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Mr. Maxime Blanchette-Joncas (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, BQ)

Dec/1/21 4:08:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, first, allow me to congratulate you on your election. I heard the speech by my colleague from Kingston and the Islands, and I would like to tell him about a situation that concerns me. There is a very important word missing from the throne speech, and that is “science”. In the middle of a pandemic, the government did not see fit to include the word “science” in the speech. Canada is the only G7 nation that was unable to produce a COVID-19 vaccine, the only G7 nation that resorted to the COVAX program to obtain vaccines that were intended for the poorest countries and developing countries, and the only G7 nation that cut funding to scientific research and development between 2009 and 2019. Is the government actually interested in reinvesting in science?

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Dec/1/21 4:09:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this government and the Prime Minister have always, even back in their days in opposition, prided themselves on listening to scientists and using data and science to inform the decision-making process. Perhaps one particular word was not found in the document, but I think it would be a far stretch to try to link that to the fact that this government does not believe in science. I have said it before, and I will say it again: If we do not learn from this pandemic that we need to make sure we are able to manufacture vaccines in Canada, then I think we, as Canadians, have quite frankly failed. I believe we will see Canada come forward. We will be able to ensure that we do not put ourselves in the position we were in at the beginning of this pandemic when we were not able to manufacture our own vaccines. Getting to that point was the doing of a number of different governments.

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Mr. Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, NDP)

Dec/1/21 4:10:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there is a situation that is increasingly worrying our entrepreneurs. At the beginning of the pandemic, the federal government offered assistance, but in the form of a loan. For many small businesses whose operations have not yet returned to normal, the repayment date is fast approaching. In Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, that is the case for Gabriel Campeau of Vélo Festif Montréal, who wrote that he is very concerned about the imminent deadline. Are the Liberals willing to listen to Canadians and show some flexibility by cancelling the debt, reducing it or even allowing repayment over time?

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Dec/1/21 4:11:02 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-2

Madam Speaker, the recent bill we were discussing, Bill C-2, specifically addresses the issue of the hardest-hit sectors in the pandemic. If businesses have been hard hit and have still not been able to recover, they should look into the legislation, and the programs that will come through that legislation, which is before the House.

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Hon. Andrew Scheer (Regina—Qu'Appelle, CPC)

