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Mr. Ryan Williams (Bay of Quinte, CPC)

Nov/30/21 3:04:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while many children across Canada look forward to Santa visiting in less than a month, many parents have already woken up to their stockings filled with coal, not houses. Parents reflecting on the gifts of massive cash for housing have not just seen rising heating bills and small business workers have not just had worker shortages, but they can see that it is just inflation also making housing the second most expensive in the world because there is no supply. Will the Liberals fix the inflation tax on housing by producing supply, rather than inflation-causing cash, or will they be the grinch that steals Christmas?

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Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 3:05:01 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-2

Mr. Speaker, we absolutely do believe that increasing supply is an important part of addressing the housing challenge, but all of us have been talking a lot about the economy today. That is entirely appropriate, so let me propose one thing we can all do to support Canadians in this difficult moment, when the omicron variant has appeared. It is to support Bill C-2, which would provide essential targeted support for tourism and hospitality, and critical lockdown support, should we need it. Let us set aside partisan posturing and support this essential and urgent legislation.

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Ms. Lianne Rood (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, CPC)

Nov/30/21 3:05:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Speech from the Throne left rural Canadians hungry and out in the cold. It ignored their concerns, like labour shortages, rising inflation and the skyrocketing costs of basic necessities, like gas, groceries and heat for their homes and their barns. Rural Canadians, like those in my riding of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, deserve to be a priority. Why is the Liberal government always ignoring rural Canadians and leaving them behind?

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Hon. Gudie Hutchings (Minister of Rural Economic Development, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 3:06:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is my first time rising in the House in the 44th Parliament. I would like to congratulate the Speaker on his seat, all of my colleagues here and, of course, the members of the Long Range Mountains for electing me a third time. I would like to congratulate my colleague opposite in her new role. We do understand rural Canadians, and the number one thing we promised is connectivity in rural Canada. We have a plan to connect 98% of Canada by 2026. We are well under way to do that.

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Ms. Sonia Sidhu (Brampton South, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 3:06:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin in Canada, we raised the World Diabetes Day flag in Brampton to raise awareness. In June, the House passed Bill C-237, which will lead to a national diabetes strategy. Can the Minister of Health tell us what steps the government is taking to ensure that Canada is leading in the fight against diabetes?

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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos (Minister of Health, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 3:07:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like first to thank the member for Brampton South for her strong advocacy on behalf of the diabetes community in Canada. We want to recognize the severe impact that diabetes has on three million Canadians who live with the disease and their families. Thanks in large part to the hard work of the member of Parliament for Brampton South and her bill, Bill C-237, we are now developing a national framework for diabetes, strengthened by a $25-million investment from budget 2021. There is much more work to do, but thanks to the member and what we are going to do to prevent diabetes and care for people, we are going to get there.

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Ms. Lindsay Mathyssen (London—Fanshawe, NDP)

Nov/30/21 3:08:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today, media reported that a law guaranteeing the rights of sexual assault survivors in the military has not been fully implemented by the current Liberal government. For six years, the government has ignored the Deschamps report, which outlined concrete actions to fix the toxic culture in the armed forces. In that time, thousands of service people reported sexual misconduct. How many more people will have to be abused before the government acts? Will the Prime Minister commit to implementing all the Deschamps report recommendations by the end of next year?

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Hon. Anita Anand (Minister of National Defence, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 3:08:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to say, first off, that our government takes all allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously. The Canadian Armed Forces must be an institution where all individuals feel safe, respected and protected. As the member opposite knows, I accepted the interim basis recommendation of Madam Justice Arbour on November 4 to transfer cases from the military justice system to the civil justice system. We are preparing the groundwork to accept the recommendations of Madam Justice Arbour when she provides them to us next year.

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Mr. Kevin Vuong (Spadina—Fort York, Ind.)

