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Nov/30/21 1:43:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it would be nice to talk about Bill C-2 at committee if we could get it up and running. Of course, we need to step up and help Canadians. However, we also need to make sure that the Canadians who need the most help are the ones getting the help. We would know this if we could get a discussion on Bill C-2 about who is falling through the cracks. I mentioned a few individuals in my speech, in particular the independent travel agents who do not seem to fall within Bill C-2. We would like to get some further clarification on that. I think it would be important to have a full understanding of the bill before we decide whether to support it or not.

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Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Nov/30/21 1:44:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, another issue that has surfaced in my riding of Vancouver East concerns start-up businesses. They have been excluded from pandemic support and many of them are struggling. We now have an opportunity before us with Bill C-2 to make changes so that start-up companies can get the support they need to survive the pandemic. Would the Conservatives support such a change?

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Mr. Adam Chambers

Nov/30/21 1:44:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is exactly the kind of discussion we need to be having about a bill like Bill C-2 so we can talk about who is falling through the cracks. The start-ups and those individuals who cannot prove revenue prior to 2019 or 2020 are having a difficult time getting support from the government and have been throughout the pandemic. I agree with the point that my hon. colleague has raised and wish we could discuss it further with the government.

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Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC)

Nov/30/21 1:45:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is lovely to be here. I would like to thank the member for a great presentation. I am sure his voters are very proud of what he has to say. The member has struck on a number of points when it comes to the government's need to prioritize. The Liberal government, even before the pandemic hit, found difficulties when it did a cost-savings analysis and it said it needed to spend more. The member talked about the need to have a mindful eye. There are certain areas that suffer from cost disease. For example, labour-centric areas of provincial budgets such health care require new technology and are heavily people-oriented. If the government cannot prioritize its spending in areas where it will go the furthest, we will lose control of those things because it is unable to budget. The Liberals often call this austerity. To me it is called prioritizing. I would like to hear what the member has to say about prioritizing and making sure we have money for the important things in life.

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Mr. Adam Chambers

Nov/30/21 1:46:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, those who have too many priorities probably do not have any priorities at all. I suppose the former leader of the Liberal Party was correct when he said that it was very difficult to make priorities. That is why we need to choose what we want to spend our money on wisely. If we were standing here talking about wanting to trim down in one area because we think that child care is really important and other areas of government are important to invest in, we would obviously welcome that discussion.

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, CPC)

