44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 25, 2023 02:00PM
- Oct/25/23 2:28:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will answer that question in a moment.
I want to begin by sharing a few thoughts about Senator Shugart.
It is with incredible sadness that I rise in this place to mourn the loss of our friend and fellow parliamentarian, Senator Ian Shugart.
Senator Shugart spent his entire career in the service of others and his contributions have been invaluable.
He was an incredible clerk to the current government, and I know he was also a valuable deputy minister to the Leader of the Opposition when he was in government.
I offer my deepest condolences to his family, his friends, his Senate colleagues and his former public service colleagues.
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- Oct/25/23 2:29:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, Ian Shugart was my deputy minister. He was a brilliant public servant, serving both political parties and serving Canadians in the Senate. All of us mourn with his family at the tragic loss of this great Canadian public servant.
I want to quote Food Banks Canada, which said, “Rates of food insecurity in Canada—the number of people living in households struggling to afford food due to lack of money—have increased to the highest levels on record.”
This is happening after eight years of this Prime Minister's inflationary taxes and deficits. Why does the Prime Minister want to deprive Canadians of food just so he can increase taxes at the expense of Canadians and families?
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- Oct/25/23 2:30:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, over the years, we have helped lift 500,000 children out of poverty with the Canada child benefit, a measure that the Conservatives campaigned against. We have helped people create economic opportunities.
We know that people are struggling right now. That is why we are stepping up to help them with measures like $10-a-day child care, dental care for children and even more family allowance cheques. The Conservative Party opposed all of those measures.
We will continue to be there to help families in these difficult times. We will continue to invest in them and help them rather than making cuts like the Conservative Party is proposing.
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- Oct/25/23 2:31:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there he goes telling Canadians they have never had it so good when, after eight years, he is not worth the cost of food.
According to the HungerCount by Food Banks Canada, “the number of people living in households struggling to afford food due to lack of money” has “increased to the highest levels on record.” There is a record-smashing two million visits to Canadian food banks in a month, and his plan is to quadruple the carbon tax on the farmers and the truckers who bring us our food.
How many Canadians have to go hungry or homeless before he axes this terrible tax?
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- Oct/25/23 2:32:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadians are struggling with the costs of food and groceries and housing. That is why we continue to step up to support them with measures like $10-a-day child care, dental care for children and child benefit cheques, all measures that the Conservative Party has stood against.
We will continue to help Canadians. We will continue our work to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty and to lift over a million Canadians out of poverty. However, there is much more to do, and we will keep doing it instead of giving in to the Conservatives' demands for more cuts, cuts to services for Canadians and cuts to supports that people rely on.
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- Oct/25/23 2:32:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, actually, Canadians are making cuts to their food. They are cutting back on their standard of living after eight years under the Prime Minister, who is not worth the cost. I will go back to that nightmarish report from Food Banks Canada, where one Nova Scotian reported to researchers, “Seniors are having trouble with home heating and many times have to choose between food and heating.” With heating bills coming up again soon and a cold winter expected, Nova Scotians will have to pay his carbon tax, which he plans to quadruple.
How many Nova Scotia seniors will have to go homeless or hungry in order to pay for his massive carbon tax hike?
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- Oct/25/23 2:33:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member actually cared about seniors, he would not have been part of the government that raised the retirement age, driving seniors further into poverty. We brought it back to 65. We continued to step up with supports for seniors, and we are going to continue to stand to defend their pensions as well. While his Conservative colleagues are attacking the CPP, he has finally realized that perhaps the CPP is a good thing and has come out in defence of it. This is after a decade of attacking seniors and their pensions, of attacking the CPP. We are going to continue unequivocally to stand to support seniors right across the country, unlike the Leader of the Opposition.
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- Oct/25/23 2:34:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, not only have we always defended the CPP, but the number of seniors requiring food banks was also drastically lower when we were in government. Let me quote a British Columbian, who reported the following in the Food Banks Canada report: “The cost of housing is indescribable. Many of our users are paying 50% of their annual income in rent, providing they can find accommodations.” This is the housing hell the Prime Minister and the NDP have caused after eight years.
Will he realize that we do not need more photo ops and we do not need more bureaucracy? Instead, we need more homes.
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- Oct/25/23 2:35:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the Leader of the Opposition has put forward no plan for housing, he lacks credibility on this issue. We are taking bold action to get more affordable homes built. Indeed, just today, the Minister of Housing is in British Columbia, in Kelowna, for our most recent housing accelerator announcement. This will streamline building permits and allow for high-density housing near public transit, spurring the construction of up to 20,000 new housing units over the next decade in Kelowna. We are also working with Kelowna to make city-owned lands available for housing, in partnership with non-profits, and we look forward to signing more agreements right across the country, delivering for Canadians on housing.
