- Member of Parliament
- Deputy House leader of the official opposition
- Conservative
- Mégantic—L'Érable
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 69%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $94,201.00
- Government Page
Madam Speaker, I love it when a member who was not here at the time of a particular event asks another member who was not here at the time of that particular event to comment on decisions that were made at that time.
The important thing now is to recognize that the Liberal-NDP coalition rejected 10 amendments that would have dramatically improved the bill in committee. However, we did get four of them through, and those amendments will protect Canadians, making this bill more acceptable.
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Madam Speaker, I was not at the committee, but what I do know is that these amendments did not target companies and investors from countries with which Canada has a free trade or trade agreement. Saying things like that today is a little like scaremongering because we all know the Conservative amendments were no threat to those investments.
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Madam Speaker, I am always surprised, astonished, when a government member, an MP, particularly the hon. member for Winnipeg North, asks me whether or not a bill will be introduced and passed by a given date.
The government House leader is responsible for the government's agenda. It is the House leader who is responsible for ensuring that bills are passed according to the government's agenda. If the government House leader cannot get bills through in a timely fashion, perhaps he should ask his leader, not me.
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Louis‑Saint‑Laurent on his excellent speech. His knowledge of hockey should deter my colleagues across the way from ever taking him on on this particular rink. They would find themselves on thin ice, just like anyone else who would want to challenge him on the subject.
I want to mention something else before I start my speech. We know that several MPs have the joy and good fortune of being able to rely on parliamentary interns who shadow us for two parliamentary periods. I have the honour and pleasure of having Jean-Samuel Houle working by my side as a parliamentary intern. He is the one who helped me research and write this speech that I am delivering today. It is with much gratitude that I thank him for his work and commitment, as well as all parliamentary interns who are working for MPs. Do members know why this is a good program? Interns learn to work with the opposition parties and the government. It is a rather extraordinary school for people who might lead our country one day. I am sure that our future colleagues are among them.
I will now begin the speech prepared for me by Jean-Samuel. For years, the Liberal government has continually failed to address the issue of foreign interference because it does not take it seriously. Our colleague from Wellington—Halton Hills and other members of Parliament have been targeted by the Communist regime in Beijing. Unfortunately, our colleague from Wellington-Halton Hills had to learn about this from The Globe and Mail. That was two years after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service submitted an important management memo to the Department of Public Safety stating that the member was being targeted by a diplomat of the Communist regime, right here in Canada.
The minister responsible for the matter, who was the public safety minister at the time and is now the Minister of National Defence, said in committee that he was never informed in 2021 by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. However, his testimony was contradicted by that of the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, David Vigneault, who said that he forwarded this information to his office, to the department, to the minister, in a very high-priority memo that came with a very clear stipulation to pass on this information to the minister.
Unfortunately, the minister continued to deny any knowledge of the matter when he appeared in committee this week. He made all kinds of excuses. He said that the special, secure encrypted computer to receive the email was somewhere else in the deputy minister's office, not in his office. They are both on the same floor of the same building, by the way. In short, there were all sorts of reasons not to take responsibility for the actions. Everyone recognized that this was a very serious error in the transmission of information. Even the minister himself recognized that. The problem with this government is that there is never anyone to take ultimate responsibility for these actions. Everyone knows how hard that is for the Liberals.
The Prime Minister must be held responsible for this monumental failure that is jeopardizing our democracy. This was confirmed by the testimony of the former member for Durham, who appeared before the committee today and told the government how it is failing to act when it comes to foreign interference. While the government and the Liberals are asleep at the switch, foreign actors are setting up shop and intimidating us more and more.
We know that Beijing has set up police stations in Canada to monitor Chinese Canadians. There are at least five in Ontario, western Canada and Montreal.
This week, members of the House were notified by Global Affairs Canada that a number of Canadian politicians had fallen victim to another interference campaign designed to silence any criticism of the Communist Party. According to Global Affairs Canada, it is a campaign known as “spamouflage”. I had never heard of it before, but I learned that the word actually does exist. It is a combination of the words “spam” and “camouflage”, and it is spam that is camouflaged so no one can tell where it is coming from. The campaign began in August and targeted dozens of MPs of all political stripes, across several geographic regions in Canada. Victims include the Prime Minister, the leader of the official opposition and several ministers. A number of my colleagues have also been victims of this campaign.
