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May/1/23 6:46:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/1/23 6:46:30 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-47

Pursuant to order made on Thursday, June 23, 2022, the recorded division stands deferred until Tuesday, May 2, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions. The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/1/23 6:46:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I suspect that if you were to canvass the House, you would find unanimous consent to call it 7:00 p.m. so we could begin the late show.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/1/23 6:46:55 p.m.
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Is it agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

May/1/23 6:47:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about the Trudeau Foundation. The Trudeau Foundation is the talk of the town in many ways, so it is important to review what the foundation actually is because the Trudeau Foundation is a curious beast. As far as its structure and its governance goes, it is kind of a chameleon, conveniently identifying as a charity some of the time and as a government institution at other times. Similarly, the Prime Minister identifies as sort of involved and sort of not involved. These blurred lines make the Trudeau Foundation and, through it, the government, highly vulnerable to foreign interference. Let me explain. The Trudeau Foundation was created as a family foundation with a protected role in its governance for members of the Trudeau family. However, the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien, through minister Allan Rock, decided to give the foundation $125 million of taxpayers' money without actually changing the role of the Trudeau family in its governance. It became government-funded and, in law, a government institution, according to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, but it retained a protected role in its governance for members of one family, making it a government-funded government institution, which is also a family foundation with a protected role in its governance for one family. I think that this is incredibly bizarre in a free, democratic and egalitarian nation. Giving members of one family privileged control of a government-funded government institution is not consistent with the idea of a just society. The Trudeau Foundation is controlled by 30 members. Up to four of those members are appointed by the Trudeau family, and six are appointed by the Minister of Industry. In its governance, the Trudeau Foundation directly fuses the intellectual estate of the Trudeau family with the Government of Canada, and that is just wrong. The Prime Minister himself, incredibly, is and remains a member of the Trudeau Foundation. He has professed repeatedly, and seems to want us to take at face value, the claim that he is not involved, not at all involved, in the Trudeau Foundation, that he has not been involved for years. That is wrong. He is involved. He is involved in a number of ways. First, the Prime Minister of Canada is necessarily involved, by virtue of the fact that he appoints the Minister of Industry, who appoints six members. He is involved because his brother is a member of the foundation and his half-sister is on the board of directors, and he is involved because he himself is a member of the foundation. He has not resigned. He remains a member of the foundation. It bears his name. Whether he goes to the meetings, the membership that he retains matters for effective control, should he choose to exercise it at any point. It demonstrates his deep, personal investment in the Trudeau Foundation. The personal investment is precisely why a foreign government has sought to curry favour with him through funnelling money to the Trudeau Foundation. The system is clearly broken and the worn-out talking points the government is using clearly do not hold water. The structure is quite evidently broken, even before we start talking about the issue of what happened in this instance of foreign interference because it is this crude hybrid between a family foundation and a government institution. Its charitable face elicits direct donations from foreign entities, while its government face sits by and smiles. The Prime Minister, known, by the way, for wearing many faces, smiles all the more. Canada Post would not collect money from foreign political parties nor would it allow members of a former prime minister's family to have a locked-in role in its leadership. That is because Canada Post is part of the government. The Canadian Cancer Society would potentially get donations from abroad, but it likely would not be a target for foreign interference because it is not closely tied to the government and does not bear the Prime Minister's name. It is purely a charity. One has roles for a government institution, and one has roles for a charity. The problem is that the Trudeau Foundation is trying to have its cake and eat it too. It is trying to be both. The vulnerabilities are not only obvious, they are built into the structure of this organization, and members of the Trudeau family exploited those vulnerabilities to take the foreign money. After attending a cash-for-access fundraiser with thePrime Minister—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/1/23 6:51:24 p.m.
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The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

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Secretary

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

May/1/23 6:51:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is interesting that the member continues to push this particular envelope. I have actually been very clear, as have the Prime Minister and other ministers. No matter what the member continues to try to propagate to mislead Canadians, at the end of the day, the Prime Minister has had no direct or indirect communications with the Trudeau Foundation for over 10 years. It is actually a very simple truth. One would think that even members of the Conservative Party would understand that truth. I do not want to insult the member across the way. Maybe the Conservatives are just trying to avoid the truth in order to push an envelope that they have been in since 2014. I think that was the year the leader of the Liberal Party was first elected as leader of the Liberal Party. Virtually from day one, the Conservatives have spared no expense in advertising and in research in terms of trying to find ways they could make this personal and make personal attacks against the Prime Minister. Absolutely nothing has changed. All one needs to do is go back to the days when he was the leader of the third party and listen to some of the S. O. 31s back then. At the end of the day, 2015 proved that what the member just finished saying was wrong and Canadians did not believe the Conservative Party. The Conservatives have never changed the channel. There are so many issues that Canadians are facing today. Instead of dealing with those issues, the Conservative Party continues to use character assassination and attack the Prime Minister. Today, the Conservatives get a kick out of the name of the foundation. We have non-profit foundations that do a lot of wonderful things, including the Trudeau Foundation. The questions the member wants to ask or Conservatives want to ask would be better put to the foundation itself, which is independent, just like many other foundations out there. However, this does not meet the Conservatives' cause. In a tin hat sense, they say there is this and that and who cares if it is true or not. It does not have to be true to be put on the Conservative agenda. They just grab from all over the place, put it together and say there is this huge conspiracy. The reality is that it is very clear. The Prime Minister, over the last 10 years, has had no direct or indirect connection or communication with the Trudeau Foundation. No matter how the Conservatives try to spin conspiracy theories over there, it does not change the facts. The members across the way know the facts, but their approach is not to let the facts get in the way. Their job is to be critical of the person and the family, and that is what the Conservatives have been focused on since before the 2015 election, and it is still the case—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/1/23 6:55:28 p.m.
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The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis

