44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 7, 2024 02:00PM
- Feb/7/24 2:19:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, more than 660 million women and girls are living in conflict zones, which is a 50% increase in the last six years. In Ukraine, two-thirds of those who are internally displaced are women. In Sudan, women make up 69% of those displaced, and 90% of the people crossing into Chad are women and girls. In Afghanistan, a United Nations expert said that 20 years of progress for women's and girls' rights have been erased since the Taliban took over, and in Palestine, 70% of the victims in Gaza are women and children. Heartbreakingly, two mothers are being killed per hour in Gaza right now.
Canadian organizations can alleviate this suffering and promote human rights, yet every year, Canada's investment is a fraction of what we have promised. For budget 2024, the government must listen to experts, to those 100 organizations that wrote to it, and do what is best to stand up for those around the world who need our support.
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- Feb/7/24 2:20:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after the English-only Grey Cup controversy, and the hockey game in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Punjabi was used in place of French, Louis Riel must have turned over in his grave.
This Saturday, francophones had to endure more disrespect, this time at the NHL all-star game in Toronto, where the national anthem was performed in English only. Need we remind people that Canada is supposed to have two official languages and that its national anthem was originally written in French? Only a tiny little bit of the original French version still gets heard.
That shows contempt for francophones and contempt for Quebeckers. More and more, Canada is erasing French from its history and emblems. Quebeckers feel a growing sense of exclusion from Canada. The time has come for Quebeckers to make the necessary decisions.
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- Feb/7/24 2:21:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years under this Prime Minister, the number of auto thefts in Canada has skyrocketed, and this can be directly attributed to the Liberals' soft-on-crime policies.
While the Prime Minister prefers to hold summits and have discussions, for the past three days, the Leader of the Opposition has been proposing common-sense solutions to combat this scourge.
First, we will amend the Criminal Code to keep car thieves behind bars. We will not release them into the community like the Liberals do. We are going to get to the heart of the problem and create a specific aggravating factor when the offence is committed for the benefit of organized crime.
We will provide the CBSA with the equipment and personnel it needs to do its job properly, by significantly increasing the number of border officers to scan containers. We will even do this without dipping further into taxpayers' pockets.
We invite all parties and all members to join us in our efforts to combat crime.
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- Feb/7/24 2:22:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we embark on the lunar new year, Asian communities in Richmond Centre and across Canada are ready to join the world to celebrate the spring festival and to welcome the Year of the Dragon. This is the time when we gather with friends, families and loved ones to celebrate this festive season with the rich tradition of the lunar calendar. The lunar new year is an opportunity to celebrate the traditions that enrich Canada's diverse social fabric.
Let us take a moment to acknowledge and recognize the contributions of Asian Canadians to Canada. As we celebrate the Year of the Dragon, I would like to wish everyone a successful, prosperous and healthy year ahead. To our communities in Richmond Centre and across Canada, happy lunar year. Bonne année lunaire. Chúc mung năm moi. Saehae bok mani badeuseyo. Gong xi fa cai. Xin nian kuai le.
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- Feb/7/24 2:23:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost of housing, which has doubled since he promised to make it more affordable. In fact, we have now learned that, according to Rentals.ca, rent has increased by more than 20% in two years across the country. In other words, it costs nearly $400 more.
Will the Prime Minister cancel his policies that caused the crisis, stop funding the bureaucrats who are preventing construction and eliminate the deficits to lower interest rates?
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- Feb/7/24 2:24:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it was the Conservative member for Dufferin—Caledon who described our ambitious approach to housing best when he said that our Minister of Housing seems to come out every day with a new program, a new announcement or a new cheque for Canadians. He is right. We have worked hard week after week to conclude new agreements under the housing accelerator fund and to provide new tools to accelerate the construction of affordable housing.
While the Conservative leader insults the municipalities, we remain focused on our goal to accelerate housing construction.
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- Feb/7/24 2:24:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are announcements, programs and cheques, but no housing. That is the only thing missing. People cannot live in the programs and announcements of this Prime Minister, who is not worth the cost. Housing starts are in free fall, down 28% in December relative to the previous December.
Will the Prime Minister put an end to programs that are driving up interest rates and creating bloated bureaucracies so that we can build housing?
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- Feb/7/24 2:25:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the only thing the Conservative leader is offering is insults and more insults aimed at elected officials from Quebec. He described the home of a family in Niagara as a shack. He is using the homeless as accessories for political photo ops.
The reality is that a responsible leader will take action to invest in communities and housing. That is what we are doing by eliminating the GST on the construction of new apartments and by making funding announcements, including $900 million for Quebec to invest in housing.
We are here to invest and build. He is here to hurl insults.
