44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 19, 2023 10:00AM
- Sep/19/23 2:17:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the game of hockey has lost a true stalwart. Brian O'Neill served 52 years with the National Hockey League, nearly all of those as executive vice-president.
Hired by Clarence Campbell in 1966, he oversaw the 1967 expansion, supervised the draft, managed scheduling and was the league's disciplinarian. During his tenure, 6,595 players played in the NHL in a total of 52,092 games. In 1994, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category.
Brian O'Neill's leadership was rooted in his integrity, humanity and good humour. To quote NHL historian Dave Stubbs, he was as “honest as a rink is long, and as playful as a game of shinny.”
Commissioner Gary Bettman has spoken of Brian's elegance, grace, dignity, meticulous attention to detail and important counsel.
To Brian's wife of 68 years, Jean, and children Sean, Darcy, Nancy, Patrick and Sandy, we offer our condolences.
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- Sep/19/23 2:19:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the inflation rate is accelerating again, proving that after eight years in office, this Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.
Inflation is higher in Canada than it is in the United States or Japan. The cost of everything is rising, even though the Prime Minister and his ministers announced that inflation was going to fall.
The reality is that these rising costs are the result of an inflationary deficit that the government racked up five months ago. That money is now circulating in the economy and inflating prices. We can even hear apocalyptic music in the background.
When is he finally going to balance the budget to lower inflation and interest rates?
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- Sep/19/23 2:19:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadians are struggling. That is why we are there to help them by lowering the cost of day care and child care and by sending them a grocery rebate this summer.
Maybe the Conservatives would have cut these investments and supports, but we will continue to be there for Canadians as we manage our finances responsibly, with the lowest deficit and best debt-to-GDP ratio of any G7 country.
We will continue to support Canadians and grow the economy.
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- Sep/19/23 2:20:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, three years ago, I warned this Prime Minister that printing money and doubling the national debt would cause inflation. He refused to admit it. Now it has become a reality.
Five months ago, I warned him that an inflationary deficit would cause the problem we are experiencing today. In fact, even the Minister of Finance said that deficits add fuel to the fire of inflation. Then she added $60 billion of fuel to the fire of inflation.
When will they balance the budget to reduce inflation?
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- Sep/19/23 2:21:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what the opposition leader is saying is that he would not have sent the grocery rebate to 11 million Canadians. He would not have invested in dental care for low- and modest-income Canadians who do not have access to dental care for their children. He certainly would not have cut child care fees in half. He would not have been there for Canadians in these tough times.
We did that by carefully managing the deficit and our public finances in order to lower inflation, but also—
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- Sep/19/23 2:22:02 p.m.
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The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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- Sep/19/23 2:22:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today's accelerating inflation rate proves that after eight years, the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost. After he and his ministers pumped their fists in the air and declared victory over inflation, it has now gone up 43% in two months. Through all categories, it is higher in Canada than it is in the United States and Japan. Worse, it may force the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates again, causing Canadian households, which are the most indebted in the G7, to go bankrupt.
Will he balance the budget to bring down inflation and rates before that nightmare unfolds?
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- Sep/19/23 2:22:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over the past year, we have demonstrated that we were able to bring down inflation from the highs of 8.1%, while at the same time being there to invest in Canadians.
What the Leader of the Opposition is saying is that he would not have been there to help 11 million Canadians with the grocery rebate. He would not have been there to help Canadians with dental care for kids whose families cannot send them to the dentist. He certainly would not have been there to cut child care fees in half right across the country, on the way to $10 a day.
Those are measures that have helped Canadians while maintaining fiscal responsibility and seeing—
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- Sep/19/23 2:23:25 p.m.
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The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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- Sep/19/23 2:23:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, doubling the debt on Canadians is not fiscal responsibility, and forcing Canadians to live in tents is not compassion. That is the reality.
After eight years of the Prime Minister, life is miserable, especially for the poorest among us. His solution is to make everything cost even more. Inflation is now accelerating. He has not brought it down. He stacked 4% inflation on top of the previous 8% inflation, which means Canadians cannot eat, heat or house themselves.