Dec/1/21 4:11:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Edmonton—Wetaskiwin. As this is my first time rising in the chamber in this Parliament, I want to first thank the voters of Regina—Qu'Appelle for once again selecting me to represent them in this chamber. I have had the good fortune to serve in several different roles in the House of Commons. I was Deputy Speaker and Speaker, House leader of the official opposition and Leader of the Opposition, but every time I walk into this chamber, I am very aware that there is no role I can serve in the House if I do not first earn the trust of the people back home in Regina—Qu'Appelle. I sincerely thank everyone who supported me in the last election. There is once again a great clash of ideas dividing the world. As Canadians look hopefully to the future about how to emerge from the pandemic and its aftermath, there are two very distinct versions of what comes next. This clash of ideas and philosophies is basically the same as it has been at several times throughout human history, especially in the 20th century. There are those like the Prime Minister and his friends in the global elite who would use COVID as an excuse to expand the size of government. They believe in more government intervention in the economy and more restrictions on individual liberty. Then there are those who understand that it is not government that creates prosperity, it is the free market, people buying and selling freely, that creates wealth and lifts people out of poverty. In essence, it is the age-old debate of whether we should put our faith in government or put our faith in people. It is often said that the best indicator of future results is to look at past results. History is clear on this matter. When we look at the examples where the ideology of government control was put into place, in every country it was tried, it failed miserably. After all, nobody was ever shot trying to get over the wall to get into East Berlin, and nobody ever tried to paddle a raft to get to Cuba. The terms for that ideology changes from time to time. What we once referred to as communism and socialism, those on the left now call their progressive agenda, but changing the name does not change the reality. In November, we marked the 32nd anniversary of the Berlin Wall being torn down. Throughout the course of human history, walls were generally seen as a good thing. Walls kept us safe. In times of danger, people would run toward the walls to get inside, but that started to change with the rise of socialism. The Berlin Wall was to keep people in. Berlin was a real-time experiment in economics and human behaviour. In the east was socialism, state control of the economy. Government officials planned what would be produced, by whom and how much of it. They set wages and prices. They also took away basic human rights like free speech and prohibited any criticisms of their regime. The result was misery, bread lines, shortages and a stagnant quality of life. In the west, the free market decided. People buying and selling relatively freely set prices and signalled to the market what needed to be produced. The result was plenty, huge increases in the quality of life. The difference between life in a free market and life in a society controlled by the government was stark. While the people of East Berlin could not vote in real elections, they could vote with their feet, and they did. There was a steady stream of people fleeing the horrors of socialism. That is why the wall went up, not to keep enemies out, but to keep people in. This is the hallmark of big government intervention in our lives. Those on the left are constantly telling us how wonderful their socialist policies will be, but then they have to build walls, sometimes virtual, eliminating our choices and taking away our freedoms to keep people in. When I was first elected in 2004, Canada had its own experiment between the free market and government interference. The difference between Alberta and Saskatchewan throughout the course of Canadian history was also very stark. For decades, Saskatchewan was ruled by the NDP, which adopted big government intervention policies. They stifled the free market and drove away private sector investments. As a result, my province had a long history of economic stagnation and a relatively flat population. In Alberta, there was growth. In Alberta, there was opportunity. When I was fortunate enough to visit Alberta while I was leader, I always asked how many people in the audience were from Saskatchewan or whose parents were from Saskatchewan originally. In almost every room across Alberta, when I asked that question almost half the audience would put up their hands. I used to like to tell people that the good people of Saskatchewan built two great provinces in this country. The language changes, but the policies remain the same. Communism proved to be such an epic failure that its most loyal promoters conceded that it would never be accepted again. However, we are now seeing a resurgence of that same type of thinking, that government knows best approach. As we emerge from the aftermath of the pandemic, we can already see the drastic negative impacts of the large expansion into the free market by the government. In March of last year, the Bank of Canada started doing something unprecedented in Canadian history: It started creating money out of thin air, to the tune of $5 billion a week. The government had run out of money to borrow from people, so it had to turn to the central bank to crank up the printing presses to buy the government debt that nobody else was buying. I am often asked by people back home in Regina—Qu'Appelle how the Prime Minister is going to pay for his massive deficits. He is not. The Canadian people are paying right now, through inflation. We are paying the cost today today in real time as prices continue to go up, because the government forced the bank to flood the system with brand-new money created out of thin air. What happens when we have more dollars chasing the same number of goods? Prices go up. We had a decline in economic activity due to the restrictions imposed on our economy because of the COVID pandemic. Not only did economic production go down, but the money supply grew exponentially. Governments love inflation. Back through the course of human history, we will find examples that show when governments spend too much money, they start to devalue the currency. It is a fraud committed on the people who have worked so hard to earn their pay cheques and to put a bit of money away for savings when the government comes and essentially devalues that work by creating new money. If any of my colleagues has ever been to a silent auction, there might have been a print up for auction of a beautiful painting. At the bottom it is numbered one out of 100 or one out of 500. That is a limited edition print. It means the artist only created so many of those types of paintings. If someone buys that for what they believe the value is and then the artist goes and creates 5,000 more copies, that person has been defrauded. They purchased something that has had its value stripped away by simply having more created of it. That is what is going on in real time with the money that hard-working Canadians are earning. What can we do to get our economy back on track? In the time I have left, I wanted to make a pitch for the government to listen to the concerns of the people in Saskatchewan, Alberta and across Western Canada. We have an amazing source of wealth in our country with our oil and gas sector. We are now living in a completely topsy-turvy world where the first thing that President Biden did upon taking office was cancel the Keystone XL pipeline. This is something that the government did not even raise with the incoming President. The Prime Minister cancelled northern gateway and cancelled the energy east pipeline, which would have taken Western Canadian energy to Eastern Canadian markets. I see a lot of alarmists and radical activists chaining themselves to trees and laying down in front of bulldozers in Western Canada to try to prevent the exportation of our oil and gas. However, I never see them lining up along the St. Lawrence protesting tanker after tanker of foreign oil coming into Canadian markets. We have an opportunity to provide the world with ethical Canadian energy, and that benefits everyone. Since 2018, Canada's oil and gas production has paid almost $240 billion to provincial governments and $66 billion to Ottawa. Conservatives will always be champions of the hard-working men and women in our energy industry. It is something that the world needs more of, not less of. We can get off of foreign oil coming from brutal dictatorships that have no respect for human rights, and get Canadians back to work.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North, Lib.)