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- Oct/25/23 2:35:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday the National Assembly of Quebec unanimously passed a motion asserting the economic viability of a possible sovereign Quebec, another in a series of unanimous motions that speak for all of Quebec.
Regardless of his personal preference, does the Prime Minister recognize Quebec's ability to succeed economically as an independent country?
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- Oct/25/23 2:36:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois's attempts to reignite a debate on federal-provincial bickering continue to boggle my mind. The reality is that, of course, Quebeckers are a proud people from a proud nation ready to build a better future, but they know very well that their brightest future is within Canada.
That is why, as the Canadian government, we are here to invest in things like the Réseau express métropolitain de Montréal, Northvolt, Davie and the lithium mines, all hand in hand with the Quebec government to build a better future for all Quebeckers and all Canadians.
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- Oct/25/23 2:37:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec has heard the “we want change” rhetoric before. However, I would remind the Prime Minister, who claims to speak for the masses, that everyone, including the Premier of Quebec, voted in favour of the motion saying that Quebec is capable.
I am not asking if that is what he wants. I am not asking if he knows how to count. I am asking him if he agrees with the statement that Quebec is capable of being an economically sovereign country. That is all.
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- Oct/25/23 2:38:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over the past few years, I have been very pleased to make announcements alongside Premier Legault, during which we have talked a lot about the importance of reducing the wealth gap between Quebec and the other provinces. That is because we know that Quebec is capable of doing more, and we know that Quebec is poised for economic growth.
We are here to help and support people. Canada is here to capitalize on the economic growth and leadership that Quebeckers are capable of and that they demonstrate every day. We will continue to work hand in hand with Quebeckers to build a prosperous future for all.
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- Oct/25/23 2:38:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, two million Canadians had to use the food bank in one month alone. This is the direct result of Liberals and Conservatives who continue to distract from what is going on. The real reason for what is causing this, as Canadians knew really well when they were asked the question, is greedy CEOs.
Why will the Prime Minister not understand what Canadians already do?
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- Oct/25/23 2:39:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we understand and we see first-hand how Canadians are struggling with the cost of food, groceries and housing. That is why we are taking concrete actions to support them through this, whether it be with the grocery rebate, whether it be with $10-a-day child care, whether it be with dental care that is going to support young children, whether it be with the initiatives we are taking across this country to create good jobs and economic growth, whether it be with the GST rebate cheques, or whether it be with the climate action rebate that is putting money in people's pockets right across the country.
We are going to continue to be there for Canadians, as we have been in years past, as we lifted hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty and as we lifted over a million Canadians out of poverty.
We know that there is more work to do, and we are going to continue to do it.
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- Oct/25/23 2:40:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while Liberals and Conservatives continue to distract, Canadians know that corporate greed is driving up the cost of food.
Two million Canadians used food banks in a single month while large corporations showed profits of almost $4 billion.
When the Conservatives and Liberals have a choice, they always side with CEOs over Canadians. That is why we forced the CEOs to come back before the committee to answer questions that the Conservatives and Liberals refuse to ask.
Will the Prime Minister admit that their approach is a failure?
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Mr. Speaker, our goal is to make life more affordable and ensure that companies pay their share.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry met with the CEOs of the big grocery chains and of domestic and international food producers to clearly explain the need for a more affordable grocery basket and improved competition.
I hope that all members will join us in expediting the passage of Bill C‑56 on affordable housing and groceries to improve competition in the food sector, among others.
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- Oct/25/23 2:41:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is like a parallel universe every time the NDP leader stands up, attacks the very government he is a part of and laments how miserable life is for Canadians. This is after two years of his being part of voting for quadrupling the carbon tax, driving up inflationary deficits and, of course, driving two million people to the food banks in a single month. He blames greed for all this hunger.
He is right. It is the greed of Liberal and NDP politicians who keep taking more and more from Canadians.
Will they reverse these disastrous policies?
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- Oct/25/23 2:42:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all of us in the House see how Canadians are struggling. We just have different responses to it.
The Conservative Party is proposing cuts to government services, cuts to investments that are going to support seniors and cuts to investments that are going to support families, whether dental care or child care.
The Conservative Party thinks one can cut one's way to prosperity, when the reality is that our investments in child care, in dental care, in supports for seniors and in supports for students have actually helped Canadians through some difficult times. We will continue to be there for them into the coming years.
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- Oct/25/23 2:42:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he is not being there for Canadians. He is taking money out of their pockets. If members do not believe me, they can listen to the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who today said, “government spending will be adding to demand more than supply is growing. And in an environment where we’re trying to moderate spending and get inflation down, that’s not helpful”. That adds to the voice of former Liberal finance minister John Manley, who has accused the Prime Minister of pressing on the inflationary gas pedal.
Will the Prime Minister tell us if he agrees with the bank governor that his government spending is not helpful for inflation?
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