44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 18, 2023 02:00PM
- Oct/18/23 3:13:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as everyone knows, the Conservatives always claim to have the strongest economic record and want to lecture us on the economy. The reality is that the last time they were in power, not only did they burn through the budgets left behind by the Liberals, but they also managed to never balance the budget, despite all their cuts to pensions, employment insurance, border security, the army, federal prisons, science and research.
On this side of the House, we support economic growth. The Conservatives may be good with an axe, but they are not so good with a calculator.
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- Oct/18/23 3:14:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, city of Toronto housing advocates have warned that unhoused people will die as the weather gets colder. Toronto's shelter system, the largest in Canada, is beyond capacity. Hundreds of people are being turned away every day, including refugees and asylum seekers. Successive Liberal and Conservative governments have walked away from housing and left the city scrambling to house people in need. Toronto is pleading for support.
Will the Liberals step up to provide the funding required to the city of Toronto so no one has to sleep or die on the streets this winter?
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- Oct/18/23 3:15:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have worked with the member for a number of years now, and I do not doubt for a moment her commitment to housing. She knows, because she voted for it, that we doubled the funding for homelessness through the reaching home initiative, and Toronto has received $290 million to combat homelessness.
We will continue to work with not-for-profit organizations that are on the ground doing the vital work to get people off the streets and providing them with the wraparound supports they need to make a transition toward something better.
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- Oct/18/23 3:15:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, homelessness in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody is up by 86%. Community leaders from the Tri-Cities Homelessness & Housing Task Group are calling for political courage. I agree. People being unable to find a home is past the point of a crisis, and with colder weather on its way, action is needed, but the Liberals are out of touch, and their lack of concern is appalling.
What are the Liberals going to do to get people into affordable homes before the winter?
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- Oct/18/23 3:16:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the current government was the first government in Canadian history to recognize that there is a human right to housing.
We continue to act in that vein through the national housing strategy, a strategy that has resulted in 70,000 people being taken off the street; 122,000 who were very close to being homeless are no longer in that position. Because of the vital supports they have been given, they are now housed.
We will continue to do everything we can, and we embrace partnership through working with provinces, municipalities and, I emphasize, not-for-profit organizations, which are key to all this.
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Mr. Speaker, our government is focused on helping Atlantic Canada drive the tremendous economic opportunities that exist for clean energy in our region.
That is exactly why we advanced Bill C-49, in close partnership with Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. We also have a mutual goal of getting off coal-fired electricity while expanding clean energy grids. Premiers Higgs and Houston were both in Ottawa this week to talk about their provincial plans to do just that.
Could the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources explain how our government is working in co-operation with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to support that crucial transition while being mindful of affordability?
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his continued advocacy for Atlantic Canadians. He and his Atlantic Liberal colleagues stood up against the Conservatives who opposed Bill C-49. This includes Conservative members from Atlantic Canada whose communities would benefit from the good, sustainable jobs and economic opportunities this bill would bring.
This week, Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick agreed to advance collaboration and progress on delivering clean, affordable and reliable electricity while phasing out coal by 2030, driving to a net-zero electricity grid by 2035. This would fight climate change and create good jobs and economic opportunity across Atlantic Canada.
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- Oct/18/23 3:18:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the State Department updated their travel advisory to Lebanon to the highest level, advising all U.S. citizens of the following: “Do Not travel to Lebanon.”
However, the Liberal government's overall travel advisory for Lebanon advises Canadian citizens to “Avoid non-essential travel”, which is not the highest level.
Why is the Liberal government always a dollar short and a day late when it comes to protecting the safety and security of Canadians overseas?
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- Oct/18/23 3:19:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would disagree with the hon. member. We are never late protecting Canadians. We will always stand up for the security and safety of Canadians here in Canada and abroad.
As the Speaker knows, yesterday the minister indicated that Canadians in Lebanon should make plans to leave. We are aware that the situation could be volatile there, and we want to make sure Canadians are safe. She has advised Canadians to leave the area.
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- Oct/18/23 3:19:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government has been late. It was late in the fall of Kabul in August 2021.
