44th Parl. 1st Sess.
January 31, 2024 02:00PM
- Jan/31/24 2:59:39 p.m.
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As I just made a statement to a member in this House, I will make it again. Please be—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
The Speaker: I invite all members to be very careful about imputing motivations or associating members with governments that we find to be disreputable, if not odious. I will ask the hon member for South Shore—St. Margarets to come and speak to me at the chair, and we will discuss this.
The hon. Leader of the Opposition has the floor.
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- Jan/31/24 3:00:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister could not point to a single thing that I said that was untrue, because it was all factual. It is a fact that we already have an excellent trade agreement with Ukraine, that it does not include a carbon tax and that there is no need for a carbon tax to be in any free trade agreement. In fact, there never has been a need for a carbon tax in any other free trade agreement in history.
While we remember the carbon tax, the Prime Minister forgot to include in the deal a ban on his sending detonators and turbines over to Putin. Why is it that he is so determined to allow Putin to acquire weapons and money rather than having a real free trade deal with Ukraine?
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- Jan/31/24 3:01:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the leader of the official opposition has an opportunity to correct the record of him having called Ukraine a faraway foreign land by allowing his Ukrainian Canadian MPs, at the very least, to vote in favour of the renewal of the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement, which is coming up for a vote in the coming days. For those who choose to stand with Ukraine, it is an opportunity to stand in this House and be counted. Why is he muzzling his Ukrainian Canadian MPs?
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- Jan/31/24 3:02:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are 100% united in our support of Ukraine and in our opposition to the carbon tax. This is what the Prime Minister does. He divides. He wants to distract from the fact that he doubled housing costs, caused 30 homeless encampments in Halifax, and caused shootings to go up by 100% and drug overdoses to go up by 300%. It is no wonder that he would want to use fear and falsehoods to distract from his many failures, and that is exactly what he is doing.
Why will the Prime Minister not finally unite this country instead of trying to divide and conquer?
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- Jan/31/24 3:02:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this House used to be united in its support of Ukraine and in its support of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, yet now we see—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Jan/31/24 3:03:11 p.m.
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I am going to ask the Prime Minister to start again, and I am going to ask all members to please listen to the response without interruption so that we can have an orderly House.
The Prime Minister, from the top.
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- Jan/31/24 3:03:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this House used to be united in its unequivocal support for Ukraine, and then the Leader of the Opposition disparagingly referred to Ukraine as a faraway foreign land, something for which he has not yet apologized, and demanded that all his MPs, including MPs from the Prairies, where there are strong Ukrainian Canadian populations, vote against a free trade deal that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has deliberately and directly asked Canadians to support. When will he stand up for Ukraine?
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- Jan/31/24 3:04:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk more about CBC/Radio‑Canada CEO Catherine Tait's appearance at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage yesterday. Nothing she said provided anyone with any reassurance about her vision for Quebec news and culture. She will not be reinstating the 600 jobs she cut, a disproportionate number of which were on the French-language side. At this morning's scrum, the government floated the possibility of additional financial assistance for CBC/Radio‑Canada.
Will the Prime Minister commit to making any additional funding for Radio‑Canada conditional on jobs being reinstated?
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- Jan/31/24 3:05:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in this era of misinformation, disinformation and the transformation of our digital and media universe, we need a strong CBC/Radio‑Canada to protect our culture, protect our democracy and tell our stories from one end of the country to the other.
We will always be there to stand up for CBC/Radio‑Canada and we will try to make the necessary investments so it can continue to fulfill its mandate to inform, entertain and strengthen democracy here in Canada.
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- Jan/31/24 3:05:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois will support the Prime Minister provided that he offers assistance to CBC/Radio-Canada on the understanding that jobs will be maintained.
However, CBC/Radio-Canada is not the only one struggling. All of our electronic news media are asking for the same wage subsidy that the federal government is giving, and rightly so, to our newspapers. Huge cuts have been made at Bell and TVA. Weekly newspapers are losing their means of distribution, and the news black-out on Meta is hurting the entire sector.
Will the Prime Minister give all news media the same consideration that he has shown to the crown corporation?
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Mr. Speaker, supporting journalists and local journalism is extremely important to this government, especially in these challenging times. That is why we introduced Bill C‑18, which will help our journalists operate at all levels.
We will continue to be there to defend an independent, free and professional press. We know that a lot of work remains to be done in these times of uncertainty. Unlike the Conservatives, we will be there to work with all parties interested in protecting journalism.
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- Jan/31/24 3:07:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost of housing, which has doubled since he promised to lower it, but there is good news. Rent is down for the eighth consecutive month in the United States. Meanwhile, it has more than doubled under the Prime Minister. It is up 9% in the last year alone.
Can the Prime Minister explain why rent is going down in the States while it skyrockets under his leadership here at home?
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- Jan/31/24 3:07:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to give the Leader of the Opposition another opportunity to apologize for referring to Ukraine disparagingly as a faraway foreign land.
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- Jan/31/24 3:07:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the question was about rent in Canada. Rent prices have doubled after eight years under the Prime Minister. They have tripled in his home city of Montreal. Now, according to the homebuilders of Canada, they expect that construction numbers will actually plummet this year relative to prior years. They say that this will lead to higher prices, and they say we require “policy changes” to reverse it.
Will the Prime Minister finally accept a common-sense plan to build the homes so Canadians can afford the rent?
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- Jan/31/24 3:08:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, I did not hear an apology to Ukrainians. I encourage him to do that. People are waiting for it.
At the same time, I can remind this House that we have signed dozens of housing accelerator fund agreements across the country that are leading to the construction of hundreds of thousands of new homes in the coming years. We have eliminated GST from purpose-built rental apartments, and we are moving forward on an interest-free savings account for first-time homebuyers.
Again, I encourage the Leader of the Opposition to apologize for referring to Ukraine as some faraway foreign land.
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- Jan/31/24 3:09:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it just proves what I said earlier. He is not interested in Ukraine. When I asked about rental prices, he started spreading disinformation about Ukraine. He could not care less about the war effort over there. He only cares about distracting from his failures at home.
One of his failures is that rents have tripled in Montreal. The builders association says that this year will be one of the worst.
Why has the price of housing gone down in the United States while it is ballooning here in Canada?
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- Jan/31/24 3:10:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for well over 150 years, this House has been here to recognize the debates and follow what people have been doing. Hansard is the official record of this House. If the Leader of the Opposition is suggesting that Hansard, in which he said that Ukraine is a faraway foreign land, is somehow misinformation or disinformation, then he should come right out and say so.
As far as housing is concerned, we continue to invest across the country, including in Quebec. Quebec is matching the $900 million we proposed to help create housing—
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- Jan/31/24 3:10:40 p.m.
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The hon. member for Alfred‑Pellan.
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- Jan/31/24 3:10:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, affordability is a major concern for all Canadians. To support them and ensure that help is available, the Minister of Finance presented the fall economic statement.
Can the Prime Minister remind the House of the important measures contained in the fall economic statement and why the House needs to adopt them quickly?
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- Jan/31/24 3:11:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Alfred‑Pellan for the question.
The Leader of the Opposition spends a lot of time talking about affordability, but we have not seen a hint of a proposal or a real plan. If the Conservative leader wants to help Canadians in a meaningful way, he can vote in favour of the fall economic statement, which cuts the GST and HST on psychotherapy, cuts the GST on the building of co-operative housing and creates a new employment insurance benefit for adoption. Either he supports Canadians by voting for the statement, or he continues to push for cuts and austerity.
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