‑billion inflationary deficit has caused the highest rate of inflation in 40 years.
Canadians are cutting back on food so they can afford groceries, and 35-year-olds are having to live in their parents' basement.
The fiscal update presents an opportunity for the government to reverse the policies that have caused this crisis. Is it not ironic that the only solution to this crisis is for the government to reverse 100% of what it has done for the past seven years?
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- Oct/31/22 2:21:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have a concrete plan to address inflation. It involves reducing child care fees for families, doubling the GST/HST credit, providing an additional one-time $500 payment for housing and providing dental coverage for 500,000 kids.
What is ironic is that when the Conservatives had the opportunity to vote to support Canadians, they voted against it.
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- Oct/31/22 2:21:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, future Liberal leader Mark Carney has said inflation is domestically generated, and so has the Governor of the Bank of Canada. After a half-trillion dollars of inflationary deficits, the finance minister is pretending she believes, like Conservatives, that government spending is driving this crisis in the first place.
Is it not ironic that the solution to the problem the government will have to pursue if it wants to make life more affordable is to do exactly the opposite of what it has been doing for the last seven years?
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- Oct/31/22 2:22:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on inflation, the government is taking concrete steps to reduce child care fees. In my own province, it is over $6,000 on average per family. We are doubling the GST credit, providing a one-time, $500 payment for renters, and 500,000 kids will get the dental coverage they have never had before.
What is ironic in the House is that when the Conservatives had the chance to vote for Canadians, they voted against them. We voted for them.
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- Oct/31/22 2:22:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, none of what the Liberals have done has actually worked. This week, we found out that 20% of Canadians are skipping meals or cutting portions to afford groceries. In fact, 1.5 million Canadians, in one month, have visited a food bank. Speaking of food banks, the one at Jane and Finch actually got kicked out of its location, because the rent doubled.
How much pain will Canadians have to suffer before the government stops its inflationary policies?
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- Oct/31/22 2:23:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we understand that times are tough for Canadians and that is why the government, since entering office in 2015, has lifted two million people out of poverty. We know it is not enough. We know there is more to do.
That begs the question: Why did the Conservatives vote against vulnerable kids who just wanted to get their teeth looked at? Why did they vote against people who need a $500 top-up on their housing? Why did they vote against child care? We know they cannot wait to rip it up. We are always going to stand on the side of Canadians.
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- Oct/31/22 2:23:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, according to a Nanos poll for Bloomberg, the largest share of Canadians in recorded history say they are worse off than a year ago. What did the NDP do as a solution to that? It voted to raise home heating bills. Yes, the NDP, along with its costly coalition partners in the Liberal Party, voted twice to make home heating more expensive by tripling the carbon tax.
The Liberals understand that the purpose of the carbon tax is to make home heating more expensive. Will the Liberals tell the NDP that it is, in fact, the plan?
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- Oct/31/22 2:24:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can tell everyone it is nice to take a question from my friend opposite once again, but as an Atlantic Canadian it really burns me to hear this line of questioning. We are dealing with neighbours who have lost over six figures in corn crops and are trying to feed their cattle. We have seen silos come down. We have seen wharves damaged. We know that when we put a price on pollution, it puts more money in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadian families.
If the Conservatives want to be laggards when it come to climate action, they are free to do so, but they should not be so committed to taking money from my neighbours while they do it.
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- Oct/31/22 2:24:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the carbon tax is not a climate plan. It is a tax plan. The Liberals have not hit a single climate change target since they took office, and now they want to not double down, but triple down on their failure by tripling the carbon tax as we go into winter.
When analysts expect that heating costs will go up more than 100% for families in the member's riding who heat their homes with oil, will the costly coalition, including the NDP, finally reverse itself so Canadians can keep the heat on?
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- Oct/31/22 2:25:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with respect to the allegation that our plan to put a price on pollution is a tax on Canadian households, the member knows it is bogus. Year after year, he has been making this point in the House of Commons and year after year, it is proven to him that Canadians actually receive more of a dividend than they put out on pricing. The reality is that this is one among many measures of our climate plan.
We know it is the right thing to do, and we are seeing it in my community. Right now, it is very clear that the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of taking action. We are going to do the right thing both by the environment and the bottom line of Canadian households.
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- Oct/31/22 2:26:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, the Toronto Star revealed the federal government's health transfer strategy and confirmed our worst fears.
The Prime Minister is refusing to meet with his Quebec and provincial counterparts as long as they continue to unanimously ask for a $28‑billion increase and 6% escalator. He wants to break them. He wants to negotiate one-on-one with the provinces that are likely to give in, to force them to give up on their demand for $28 billion in health transfers and accept his conditions. His strategy is to divide and conquer.
At a time when hospitals are bursting at the seams, why is the government plotting behind the scenes to deprive them of funding?
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- Oct/31/22 2:26:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is talking about divisions, but in fact, we are all united.
My fellow health ministers and I are all ministers of health. We are all working for the same citizens with the same dollars. We will all make investments to support our health workers, who really need help because of their difficult working conditions, among other things. We will take care of all Canadians, no matter where they live in this country.
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- Oct/31/22 2:27:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know why they are plotting, because they were so arrogant as to tell reporters. They are plotting because they want to isolate Quebec. They want to break the provinces and force them to back down and give up on the $28 billion they need for health care. They want to leave them nothing but crumbs.
The goal is to then go to Quebec and say, “Here is the agreement. Take it or leave it”. That is the predatory federalism we know and love.
Are the Liberals aware that that is called blackmail and that sick patients are paying the price for their blackmail?
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- Oct/31/22 2:27:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all agree on the importance of taking action for our workers and the patients who need their help. The Government of Canada has to do its share, which it has done in recent years by investing $72 billion on top of other health care transfers during COVID‑19.
We are also still investing in rapid tests, vaccines, Paxlovid and PPE for all Canadians. That is still happening because COVID‑19 is still happening. We are also investing $2 billion to reduce surgical and diagnostic wait times. I could go on and on.
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- Oct/31/22 2:28:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while CEOs of grocery store chains fill their pockets, ordinary people are being forced to choose between paying rent or buying groceries. One in five people are skipping one meal a day to lower their grocery bill, and demand for food banks is through the roof. That is what it has come to.
The Liberals have allowed corporate greed to force families to make impossible choices. People are hungry, but the CEOs do not care.
In their economic statement, will the Liberals finally make wealthy CEOs pay what they owe to the public, or do they also not care?
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