Nov/30/21 3:09:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. In my riding of Spadina—Fort York, people have raised concerns about the rise of racism in our community. They are worried about the violence and harassment they are witnessing online and in person. As someone of Asian heritage, anti-Asian hate is a sad reality. Many of my neighbours in Spadina—Fort York also know this far too well. That is unacceptable, but whether it is anti-Asian racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or any form of hate, hate is hate, and any strategy developed must eradicate this whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head. Could the minister update the House on the vital work in combatting racism and anti-Asian hate?

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Hon. Ahmed Hussen (Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 3:10:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since 2019, our government has committed close to $100 million through Canada's anti-racism strategy, including $70 million to support community organizations across Canada, addressing issues of anti-racism and multiculturalism. We are the first government in Canadian history to listen to Black Canadians when they said that they needed capacity-building funding and funding for infrastructure. That is why I am happy to report that through the supporting Black Canadian communities initiative and other initiatives, we are, for the first time, investing in building the capacity of organizations that have done so much for so long with so little.

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The Speaker

Nov/30/21 3:10:59 p.m.
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That is all the time we have for oral question period. The hon. member for Lac‑Saint‑Jean on a point of order.

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Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe

Nov/30/21 3:11:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there have been consultations among the parties, and I really, truly hope you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: Given the credible reports and testimony indicating that the Chinese government is arbitrarily detaining more than one million people in the Xinjiang region, thereby committing crimes against humanity against the Uighur minority and the Turkic peoples living on its territory and violating every provision of the United Nations Genocide Convention; given that China denies the existence of any crime against the Uighurs and the Turkic peoples of East Turkistan; given that the international community asked China for immediate, meaningful, unimpeded access to Xinjiang by independent observers, including the United Nations High Commissioner, specifically during the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2021; given that, in the past, other Olympic Games have been postponed on reasonable grounds, such as pandemic or war; and given that the 7th general assembly of the World Uyghur Congress resolved on November 14 in Prague to ask the International Olympic Committee to postpone or relocate the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, the House of Commons hereby asks the International Olympic Committee to (1) postpone the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games by one year to 2023 so that an independent international observation mission can go to the Xinjiang region; and (2) find an alternative and relocate the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games to a location outside of China if (a) China refuses to allow an independent international observation mission; (b) an independent international observation mission concludes that there have been violations of the human rights of the Uighur minority or other Turkic peoples.

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The Speaker

Nov/30/21 3:12:48 p.m.
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Just as an observation, I remind members to be as concise as possible when presenting something. This being a hybrid sitting of the House, for the sake of clarity, I will only ask those who are opposed to the request to express their disagreement. Some hon. members: Nay.

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The Speaker

Nov/30/21 3:13:45 p.m.
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The hon. member for Carleton has three minutes remaining for questions. Questions and comments, the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.

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Mr. Gérard Deltell (Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC)

Nov/30/21 3:14:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, like everyone else, I was listening carefully to the speech by the member for Carleton right before question period, and we asked the government a lot of questions about what it plans to do about inflation. Unfortunately, we heard all kinds of talk, but no real action. We can all see that the federal government has absolutely no plan to address inflation. What is worse, when government members are presented with the truth that Canadian families are all suffering so long as the inflation rate stays at 4.7% and that this inflation is one of the highest in the world, especially among our partners, the government keeps pointing out that the rate is comparable to that of the United States. However, the United States has an inflation rate that is much higher than Canada's. Could the member for Carleton explain how the current government's economic policy compares to the U.S. government's?

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, CPC)

Nov/30/21 3:15:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question. What is the cause of real estate inflation? First, it is not COVID-19. It should actually have driven housing prices down. There is no immigration, so there are fewer consumers buying houses; wages are lower, because people have lost their jobs; and there is a lot more uncertainty, which usually discourages people from buying anything at all; yet prices have gone up. Second, international supply chains are not the issue, because that does not include land, since it is already here. Third, Canada has the world's second-highest real estate inflation. We have the second-largest housing bubble after New Zealand. Other countries also have COVID-19, but real estate inflation is not as high elsewhere. What is causing it? The government printed $400 billion in the last year and a half. The money went to the banks and was loaned to buyers, specifically to very wealthy investors, to inflate real estate prices and keep the dream of home ownership out of reach for many Canadians. This means that we need to stop printing money to drive out inflation, and start building housing instead of printing money.