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- Feb/7/24 2:26:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of millions of dollars for bureaucracy. We do not need bureaucracy, which has grown by 50% since this Prime Minister took office. We need housing.
According to his housing agency, there will be a shortage of 3.5 million homes. However, this week, the CBC said that there will be a shortage of five million homes, since we expect massive population growth and a drop in construction.
Where are those five million families going to live?
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- Feb/7/24 2:26:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he talks about bureaucracy, but, on the contrary, we are investing in municipalities to reduce red tape and speed up housing construction. We have made about 30 housing accelerator announcements across the country to build more housing faster, providing for greater density, better zoning, faster approval to use vacant land and more affordable homes.
We are there to make real investments, while he would rather insult people.
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- Feb/7/24 2:27:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, those are the same promises he made eight years ago before he doubled housing costs. He is not worth the cost of housing, which is up 100%. In the last two years alone, according to Rentals.ca, rent is up 20% or $400 for the average family. Now we learn that construction is in free-fall, down 28% last December versus the December before.
Will he stop funding bureaucracy and driving up interest rates, so we can bring homes Canadians can afford?
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- Feb/7/24 2:28:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our housing ambition can be best summed up by the Conservative member for Dufferin—Caledon who said that it seems that every day our Minister of Housing has a new program, a new announcement or a new cheque for Canadians. That is exactly right.
We continue to work hand in hand with Canadians and with municipalities across the country, municipalities he would rather insult, to get more homes built faster. The investments we are making, including things like taking the GST off purpose-built rental housing, which the Conservatives voted against, will continue to create more homes for Canadians right across the country.
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- Feb/7/24 2:28:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, people cannot live in announcements and programs; they need homes that have walls, floors and ceilings. The Prime Minister doing another selfie in front of a construction site will not do that. In fact, construction was down 28% in December.
After eight years of the Prime Minister's promises and spending, will he accept our common-sense plan to build homes and not bureaucracy?
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- Feb/7/24 2:29:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just last week I was in Kitchener–Waterloo making an announcement for the housing accelerator program for Waterloo.
What the Leader of the Opposition seems to have missed is that we were standing in a freshly completed building for seniors. In fact, $33 million of funding from the federal government a few years ago allowed that building to be built today.
We are building things today that people are moving into in the coming weeks. We are announcing how we are building things for tomorrow, while he just chooses to insult Canadians, insult mayors and insult our intelligence.
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- Feb/7/24 2:30:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government wants a three-year extension on its deadline to comply with a ruling on medical assistance in dying for mental illness. Imagine what will happen if the Conservatives form government. That is not what we want, but the alternative is not much better. Just imagine what will happen if the Conservatives come to power: They would delay MAID forever and a day. They would never act on it.
Does the Prime Minister realize that he is acting as though he is afraid of the religious right?
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- Feb/7/24 2:30:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we could not agree more that a Conservative government would pose a threat to fundamental rights and freedoms. At the same time, when it comes to medical assistance in dying, we understand how difficult and personal a choice this is. We have a duty to protect the most vulnerable while respecting fundamental rights and freedoms. That is why, with regard to advance requests for people with mental health issues and for minors, we have been holding and will continue to hold in-depth discussions and consultations before going any further.
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- Feb/7/24 2:31:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, there is a solution to consider. With the support of the Quebec National Assembly, Quebec has proposed that the Liberal government's legislation include a conditional provision allowing Quebec or any other interested province to authorize advance requests for medical assistance in dying. If that happens, the three-year extension would then be acceptable because Quebec could proceed according to the values of Quebeckers.
Is the Prime Minister willing to agree to Quebec's proposal?
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- Feb/7/24 2:32:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I pointed out, the issue of advance requests was raised a number of years ago and has been identified as one of the important but difficult discussions we need to have as a society.
Could someone make an advance request to receive medical assistance in dying if their condition reaches a certain point, even if they are unable to consent to it? This is a difficult and important issue.
I welcome Quebec's debates on the issue. We are going to pursue our discussions on that.
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- Feb/7/24 2:32:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister could learn a lot from the young women I met earlier today, who are struggling to put food on the table. They are living a struggle that he has never had to face. They are getting ripped off by corporate grocery stores, and the Prime Minister has let it happen for over two years.
Will the Prime Minister get serious now about taking on corporate greed by supporting my bill to reduce the price of groceries?
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- Feb/7/24 2:33:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, right now, with the fall economic statement, we are proposing significant measures to increase competition in the grocery sector. Many of them are ideas that we are in alignment with the leader of the NDP on. We believe in moving forward with greater competition in the grocery sector. That is something the NDP and the Liberals agree on.
It is not something Conservatives agree on; their chief strategist is actually on the Loblaws' payroll. They choose to promote disinformation and misinformation while defending big grocers. On this side of the House, we will stand up for Canadians.
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