44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 7, 2023 02:00PM
- Jun/7/23 2:27:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over the past few months, I have talked to many Canadians who shared with me their concerns about the cost of living, global inflation and the current economic situation.
Obviously, the Bank of Canada continues to do its job, but we will also continue to do ours with non-inflationary measures that will provide targeted assistance to Canadian families. Whether it is help with dental care for children, help for low-income workers or help with the grocery rebate, we will be there.
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- Jun/7/23 2:28:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadians are going through tough times. That is why our government is there to invest to help Canadians in a targeted, non-inflationary way.
The Conservative Party wants us to provide less assistance to low-income Canadians, less help for dental care for families who need it, and less help for day care for families with young children.
We will continue to be there to help people through these tough times, because that is our job.
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- Jun/7/23 2:30:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the Bank of Canada continues to do its job to drive down inflation, which is going down, we will continue to do our job to be there to support Canadians who need it. We are making investments in things like dental care, a grocery rebate and supports for low-income renters. These are the kinds of things that Conservatives would be cutting instead.
Canadians are hurting, and the Conservatives' answer is cuts to programs, cuts to supports for families and cuts to Canadians at a time when they need it. Austerity is not the answer, and a responsible fiscal approach is. That is exactly what we are doing by supporting Canadians who need it.
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- Jun/7/23 2:31:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has the best debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. We have the lowest deficit in the G7, but the Leader of the Opposition wants us to do far less to support Canadians who need it right now. That is exactly backwards. His pursuit of ideological gains is hurting Canadians.
We are going to continue to be there in responsible, targeted ways, keeping our fiscal responsibility at the centre of what we do, while we support Canadians in targeted, noninflationary ways. That is what Canadians need right now.
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- Jun/7/23 2:33:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us use a specific example of what the Leader of the Opposition calls inflationary spending. We made a decision that kids under 12 in this country should not have to pay for dental care. Their families should be able to send them to the dentist. Conservative politicians, who all have access to dental care through the House of Commons supports for their kids, do not think that Canadians who cannot afford to send their kids to the dentist should be doing that, and they say that is inflationary. That approach around cuts and austerity is not what Canadians need.
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- Jun/7/23 2:34:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all know that the leader of the Bloc Québécois is not going to accept my answer as an answer to his question.
However, he has the opportunity to see the answers for himself. He has the opportunity to accept a briefing from our security and intelligence agencies, who will clarify the basis of the findings in the former governor general's report.
Like the leader of the Conservative Party, the leader of the Bloc refuses to accept these top secret briefings that would allow him to understand the underpinnings of our concerns.
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- Jun/7/23 2:36:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc just said that he refuses to see in secret what should be public.
I completely understand that he is committed to his role in opposition and that he never expects to govern. However, as a leader and parliamentarian, he should understand that his responsibility to serve Canadians well comes with the opportunity, and even the duty, to dig deeper into the facts, something the public cannot do.
When it comes to national security, there are reasons why we must be discrete with the facts. He can be apprised of them.
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- Jun/7/23 2:37:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree completely. The irony is not lost on me that today is Clean Air Day in our country. These forest fires are worse than the ones in previous years, but they are not the worst we will ever see. In the years to come, the situation will only deteriorate.
Here in this House, however, the Conservative Party is still debating whether we should fight climate change at all instead of debating how we will fight climate change.
Our government is going to keep fighting climate change and protecting Canadians.
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- Jun/7/23 2:38:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, not only are we the government that has done more to fight climate change than any previous government in history, but independent expert evaluators judged our environmental plan in the last election as being significantly stronger than even the NDP's environmental plan. Unfortunately, we are caught in a debate where Conservatives are still arguing about whether or not we should be fighting climate change, instead of contributing to a debate around how best to fight climate change.
We have put forward a price on pollution that is changing corporate behaviour and driving down emissions. The Conservatives stand against it, but they do not have anything to offer.
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- Jun/7/23 2:40:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me quote what was said of the former governor general:
I think we're dealing with a very credible individual, and I think that that distant history bears little relevance to the fact that he has a very distinguished career. If we're suggesting just because at some point in history he was appointed by a former Conservative prime minister that he should be disqualified from participating in public life, I think that is a little bit extreme. This is a very qualified individual, and frankly, I haven't heard anybody question his integrity, and I have no reason to do so.