The integrity of our elections and conducting our internal affairs without foreign interference should not be partisan issues. However, it seems that the Liberals have difficulty hearing and acting when our agencies take measures and try to advise them of the importance of what is happening.
It really makes me wonder what the Liberals have been up to. For years, the Conservatives have believed that agents of foreign governments should be registered. On April 13, 2021, Conservative MP Kenny Chiu introduced a bill to create a foreign agent registry. However, an election was called and the registry did not pass.
To make matters worse, it was our colleague Mr. Chiu who was the target of an intense disinformation campaign by the Chinese Communist Party during the election, because he wanted to implement this foreign agent registry. That is totally unacceptable. We need to know who is operating within our borders.
Months ago, the Liberals promised that such a registry was one of their priorities, but they have yet to do anything. The Leader of the Government in the House of Commons has not even included the issue on the list of the government's fall priorities. When will the Liberals take action? With the Liberals and the Prime Minister asleep at the switch and doing nothing about foreign interference, Beijing's influence is taking hold. That is the consequence. The regime sees Canada's lack of reaction as an invitation to go further and do more. This has to stop.
That brings me to the subject of Bill C‑34, which is before us today. After eight years under this Liberal government, Canadian companies continue to be bought up by actors with malicious intent. More and more state-owned companies that are connected to dictatorships like China have acquired interests in flagships of the Canadian economy. They have bought shares directly or even taken control of certain companies. They are particularly interested in Quebec's and Canada's intellectual property in our high-tech sectors but also in people's private information, which is very worrisome. This is an extremely serious situation.
We must admit it is not a problem in and of itself that foreigners want to invest in Canada. In fact, such investments make a major contribution and help grow our economy. However, an important line must be drawn. Some actors do not come to Canada in good faith. When it comes to money from state-owned companies led by dictatorships, that is a problem. When it comes to money from countries that do not respect Canada or our values, that is a problem. Unfortunately, there are still companies that do not respect us at all and that come and buy our businesses, not to help the economy grow, but to become richer and take possession and control of our resources and intellectual property. For years, we have talked about Canada's findings, research and technology being copied. Who was the expert in that? It was the Communist regime in Beijing. Today, not only are they still imitating products that are made all over without respecting property rights, but they also want to directly purchase the intellectual property that they copied in the past. That cannot continue.
In 2017, the Minister of Industry did not require a full national security review prior to the acquisition of telecommunications company Norsat International and its subsidiary Sinclair Technologies by Hytera Communications, a Chinese company. Hytera Communications is partially owned by the People's Republic of China. In December 2022, the RCMP awarded a contract for sensitive communications equipment to Sinclair Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Norsat International, which was acquired by Hytera Communications. The headquarters of Hytera Communications is located in Shenzhen, China. I repeat that the company is partially owned by the People's Republic of China. A company that belongs to the People's Republic of China cannot hide any information from the government if they request it. That is why it is so important to take action.
That is why, with the Conservative amendments, we intend to support Bill C‑34. We were able to improve it, but frankly, it was time to take action and do something.
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- Dec/9/21 5:11:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague on her great speech.
I think it is important to remember why we are here today. The opposition believes it is extremely important to address this cost-of-living crisis. Everything costs more, especially housing.
My colleague from Edmonton Riverbend would agree with me, since he is the one who moved this very important motion for all Canadians.
I would like to take a moment to read it.
That, given that, (i) the government has failed to increase the housing supply in Canada, (ii) the government's $400 billion of new spending has produced a surge of inflationary pressure that has driven home prices more than 30% above pre-pandemic levels, the House call on the government to: (a) review and consolidate all federal real estate and properties in Canada in order to make at least 15% available for residential development; (b) ban foreign investors from purchasing Canadian real estate; and (c) commit to never introducing a capital gains tax on the sale of primary residences.
The motion is that simple.
I just received a message from my colleague from Lévis—Lotbinière that is hot off the press. It is a press release that was just issued by one of my colleagues, the finance critic, the member for Carleton.
