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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 133

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 23, 2022 02:00PM
  • Nov/23/22 2:27:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am regularly briefed by intelligence officials and security experts on threats to Canada and Canadians. Whether it be cyber-threats, whether it be interference with Canadian diaspora communities, whether it be the use of online misinformation or disinformation, there is a range of threats out there that Canadians and Canadian security agencies continue to be vigilant against. We will always be there to protect Canadians.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:27:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what specific interference was the Prime Minister referring to when he raised his “serious concerns around interference” with the Chinese president?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:27:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have known for many years that there are consistent engagements by representatives of the Chinese government in Canadian communities and with local media, as well as reports of illicit Chinese police stations. These are all things that we continue to be concerned about, that our officials stay active on and that we will continue to be vigilant around to keep Canadians safe.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:28:22 p.m.
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The Prime Minister continues to ignore the crisis that Canadian households are about to face with the skyrocketing home heating bills. They are expected to double in many communities. Some households will be stuck paying $5,000 to $6,000 a year, yet he wants to not just maintain but triple his carbon tax on Canadians. He might play a game of delaying the implementation in a few provinces, but why would he not take decisive action to reverse the damage he has caused to all Canadians and all of their homes, by reversing the carbon tax on home heating altogether?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:29:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the price on pollution returns more money to average families across the country than it costs them. It is a way of fighting climate change and putting more money in the pockets of Canadians. That is what Canadians in Atlantic Canada and elsewhere across the country are going to be able to benefit from. As we step up in the fight against climate change, we will be putting more money back in the pockets of Canadians who need it. Conservatives continue to spread misinformation and disinformation on that. We need to continue to be there for Canadians and we will.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:29:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our information comes from the man he appointed as the Parliamentary Budget Officer. That same official calculated that 60% of Canadians will pay more in carbon tax costs than they get back in any rebates. That is even higher in provinces where the federally imposed, but provincially administered, tax does not come with any rebate at all. The Prime Minister wants to go further in increasing the cost to Canadians to drive, to eat and to heat themselves throughout the very cold winter that is just ahead. Will he show some common sense and stop attacking the people on the ground like his minister and reverse the tax?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:30:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians from coast to coast to coast, but particularly in Atlantic Canada, where they saw the devastating impact of hurricane Fiona, know that we have to continue stepping up in our fight against climate change. What we are doing and what we have been doing for years is ensuring that, while we fight climate change, we support families who actually need it. That is why the carbon price actually returns more money to average families than they pay. That was something that was confirmed by the Parliamentary Budget Officer. We will continue to be there to support Canadians while we fight climate change, instead of peddling disinformation like the Conservatives.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:31:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when we ask the Prime Minister about China's interference in 2019 election financing, all he does is bluster. He compares us to Donald Trump, who denies the U.S. presidential results. That is nonsense. There is one person who spoke about the legitimacy of the 2019 federal election and that is the guy who won, the Prime Minister. Chinese interference is a very serious matter. We need to know in order to prevent it from happening again. The Prime Minister must stop posturing. He must tell us which candidates received Chinese funding and, above all, how China went about it.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:31:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the integrity of our elections has not been compromised. In January 2019, we established a non-partisan committee to assess potential threats of election interference, and that committee clearly determined that the integrity of our elections was not compromised in 2019 or 2021. In addition, the Chief Electoral Officer stated yesterday that there was no reason to believe that it was not a free and fair election. Instead of making Canadians needlessly worry, we can all take comfort in the integrity of our electoral system.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:32:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is hard to keep up with the Prime Minister's stance on Chinese interference. In Parliament, he does not consider the issue important enough to give opposition parties serious answers, but at the G20, he was dashing through the halls to go talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping about it. Here in the House, he is not aware of anything, but at the G20, he was aware and concerned enough to discuss it with the Chinese President. That raises a simple question. Does the Prime Minister know all about Chinese interference and is he hiding that information from us, or did he accost Xi Jinping on the basis of a newspaper article alone? Either the Prime Minister is not being straight with us or he is not very savvy. Which is it?