Dec/1/21 4:21:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will confess that the Government of Canada had to borrow money for a very good reason. With the worldwide pandemic, in order to support Canadians and businesses alike, there was a need to be there in a very real way. Had we not borrowed the money that the member opposite tries to portray as a bad thing, we would have seen far more bankruptcies. We would have seen many other societal issues, whether family breakups or suicides. The government made the decision to have the backs of Canadians. Is the member saying that we should not have provided those programs that were so critical to helping Canadians through the very difficult time of the pandemic?

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Hon. Andrew Scheer

Dec/1/21 4:22:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a huge percentage of the deficit the government has racked up came before the pandemic even hit. It was running $87 billion worth of deficits before COVID-19. During the pandemic, the government decided to give $1 billion to its friends in the WE organization, and sole-sourced contracts to former Liberal MPs as well. The government took the time during the pandemic to make sure that it enriched its friends. Let us talk about inflation. The Liberals would have us believe that it is some kind of external phenomenon like the weather: Inflation just happens. It does not happen in countries that did not run the printing presses. I could go on and on about billions of dollars in wasteful spending, corporate welfare and $35 billion through the Canadian Infrastructure Bank to bankroll large projects for profitable private companies. The member is going to try to convince Canadians that all of the inflationary spending was related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that is demonstrably false. When we go through the public accounts and look at where the government spent money, a lot of it was on increased discretionary spending. We heard throughout the week that it actually had the opposite effect of its intention. The government spent more money on housing but got fewer units built, and the price of housing is going up because of it. That is why we need less government intervention in the economy and more free market solutions.

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Ms. Andréanne Larouche (Shefford, BQ)

Dec/1/21 4:23:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as the critic for status of women, I would like to congratulate you. I am very happy to see a woman in the chair. That being said, I would like to make a comment. Then, I will ask my colleague from Regina—Qu’Appelle a question. He spoke about what the U.S. President did about the Keystone XL pipeline after he was elected. Perhaps the U.S. President understands something that even the Conservatives do not seem to understand, namely that it is important that we make a green shift toward using less oil, not more. It is important to invest in a green recovery, a recovery that will truly allow us to develop new green technologies. Perhaps that is it. That is my comment, but, at the same time, my colleague spoke about investments. I would like us to invest in green technology. I would also like my colleague to reassure me; in times of fiscal restraint, if there is a sector that should not suffer cuts, it is the health care sector. Unfortunately, both the Liberals and the Conservatives have had a tendency to make cuts to health care in times of fiscal restraint, and that is why we are in this situation today. Does my colleague not think that it is important to reinvest massively in health transfers, up to 35%, just as it is important to invest in green technologies? Regardless of the state of the economy at the end of the pandemic, these two sectors will need investments.

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Hon. Andrew Scheer

Dec/1/21 4:25:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, very quickly, I have to correct the record. The Conservative government restored the health care funding that the previous Jean Chrétien-Paul Martin government slashed in the 90s. It is the Conservative government that stands up for provincial autonomy and innovation when it comes to the health care system, standing up against the Prime Minister's threats to claw back Saskatchewan's health care transfers during the election. The member asked whether President Biden understands the global issues around oil and gas. I know the President cancelled Keystone. He cancelled a project that would have brought western Canadian energy from a safe ally and a trusted partner. It was an ethical source of energy. Just a few months later, the President of the United States is begging OPEC, and countries like Saudi Arabia with terrible human rights records, to supply the United States with more oil and gas. That makes no sense. Those are the types of ideological decisions that the Prime Minister supports, and that is why Conservatives will always stand up for our western Canadian energy sector.