Will he reverse his disastrous policies so Canadians can pay their bills?
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- Sep/19/23 2:24:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the Leader of the Opposition continues to talk down Canadians, talk down the Canadian economy and say that everything is broken, we are getting to work helping Canadians through this difficult time.
We are eliminating GST on construction of new apartment buildings to make sure that people can get rentals, and we are encouraging all provinces to do the same. A number of provinces have stepped up, which is going to make housing more accessible for millions of Canadians.
We are also moving forward on extending the repayment deadline for CEBA loans to help small businesses. We are working directly with grocery chains to stabilize food prices.
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- Sep/19/23 2:24:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, one of the ways that the Prime Minister doubled housing costs was by flooding the economy with $600 billion of newly created cash, which bid up the price of homes and forced Canadians to overpay. Then many bought at rock-bottom low rates because he promised that they would never go up. His inflationary deficits pushed them up, and now one-fifth of all Canadians are actually unable to pay the interest on their mortgages. Their mortgages are growing in size and when they renew, it will be on a bigger principal at a higher rate.
How many Canadians will go bankrupt? Will we have a mortgage crisis when that happens, yes or no?
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- Sep/19/23 2:25:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadians are struggling right now. I heard from a mom from Oakville who actually said that her mortgage costs went up the same amount as her child care costs came down. Thank God they cancelled each other out, but people should be doing better than that. That is why we are going to continue to be there for Canadians.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Sep/19/23 2:25:52 p.m.
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Order, please. Are we ready to continue?
The right hon. Prime Minister, please continue.
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- Sep/19/23 2:26:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, every now and then the Conservatives show their true colours and react over the top, not just with rhetoric but in attacks on things like child care, which we know they disagree with. We know they do not agree with making child care more affordable, and every now and then they show it.
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- Sep/19/23 2:26:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the midst of a housing crisis, $900 million earmarked for housing in Quebec is being held hostage in Ottawa's coffers. Why? The reason is that this Prime Minister says that he will not give Quebec the money unless he can impose conditions on it.
Simply put, the only thing the Prime Minister should be asking Quebec is into which account he should transfer the money. We are in a crisis and the Prime Minister is delaying $900 million in housing starts. I am appealing to his sense of responsibility.
Will he finally transfer the money?
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- Sep/19/23 2:27:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are well aware that everyone has a responsibility in addressing the housing crisis. The federal government has an important role to play, as do the provincial and municipal governments.
We implemented a $4-billion plan to encourage municipalities to speed up the construction of housing in Canada. Right now, we are working with the Government of Quebec to figure out the best way to get this money to the municipalities so that housing can be built, just as we are doing across the country.
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- Sep/19/23 2:28:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find it very difficult to understand why this has not been resolved yet. With the exception of Quebeckers who are struggling to find housing, no one needs good news about housing nearly as much as this Prime Minister does. It would be a win-win, especially for him.
He has $900 million worth of good news on his hands, yet he is the one who is dawdling.
What is he waiting for? He should pay out the money and finally make an announcement that is good for Quebeckers.
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- Sep/19/23 2:28:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we look forward to being able to send this $900 million to municipalities in Quebec, but everyone knows full well that we have to work with the Quebec government to ensure that this money is appropriately allocated to the municipalities.
We are working in good faith. I can confirm that this $900 million is there for municipalities in Quebec, and we are very eager to send it to them.
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- Sep/19/23 2:29:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians have been struggling with food prices for almost two years now. Here is a classic Liberal response. They asked the CEOs of the big grocery stores to come to Ottawa, to nicely ask them to stabilize the prices, not to bring them down but to stabilize them.
All the while, the Liberals do not want Canadians to know that they met with the grocery lobbyists over 57 times in the past two years. They had 57 opportunities to ask them to lower the prices, but did not.
Why should Canadians trust this “could have, should have” Prime Minister now?
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