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:33:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member from the Bloc Québécois will say just about anything. The reality is that we always take seriously the importance of protecting Canadians from existing interference by different countries. Everyone knows that. However, we can also confirm that in all the security briefings I have had with our intelligence experts and those who monitor our elections, the integrity of our elections has never been an issue.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:33:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government and the Bank of Canada continue to attack high wages as a cause of inflation, when in reality real wages have actually fallen. In fact, workers' share of GDP has also fallen. Do members know what has not fallen? The profits of large corporations. In fact, big grocery stores have seen profits increase by 118.3% since 2019. When will the Prime Minister tackle corporate greed and protect families?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:34:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, building an economy that works for all Canadians has always been at the heart of what we have done as a government. That is why we raised taxes on the 1%, so that we could lower them for the middle class. It is why we introduced the Canada child benefit, which stopped sending child benefit cheques to millionaires and instead sent more money to the families who actually need it. It is also why budget 2022 included a temporary Canada recovery dividend and increased the corporate income tax rate on financial institutions permanently. We are making sure that corporations pay their fair share while we support Canadians.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:34:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister cannot even say the word “profit”, let alone take on the corporate greed of rich corporations. The response of the Bank of Canada so far has been to increase interest rates. That is having a real impact on families, like Lauren Gilbert's family from B.C.. She shares that her mortgage has gone up by $1,000 a month. Many families like hers are hurting. We know the Bank of Canada sets the monetary policy, but the Government of Canada sets the fiscal policy. When will the government tackle inflation so it does not hurt people?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:35:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as a government, we have stepped up to support people who need it the most through the pressures we are facing because of inflation. We doubled the GST credit for six months, which put hundreds of dollars more into the pockets of 11 million households across the country. We are moving forward on a $500 top-up to the Canada housing benefit to make sure that low-income families can pay rent. We are making sure that low-income and middle-income families who cannot afford it can send their kids to the dentist. These are direct and concrete things that are helping Canadians get through these difficult times.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:36:13 p.m.
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Before we go on to the next question, it has been great today, but I hear the odd lone voice. I'm sure that lone voice, whoever it is, does not want me to recognize them and embarrass their riding. The hon. member for Calgary Forest Lawn.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:36:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister blew through a balanced budget left by the Conservatives, spending more than every prime minister before him combined. He is the architect of this inflationary mess. He made home heating bills almost double and is responsible for 1.5 million Canadians visiting food banks in a single month. He left billions of dollars of good energy projects in the ground and killed pipelines. He has missed every emissions reduction target and emissions went up. Whatever the Prime Minister touches he breaks. Will he acknowledge his failed record and stop forcing his failed carbon tax on struggling Canadians?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:37:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, by building an economy that works for all Canadians, we see not only millions of jobs created but also millions of Canadians lifted out of poverty over the past years. Because we stepped up to support small businesses, families, communities, workers, seniors and youth during the pandemic with historic supports, our economy actually bounced back faster than those of many of our allies. We recovered full employment six months before the U.S. did following the pandemic. We are continuing to be able to support families with direct initiatives that the Conservatives are opposing, because that is what we are doing for Canadians.
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  • Nov/23/22 2:37:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is coming from Canada's most notorious high-carbon hypocrite. He calls seniors and people on fixed incomes polluters, while he jet-sets around the world, singing in luxurious hotels and embarrassing Canada on the world stage on the dime of Canadians. There was always a price on pollution. We all pay our gas and electricity bills. What the Prime Minister did was create a scheme to take money from seniors and the most vulnerable to fill up government coffers, all in the name of climate change. Emissions keep going up and the Prime Minister has not hit a single emissions reduction target. I have a simple question. Why do Canadians have to pay for the Prime Minister to pollute?
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  • Nov/23/22 2:38:27 p.m.
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Before the Prime Minister answers, I want to remind the hon. members that I know this is a passionate place, but to please use parliamentary language. Calling each other names is not a good practice to have if we want to have a civilized conversation and debate in the chamber. The right hon. Prime Minister.
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