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Hon. Mike Lake (Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, CPC)

Dec/1/21 4:26:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak for the first time in this Parliament. This is my sixth time being elected to represent my constituents, first in Edmonton—Mill Woods and then in Edmonton—Wetaskiwin. I want to thank those voters first and foremost. As my hon. colleague said, we would not get the opportunity to do all of the other things that we do if we were not accountable to our voters and if those voters did not support us through election. We have been fortunate in the last two elections to have the highest vote total in the country in Edmonton—Wetaskiwin. I am so thankful to the voters and so thankful to the many volunteers who come out to support us. I will not mention the whole list of volunteers, but I will mention specifically my mother Bonnie and her husband Dale, who have been tireless volunteers on the sign crew each time for all six elections. My mom turned 75 years old yesterday, so happy birthday to my mom. I love her, and she is a role model to me and to our family in her love for people and everything that she does. She gives and gives, and I am so thankful for her. I am also thinking about my father as I am standing here today. My father passed away in 2003. It would have been his 78th birthday coming up on December 4. I am thinking of my dad as I take on a new responsibility as shadow minister for mental health, addictions and suicide prevention. My dad was an absolute inspiration. He had challenges. We all have challenges in some ways, and my dad was no different. Despite the many challenges that he faced, he was also one of the most amazing human beings I have ever met, not in spite of those challenges, but because of the way he faced up to them and lived with them. He was an absolute role model and again, someone who did not let the difficulties he had get in the way of trying to make a difference and loving people. I am thinking about him. He died three years before I was elected. He never would have envisioned that his son would be a member of Parliament, but I know that he would be very proud of the work that we all do here. I am going to thank one more person and again single someone out. We could not do what we do without unbelievable staff, and one of my unbelievable staff members is leaving me in the next week. It is his birthday tomorrow, so it is sort of a birthday theme here. David McClelland is my EA. He has been with me for five years and is kind of a cynical type. He is moving back to Australia. He has not seen his family for a few years and I know that even as I am talking, he is probably rolling his eyes and making a sarcastic comment to the office. We will miss Dave. He meant the world to our team over the last five years, stepping up to do anything that we needed done. My thanks to David. Diving into the Speech from the Throne, I mentioned that in Edmonton—Wetaskiwin we have had the highest vote total in the country for the past couple of years. I want to give that some perspective. This time around in the province of P.E.I., where they elected four Liberal members of Parliament, the total vote count in the entire province for four members was 38,956. In Papineau, where the Prime Minister was elected and where he got just over 50% of the vote, the total vote count was 45,423 votes. In Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, we in the Conservative Party received 48,340 votes. When we do the math we get some perspective. This is important because each of those votes should matter as much as any other individual vote in this country. I know that we have a first-past-the-post system. I do not want to comment on the complicated electoral map or all of those different things. That is not what I am trying to say. What I am trying to say is that when there is that disparity and an election where the Conservative Party of Canada had more votes, and despite losing we had more votes than any other party in the country, that has to be taken into consideration in a functioning democracy. It has to be taken into consideration in a government that cares about all of its citizens, not just the citizens that feed into its electoral map. We have faced an unbelievable amount of frustration in Alberta, Saskatchewan and other parts of the country over the past six years. That frustration is felt because people are not listened to. To give members a little perspective, the Liberal Party could not get anyone from my constituency to run in either of the last two elections. In Canada's most populous constituency, with probably 200,000 residents in the constituency, not a single Liberal put their name forward to even run for a nomination. Now, there are members of Parliament who do not live in their ridings for a variety of reasons, such as electoral boundaries changing and things like that, but the Liberals could not find anybody to even put their name forward for a nomination. As a result, for two elections in a row, someone from outside the riding was acclaimed to run in Edmonton—Wetaskiwin. What that speaks to is the fact that Liberals almost never come to my riding. They come once in a while, because the airport happens to be in the centre of my constituency. They will come and call people, largely Liberals, from across the province to meet in a not-very-large room, because they do not need too large a room to meet in Alberta. They will come, have a bit of a session and then hop on their plane and go somewhere where there might be more votes. This is highly problematic. I talk a lot about finding common ground. In Alberta we can find common ground on a lot of different things, but I will speak to one of the hardest areas to find common ground, because I think it is emblematic of what we need to do on energy, and that is the balance between energy and the environment. My colleague for Regina—Qu'Appelle and others have brought this up over the course of time. It is unbelievable that in this country we have hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil being imported into eastern Canada that is not subject to the same rigorous regulations around upstream and downstream emissions as the oil coming from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. This is unbelievable to people in my constituency. It is one thing to have a debate about energy and another thing to have a conversation about how we reduce emissions in this country. Everybody in the House would welcome that conversation and ideas on how we can reduce emissions even further to ensure a clean climate for our kids and grandkids down the road. However, even as we debate those things, surely one thing we should be able to agree on is the fact that oil coming from Saudi Arabia and Nigeria should at least be subject to the same regulations as oil coming from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. I am looking across the way. Can I see some nods, maybe? Is it a reasonable expectation that oil coming from other countries, where human rights standards, labour standards and environmental standards are not even close to what we have in Canada, would be subject to the same standards that Canadian oil is held to? Again, there are not many nods coming from the other side. Maybe in the questions and comments some folks will stand up and agree with me on this. On the theme of common ground, I will move to a couple of areas where I hope that maybe we can find some common ground over this Parliament. A very beloved colleague of ours on this side of the House, who is friends with many colleagues in other parties, is the member of Parliament for Cariboo—Prince George. He put forward a motion on December 11 of last year, which passed with unanimous consent in the House. All members agreed to the following motion, which read as follows: That, given that the alarming rate of suicide in Canada constitutes a national health crisis, the House call on the government to take immediate action, in collaboration with our provinces, to establish a national suicide prevention hotline that consolidates all suicide crisis numbers into one easy to remember three-digit (988) hotline that is accessible to all Canadians. Hopefully, if we can find agreement on that, we can find agreement on having a functioning Parliament. This is promising, and it is nice to be here with the numbers we have had over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, we do not see Parliament being shut down. Hopefully, we get committees up and running so we can study some really important things, like the economic crisis facing this country and the inflation crisis facing this country. Hopefully, we can get the health committee up and running to study COVID and this new variant that is on the rise and of concern. I know my time is up. I will end my comments here on the floor to take any questions or hear any comments my colleagues might have.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North, Lib.)