Nov/30/21 1:47:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it has been my practice to consider my response to the Speech from the Throne to be my maiden remarks in every Parliament, and I want to begin by thanking the good people of Carleton for electing me a seventh time to this chamber. They have vested their trust in me and I am deeply humbled by it. I want to thank my wife Anaida, my daughter Valentina and our new son baby Cruz. Cruz was born eight days before the election. He was born premature. He rushed to get here and then they told him he had to wait 18 more years to vote. It is another example of the red tape and rules that are holding people back. The poor little guy could not even vote for his dad. We hope to fix that when we are in government. The other thing he found out is that he owes something like $60,000 of federal government debt. Those were two pieces of bad news, but all else has been good news for him. He has a wonderful and loving mother, and he is fortunate to look more like her than his father, which all members will agree is a good thing. As members can see, I was not elected for my good looks, but I am very thankful to have the support of my family. I also want to thank my father Don, my mother Marlene and my brother Patrick, as well as the countless volunteers, workers and other supporters who have stood by me through thick and thin. I am very pleased to be back here on the floor of the House of Commons to work with everyone here in the service of the common people. Today, I would like to speak about the question everyone is asking. Why does everything cost so much? No matter where we go, prices have gone up. Young people who are still living in their parents' basements are wondering why housing prices have risen so much. The single mother doing her grocery shopping is wondering why it costs so much to buy food for her children. The worker trying to fill up his truck is wondering why he can only afford to buy a quarter of a tank of gas. The answer is clear: inflation. There is too much money chasing too few goods and services. How did that happen? The Liberals are trying to blame COVID-19 and the resulting disruptions. It is strange because the Minister of Finance and the current and former governors of the Bank of Canada said that COVID-19 would cause deflation. However, this week, we heard Stephen Poloz claim that COVID-19 is causing inflation, when he is the one who said that the problem we would have would be deflation. The same people who said that COVID-19 would cause deflation are now blaming COVID-19 for inflation. COVID‑19 is obviously not the main cause. We know this because many other countries have also had COVID‑19, but they have a much lower inflation rate than here in Canada because they have printed less money than here. I am thinking of countries like Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, India, China, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France and the United Kingdom. For its part, the Canadian government has decided to follow the disastrous policy of the United States and print money to finance a deficit. In the United States, we have seen the result of this policy: the rich have become much richer. Their assets have increased. However, the wages of the poor and the working class are losing value. Their dollar buys less because of the supply of that currency. Of course, in the United States, the two main parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, agree on one thing and one thing only. Both parties like to print money. The Republicans like to fund Wall Street, and the Democrats like to fund Washington. One party likes big business, and the other likes big government. To finance both, they are printing a lot of money, and this has caused very negative effects for the poor. It has increased the gap between the rich and the poor. Here in Canada, we have not followed this approach. During the Harper years, there was almost no inflation. After the great recession of 2008-09, we had the best economic recovery and we eliminated the deficit in five years. We were able to do that because we did not print money. We spent real dollars to help Canadians during the crisis, and we returned to a balanced budget soon after. Suddenly, in 2020, during the COVID‑19 crisis, the government decided to start copying what the U.S. Federal Reserve has done, which is to print money to pay the bills, because Canada's deficits were the highest in the G20 and the government was unable to get the financing it needed from the traditional bond market. What this means is that the government increased the amount of money in circulation by $400 billion, which is about a 25% increase. Since then, inflation has been astronomical. For example, the price of a house has increased by 30%, which is strange, because one would have expected prices to go down in the midst of the COVID‑19 crisis. There was no immigration, which reduces demand. Wages went down, which limits the amount of money people have to buy homes. People were scared, which would normally make people think twice about purchases. Prices did not just go up, however. Property prices increased at an unprecedented rate in Canada's modern history. International supply chains cannot be to blame since land does not have a supply chain. The land has been here for thousands or maybe millions of years. Land does not appear or disappear, so when the gross value of land increases by 20% in a single year, it has nothing to do with the virus or with the delivery of goods. Once again, land does not get loaded onto a ship to be sent to Canada. It is a question of demand. What caused this demand? When the government printed the $400 billion, it did not throw that cash out of a plane. That may have been fairer than what it actually did with the money. The government is giving that money to the banks and these banks are loaning it to homebuyers, which is causing the price of real estate to go up. Clearly, the government is behind the whole situation, and this creates a great deal of unfairness. We need to stop printing money, pay down the deficits and let builders build homes. That is how Canadians will be able to live a dignified and respectable life.

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All Topics

Mr. Yasir Naqvi (Ottawa Centre, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 1:57:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my friend from Carleton on his remarks today. It felt like I was hearing a leadership speech from him. I have had the chance to work with him for many years. He talked about family; there was a little humour and a lot of French. This is a good practice ground for him. He is doing quite well. The member often talks about the economy, and rightly so. It is a very important topic of conversation for all of us, especially as we build our economy post pandemic. However, I did not hear him talk about child care and the value of child care as an economic policy that would allow women to fully participate in our economy. I would love to hear his views and perspective on that.

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre

Nov/30/21 1:58:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his kind words. I have enjoyed conversations with him. In fact, I had the chance to meet his lovely children, who were on Parliament Hill just last week. I think he is preparing them to run for office, although he had better be careful, because he might not have long in his seat if one of them is too ambitious. That said, I congratulate him on his election and on his wonderful family. The question about child care is particularly pertinent, because, as the government keeps reminding us, child care is more expensive than ever after six years of Liberal government. It is ironic, because every time the Liberals say they are going to spend money on a particular thing, that thing gets way more expensive. They said they were going to spend $70 billion on housing, and what happened to housing? It got a lot more expensive. It went from about $450,000 for the average house to $716,000. Now homebuyers are paying more and taxpayers are paying more for the same thing that used to cost less for both. I just hope the Liberals do not get the same results on child care that they got on housing, because God knows parents are paying too much as it is.

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The Speaker

Nov/30/21 1:59:37 p.m.
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The hon. member for Carleton will have three minutes for questions coming to him when we return. For now, we will go to Statements by Members.

