44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 6, 2023 11:00AM
- Nov/6/23 2:24:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me tell members who is missing in action when it comes to protecting Canadians and their affordability, and I am talking about the affordability of life for our seniors. It is the Conservative leader. It took him 29 days to speak up for the Canada pension plan, but none of us should have been surprised because last year, he sought to eviscerate that plan, which is so important to every single Canadian, by seeking to freeze contributions.
We cannot trust Conservatives with our pensions or anything else.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, TVA had to lay off a third of its employees. That means that 547 people who work in Quebec television are losing their jobs just like that. This is a disaster. If it happened at TVA, it is going to happen elsewhere too. This is definitely going to happen again. We will not turn a blind eye and say that the new Broadcasting Act or Bill C‑18 is going to fix everything.
The question is simple. Will the government stand by while our television slowly dies or will it review everything to save conventional television?
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- Nov/6/23 2:26:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by saying that my thoughts are with the workers and their families who are affected by this terrible news as the holiday season approaches.
We know that the media has been in crisis for over a decade. Unfortunately, the world of telecommunications and the world of journalism in general have been undergoing major changes since the advent of digital platforms. Obviously, we will continue to work with our Bloc Québécois and NDP colleagues to do everything we can to address this issue because journalism is our cultural industry. It is essential for our democracy and our society.
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- Nov/6/23 2:26:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our television is the medium through which information is shared with the people. It is the medium through which our culture is shared. Our television reminds us who we are, what we can create and what makes us unique, things that the streaming services of this world like YouTube, Netflix and Disney+ will never be able to do. Our television is produced by us and for us. It is in grave danger. As we watch it slowly fade to black, we are waiting for Ottawa to wake up. Time is running out.
What will it take for the government to wake up?
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- Nov/6/23 2:27:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's concerns.
That is why we first introduced a bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act in 2020. Unfortunately, since 2020, the Conservatives have been obstructing efforts to modernize our audiovisual landscape and news media. Still today, they continue to say that we want to censor Canadians when we really want to promote quality journalism across the country and a creative industry that is vital to our democracy and all of society.
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- Nov/6/23 2:28:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for three decades, Liberals and Conservatives relied on the private market, and now the average rent for a one-bedroom is $2,500 a month. The government's own housing advocate is calling for more community housing that fits people's budgets, and the Bank of Canada says that investing in social housing would not be inflationary.
The Conservative leader is calling investment in social housing a “Soviet-style takeover”. He is in it for wealthy investors.
The Liberals are failing Canadians. Will the Prime Minister stop siding with Conservatives and commit to doubling Canada's social housing stock?
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- Nov/6/23 2:28:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with my colleague about the Conservative leader's rhetoric about “Soviet-style” housing to describe co-operatives. It mirrors the same approach he took over the course of the summer when he labelled a Niagara woman's home a “shack”. Dismissing the living quarters of ordinary Canadians is entirely inappropriate.
I further agree with the NDP member that we need to continue to make the kinds of investments that will build more social housing for low-income families. We got back into this game with the national housing strategy after 30 years of absence. We are going to continue to build more homes so that everyone can afford a roof over their head.
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Mr. Speaker, people in Newfoundland and Labrador could certainly use some help when it comes to their costs, with 77% saying that they are living paycheque to paycheque, but we continue to get answers that are not a commitment to doubling that social housing stock or to recapitalizing funds that the government has already created to build social housing.
Even when it does not cost money, the government will not lift a finger. We stood by as we watched the Competition Bureau fight tooth and nail against the Rogers-Shaw merger. The government turned around and approved it. It now has a chance to support our initiative to strengthen the Competition Act. Will it do it?
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and members of the House will have an opportunity to do something for Canadians. I have asked the Leader of the Opposition to do one thing for Canadians, which is something that he does not do very often, but that one thing is to vote for Bill C-56. Canadians will be happy to learn that Bill C-56 would reform competition by giving more power to the competition commissioner, removing the mergers that are harmful to competition and removing the clauses that are hurting competition.
We want more competition and lower prices in this country.
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- Nov/6/23 2:30:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the NDP voted 16 times in favour of the carbon tax. Its leader has supported quadrupling the tax on the home heating of every single Canadian, but after working-class union households have been abandoning his party for the Conservatives in droves, he has now flip-flopped. That has involved the courage of admitting that he was wrong.
Will the Prime Minister show the same courage and admit that he, just like the NDP leader, is dead wrong and vote for our common-sense motion to keep the heat on and take the tax off?