Dec/1/21 4:36:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be selective in my question. It is related to the motion we passed, because there was a good feeling inside the House of Commons when we recognized the importance of mental health and in particular suicide. The idea of having one line for Canada is something that is very well received in virtually all jurisdictions, but there is a considerable amount of background work that needs to take place, including working with some stakeholders, in particular the provinces, and other organizations that have these lines. I suspect that if we were to be a bit more patient, hopefully we would see that materialize. My question for the member is with respect to the commitment from the federal government to move more on providing resources and supports in mental health and what he might have to say about that and the need to build that consensus.

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Hon. Mike Lake

Dec/1/21 4:37:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do not always appreciate every question the hon. member asks when I am speaking, but I appreciate that one. Maybe it is in the spirit of what happened earlier in this place. The mental health issue is one on which all parties were pretty much on the same page during the election campaign. The parties put forward plans to take very meaningful action on mental health. As we try to move forward I think we will find that it will be an area where we can co-operate in a world where we do not always co-operate in every way. A great starting point would be to tackle the suicide hotline. It was a year ago that we passed the unanimous consent motion. We know that the number 988 is the number used in the United States and is a number we can use here. Surely we can come together at this time of crisis, particularly mental health crisis, to address that in an urgent fashion.

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Mr. Luc Thériault (Montcalm, BQ)

Dec/1/21 4:39:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, let me start by congratulating you. I am very happy to see you back in that chair to oversee our debates. I would also like to congratulate my colleague on winning his sixth election. I gather from the first part of his speech that he was disappointed about the disparity between the number of votes his party got and the number of seats it ended up with. Would he have liked to see a commitment to electoral reform in the throne speech?

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Hon. Mike Lake

Dec/1/21 4:39:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pretty sure that had there been a commitment to electoral reform in the throne speech, it would have been ignored by now. As the member knows, there was a commitment to electoral reform back in the 2015 Liberal election campaign, and it was one of those moments where all the members of the opposition were united in a proposal brought forward. He might remember that the campaign promised that the 2015 election would be the last election fought under first past the post, but when presented with a unified opposition coming together with a solution that was widely regarded, the Liberals shut down that conversation right away because that math did not work for them.

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Mr. Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, NDP)

Dec/1/21 4:40:44 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is nice to see you back in the chair. I want to congratulate the member on his re-election to the House. I note his regret that we did not make it harder for him. I assure him we will try to do better in the future. Like me, the member has a lot of constituents who are in receipt of the GIS and who may have accepted the government's advice that they could take the CERB without negative consequences. I know he has a lot of families, as we do in my riding, that collect the Canada child benefit and did not realize their benefits would be clawed back. I wonder if the member and his caucus will be joining us, and I know the Bloc has talked about this, in pressuring the government to not just say it is working on this, but to get the job done so that seniors and families are protected from these clawbacks, because they are the most vulnerable among us.

