44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 14, 2022 02:00PM
- Dec/14/22 2:24:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I join all my colleagues in wishing everyone a merry Christmas. We recognize that the holiday season will be difficult for many Canadians with the cost of living tied to global inflation. Times are tough. That is why we have been there to invest in families by doubling the GST credit, providing assistance for dental care for children who did not have access to it, providing assistance for low-income renters and cutting child care costs in half. We will continue to be there for Canadians this year, next year and in the future.
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- Dec/14/22 2:26:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians are facing difficult times, but we also know Canadians continue to step up for each other. That is why this government has continued to move forward with direct supports for Canadians, whether it was doubling the GST credit for six months, which gave hundreds of dollars more in the pockets of 11 million families, or whether it was moving forward on rental supports and dental support for low-income Canadians.
These are things the Conservative Party voted against, but we are delivering $1,300 over the next two years for families to help with bills on dental. We are delivering $500 on rental. We are going to continue to deliver for Canadians through this tough time.
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- Dec/14/22 2:27:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians will remember that when we hit the challenge of the pandemic, we needed to be there for each other. The government made the decision to move quickly to support Canadians, to support families, to support workers, to support seniors, to support youth and to move forward on supporting small businesses.
This was not only so that people could get through the pandemic and the health crisis that it was, but also so we could weather the economic storm that came with it. That is exactly what we did, and we saw our economy come back faster than most of our fellow economies around the world.
We are going to continue to support Canadians and make those investments that keep a better future.
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- Dec/14/22 2:28:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians, like the Canadians in Mississauga—Lakeshore, recognize the rhetoric from the Leader of the Opposition for what it is. The Conservatives are proposing cuts in Canadian pensions, proposing cuts for EI and proposing to do less for Canadians who need it. They voted against supports to make sure that families could send their kids to the dentist this year and next.
These are the kinds of things the Conservatives continue to propose in their “cuts and austerity” approach. On this side of the aisle, we will continue to be there to support Canadians who need it, because that is who are we are as Canadians. We support each other.
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- Dec/14/22 2:29:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the carbon price in Atlantic Canada does not kick in until the spring, so it will not cost them any more this winter. If he had actually paid attention, instead of sharing disinformation with Canadians, he would know that.
The reality is that we are delivering a price on pollution that makes sure we are not only protecting our future against climate change but we are also putting more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians to support them through this transition. That is what a price on pollution does. That is what it will continue to do. It will support Canadians while we fight climate change.
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- Dec/14/22 2:31:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no other prime minister in our country's history has met with the provincial premiers to discuss a health crisis more than I have.
I will continue to meet with the premiers regularly. I am looking forward to sitting down with the Premier of Quebec in a few days to talk about Quebeckers' concerns and discuss how we can continue to work together. We know that our health care systems need improvement. The federal government will be there to support the provinces while they make those improvements. We know how important this is to families across the country.
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- Dec/14/22 2:32:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know how much Canadians need improvements to our health care services. Too many people do not have access to family doctors. Too many people have to wait months, even years, for appointments for their mental health emergencies. People continue to wait on waiting lists for far too long.
The federal government has invested an additional $72 billion in health care systems in recent years, and we will be there to invest more money. Quebeckers and all Canadians know that it does not just take money, it takes results, and that is what we are working on with the provinces.
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- Dec/14/22 2:33:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have all heard from across the country how Canadians need access to family doctors, how Canadians need access to better mental health services more quickly and how Canadians need to see shortened wait times and an end to surgery backlogs. That is exactly what we are committed to.
We have been working with the provinces. Our health minister has been directly engaged with his counterparts over the past many months to ensure that, as we invest more in health care across this country, we are delivering results and outcomes that Canadians can count on.
That is what Canadians want. That is what we are going to be delivering.
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- Dec/14/22 2:36:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we demonstrated through the depths of the pandemic, the federal government is going to step up and is going to continue to step up to support Canadians and to support the essential frontline workers. While all of us take a little time away from our work with our families and communities, they are going to continue to work long hours in hospitals and in seniors care homes. We are going to continue to work with the provinces in terms of making sure that wages are raised for our frontline workers.
The federal government will be there to do its part. We need to make sure we are recognizing those people who are heroes day in and day out and who care for our most vulnerable.
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Mr. Speaker, we made a commitment to Canadians a number of years ago to ban assault-style weapons from this country. There is no place for guns designed to kill the largest number of people as quickly as possible in this country. That is why we are moving forward with an amendment that ensures assault-style weapons are banned not only in the past, not only in the present but also in the future.
We are going to carefully work with hunters, farmers, caucus members and all parliamentarians from rural areas to ensure we get that list right. All Canadians want to see less gun violence in this country, and that is what we are going to deliver.