May/1/23 6:55:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, very simply, I laid out, in my previous comments, the governance of the foundation and the problems with it, the way the governance of the foundation integrates government with control by the Trudeau family of this public institution. The member opposite asks why we do not take his word for it that the Prime Minister has not been involved and is not involved. Does he know why I do not take his word for it? It is because I read the annual report. It is not a conspiracy. It is not off somewhere on a web forum; it is in the annual report. Any member of the public watching can go to the annual report and look at who the members of the foundation are. They will see the name of the current Prime Minister listed in the annual report as a member of the foundation. He retains his position, which he has never resigned from, as do multiple other members of his family. They are members or members of the board of directors. This is the governing structure of this institution. The Prime Minister's Minister of Industry appoints six members. He is clearly involved.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/1/23 6:56:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is interesting. I would wonder if the member opposite would walk outside the chamber. Inside the chamber, he has parliamentary privilege. He can say what he wants to say inside here, almost without any limitations. Outside the chamber, would he entertain going out there and having a press conference and saying that the Prime Minister has been directly involved with the Trudeau Foundation? My bet is that he would not go out and say that because if he were to go outside and have a press conference and make the allegation that the Prime Minister does have direct communication with the Trudeau Foundation, he might find himself in a bit of hot water. There is a bit more expectation that if one is outside they have to be a bit more truthful than they are on the inside at times if one is a Conservative member of Parliament.

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

May/1/23 6:57:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the fact is that promises matter. It is why a few weeks ago I asked the Prime Minister about an important promise made last April, just over a year ago now, that would have helped address the housing crisis. I should pause to talk about that crisis that we are in the midst of. It is one that has led to the unsheltered population in my community more than tripling since 2018. It is also why we are seeing house prices across Kitchener and Waterloo now being eight times the median family income, whereas back in 2005 it was only three times as much. The fact is that house prices have gone up 275% and wages have not only not kept pace, but they are not even close; wages have gone up 42%. We can look at the fact that for every one new affordable unit being created across the country, we are seeing 15 affordable private units being lost. Obviously, those investments are not adding up, so here is that promise from budget 2022, released last April. It said: ...that the government will engage with provinces and territories over the next year to develop and implement a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights and bring forward a national plan to end blind bidding. Among other things, the Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights could also include ensuring a legal right to a home inspection and ensuring transparency on the history of sales prices on title searches. These are good and important measures. The right to a home inspection, for example, would help protect buyers and give them assurance before making a purchase at a time when multiple bids are coming in and many are getting squeezed out; and eliminating blind bidding would help ensure that others know the other bids that are being made and would help reduce the inflated prices when homes sell; and yet, it has been silence over an entire year until budget 2023. Here is what was promised in budget 2023 this past April: “The government is also working with provinces and territories on the development of a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights,...”. Therefore, a whole year has passed and what do we have to show for it? We have actually gone backwards. We have lost the commitment to blind bidding being eliminated altogether; that is just gone. We have also lost a commitment for a date to actually do anything. This is at a time when other levels of government are moving with urgency. Here is what the office of the federal housing advocate had to say in assessing the last budget. She said: The newly unveiled Federal Budget is a sorry disappointment. It completely misses the mark on addressing the most pressing housing crisis this country has ever seen. When I asked the Prime Minister when this promise would be fulfilled, he went on to tell me how great the promise is. Well, it is not good enough. We are in a crisis. It is one that is affecting neighbours of mine and, in fact, defining my community today and into the future. Therefore, tonight I would like to hear from the parliamentary secretary. In light of not having any commitment for a timeline for action being taken and the fact that it is now removed from this budget, will the parliamentary secretary answer my question and tell us when the federal government intends on actually introducing and moving forward with the homebuyers' bill of rights?

