44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 16, 2023 10:00AM
- May/16/23 2:12:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the current Liberal government continues to play a game of over–under with Canadians.
While the Liberals gamble with our future through overtaxation and overspending, Canadians receive underwhelming results and overwhelming debt. While the Liberals and their elite friends rule over us, Canadians are under the heavy burden of doubling mortgage and rent costs, as well as record-high credit card debt. The Liberals remain above the law, despite scandal after scandal. They tell us what we can own, watch, read, drive, say and even think. Canadians are quickly getting over it, and they are tired of being under it.
Conservatives know how overwhelmed Canadians are and how undermined they feel. The common-sense people of this great country are rising up to take over the people's House and elect a prime minister who can see beyond our perils and speak to our potential. Such a leader will realize that the key to us overcoming the challenges we face is in using what is under our feet, whether that be our oil and gas or the land itself, to produce, grow and develop our path to a more prosperous, secure and self-reliant future.
Let us bring it home and, together, let us get over it.
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- May/16/23 2:13:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, health care and long wait times at emergency rooms are top of mind in Nova Scotia. Investing in physician assistants or PAs is key to reducing wait times in Canada and extending the careers of physicians. However, every year, there are fewer than 70 spots available for close to 3,000 applicants who apply to be PAs.
There is good news. Our federal government has invested over $46 billion in new funding into the Canadian health care system. This historic funding, in partnership with the province, will mean the first-ever PA program in the Atlantic, with 24 new spaces at Dalhousie University. I would like to thank the members of the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants for their advocacy and their important work. I will continue to work alongside them.
Addressing the health care crisis is crucial, but because of transformational investments in our health care system, PAs will increase in Canada and wait times will decrease.
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- May/16/23 2:14:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the 2021 election, New Democrats made a promise to senior citizens that we would fight to implement a national dental care plan, and this year, that promise will be made a reality.
When I went door to door, I met seniors who told me that they could not afford to get their teeth fixed. Dental care is fundamental for health, dignity and well-being. We know that Conservatives will fight us all the way to stop seniors from getting what is rightfully theirs, but we will follow through on our commitments. However, that is just part of the job ahead of us.
Seniors are falling behind. Their pensions are not keeping up with inflation, and the government has created a two-tiered status for senior citizens. New Democrats say that those under age 75 deserve as much support as those over 75. We also need a full overhaul of the pension system, particularly for those who are still working. Conservatives may denounce pension deductions as a tax, but workers fully understand that they are a necessary investment into their retirement future.
New Democrats will always stand up for the dignity and rights of senior citizens.
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- May/16/23 2:15:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, certain artists, certain songs take us back in time, maybe even to our youth. There are even some that bring us back to a specific era, perhaps to an important milestone, for example.
I do not need to sing the following lines; it is enough to recite the following:
Quebec's future will be sound,
if it does let itself get pushed around.
We all know how it goes and immediately want to sing, “Quebeckers, we are Quebeckers”.
This takes me back to the 1970s, to the excitement of René Lévesque's first term in office and the Parti Québécois.
That was François Guy.
Although François Guy embodied a past era of Quebec song, he also embodied its future. François Guy was about the Société pour l'avancement de la chanson d'expression française, or SACEF. He was about mentorship and “Ma première Place des Arts” awards. He was about love for the French language and the desire to see a new generation of artists sing in French.
François Guy passed away on Friday. To his family, to his wife, Isabelle Lajeunesse, to all his loved ones and all Quebeckers, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I extend our deepest condolences.
Thank you for the memories, but, more importantly, thank you for mentoring the François Guys of the future.
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- May/16/23 2:17:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians cannot find much comfort at home lately. Rents and mortgages have doubled, and the out-of-touch, jet-setting, climate-crisis hypocrite is out of the country again.
We will soon have a new Conservative prime minister. He will bring home lower prices by ending inflationary deficits and scrapping the carbon tax on heat, gas and groceries. He will bring home powerful paycheques by lowering taxes and clawbacks to reward work again. He will bring homes workers can afford by firing the gatekeepers and freeing up land to build on. He will bring home safety by ending catch-and-release policies for repeat violent criminals. He will bring home freedom from foreign interference and woke government censorship.
Conservatives will fix what the Liberals have broken. For Canadians' home and our home, let us bring it home.
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- May/16/23 2:18:06 p.m.
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Order. I just want to remind the hon. member that calling others names is not parliamentary behaviour. I just want to remind everyone in the chamber of that.
The hon. member for Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook.
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- May/16/23 2:18:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, veterans and their families deserve a safe and affordable place to call home. That is why I am so pleased that the newly announced veteran homelessness program will provide comprehensive support to veterans experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness.