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Ms. Jean Yip (Scarborough—Agincourt, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 1:59:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the people of Scarborough—Agincourt for placing their trust in me once again as their elected representative in Ottawa. Special thanks also go to my three sons and the many volunteers who were so supportive. I will represent my constituents on the issues that matter most to them: recovery from the pandemic, supporting families and workers, helping small businesses and assisting seniors, who deserve to age comfortably in retirement. Recently, we welcomed the new Minister of Seniors in my riding, and we toured Senior Persons Living Connected, a local non-profit organization doing good work and servicing the diverse needs of over 2,500 seniors and caregivers in our community. We saw first-hand the positive impact of the New Horizons for Seniors program, including a hybrid exercise class for seniors to participate together, both in person and virtually. I am delighted that the new intake for this program opened last week. Initiatives such as these represent our government's commitment to supporting Canadians, and I look forward to continuing this work for Scarborough—Agincourt.

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Mr. Tony Baldinelli (Niagara Falls, CPC)

Nov/30/21 2:01:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a tremendous honour for me to rise in the House of Commons today to give my opening remarks in the 44th Parliament as the re-elected representative for the beautiful riding of Niagara Falls. I want to sincerely thank the great people of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls and Fort Erie for continuing to place their confidence in me by returning me to this incredible chamber, the people's House, to represent them and their issues. I want to also take a moment to thank the dedicated volunteers who supported me during the campaign. What we achieved on election night was made possible only because of the hard work of everyone involved. I also want to thank my entire family, including my beautiful wife, Carol, and son, Daniel. I would not be standing here today if not for their continued love and support. Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Speaker on his recent election. I look forward to working with all my parliamentary colleagues in both chambers as we work to resolve the many pressing issues facing Canadians today. Let us get to work.

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Mr. Churence Rogers (Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 2:02:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour a great man we recently lost in Newfoundland and Labrador: Mr. Frederick B. Rowe. A father, a grandfather, an educator and a politician, he had a passion for politics and spent his life dedicated to improving grassroots democracy here in our province. He leaves behind a strong legacy of community building. Mr. Rowe had a long career in politics, including being elected as an MHA for two provincial districts and later becoming a long-time director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party. He was known as a true grit with a lot of tenacity. He built many bridges of co-operation and friendship along the way. He was a lover of sea explorations and humorous stories, and a great lover of his children and grandchildren. He embodied a lot of the characteristics that make Newfoundland and Labrador so proud and unique. On behalf of this entire Parliament, I want to send condolences to his wife of 61 years, Sandra, to his entire family and to everyone who was touched by his decades of public service.

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Mr. Jean-Denis Garon (Mirabel, BQ)

Nov/30/21 2:03:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in Quebec alone, 600,000 people rely on food assistance each month, according to Food Banks of Quebec. As the holiday season draws near, I would like to highlight the strong community spirit of the people in my riding. No less than eight fundraisers are being planned right now in the area. I would like to thank La Maison de la famille de Mirabel, the Knights of Columbus of Sainte‑Anne‑des‑Plaines, Pointe‑Calumet and Sainte‑Marthe‑sur‑le‑Lac, the Oka Optimist Club, the Comité d'action sociale de Saint‑Joseph‑du‑Lac, and the firefighters of the city of Saint‑Placide. Backed by their invaluable volunteers, they make a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of families. I thank each and every one of them for this wonderful example of community support. With that in mind, I invite all the people of Mirabel to join in this great outpouring of support and to give generously.

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Ms. Emmanuella Lambropoulos (Saint-Laurent, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 2:04:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise in the House for the first time in this Parliament to thank all the constituents of Saint‑Laurent. They placed their trust in me to represent them in the House of Commons for a third time. I will continue to do my best to represent them as well as possible in Ottawa. I would also like to thank my tireless team of volunteers, who made it possible to get our message out and to get the vote out. I could not have done it without them. I would like to highlight three people in particular, who were there every single day: Yasmine, Aldo and Kuddian. I thank them for their hard work and for the great laughs. I thank my campaign manager, Pina, for all the time and effort put into our campaign and for being the best emotional support on the more difficult days. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family for their consistent support over the last four and a half years. I thank my mom, dad, Yanni and yiayia, for always being my number one fans.

