44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 1, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/1/24 2:59:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Canadian Heritage opened the door to additional federal funding for Radio-Canada, even though the public broadcaster is about to announce the elimination of 600 positions.
A number of analysts believe that the cuts planned by CEO Catherine Tait were premature, possibly even excessive, and clearly unfair to the francophone side of the network.
Will the minister insist that CBC/Radio-Canada cancel these ill-timed layoffs before it receives any additional funding?
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- Feb/1/24 2:59:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think the president of CBC/Radio-Canada made it clear that the announcements she made took into account the public broadcaster's current financial situation.
We know how important Radio-Canada is to Quebec. That is why we are currently assessing how we can better support CBC/Radio-Canada and ensure its survival not just for this fiscal year, but for the long term. Obviously, my goal is to protect jobs at both Radio-Canada and CBC.
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- Feb/1/24 3:00:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I like that. That is a good answer. We share the same objective of protecting jobs.
Demanding that CBC maintain the 600 jobs it has decided to cut is the least they can do before doling out any part of the public federal budget, any amount of money.
There is also the question of fairness to our private broadcasters, who are struggling even more. Both Bell and TVA have cut hundreds of jobs, and then with Meta blocking news stories, the entire news sector is hurting. So we are all for supporting the CBC, as long as the jobs are protected.
However, is the minister also going to do her job to help all our broadcasters, all our written online news media, as much as the public broadcaster?
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- Feb/1/24 3:00:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are going to continue to work to make sure that we have news media, whether that is private media, our public broadcaster or community media, which play an essential role in every community in Canada.
We have been there by increasing the payroll tax credit for newsrooms. We are currently looking at all the other measures we can take to better support the sector because we know it is essential to have quality information, particularly in order to fight misinformation and propaganda.
We are still convinced that this is the right thing to do, and we are going to be there for our media.
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- Feb/1/24 3:01:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the past president of the billion-dollar green slush fund shocked committee last night when she revealed that the government was warned of blatant conflicts of interest. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost of his corrupted billion-dollar green slush fund.
The minister claimed that he learned in 2023, but we now know that the ministry was informed in 2019. After eight years, Canadians cannot believe a word from this NDP-Liberal government. So, why is it that this minister chose to mislead Canadians?
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- Feb/1/24 3:02:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. As soon as we found out about these allegations, the Department of ISED acted quickly. The Minister of Innovation has already accepted the resignation of the CEO and Chair.
We take these allegations extremely seriously, which is why we are doing proper due diligence. Our government is committed to ensuring that organizations that receive federal funding adhere to the highest standards of government. We are committed to get to the bottom of these allegations.
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- Feb/1/24 3:02:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the former CEO of the Liberal green slush fund revealed that she warned Liberals that the Prime Minister's hand-picked chair, Annette Verschuren, should not be appointed because of her conflict of interest and that green slush fund staff also told the minister of this conflict, but Liberals appointed her anyway. Then, Liberal board members went on award to their own companies more than $20 million of green slush fund money. Liberals had officials in every meeting, but did nothing about this corruption until it was in the media.
Why did it take a media story for the Liberals to act on this corruption?
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- Feb/1/24 3:03:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives will say anything to oppose fighting climate change, including saying they want to slash an organization that was voted in by this Parliament two decades ago. We are sticking to the facts and due process. We will continue fighting to get to the bottom of this.
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- Feb/1/24 3:03:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal government has built the worst imaginable system for government contracting. The arrive scam watchdog report found that the government built a system where companies that charge the least are penalized. They actually built a system in which people are rewarded for charging a high price and punished for charging a lower price. “Please sir, we want to pay even more.” It is no wonder the Prime Minister is so out of touch and is not worth the cost.
After eight years, the only explanation for this is complete insanity or outright corruption. Which is it?
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- Feb/1/24 3:04:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the report from the ombudsman yesterday that released all the issues we have been talking about in our committee over this very issue, and we have taken those recommendations. We have already started to act upon them, and we have already made some inclusions that the ombudsman has identified.
The member opposite uses that committee to do his TikTok videos, and he is very good at it, but what is really important is that we ensure that we improve procurement, and we are doing so.