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Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Nov/30/21 3:17:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Carleton and I can at least agree that inflation is a problem for the financially vulnerable and that there are things that the federal government could do. However, there is much that we disagree on in his analysis. I wonder why the member does not talk about some of the market forces, such as Canadians who did maintain their income but instead of spending money on travel decided to invest in real estate being one of the causes for inflation. I would go on but, unfortunately, his colleagues and the member have run out the clock.

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre

Nov/30/21 3:17:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member thinks that somebody cancelling their $3,000 vacation is what caused housing prices to rise 25% in one year, one-third since COVID, then he needs to pull out his calculator and do a little more math. What actually happened is that mortgage lending went up 41%, most of it going to rich people and wealthy landlords, after the Bank of Canada began printing its $400 billion. Too many dollars chasing too few houses equals house price inflation.

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Right Hon. Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister, Lib.)

Nov/30/21 3:18:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the hon. Leader of the Opposition for his remarks this morning on the Speech from the Throne. In September, Canadians gave the government a very clear direction. They want us to finish the fight against COVID-19 once and for all and put forward bold, concrete solutions to meet the other challenges we face. As shown in the Speech from the Throne, that is exactly what we will continue to do. During this election campaign, we presented Canadians with a clear vision to fight COVID-19 even harder by making sure that everyone on planes and trains is vaccinated, which has in fact become a reality, in addition to bringing the same intensity, expertise and energy to bear on our other challenges, such as the housing crisis, climate change, intolerance and reconciliation. That is exactly what we promised Canadians, and that is exactly what we laid out in our throne speech. Of course, job one remains ending the pandemic. We will always put the health of Canadians first. From the very first day of the pandemic, we had a straightforward message to Canadians: We would have their backs. That is what has guided us every step of the way. Having people's backs was not just about making sure we were handling the health crisis. It was also about making sure that we were giving the economic supports to Canadians that they so desperately needed while we made sure they could stay safe through the first wave of the pandemic. Every step of the way and through the subsequent waves, the guiding principle of being there to support Canadians, to allow them to do the necessary things to keep themselves and their families safe from this health crisis and make it through the economic crisis, meant that we were there to support Canadians every step of the way. Now, Conservative politicians kept telling us in the House that we were doing too much, that we were making a mistake by investing so much to support Canadians: to support families, to support workers, to support small businesses and to support students. However, not only did we know that investing in Canadians would be the right way to ensure that our economy would come back as quickly as possible as we made it through the worst of the pandemic, but we knew that showing Canadians they had a government they could count on, that would have their backs and could deliver income supports, deliver health supports and deliver the vaccines that were necessary, would give people confidence to continue being true to our values as Canadians. When a storm hits it is easy to want to hunker down and just take care of ourselves, but Canadians are really, really good at stepping up in a crisis. That is what Canadians did because they had confidence that governments were there to support them. It was not just the federal government either, although the federal government delivered eight dollars out of every $10 to Canadians to help them through the pandemic. The provinces and the municipalities were all there working hand in hand to make sure we were delivering for Canadians. The fact that Canadians could be reassured that their institutions were there to support them, our health professionals were working hard for them and political leadership in all orders of government were there for them gave them the confidence to do the right thing and continue to step up to be there for each other. Even as Canadians were watching their governments and frontline workers be heroes to keep them safe during the pandemic, Canadians themselves, from small business owners to young people to seniors, were there to support each other through this time. That, quite frankly, has been the story of the pandemic: Canadians have been there for each other. As we continue to deal with the pandemic, which is going through new phases now, and even as so much of our economy has been able to come back and many people are now safely vaccinated and feeling a lot more confident about how they and their families are, we know there is still more to do. That is why in the throne speech we talked about