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Ms. Soraya Martinez Ferrada (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion (Housing), Lib.)

May/1/23 7:01:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our government recognizes that escalating house prices are hurting young Canadians who are trying to purchase their first home. This is not only threatening their dreams of home ownership but also creating wealth inequity between older and younger generations. That is why we announced numerous initiatives over the past few budgets that would help first-time buyers. This includes the homebuyers' bill of rights, which will tackle unfair practices in the real estate market. It will also include measures to ensure the right to inspection and transparency in sales history. At the same time, we have enacted important legislation to temporarily ban foreign investment in Canadian housing. The Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act came into effect on January 1. It will ensure that housing in Canada is owned by Canadians, for the benefit of everyone who lives in this country. We are cracking down on house flipping by ensuring that profits from property held for less than 12 months are fully taxed. Starting in 2023, with certain exceptions for unexpected life events, this measure will ensure that investors who flip homes pay their fair share; this will play a role in lowering house prices for Canadians. We have also set up a first-time homebuyer tax-free savings account to the tune of $40,000. Like an RRSP, it is tax-deductible, and when used to buy a first home, it will be non-taxable, like a TFSA. I also want to be clear on what we are not going to do. We are not going to be like the Conservative Party, which wants the federal government to do less on housing and hope that things will magically get better. We are not going to cut back housing funding for our most vulnerable people, as certain members across the way are suggesting we do. We are not going to download the responsibility for housing on provinces and municipalities, as the former housing critic, the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, has suggested. We are not going to do any of these things; rather, we are going to roll up our sleeves and do more to continue to help Canadians all across the country. We are going to keep making key investments into housing so we can get more supply built, which is something our country desperately needs. We will partner with provinces and cities. That is why we are launching our housing accelerator fund. This fund will help cities and towns clear up backlogs at the municipal level so that we can get more shovels in the ground more quickly, get more supply built and see lasting system changes that will continue to allow more supply to be built as our country grows. I only have time to touch on a few measures that our government is taking to make housing more affordable. We believe that everybody deserves a roof over their head that is affordable and shows respect for their dignity. This is what the government is doing every day.

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Mr. Mike Morrice

May/1/23 7:05:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is the second time I hear talking points about what the Conservative Party would do. I have less trust in that party doing more. However, that is not the question I am asking. The bill does nothing for neighbours of mine who are living unsheltered. I am asking whether the government is going to follow through on the important promises that are being made in the midst of a housing crisis. Yes, I am aware of what the homebuyers' bill of rights says. That is why I was asking about it. I appreciate the work the parliamentary secretary is doing to move further and faster. The homebuyers' bill of rights is one of many measures we need to make progress on the crisis we are in. Would she share specifically when it is going to be introduced?

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Ms. Soraya Martinez Ferrada

May/1/23 7:06:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for his advocacy. We want to make sure, as he does, that everybody in this country has a home and that it is affordable. As for his question, I would gladly sit down with him to talk about all the measures this government is doing, in particular, on the homelessness front, the homebuyer front and the foreign ban. I think all these measures at some point will help address the shortage of affordable housing we have in this country.

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Mrs. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, CPC)

May/1/23 7:06:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, last month I asked if the Liberals would freeze their inflation-fuelling plan to hike the carbon tax. The parliamentary secretary responded by talking about dentistry. As the wife of a dentist, I can say with some certainty that our teeth are not causing climate change. The Liberals are even claiming that carbon is not the real culprit. According to the socialist alliance, the real villain was capitalism all along, and not just capitalism. Apparently, climate change is also caused by individual liberty and too much democracy. In typical Liberal fashion, the government hired far left consultants to hold focus groups with far left public health workers to discuss climate change. If there were any small-l liberals left in that party, they would have denounced this report as ridiculous and apologize to taxpayers for wasting our money. They might protest that this report they published does not reflect their views, but that is hard to square with the Prime Minister's publicly stated views about admiring authoritarian China. Every Canadian was given a full display of the Prime Minister's contempt for democracy when he assaulted two members on the floor of the old chamber. At that time, the Prime Minister was impatient with the NDP delaying the votes. The Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act when he grew impatient with people protesting his government. Now that this socialist coalition has deluded itself into believing that climate change is an existential threat requiring emergency action, what extraordinary actions is it willing to take? According to these public health experts, the plan is clear. They would like to replace our Liberal democracy with a socialist technocracy. These self-anointed experts will guide society to a green utopia. Some Liberals might hear that and roll their eyes. That is because they have not read the report, or worse, they share the Prime Minister's ridiculous cliched thinking. The Prime Minister said he admired the Communists' ability to implement environmental policies on a whim. What the Prime Minister forgets, or what he never bothered to learn, is the environmental track record of socialists and authoritarian nations. The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in a massive reduction in CO2 emissions. It was Russia's demand to maintain a Soviet-sized carbon quota that killed any chances of reaching an effective international agreement in the 1990s, yet the Prime Minister looks at Communists building a new coal plant every month and decides Canada needs more of that. I know why the government would rather talk about dentists than carbon taxes. We got the government's answer on April 1. The carbon tax went up, and it will keep going up until this costly coalition is defeated.