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- Feb/1/24 3:04:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Telefilm Canada has always played an essential role in the creation of films and television shows. Its productions reflect our cultural diversity and put Canadian talent on the world stage. Recent years have brought major challenges.
Can the Minister of Canadian Heritage tell the House about measures in place to support the sector, promote Canadian French-language content and support our very own content creators?
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- Feb/1/24 3:05:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. Quebeckers and Canadians are deeply attached to our culture. We like watching our films and television shows because we are so proud of who we are and of our stories.
That is why I was so pleased to announce yesterday that we are boosting Telefilm Canada's budget by $50 million so it can keep producing quality content here in Canada.
We know the Conservatives will make cuts to culture and our public broadcaster, just as they did under the Harper government. Here on this side of the House, we will continue to support the industry because it provides 180,000 jobs and it is very important.
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- Feb/1/24 3:06:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, our troops are being forced to use food banks and live in tents. According to the Halifax emergency manager, young soldiers are coming to work hungry. The Royal Canadian Legion in Nova Scotia said actively serving members are living rough in tents, living in their vehicles, couch surfing and even entering into relationships that have put them at risk of domestic violence to secure housing.
Why is the Liberal defence minister allowing this to happen under his watch? Why is he failing our troops?
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- Feb/1/24 3:06:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, of course, the member opposite is once again badly misinformed. In fact, when this was reported in the press, the Canadian Armed Forces in Nova Scotia canvassed all of the members of the armed forces and determined that all of them were properly housed and that the reporting was false.
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- Feb/1/24 3:07:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, those are actually not the facts. Nearly 4,500 serving military members are currently awaiting housing, but the Liberals are building fewer than 20 homes per year for our troops. To add insult to injury, that Liberal minister just cut a billion dollars from the defence budget, and a leaked report confirmed that the minister is hiking the rents for our armed forces members.
Our military heroes know that those Liberals are just not worth the cost, so why does the Prime Minister always shovel money into the pockets of consultants and Liberal insiders, but cut spending on the backs of our troops?
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- Feb/1/24 3:07:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an extraordinary question coming from the member, inasmuch as he voted against the pay raise we recently gave to Canadian Armed Forces members. He should also be aware that Canadian Armed Forces policy caps rents for all members using armed forces military housing at 25% of their gross income.
We will continue to make investments in Canadian Armed Forces housing and all of the supports that he keeps voting against.
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- Feb/1/24 3:08:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, auto thefts are up a striking 34.1% after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government. In my home community of Kamloops, there was recently a car chase that ended with an RCMP cruiser getting rammed, and everyone can imagine our shock when the car was stolen. The NDP-Liberal government just is not worth the cost when it was comes to one's own property and safety.
When will the NDP-Liberal government start putting Canadians and their property first ahead of fancy vacations and meaningless meetings?
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- Feb/1/24 3:09:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government takes the alarming issue of auto theft very seriously. That is precisely why we invested, for example, with the Government of Ontario and local and provincial police forces, and increased resources yesterday to ensure that we are collaboratively doing everything we can do. We are going to add resources for the Canada Border Services Agency. We are going to ensure that the RCMP can continue to partner in the work that it is doing against organized crime.
We take this seriously and are going to bring this alarming level down very quickly.
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- Feb/1/24 3:09:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over 400,000 seniors aged 77 and over have successfully applied to the Canadian dental care plan since the government launched the plan in December. These numbers, which include seniors in my riding of Kitchener—Conestoga, demonstrate strong support for the plan. Conservatives voted against funding for the dental plan, despite one in four Canadians having reported they could not afford the cost of their dental care.
Can the Minister of Health please update the House on our work to provide accessible and affordable dental care for Canadians?
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- Feb/1/24 3:10:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Kitchener—Conestoga for his advocacy to make sure that oral health is available for all Canadians.
It is now available for those who are 72 years of age and older, and it is going to be rolling out to nine million Canadians. That is 3.5 million seniors and more than a million kids under 18. It is deeply disappointing that the Conservatives are voting against this and looking to get rid of dental care. It is essential not only as preventive medicine but also for the dignity of seniors who are finally being able to replace their dentures and get the oral health care they need.
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