44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 6, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/6/24 10:21:21 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will quote a Manitoba statistic from 2007 since the member referred to that year: “the province's 2007 rate remained the highest in the country...for the 11th straight year and was 24% higher than a decade ago”. I remember talking about the issue when I was an MLA. I will remind the member that Stephen Harper was prime minister then. Unfortunately for the people of Winnipeg, there are far too many victims. The member needs to recognize that in order to deal with an issue such as this, as we did then, there is an obligation to work with other jurisdictions such as provinces, and with law enforcement agencies, and to provide support where we can.
Can the member indicate why Stephen Harper was such a disaster during 2007-08 on the issue of automobile thefts in the province of Manitoba?
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- Feb/6/24 10:37:16 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, could my colleague explain why, when I was in the Manitoba legislature and Stephen Harper was the prime minister, the province of Manitoba hit record highs in terms of automobile theft?
We are talking significant numbers. In fact, they were the highest in Canada for something like 10 consecutive years. They continued to be high well after 2007. It was not until the province actually started to take tangible actions in working with Ottawa that we saw the numbers go down.
Would the member not agree that, like for Stephen Harper, there is an obligation to work with provincial jurisdictions and other stakeholders to ensure that we minimize the number of victims and deal with the issue? Would he not acknowledge that?
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- Feb/6/24 11:05:52 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for the work he has done in his home province of Manitoba and the city of Winnipeg to collaborate with local law enforcement, police and border services to bring every attention to bear on what, as he noted in an earlier intervention, has been a problem there for a long time.
The Canada Border Services Agency intercepted over 1,800 stolen vehicles in 2023 alone. Our government has invested to restore the more than thousand jobs that were cut from border services by the previous Conservative government. We have added 800 more officers above those who had been cut, whose jobs we restored, under that Conservative government.
We will continue to invest in the RCMP and border services so they can partner with local and provincial police forces to really do what is necessary to reduce the number of vehicles stolen in a significant way. Concrete outcomes and action plans are are going to come from the meeting in a few days in Ottawa.
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- Feb/6/24 1:19:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, because of time restrictions, I was not able to continue to give my explanation about the Manitoba case. I can tell the member opposite that, at this point in time, Manitoba had the highest number of cars being stolen in any given year, more than the province of Ontario. I am not talking about per capita but the raw number of cars being stolen.
Ultimately, what had the most positive impact was when law enforcement, the Province of Manitoba and Ottawa, to a certain degree, came together and tried to deal with the issue. At least today, Ottawa is recognizing that we need to bring people together in order to deal with this issue.
Organized crime is more than just automobile theft. We recognize the importance of the issue. We are doing something, as opposed to the Conservatives, who heard we were having a summit and then decided it was an important issue.
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- Feb/6/24 3:07:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, one thing is for sure: Canadians are paying more taxes.
The other thing we know for sure is that Liberal carbon taxes are the cornerstone of the Liberal approach to fighting climate change. Do they actually work, though?
That is why my colleague from Manitoba tabled a written question. The minister wrote back and said, “the government does not measure the annual amount of emissions that are directly reduced by federal carbon pricing.”
Why tax when there is no way to assess?
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Mr. Speaker, I was with the member for Winnipeg South Centre meeting with those very excellent and wonderful Ukrainian Canadians. To those Ukrainian Canadians in Manitoba, in Saskatchewan, in British Columbia, in Alberta, here in Ontario and, indeed, across the country, I want to say to them that I hear them and that we hear them. The Liberal government is going to vote, today, in favour of the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement.
Most of the House is going to do that. I want to ask my Conservative colleagues, I appeal to them, to support Ukraine today. Vote for this Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement today.
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- Feb/6/24 6:59:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I just have to scratch my head and try to figure out what the Liberals are saying.
They obviously do not have any business sense. They do not have go to the farms in Manitoba, they could go to them in the Vancouver area. People are struggling to make ends meet. They are struggling throughout the country. I had a cab driver, on the way to the airport here in Ottawa, who said he is an immigrant here and he has to send his family back. He is going to try to downsize and work here, but life is so expensive with all the rising costs.
In the Vancouver area, with the carbon tax, we are paying the highest gas prices in North America, and there are the home heating costs. It seems that the Liberal message and direction is more pain, that Canadians need to feel more pain.
We need to think of Canadians first, use some business sense and put Canadians first.
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- Feb/6/24 7:00:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I just want to quickly say that people in downtown Winnipeg, which my riding is not actually located in, are paying attention to these issues.
It is an issue that is a matter of great significance to Canadians across the country. In fact, the number one issue that I heard at the door when I talk to people, if it was not the health care system that the Conservative government in Manitoba has destroyed over the course of the past eight years, it was their concerns about climate change. This is something they are paying attention to.
It is important, when we are talking in this chamber about the way in which the industry, for all sorts of different reasons, is having an impact on the lives of Canadians, that we do not feed into the rural-urban divide. It is something that I am aware exists in this country. I hope my colleague will not try to bring us back into that.
Just in relation to a comment that was made by another colleague across the way, I would simply say that the information we have available to us, and this has been shared time and again, and I know my colleagues do not want to accept this fact, is the fact that eight out of 10 Canadians are getting more money back than what it is costing them in the increase as a result of the price on pollution. That would be my answer in very short form in relation to the member's question.
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