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Hon. Mike Lake

Dec/1/21 4:41:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member and I were once seatmates. It seems strange to say, but we were right on the boundaries of our respective parties at one point. Now we are about as far away as we could be in the House. However, I always enjoyed our conversations. When it comes to the measures the member is talking about, he will find a willing ally in our party in pushing the government to account. I talked about a fully functioning democracy. One of the things we have really been hurt by over the past couple of years, other than the pandemic, is the fact our Parliament has not been functioning the way it should. Right now, because of the election, we have gone months without fully functioning committees where these really important measures could be studied. We need to get committees up and running as fast as we can, because Canadians are being hurt by the fact that we are not studying these important issues.

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Mr. Tony Van Bynen (Newmarket—Aurora, Lib.)

Dec/1/21 4:42:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for London West. When I first entered this House as the representative for Newmarket—Aurora, I had no idea how much our day-to-day lives would change, including here in the House of Commons. I am willing to bet none of us here did either. We all had to learn and act quickly to make sure Canadians were safe, supported and brought back home. While it can be difficult to see what is in front of us as we are dealing with it, the picture becomes clearer the more we learn, the more we experience and the more we reflect. It has been almost 20 months since we were told to go home and go digital, to protect ourselves, our staff, our families and our communities from an unknown virus at the time. We have had time to adapt and to pivot. We have now learned that the challenges we have faced with this pandemic have also highlighted the need and the opportunity to build a better, fairer and more inclusive Canada for every single Canadian. As I see it, the Speech from the Throne we are debating today outlines much of what has been learned and much of what Canadians have asked for. My duty as the member for Newmarket—Aurora is to bring our local perspective on what has been presented to Canadians as the government’s priorities in the 44th Parliament. Therefore, I am honoured to stand in this House and share what my constituents have told me are their priorities, the same priorities we see in the Speech from the Throne. In my riding and across Canada we have made significant progress against COVID-19. I am proud to share that in York Region, where my riding is located, 86.5% of eligible residents aged 12 and older are now fully vaccinated. From the start, our number one priority has been to keep the pandemic under control and finish the job on the vaccines. We have secured next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, boosters and pediatric doses, and we will continue to encourage everyone who can to get vaccinated as soon as possible. As we turn the corner on this pandemic, our government will take the lessons learned to build an even better health care system. We must improve access to mental health and addictions treatment, clear the backlog on procedures, and strengthen long-term care conditions. This will require us to work together in this House, but also with provincial and territorial partners, to get the job done. Our recovery from this pandemic provides us with an opportunity to rebuild an economy that is more resilient and works for everyone. Thanks to our government measures, employment is already back to pre-pandemic levels and we have been able to transition to more targeted supports to provide help for those who still need it. Now is the time to focus on the work needed to make life more affordable for Canadians. A Canada-wide early learning child care system is key to lowering costs for families and helping parents return to the workforce. A mother of three in my riding once shared with me that had a national child care system been in place when she had her children, she would have been able to keep her job, purchase a home and, most importantly, raise her children together with her husband, rather than working opposite schedules. For her and many others with similar stories, I am hopeful that my home province of Ontario will soon see an agreement on childcare. For her and many others like her, our government is going take action on housing affordability and put home ownership back in reach for Canadians. As we look to rebuild our economy, we must also look to make sure it is more inclusive and diverse. We are making it easier for women and vulnerable groups to access training to help them gain and strengthen needed skills to re-enter the labour market. We must continue to work towards ending systemic racism, sexism and discrimination in our workplaces, schools and communities. True equality makes our communities and our economy stronger and more resilient. No one should miss out on an opportunity to get ahead because of their gender, who they love, where they come from, what language they speak, who they pray to or the colour of their skin. Because every Canadian deserves to feel safe and welcome in their own community, we are continuing the work with supporting organizations that provide critical services to those who are victims of gender-based violence and discrimination. I want the residents of Newmarket—Aurora, and indeed all Canadians, to feel safe in the places they have chosen to call home. The safety of Canadians is non-negotiable. Speaking of safety, climate change is the biggest threat that we are facing. We know there may be some members in the House who still may not believe this is true, but they cannot argue the facts. From an increase in floods and fires to cold winters and hotter summers, climate change is real and its impacts are already being felt. This is not news. In fact, since 2015, our government has invested roughly $60 billion toward fighting climate change by means of investing in clean technologies, public transit, zero-emissions charging stations and more. We will continue to invest in our oil and gas workers and industry to cut pollution, while making a green economy that is more inclusive of them. We have the raw materials and the skilled workforce needed to produce clean products that will make Canada a global leader. However, as we do this, we must also consider the important relationship indigenous people share with the land on which we live. Much can be learned from them, and we have a responsibility to work with our indigenous partners to learn from, to protect and to respect traditional knowledge. It is in that spirit of understanding and partnership with indigenous peoples that we renew our commitment to advance reconciliation. As a parent and a grandparent, I cannot fathom the atrocity of knowing that I might never see my children again because they were taken away from me, from my home, by the government. That anguish, pain and overwhelming discrimination has faced indigenous parents and children for decades and unfortunately is still faced today. As a country and a government, we have the responsibility to make sure indigenous communities have the support they need to keep their families together, to assess timely and culturally appropriate health care services, to address the overrepresentation of indigenous people in our penal institutions and welfare systems, and to ensure fair and equitable compensation for those harmed by the first nations child and family services program. We have a responsibility to accelerate the work that we have already committed to. There is much work to be done to close the gaps that keep many first nations, Inuit and Métis from fairness and equity in this country. Let us move quickly, hand in hand with indigenous people, to not only close these gaps, but in doing so, realize the immense opportunities that are possible from an equal and renewed understanding and partnership. A few weeks back, I had the honour to welcome the Noori family in Newmarket—Aurora. They left their home in Afghanistan believing that the hopes of a brighter future would be found in our community and in Canada, a hope that so many around the world share. I have said it before, but I will say it again: We are lucky to call Canada our home. I know how that feels because it was Canada that welcomed my family after World War II. I have seen first-hand the compassion Canadians have for their neighbours and the support they give to those in need. When times are tough, Canadians show the courage to brace for what is ahead, with the determination to overcome challenges and compassion for their neighbours. In my riding, during the most difficult days of the pandemic, I saw community members step up to make sure that no one was left behind. My community inspires me each and every day, and it is thanks to community members that I have found the honour to come to the House to work with colleagues from all over the country on advancing their priorities. Together and right now is how we build a better, fairer and more inclusive Canada for all, the Canada that we all deserve.