That was the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Carleton.
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- Jun/7/23 2:41:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree entirely with the member opposite that this is a very serious situation we are facing. Unfortunately, the leader of the Conservative Party is not taking this seriously. The Conservatives are looking for occasions to make personal attacks and toxic partisan attacks instead of actually looking at the question of foreign interference at the level of responsibility necessary. If the Leader of the Opposition were serious about that, he would accept the top secret briefings from our intelligence agencies that explain the underpinnings of the conclusions in the Johnston report, and he would be able to weigh in responsibly.
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- Jun/7/23 2:42:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that evidence is available to the Leader of the Opposition if only he were to accept a top secret briefing. He prefers to refuse it so he can continue his baseless personal attacks against an eminent Canadian.
Further than that, it is a panel of expert public service officials who determined, both in 2019 and in 2021, that election integrity held, a mechanism that this government put in place that previous governments never bothered with. That is how we know the integrity of the elections in 2019 and 2021 held.
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- Jun/7/23 2:43:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, these are the conclusions of the top public officials who had the task, during the 2021 and 2019 elections, to monitor the foreign interference that has been going on in this country for years and years, against which the former minister of elections for the Conservatives, the current leader, did nothing.
We established a protocol whereby the integrity of those elections was evaluated and reported on. That integrity held. If the Conservatives think the integrity of the elections did not hold in 2019 or 2021, let them say so.
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- Jun/7/23 2:45:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all the Conservative Party wants to do is make personal attacks against the former governor general, who was chosen by Stephen Harper himself.
The Conservatives want to make partisan and political attacks to try and score points. However, the reality is that if they wanted to take the issue of interference seriously, which everyone should, they would agree to the top secret briefing that was offered to the Leader of the Opposition so that he could get to the bottom of what happened and understand why the former governor general reached these conclusions.
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- Jun/7/23 2:46:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the newspapers recently explained, the best way to disrupt an investigation is to discredit the investigators. That is what the opposition party is trying to do.
The Conservatives did not write that playbook. They took it straight from Donald Trump. They are attacking the investigators because they do not want to talk about the serious findings of this report and investigation.
We should all expect the opposition party to take this seriously.
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- Jun/7/23 2:48:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all know that the primary targets of Chinese interference are always the communities of the diaspora. That is why we are so adamant in our defence of these communities and we are including them in the decisions we are making.
I look forward to the former governor general doing his tour this summer to speak with these communities and to make recommendations to the government on the best way to continue to protect them.
Unfortunately, we have seen a rise in intolerance and racism since the pandemic. That is why we will continue to be there for these vulnerable persons.
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- Jun/7/23 2:49:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member knows very well that there are elements of national security that cannot be shared with the public. That is the reality of the world we live in. There are people, members of our armed forces and CSIS, who put their lives in danger to uncover the secrets of other countries and countries that wish us harm.
We offered top secret information to the leader of the Bloc Québécois so he could better understand what we cannot share in public, and he has refused and is choosing ignorance rather than the facts.
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- Jun/7/23 2:51:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I believe this is the first time we have heard the Leader of the Opposition even indirectly criticize provincial governments that are racking up significant spending, which is inflationary. On the federal side, we have been very cautious about targeting the measures so they are not contributing to inflation, even as we continue to support Canadians, families, seniors and workers with measures that, on top of that, the Leader of the Opposition is excited about filibustering and blocking tonight.
We are going to be there to help low-income workers, despite the Conservatives' political games.
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- Jun/7/23 2:52:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bank of Canada is acting to bring down inflation, and it is working. Our inflation is coming down. At the same time, our job as a government is to be there to support Canadians, supports for families and supports for kids who need dental care. We will be there for supports for Canadians who are struggling right now. The Conservative approach is to cut programs, to cut supports for Canadians. At the same time, we are standing up to help Canadians through this difficult time and out the other side.
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- Jun/7/23 2:53:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at least the Leader of the Opposition is consistent in not letting facts get in the way of a good political argument. Whether it is on climate change, foreign interference or the Bank of Canada and inflation, he is continuing to fearmonger. He is continuing to amplify erroneous fears that Canadians have while we are delivering supports in a targeted way.
We have the lowest deficit of any G7 country. We have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of any G7 country. We are continuing to be there for Canadians in a non-inflationary way that is targeted and right.
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