44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 21, 2023 10:00AM
- Sep/21/23 2:32:40 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the question was how one loses a million people. How is it that the Prime Minister scoured his entire front bench, and hopefully he even gave a little attention to his beleaguered back bench when he was shuffling the cabinet, and the one guy he could find to fix the doubling of housing costs that he incurred as Prime Minister was the guy who lost a million people, the guy who who will go down in history in the Guinness Book of World Records as having lost more people than have ever been lost in the history of the world? How is it possible they could not find anyone better than that to put in charge of housing?
120 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:33:28 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives stay focused on us, we are going to stay focused on Canadians. While the Leader of the Opposition is making personal attacks, we are going to continue to support the personal lives of Canadians. Whether that is by helping them through tough times like COVID or helping them through difficult times right now with inflation, we are going to continue to be there for Canadians, and that will remain—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
80 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:33:54 p.m.
- Watch
I am having a hard time hearing the hon. minister. Let us try the other end of the list here. The hon. member for Spadina—Fort York, if he does not mind, can give me his question, and then we will come back to the list and see if everything calms down a bit.
The hon. member for Spadina—Fort York.
63 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:34:10 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, on June 9, I asked the government if it was aware of an apartheid era visa process at our high commission in South Africa. The government said it takes racism seriously and has rolled out anti-racism training in visa offices, including in South Africa. However, I recently met with Canadian High Commissioner Chris Cooter in Pretoria and, astoundingly, he said he was not aware of any racism issues.
Who am I to believe, the government, an IRCC committee report that specifically identified mission racism in Africa or an out-of-touch high commissioner?
96 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:34:48 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, clearly our government institutions are subject to systemic racism. We should not deny that. Better than that, we need to act on it. It is why I have instructed my deputy minister to work with her team to make sure that we are addressing racism and systemic racism across the government but particularly in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
If we look at the statistics online with respect to African migration, the statistics have gone up. We need to do better and we need to look at the way we process those things because we need to have a discussion about race in this country.
107 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:35:16 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, it is crystal clear that he is not worth the cost. His deficits are driving up inflation. Even his finance minister knows this. Just one year ago, she said that her goal was to “not pour fuel on the fire of inflation”.
Then what did she do? She grabbed the jerry can and poured $60 billion of new spending on that dumpster fire. The result was higher inflation, which means higher interest rates, which means Canadians will have bigger mortgage payments and may not be able to stay in their homes.
Time is running out. When will the government stop its inflationary deficits so that Canadians can keep a roof over their heads?
124 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:35:56 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, what I heard from Canadians, what every member of our government heard from Canadians, is that they want lower rent and lower grocery and food prices.
Today we introduced legislation that will help do just that. The affordable housing and groceries act will remove the GST from the construction of rental housing in order to build more homes in this country faster. It also strengthens Canada's competition laws in order to help stabilize prices for all Canadians.
We are laser-focused on the needs of Canadians and we are responding substantively. What are the Conservatives doing?
99 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:36:40 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the problem is that their inflationary spending is evaporating any benefit that Canadians might hope for. The Prime Minister admitted in this House that any benefit their programs might have provided Canadians was completely wiped out by higher inflation and higher interest rates.
The former Liberal finance minister knows this. John Manley said, “This is a bit like driving your car with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake generally.... That’s not a good plan for controlling the direction of your vehicle, not a good plan for controlling the direction of the economy either.”
This reckless driving is forcing Canadians out of their homes and pushing food off their table. When will they stop the inflationary deficits so that Canadians can stay in their homes?
135 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:37:25 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, if we want to talk about affordability, just this week, up to $619 has arrived in Canadian families' bank accounts. That is $619 to help with groceries, school supplies and new sneakers. The Canada child benefit has helped lift literally hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. We will continue to do all we can to support Canadian families.
62 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:37:57 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, news reports this morning show that in all of Canada, Quebeckers are struggling with inflation the most. Housing costs have climbed by 16.7%, while mortgage interest costs have jumped by 37% and gasoline by 51.5%.
The Prime Minister seems intent on making things worse with his ongoing inflationary spending and gas tax hikes.