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Mr. Brad Redekopp (Saskatoon West, CPC)

Dec/1/21 4:52:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, first, I would like to thank the wonderful people of Saskatoon West for once again putting their trust in me to represent them here in Ottawa. Many of those people, by the way, are seniors, and they have spoken to me many times about the difficulties they are facing. Of course, most seniors live on a fixed income, and the government has made it very difficult for them. Inflation is causing all things to go up in price, including food. Beef prices are up by 14%, chicken by 9%. How does the member explain to the senior constituents in his riding how the government has impacted them, how it is hurting seniors? What are the answers he gives to his seniors when he is trying to answer their difficult questions about the difficulties they are facing in their daily lives?

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Mr. Tony Van Bynen

Dec/1/21 4:53:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have frequent conversations with seniors in my area. We have a very active seniors community and seniors committee, both in the municipality of Newmarket and in Aurora. Those conversations are about the support they were provided with the GST rebates. The challenges we are feeling now are difficult for everyone, particularly those with a fixed income, and not just for seniors. The supports we are providing have gone a long way to helping them through this difficult time. What lies ahead with the impact of inflation will be considered by the government as it goes forward.

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Ms. Louise Chabot (Thérèse-De Blainville, BQ)

Dec/1/21 4:54:28 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, please accept my sincere congratulations on your appointment. In his speech, the member said that he is very close to the people in his riding and that his province is important to him. I would say we have that in common. What the people in our ridings want is a stronger health care system. I am proud to be a Quebecker. What Quebec wants is federal health transfers that meet our needs. The throne speech did not even mention health transfers. The federal government is not meeting the health care needs of Quebec and the provinces. We are being forced to make do with less when what the federal government needs to do is reconcile the needs of Quebec and the provinces with its ability to increase health transfers to 35%. Why was there no mention in the throne speech of increasing federal health transfers to 35%, which is what Ontario and Quebec want and need?

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