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Mr. Warren Steinley (Regina—Lewvan, CPC)

Nov/30/21 2:05:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week Regina hosted the Canadian Western Agribition. This year was the show's 50th anniversary. Often referred to as the best beef show on the planet, Agribition is the largest livestock event in Canada, serving as an agricultural trade hub for ranchers and agribusinesses. Throughout the history of the event, millions of dollars of economic development have passed through Evraz Place in Regina as producers share best practices, innovations in agribusiness technology and, most importantly, our world-renowned Canadian livestock genetics. Those who attended the show this year said it was a rousing success and a great opportunity to again visit with old and new friends in person after the postponement of last year's show. I ask members to join me in thanking Agribition CEO Chris Lane, his leadership team and all the hard-working volunteers who made sure the show ran so smoothly. I also look forward to once again having our leader and even more Conservative colleagues come out to the Agribition next year, because once they get a taste of our western hospitality they will be sure to not want to miss out on all the fun.

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Mr. Darren Fisher (Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 2:06:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today, November 30, is a special day. After Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it is Giving Tuesday, a global movement of generosity. In my riding of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, we see kindness every single day. We see it in the charities and non-profits that lift our community up; we see it in our courageous and selfless frontline workers, who continue to get us through this pandemic, and we see it in the wonderful volunteers who organize community events and programs, including the coaches who show up at 6 a.m. for our kids' hockey practices. On Giving Tuesday, let us all find a way to be generous and to do what we can to keep our communities amazing. I ask people to consider signing up to volunteer with a favourite organization or make a donation. They can even perform random acts of kindness in their communities. I am asking everyone across Canada to inspire each other to do good on Giving Tuesday and all year long.

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Mr. Wilson Miao (Richmond Centre, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 2:07:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise for the first time as a newly elected member in this Parliament, on behalf of my constituents in Richmond Centre. I would like to thank my community. I thank its members for exercising their right to vote and placing their trust in me as their representative in Ottawa. I am here because of all of them. I also want to thank my friends, the volunteers and everyone who helped me during my campaign, as well as my family, especially my mother, Lisa, my two sisters, Jenny and Connie, my partner, Zoe, and my father, Michael, who is watching us from above. Congratulations to all my colleagues across the floor on being elected and re-elected, and I would like to congratulate the Speaker on his re-election. I look forward to working peacefully with everyone to resolve issues that matter most to Canadians and the constituents of Richmond Centre. As we move forward through these challenging times, our communities need this House to be more united than ever so we may create real change and meaningful process.

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Mr. Marty Morantz (Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, CPC)

Nov/30/21 2:08:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Jewish communities across Canada have welcomed the beginning of Hanukkah. For eight nights, Jewish families across Canada will gather to light the menorah and tell of the miracle of Hanukkah. The eight-day festival of lights celebrates the triumph of the Maccabees over their oppressors over two millennia ago. This week, Jewish homes and communities light up in celebration of the miracles that have upheld the Jewish people over the centuries. Hanukkah is an opportunity to reflect on life's blessings and honour the resilience of the Jewish people in the face of immense adversity. It is also a time to recognize the challenges still experienced by Jewish communities, including unacceptable acts of anti-Semitism in our communities. Canada is blessed to be home to such a vibrant and engaged Jewish community that has enriched our society. From my family to theirs, I wish all celebrating tonight a very happy Hanukkah. Chag Chanukah sameach.

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Mr. Marc Serré (Nickel Belt, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 2:10:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of our colleague and friend, the Hon. Senator Josée Forest-Niesing. Her ambition to help others was embedded in her DNA. She was a fierce advocate and champion for the most vulnerable, promoting the abilities of people and protecting our environment. She shared the passion of her parents, Normand and Marie-Paule, for protecting the French language and heritage. Her incredible accomplishments, her generosity, and the many people she touched and helped will never be forgotten. A fund has been created in memory of Josée Forest-Niesing at Place des Arts in Greater Sudbury. We will always remember her beautiful smile and her joie de vivre. I offer sincere condolences to her husband Robert, her children Véronique and Philippe, her mother Marie-Paule, her sisters Sylvie and Dominique, and to all those who loved and knew her. Rest in peace, Josée, dear friend to all.

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Mr. Frank Caputo (Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, CPC)

Nov/30/21 2:11:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when I was growing up forestry fed my family. Forestry remains vital to the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Six days after the Prime Minister visited Washington, D.C., the United States doubled tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber. This incident demonstrates what we have learned over the past six years: The Prime Minister has no influence over our largest trading partner. He is not respected on the world stage and he does not care about our natural resources. Thousands of people in my community depend on forestry and these tariffs put their homes, families and livelihoods in jeopardy. Our forest workers deserve to have someone in their corner, and I want the people in my community to know that Conservatives will fight for their jobs and their families even if the government will not.

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