SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 129 - Nov/17/22

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.)

Nov/17/22 2:37:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member calls reckless spending is what we used to support Canadians during their time of need. We have helped nine million Canadians keep food on the table through the pandemic. We have helped millions of Canadians remain on the payroll with the Canada emergency wage subsidy and helped hundreds of thousands of Canadian businesses keep their doors open. Now the Conservatives continue to argue in the House that this spring we should undermine the integrity—

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Context: House Hansard - 129 - Nov/17/22

Hon. Sean Fraser

Nov/17/22 2:38:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the Conservatives have a very difficult time with hard truths. Canadians need support. It is our government that has been here to support them since 2015, and it is our government that will be here to support them going forward. What the Conservatives call reckless spending are the supports we extended to keep nine million Canadian households fed, to keep millions of workers on the payroll, and to make sure small businesses could keep their doors open. Now they are arguing in this chamber that this spring we should undermine the integrity of the EI system and the Canada pension plan. It is ridiculous that they pretend to be heroes for the working class. They jeer because they know it is true, and they cannot handle the truth in this instance.

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Context: House Hansard - 129 - Nov/17/22

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.)

Nov/17/22 2:52:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Richmond Centre, who put together a round table with employers in his community when I had the chance to visit him. They told us very clearly that employers needed access to labour if they were going to meet the needs of their clients and customers. I am pleased to share with the House that yesterday a new national occupation classification system was put in place that will allow 16 new occupations to take part in federal immigration streams. They include nurse aids and orderlies, truck drivers and others in the transportation sector, heavy equipment operators, chefs and many more. We are going to continue to advance measures to bring workers into jobs so we can grow our economy and support communities.

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Context: House Hansard - 129 - Nov/17/22

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.)

Nov/17/22 2:56:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if people actually tune into this place over a couple of months, they will realize that the economic argument the Conservatives have been making is self-defeating. On the one hand, the Conservatives say that people are in need of more help and at every opportunity they oppose measures that will give more help to people. From the very beginning of my time in office in 2015, they have opposed measures that actually deliver cash supports to households. The Conservatives opposed the tax cut for the middle class. They opposed investments in the Canada child benefit. They are now arguing against protecting the Canada pension plan and strengthening EI. During the pandemic, the Conservatives did not just oppose some of our measures, their new leader held a press conference to say that he would not support big fat government programs that kept my neighbours fed and a roof over their heads.

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