The press release reads as follows: “JustinFlation is coming to a grocery store near you. Families will pay an extra $1,000 to feed themselves in 2022 as inflation balloons. Inflation hurts Canadians, and 80% say that the cost-of-living crisis is making their lives less affordable. Sixty per cent of families with children under the age of 18 are afraid that they will not have enough money to buy food. The report released today only makes the situation worse. The Prime Minister's inflation tax is eating into the paychecks of middle-class Canadians while the Liberals plan to spend even more, pouring inflationary gas on the fire. Government spending increases the cost of living. Spending more money to buy fewer goods results in price increases. Enough is enough.”
That is exactly what we are talking about today. There is a report that tells us the cost of living is going up, not just for housing, but across society, particularly when it comes to groceries. That is worrisome.
The last line in the press release is also worth reading. It says, “It is clear that the Conservatives are the only party looking to lower prices, fight the rising cost of food, and bring an end to just inflation”.
I thank my colleague from Lévis—Lotbinière for sending me this press release. I thought that it was important to share it with all of my colleagues in the House, because this is exactly what we are talking about. We are talking about the cost of living. We are talking about young families who are struggling to make ends meet and are stretching their budgets so that they can have a decent standard of living. We are talking today about how more and more young families across Canada are having a tough time realizing their dream of owning their own home.
The member for Durham, the leader of the Conservative Party and the official opposition, said that a poll released yesterday shows that half of Canadians under the age of 30 have given up on the dream of home ownership. Canada is a country of wide open spaces, with room for everyone, and everyone should be able to realize that dream. When half of all young people under 30 give up on the dream of one day owning a home, we certainly have a problem as a society.
To make things worse, this dream will become even less attainable in the coming days, weeks and years, because real estate prices continue to rise. Some say that prices could rise by over 9% again next year. Add to that an expected rise in interest rates, and the dream of home ownership for young Canadian families is becoming increasingly out of reach.
I looked for information to find a way to keep the dream alive for young families and to give them hope.
I have done a lot of research and analysis, and I have talked to all kinds of banks and financial services, but I do not see good news on the horizon under the Liberal government.
The National Bank of Canada released a major report on housing affordability by Kyle Dahms and Alexandra Ducharme. Here is what it says:
Housing affordability in Canada worsened by 1.7 points in Q3’21, marking a third consecutive deterioration since the beginning of the year. Over the last 12 months, affordability has worsened the most in a decade.
It would now take 46.5% of income for a representative household [of the average population] to service the mortgage on a representative home in Canada.
That is not necessarily good news. I have more like that. I did my research, and I tried to find some way to give back hope to young families under 30.
A survey conducted by the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec found that the scarcity of housing has led to an explosion in costs, which the government's figures do not reflect at all. We see the numbers, but the reality is even worse than what the numbers suggest. According to this study, which was released in June 2021, there is a 49% gap between what the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation studies say and the reality.
The average cost of a rental unit is $1,302 in the metropolitan Montreal census area, which is up 8% over last year. In Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières and Granby, the situation is untenable because prices have increased there too. The situation is difficult because there has been a jump of about 12% compared to last year in what people have to pay for housing.
Other cities in Quebec are also affected. Rents in Granby have increased by 15% compared to last year. Prices have jumped by 10% in the cities of Drummondville, Joliette, Saint-Hyacinthe and Victoriaville. In short, it is never-ending.
A recent December 8 article in Le Devoir indicates that the price of houses spiked by 21%. According to the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers, residential property sales in the Montreal area are down and the number of new listings has dropped. There are fewer sales, but the prices have spiked by more than 20% compared to last year, not compared to six years ago, but compared to last year. It is incredible. These people know that to be true because they are the ones selling the homes and making the transactions. They have to know what they are talking about.
The median price of buildings with two to five units increased by 15%. The median price of a single family home rose by 21% to $525,000, and the median price of a condo rose by 18% to $374,000.
I will keep going. I have more examples. Unfortunately, I have pages full of bad examples that will discourage Canadians and young families from finding the means to buy and own a home.
The motion being debated is clear and simple. It calls on the government to do something after six years of inaction. In my view, if the government is sincere about wanting to ensure that young families under the age of 30 can realize their dream of buying a home, it will do the only logical thing it can in the House. It will support the motion moved by my colleague from Edmonton Riverbend and vote with the opposition and the Bloc Québécois in favour of the motion.
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