A total of $79.1 million in funding will be available by way of two streams. One will provide rent supplements and wraparound services, while the other will support research on veteran homelessness and capacity building. Eligible recipients, including veteran-serving organizations, can apply to either or both funding streams through an online portal on the Infrastructure Canada website. Applications are open until June 23, and I encourage all organizations to make an application.
Canada’s veterans have long served and sacrificed for our country, and it is our duty to support them.
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- May/16/23 2:19:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, not long ago, the Prime Minister told us that inflation was falling, and his finance minister said that deficit spending would simply pour gasoline on the inflationary fire.
A few weeks later, however, she did pour $60 billion of new inflationary fuel on the fire in her budget, at an additional cost of $4,200 to each Canadian family. Today we found out that inflation is rising again.
When is the government going to reverse this Prime Minister's inflationary policies?
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- May/16/23 2:20:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the reality is that inflation is going down. Inflation was 8.1% in June and 4.4% in April. That is a big difference.
The Bank of Canada expects inflation to reach 3% this summer and to drop below 3% by the end of the year. As for our economy, our AAA credit rating remains intact.
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- May/16/23 2:20:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, she is the one who said that deficits add to inflation. In fact, she said that inflation and rising interest rates were related to the deficits, the same types of deficits that she was going to introduce a few weeks later in her budget. She added $60 billion of inflationary deficit spending.
In the Prime Minister's city, one in five Montrealers can no longer pay their monthly bills.
Will the Prime Minister finally give Montrealers and Canadians a bit of a break by eliminating these deficits?
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- May/16/23 2:21:41 p.m.
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Once again, the Conservatives do not want to talk about the reality of the Canadian economy.
The reality is that Canada has the strongest economy of all the G7 countries. We also have the strongest fiscal position and the lowest deficit of all the G7 countries.
It is thanks to the work of Canadians that we have a very low level of unemployment. Inflation is dropping—
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- May/16/23 2:22:20 p.m.
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The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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- May/16/23 2:22:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, not long ago, the Prime Minister told us that inflation was falling, and his finance minister said that she would avoid deficit spending because that would simply pour gasoline on the inflationary fire. She did pour $60 billion of new inflationary fuel on the fire; as a result, today we see inflation is rising again, led by higher mortgage payments for the average Canadian.
Will the government stop pouring fuel on the fire so that Canadians could afford to pay their bills?
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- May/16/23 2:22:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yet again, despite the best efforts, which actually are not that good, of the Conservatives to mislead Canadians, the Canadian economy is strong. We have the strongest fiscal position in the G7, and our AAA credit rating was reaffirmed after I tabled the budget.
On inflation, I know that the party opposite does not really know too much about the Bank of Canada, but the Bank of Canada follows CPI-trim and CPI-median; those are the core indicators. CPI-median and CPI-trim went down between March and April.
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- May/16/23 2:23:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, actually, when I said two years ago that deficits would cause inflation, that was controversial. Now, everyone agrees that I was right, including the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who now says that inflation is caused by deficits. The finance minister has agreed that I was right, when she said that deficits pour fuel on the inflationary fire. She poured $60 billion of that fuel. That is $4,200 per family.
Canadians cannot afford to eat, heat their homes or house themselves. Will that minister stop pouring the fuel on the fire so Canadians can again pay their bills?
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- May/16/23 2:24:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have another request: Would that ex-minister stop leading Canadians astray, urging them, recklessly, to invest in crypto? That is an area where we actually really do disagree.
I want to talk about the core inflationary measures that the Bank of Canada follows, which determine the path of interest rates. One of them is CPI-trim. CPI-trim peaked at 5.6% in June of last year. It was 4.4% in March, and fell to—
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- May/16/23 2:25:04 p.m.
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The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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- May/16/23 2:25:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, actually, the Governor of the Bank of Canada said that his measure of inflation is CPI. CPI is up today, even though she said it would be down. It is up, interestingly, after the $60 billion in new spending that she brought in her budget. What is up the most, though, is mortgage payments, and she can tell us why, because she admitted that deficits “make inflation worse and force rates higher for longer.” They force rates higher for longer, and that is why Canadians are paying 28% more in mortgage payments.
Will she get off the backs of Canadian homebuyers so they can put a roof over their head?
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- May/16/23 2:25:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians know better than to listen to the Leader of the Opposition when it comes to money, because he did, after all, urge them to invest in crypto. They know better than to rely on the Leader of the Opposition when it comes to the Bank of Canada, because his answer is to fire the independent Governor of the Bank of Canada. What the Bank of Canada looks at is CPI-trim and CPI-median. CPI-median peaked at 5.2% in June. It was 4.5% in March and went down to 4.2% in April.
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- May/16/23 2:26:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, they called their gimmick the Century Initiative. It does not translate well, and that is by design. They want everyone to become English. They said—
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