Has the government not learned the lessons of 2006 and 2021 of Beirut and Kabul? Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, there has been an outbreak of protests and violence targeting western interests and western missions.
Will the government clearly communicate to Canadians the information necessary to ensure their safety and inform Canadians about security threats they are facing in the region in a timely manner?
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- Oct/18/23 3:20:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have and we will continue to.
These decisions are made by officials on the best advice. We will continue, as we always do, to ensure that Canadians are safe when they are abroad.
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- Oct/18/23 3:20:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of bad policy, this government continues to fuel inflation with uncontrolled spending. Today, we learned that Quebec has won Canada's inflation game for the fourth month in a row.
Groceries, housing, gasoline, everything costs more, courtesy of the Liberals, backed by the Bloc Québécois. Experts are not expecting things to return to normal anytime soon.
Can this government finally offer Quebeckers concrete solutions, put an end to out-of-control spending and abolish the carbon tax?
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- Oct/18/23 3:21:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it always surprises me when Quebec Conservatives talk about the carbon tax because the federal carbon tax does not apply in Quebec, which is a leader in action against climate change. We do not want the Conservatives to set us back. We do not want to stop taking action to protect our environment in Quebec. The Conservatives are completely out of touch.
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- Oct/18/23 3:22:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, eight years of Liberal inflationary policies have driven Quebeckers further into debt. Young people fear they will never be able to buy a house. Some are even experiencing financial anxiety. Despite that, the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois are adding a second carbon tax. We can never say it enough: It is costly to vote for the Bloc Québécois. My question is simple. Will the Prime Minister scrap his inflationary carbon tax?
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- Oct/18/23 3:22:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague talks about making cuts, but where does she want to make these cuts? Is it in housing? Is there too much money in housing? Is it in pensions? Do the Conservatives think that our seniors are getting too much money? Do the Conservatives think that we should not get involved in dental care? Is it in child care? Should we not be there to help our families?
Maybe culture is the target. They are so good at that, they spent their time making cuts in culture. Where do they want to make cuts? Let them show some backbone and tell us where they want to make cuts.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals committed a serious injustice when they created two classes of seniors by refusing to increase the old age pension for seniors 65 to 74. Today, they have an historic opportunity to correct this injustice that they created. They can ensure that every senior is treated fairly in light of the spike in the cost of living and the economic uncertainty.
Will they support the Bloc Québécois's Bill C‑319 and end the two classes of seniors by increasing the pension for all seniors 65 and over?
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- Oct/18/23 3:24:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have made a lot of progress to help seniors. These efforts have helped reduce poverty among people 65 and over. We restored the age of retirement to 65. We increased the guaranteed income supplement despite constant opposition from the Bloc Québécois. Yes, we have increased old age security for the most vulnerable seniors.
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Mr. Speaker, that is not good enough. If seniors were satisfied with the federal government, groups representing them such as AREQ, the Association québécoise des retraité(e)s des secteurs public et parapublic, the Association féministe d'éducation et d'action sociale and the Table de concertation des aînés du Québec would not be on the Hill today. They are here to ask the government to support Bill C‑319. Seniors themselves are the ones telling us that Bill C‑319 will make a difference in their lives. They are the ones saying that only a fair pension increase for all seniors will get them out of their precarious situation. That is what seniors expect from the Liberals.
Will they finally listen and support Bill C‑319?
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- Oct/18/23 3:25:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have restored the retirement age from 67 to 65. We increased the guaranteed income supplement, despite opposition from the Bloc Québécois. We increased pensions for the most vulnerable seniors, who are more likely to live with disabilities and require health care.
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- Oct/18/23 3:26:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today, this House will vote on whether to protect the mentally ill against assisted suicide, but yesterday the justice minister falsely claimed that euthanizing vulnerable Canadians was good public policy and the only way to comply with Canadian law. Meanwhile, we are hearing more and more reports of Canadians crying out for help and being offered assisted suicide instead. Is this the sorry state of our mental health system? Millions of Canadians oppose the government's fascination with assisted death.
Will the government now bring a full stop to this madness?
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