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Mr. Terry Beech (Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

May/1/23 7:10:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think the Standing Orders are quite clear that speeches during late shows are supposed to address specific questions. There was some content that addressed the question, but to be clear, what we are discussing tonight is climate change, affordability and a question with regard to the strike of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which I am very happy to share has reached a tentative agreement at the bargaining table. Getting to the topic at hand, climate change is one of the most pressing issues we face today, and I am honestly disappointed that the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke and her Conservative caucus still refuse to support meaningful action to address it. While the economic impacts of climate change are daunting, so is the prospect of missing out on the immense opportunity the net-zero economy will provide. Over the coming decades, countries around the world will demand trillions of dollars' worth of net-zero solutions. We need to make sure that Canada maintains and strengthens our global leadership in this space. Our pollution pricing system actually incentivizes the creation of new sustainable technologies and services while creating sustainable high-paying jobs, all while decreasing carbon emissions. I will remind the member opposite that she actually ran on a platform that supported pricing pollution. It is interesting to see her completely change her position. It was not because the facts have changed; if anything, the case has become a lot stronger. It changed simply because she wants to please her ideological leader. Also, I would like to remind my colleague that our pollution pricing system is putting more money back in the pockets of those in Canadian households. The member knows that eight out of 10 households are actually better off with carbon pricing, and the remaining 20% are among our nation's highest-earning individuals. If my colleague really supported making life more affordable, she would support pricing pollution and our affordability package. Our solutions are in stark contrast to those of the Conservatives, whose best ideas so far are to ignore climate change, raid the pension benefits of seniors and underfund our employment insurance system. While inflation is global, it has gone down in Canada now for nine straight months. It is 4.3% today and is forecast to reduce further by summer. We know that the best way to fight the effects of inflation on affordability is for Canadians to have good-paying jobs. The good news is that a record number of Canadians are working. In fact, 865,000 new jobs have been created since the start of the pandemic, and Canada continues to enjoy historically low unemployment. At the same time, we have created the best economic growth in the G7 alongside the lowest deficit and net debt-to-GDP ratio. This fiscal advantage is what allows us to invest in making life more affordable. Prior to budget 2023, our affordability plan provided up to $12.1 billion in new supports to Canadians who needed them the most. We have put forward solutions, such as permanently eliminating interest on federal student loans, introducing dental care, and creating the Canada child benefit and our Canada-wide early learning and child care program. These are meaningful solutions that have helped make life more affordable for Canadians. I honestly think this place works best when we are coming together and finding solutions, so I would like to conclude by taking the opportunity to thank the member opposite for her support and her caucus's support of the grocery benefit. This particular benefit is a $2.5-billion investment that will help make life more affordable for 11 million Canadians and over 50% of our seniors. I think if we work together, we can come up with even more ideas to make life more affordable and grow an economy that works for everybody.

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Mrs. Cheryl Gallant

May/1/23 7:13:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberal-NDP socialist alliance is spreading misinformation and disinformation. They claim Canadians receive more in climate bribes than they pay in carbon taxes. That is false. They claim a higher carbon tax will stop hurricanes. That is false. They claim the carbon tax is market-based. That is false. They claim billions in subsidies is good for the economy. That is false. They claim they will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30% by 2030. They claim they will cut nitrogen by 30% by 2030. They claim they will protect 30% of the land by 2030. They claim 30% of cars must be EVs by 2030. This socialist coalition does not have policies; it has slogans. The latest Liberal talking point is to claim the Conservatives have no plans. That is more disinformation. If they really believed that, they would call an election and let Canadians decide which team has the best plan for a brighter future.

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Mr. Terry Beech

May/1/23 7:14:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we had an election, and in that election the member opposite supported pricing carbon pollution. That is exactly what happened. That is a fact that anybody watching at home can look up. Canadians can count on our government to continue supporting those who need it most while carefully managing our finances and protecting our environment. We have a responsible plan, and we are doing our part to make sure we bring down global inflation in Canada. In fact, inflation has come down every month for the last nine months and is forecast to be back within the target band later this year. Despite these global challenges, we have continued to deliver for Canadians in the areas of affordability, child care and health care, and in transitioning to a sustainable economy with good, high-paying jobs. We have done this while maintaining our AAA credit rating and the best fiscal framework in the G7. We just came off a year with the best economic growth.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/1/23 7:15:38 p.m.
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The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1). (The House adjourned at 7:15 p.m.)

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