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Mr. Speaker, we have heard clear concerns from first nations, Métis and Inuit partners. Our intent with this legislation is to target guns designed for the battlefield and not the ones commonly used for hunting. As I have mentioned, the Minister of Public Safety is taking the time to get this right, and that means consulting with partners to make sure we are not capturing weapons we should not be.
Part of that process is showing up to meet with indigenous leaders. That is something the leader of the official opposition failed to do last week when he had an opportunity to sit down with AFN chiefs.
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Mr. Speaker, the government that the Leader of the Opposition was a part of, before we took office in 2015, cut close to a billion dollars from our border services and police services across the country.
We, on the contrary, have been investing to restore that funding, even as we move forward with close to a billion dollars for keeping our communities safer. We also have invested massively in our border protection. We ensured, for example, that last year we were able to collect double the number of illegal firearms trying to cross our borders than the year before.
We will continue to protect our borders. We will continue to protect Canadians. We will continue to move on gun control.
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Mr. Speaker, the last Conservative government, of which its leader was a key part, slashed nearly a billion dollars from our police and our borders. We are building back that capacity. We have invested nearly a billion dollars to end gun violence and keep guns out of the hands of criminals since 2018 alone. That includes another $137 million for the CBSA in the fall economic statement to fight gun smuggling and trafficking, and it is working.
We doubled the number of guns interdicted at the border last year, as compared to the year before.
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- Dec/14/22 2:43:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times, this is absolutely unacceptable. Veterans Affairs Canada is taking serious measures to ensure not only that this never happens again but that any Veterans Affairs officers who have been making those recommendations irresponsibly, and on their own, no longer are in a position to make those.
I will highlight that we have invested over $10 billion in support for our veterans after 10 years of the previous Conservative government nickel-and-diming them and using them for photo ops. We will continue to support our veterans and respect the work they have done.
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- Dec/14/22 2:45:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, even one would be too many. That is why we condemn, in the strongest terms, anyone who has recommended that to our veterans. Our veterans have lived a life of service and deserve the utmost quality of care from our governments. That is why we invested $10 billion after the previous government chose to shutter Veterans Affairs offices across the country and nickel and dime veterans every chance it could get.
We respect our veterans, which is why we are taking seriously the reports that this unacceptable behaviour happened within Veterans Affairs. Our veterans deserve the very best and that is what we will continue to give them.
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Mr. Speaker, we are the first federal government to recognize that we have a responsibility to protect French across Canada, including Quebec. Protecting French across Canada is also one of our responsibilities. That is why we introduced measures through Bill C-13 that will ensure that federally regulated businesses in Quebec and across the country promote the use of French. That is a way of ensuring that we remain a country where French is spoken proudly from coast to coast to coast.
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Mr. Speaker, for several years now we have recognized that the federal government has a role to play in protecting the French language in Quebec. Yes, the Government of Quebec has its own responsibility, but the federal government does too. We will always respect the areas of jurisdiction.
That is why we are ensuring that federally regulated businesses respect the principle of French first in Quebec, as well as in all the french-speaking communities across the country.
That is one way to protect French from coast to coast to coast and we are proud of that.
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- Dec/14/22 2:49:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to encouraging the provinces to make improvements in health care, we are doing more than just encouraging them. We are saying that we will flow significantly more money to the health care systems across the country if they can ensure better results for Canadians, if they can ensure better outcomes and if they can ensure that health human resources take advantage of the thousands of people who come here from around the world wanting to work and build a better life in this country, including in our medical system.
We are serious about improving results for Canadians in health care systems across the country, and that is what we are standing firm on with the provinces.
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- Dec/14/22 2:50:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to getting provinces to speed up the recognition of credentials, I will highlight that it is an NDP government in British Columbia that has just taken significant measures to do that. If the member opposite thinks he can convince his fellow Conservatives, who happen to be premiers of some provinces, to accelerate those processes, it would be a welcomed change from the kind of obstructionism and two-tier health care that the Conservatives continue to push.
We are going to continue to stand with Canadians to ensure that we are improving and increasing opportunities for Canadians to get good health care and opportunities for new arrivals to work in the industries in which they are trained.
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- Dec/14/22 2:51:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, foreign actors attempting to monitor, intimidate or threaten Canadians is completely unacceptable. The allegations detailed are concerning, which is why we will never tolerate threats to Canada's national security or to the safety of our citizens and residents.
The RCMP has announced that it is investigating these allegations, and I have asked officials to examine them very carefully. We will continue to work closely with our allies around the world to respond to illegal and unacceptable behaviour by authoritarian states like China.
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