Will the Prime Minister put an end to his inflationary policies to give Quebeckers a break and keep mortgage payments from going up again?
81 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:38:29 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I know why the Conservatives are having a hard time connecting with Quebeckers. Quebeckers simply do not buy their policy of fiscal restraint. The Conservatives want to cut employment insurance, cut seniors' pensions and cut child care subsidies.
We sent $6 billion to the Quebec government for child care, and the Conservatives want to cut that too.
60 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:39:03 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, that is just a load of hogwash. People in Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles understand that being a Liberal is not all it is cracked up to be.
The Bloc Québécois and the Liberals know that the carbon tax is driving up the cost of goods and contributing to inflation. The Bloc members are claiming to be the adults in the room, but do they know that the children of Quebeckers are the ones who will have to pay the price?
As we saw again today in the media, voting for the Bloc Québécois is very costly.
Can the Prime Minister confirm that he does not intend to listen to the Bloc Québécois and that he will abandon his plan to drastically increase the gas tax?
140 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:39:37 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for my colleague from Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
He was talking about today's news. I am sure that he saw the news that we introduced the act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Competition Act, which will do three things for people in his riding. First, we will deal with the issue of competition in Canada, the first reform in decades, which will bring about less consolidation and more competition at lower prices. Second, we will reduce the GST on housing. Third, we will extend loans for small businesses.
When my colleague reads the news, he should read all of it because that will help the people of Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles and Quebec.
128 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:40:15 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister would no doubt have gotten a better reception at the World Petroleum Congress in Alberta than he did at the Climate Ambition Summit in New York. The United Nations Under-Secretary-General introduced him for who he is: the leader of one of the largest expanders of fossil fuels in the world.
Quebec comes across as a hero in the fight against climate change, while Canada comes across as a zero, a climate hypocrite.
When will this government start taking the climate crisis seriously?
89 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:40:53 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.
We are seeing the effects of climate change across the country, and we know that we have to do more. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge an important announcement that the minister made yesterday about methane emissions. He said that Canada will exceed its target of reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 2030.
We are reducing pollution and creating good jobs in a clean economy.
80 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:41:26 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment, Mr. Bay du Nord himself, found a way to be the only person in New York putting Quebec's environmental policies down. Seriously.
If the government had invested as much money in the fight against climate change as it did in Trans Mountain, we might believe it is serious about this. Frankly, it should start throwing more tree seedlings in the ground before it throws Quebec under the bus because Quebec is serious about climate change.
When will this government start being part of the solution, instead of the problem, in the fight against climate change?
102 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:42:03 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the truth is that the Government of Canada has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 62 megatonnes since 2019. That is one-quarter of the target we set for 2030.
Yes, we still have a long way to go. We still have work to do. We will do that work in partnership with Quebec, with the provinces, and with the territories. We will achieve our objectives because we are determined to secure a better future for our children.
80 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:42:34 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned world leaders that humanity is at the “gates of hell”. Meanwhile, big oil defenders like Canada are sitting in the ticket booth, ready to make money.
There is often talk of protecting the environment for future generations, but those days are over. Forest fires, floods, marine heatwaves, biodiversity taking a hit: all that is happening now. We are seeing it every day, around the world. We need to change course now.
What is the government waiting for? When will it take the climate crisis seriously?
98 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:43:13 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.
We are eliminating inefficient fossil fuel subsidies and encouraging smart government investments to increase Canada's competitiveness.
In budget 2023, we also announced our $120‑billion clean economy plan to grow Canada's clean economy and create good-paying jobs.
51 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/21/23 2:43:45 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, a couple from Langley, British Columbia, who were interviewed said their mortgage payments went up $2,700 a month to $6,300 a month. Now the Liberal finance minister is trying to convince Canadians that her plan to bring down inflation is working. It is not. It just went up again.
After eight years, the NDP-Liberal government's spending has driven up inflation, which has driven up mortgage interest costs by 31%. The Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.
When will the Prime Minister stop his inflationary deficit spending so Canadians can keep a roof over their heads?
103 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