everything from implementing enhanced border measures to address variants of concern; to securing boosters, doses for kids and the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines; to investing in more opportunities to create vaccines and health products in Canada. These are the kinds of things we need to do not only to get this pandemic behind us as quickly as possible, but also to ensure that Canadians can continue to thrive into the coming months and years. That is why we need to finish this fight against the pandemic. The single most impactful thing we can do to help Canadians grow the economy and create opportunities for themselves and their kids is to end the pandemic for good. That is why we are so focused on ensuring that people have access to life-saving vaccines, that science guides our way every step of the way and that we work with the provinces and territories to ensure that if lockdowns and more public health measures are necessary, the federal government will be there to support small businesses, families and the people who need help to get through the pandemic. That is how to ensure we will continue to do well. That is what Canada laid out as a plan from the very beginning, and not on our own. We cannot take full credit for knowing that investing in Canadians was the best way through the pandemic. Those were the recommendations of international economic organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD and a range of others. They said countries that have the fiscal capacity to support their citizens should do so as we enter the pandemic and get through it. Of course, Canada had the best fiscal capacity of any of our partners in the G7, with the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio, and we continued to move forward in ways that supported Canadians every step of the way. Unfortunately, members opposite, such as the member for Carleton, said that we were doing too much too fast to support Canadians. We disagreed, and what we have shown is that our economy has bounced back faster than the economy in the United States, for example. We have recovered over 100% of the jobs lost during the pandemic while the U.S. has only recovered about 81%. There is much more to do, so we have a real plan to keep building a strong, resilient economy that works for everyone. At the heart of our work is continuing to tackle the rising cost of living. We know that families across the country are looking at rising costs with real concern. They are facing significant inflation, which is a reality right around the world. However, Canadians also have the tools to get past it. We recognize that a huge part of the costs that families bear these days is the cost of child care. That is why we moved forward to build the first-ever, Canada-wide child care system that will provide $10-a-day child care to families within five years. We also know that families need help now, so the money we are putting forward to invest in child care in places right across the country will result, in many places, in immediate reductions of child care costs. Indeed, the Province of Alberta has announced that as of January 1, because of the investments made by the federal government and the deal signed with the federal government, they will be able to cut child care costs in half for families across Alberta. They are not the only ones; other provinces are doing the same thing. This really does beg the question: If governments in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and other Conservative provinces across the country have stepped up so strongly in moving forward on child care and reducing costs for families, why are the Conservatives here in Ottawa so opposed to signing child care agreements? They promised in the election that they would rip up child care agreements signed with the provinces. If they are actually concerned about costs and expenses for families, reducing child care to $10 a day is one of the best ways to do exactly that. We also know that the housing crisis is a reality for middle-class families across the country. The cost of affordable housing and the cost of a home are higher than ever. Families need help. The big challenge we face in Canada is that, for 10 years, Stephen Harper's Conservative government kept saying that the federal government had no role to play in housing and no obligation to invest in housing. Ten years of nothing, with no leadership from the federal government, has long-lasting effects. That is why, when we took office in 2015, we made a promise to Canadians that we would recommit to housing and deliver ambitious plans. That is exactly what we did in 2017 when we created the national housing strategy, a plan that started at $40 billion and is now up to $80 billion.Through that strategy, investments have provided hundreds of thousands of families with more housing, more spaces and the ability to find affordable housing—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/30/21 3:29:19 p.m.
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I am sorry to interrupt the Prime Minister, but a member is being disrespectful. I would ask the member for Carleton to wait. He will have an opportunity later to ask questions and make comments. I would ask that all members be respected when they have the floor. The hon. Prime Minister.

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Noise/conversations/heckling, interrupting Member speaking

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