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- Nov/6/23 2:31:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find it helpful to deal with the people who are closest to the problem. In Atlantic Canada, the Ecology Action Centre is based in Halifax, and it released a statement that I think is prescient to the debate going on here. It says:
Energy poverty and climate change represent a direct threat to working-class people in Nova Scotia. As a society, we must work together to ensure households with low incomes can transition away from expensive fossil fuels to technologies like heat pumps that are cheaper, better for our health and afford us the comforts associated with heating and cooling. Policy-makers are finally rising to meet the challenge.
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- Nov/6/23 2:32:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost. Now he wants to quadruple the tax on home heating, gas and groceries. He has now decided to pause the pain for the 3% of families in the areas he is plummeting in the polls and his MPs are revolting.
The Liberal rural economic development minister said that, if people in the Prairies wanted a break from the carbon tax exemption, they should have elected more Liberal MPs. The people in Sudbury did elect a Liberal. I visited there last week and people there want to know why their MP has been unable to get them a pause on the pain.
I have a simple question for the Prime Minister: Will he allow a free vote for the member for Sudbury on our motion to take the tax off and keep the heat on?
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- Nov/6/23 2:33:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to Canadians that people are serious in bringing forward policy prescriptions, not simply tag lines.
We have put into place measures that will address a critical affordability issue. Home heating oil is two to four times as expensive as natural gas. It went up 75% during 2022.
There is an opportunity to reduce the energy cost for people on an ongoing basis, all while addressing the issue of climate change, something that the Leader of the Opposition clearly does not believe in. It is something that is important for Canada. It is important for the 270,000 Ontario homes that currently heat with heating oil.
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- Nov/6/23 2:33:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, they are in complete carbon tax chaos over there. Their pause on the pain does not apply to 97% of Canadians, and it punishes those who use cleaner Canadian natural gas or propane to heat their homes. What did the Liberal rural affairs minister have to say? She said that, if people in other areas want the pause too, they should elect Liberals. The people in North Bay did elect a Liberal MP.
Again, I ask this of the Prime Minister: Will he allow a free vote so the member for North Bay can vote on our motion to take the tax off and keep the heat on?
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- Nov/6/23 2:34:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said last week, it would be great if, in the House, we could have debates about how we fight climate change, not whether we fight climate change, because in 2023 it is really not an option. It is an existential threat, and we are living in a climate emergency.
Canadians know how important it is to fight climate change, and they know that on this point, the Conservatives have absolutely no plan. When one does not have a plan for the environment, one does not have a plan for the economy. Conservatives continue to be risky and irresponsible, and they are certainly not worth that risk.
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- Nov/6/23 2:35:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, the Prime Minister's carbon tax is making it impossible for Canadians to heat their homes this winter. That is especially true right here in soon-to-be-frigid Ottawa. There are 12 Liberal MPs here, a cabinet minister, three privy councillors and four parliamentary secretaries, but, according to the minister from Newfoundland, all of these MPs were not effective enough to get their communities a pause on the pain of the carbon tax.
Will Liberals make things right and stand with us today to axe the tax, or will they vote again with the Prime Minister and leave Ottawa residents in the cold?
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- Nov/6/23 2:36:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there was a time when Canadian Progressive Conservative voters could rely on members of the Conservative caucus for leadership on fighting climate change. In fact, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills staked his entire Conservative leadership campaign on it. He said, “The right way to do it is to price carbon through a revenue-neutral carbon tax”. He staked his entire Conservative leadership campaign on that. Sadly, he lost.
However, I agree with him saying, “If we don’t have a [plan] to reduce emissions, we cannot win the next election.” That was true in 2019. It was true in 2021, and it is true today.
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- Nov/6/23 2:36:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister can pause the pain for some Canadians, then surely he can do it for all Canadians. The Liberal MPs should be demanding that, but they are missing in action, just like the MIA Liberals from the GTA such as that member. Their communities want relief from this costly coalition, but they have been hiding for a week, so I will give them the chance to show up now.
Will the Prime Minister allow the members whose phone numbers start with 905 a free vote to take the tax off so their communities can keep the heat on?
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- Nov/6/23 2:37:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what my hon. colleagues continue to forget is that this policy applies right across the country. Whether people are in the GTA, northern Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or anywhere else in this country, the price on pollution has been removed for those who use home heating oil.
It would be good if the Conservatives actually focused on the facts and allowed us to debate climate change and how we are going to fight it, not if climate change is real or not.
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- Nov/6/23 2:38:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is planning to quadruple the tax on heat, gas and groceries, but he decided to pause the pain for the 3% of families in areas where he is plummeting in the polls and his MPs are revolting. The Liberal rural affairs minister said that, if others wanted the pause, then they should have voted Liberal. People in Nickel Belt voted for a Liberal MP, yet they are not seeing a pause in this tax.
Will the Prime Minister today allow the MP for Nickel Belt a free vote to vote with Conservatives to take the tax off and keep the heat on for people in northern Ontario and right across the country?
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