44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 1, 2022 10:00AM
- Feb/1/22 3:21:47 p.m.
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All those opposed to the hon. member moving the motion will please say nay.
An hon. member: Nay.
The Speaker: We do not have unanimous consent.
The hon. member for Winnipeg North is rising on a point of order.
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- Feb/1/22 3:22:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, from our perspective, we do not have a problem. I think the member was reflecting and saying no because we did not get any advance notice. Had we known about it, no one on this side would have said no to the motion.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/1/22 3:22:22 p.m.
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Order, please.
The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands is rising on a point of order.
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- Feb/1/22 3:22:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when somebody rises and says “Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it I believe", it implies that discussions have actually happened. Discussions had not happened. What we are seeing here is a blatant attempt to try to throw people off and catch them off guard.
I did not even get to hear—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/1/22 3:22:58 p.m.
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Order, please.
The hon. member can continue.
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- Feb/1/22 3:23:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I did not even get to hear the entire motion because of the fact that—
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- Feb/1/22 3:23:11 p.m.
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The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes is rising on a point of order.
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- Feb/1/22 3:23:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if you consult Hansard, you can verify that the member for Peace River—Westlock expressed in his intervention a hope. He said, “Mr. Speaker, I hope you will find unanimous consent for the following”.
The member for Kingston and the Islands said that the member for Peace River—Westlock had said that there had been consultations. All the member for Peace River—Westlock had asked for was the consideration of the House to condemn the wearing of blackface, and the member for Kingston and the Islands denied that and voted against that condemnation.
Some hon. members: Shame.
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- Feb/1/22 3:24:05 p.m.
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I am afraid there was no vote, and the hon. member for Peace River—Westlock did say “hope”. That is what I heard. We can check the blues and see what that was, just to make sure.
The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands is rising.
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- Feb/1/22 3:24:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes has actually misrepresented what happened.
What I voted against was entertaining a motion; it was not against a subject. We had not even introduced it. Nonetheless, it is important to point out that even the terminology of “I hope you will find unanimous consent”, by tradition of the House, implies that discussions have happened among the party leadership, and they had not.
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- Feb/1/22 3:24:52 p.m.
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I want to remind all members that normally for unanimous consent, out of courtesy, one checks with the other parties, but that is just a tradition we have adopted and have been using. It is not necessarily something that has to happen, but in any case, let us just call this one a day. The motion was turned down, and we will continue from here.
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- Feb/1/22 3:25:25 p.m.
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- Feb/1/22 3:25:25 p.m.
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Put your mask on, Cheryl. Put your mask on.
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- Feb/1/22 3:25:33 p.m.
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I encourage the hon. member for St. Catharines and the hon. member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke to go into the hallway if they want to have a conversation, and not do it across the chamber. We would like people to be able to hear what is going on.
We will now resume debate.
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- Feb/1/22 3:26:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am grateful that so many colleagues remained behind in order to hear my great thoughts on the Speech from the Throne. It is very kind of them. I appreciate that. I do take note that a few are heading for the exits.
The point that I was making prior to question period had to do with interest rates and that the Bank of Canada's governor had indicated that there would be movement on the interest rates. Therefore, the ultralow rates that we have had and enjoyed, indeed, for the last number of months and years are likely to end, with significant consequences.
I also take note that the Government of Canada has locked in a lot of its debt in ultralow extensive securities, so that in and of itself will reduce the cost of interest.
The third point I want to make is that a significant number of the major support programs instituted by the House and by the government over the last year and months were terminated on October 23, and that is a significant reduction in the fiscal stimulus that was in the economy. There is no question. The debt to GDP has gone from 29% to 49% over the course of the pandemic, as the Government of Canada used its fiscal firepower to alleviate the genuine suffering of the people of Canada.
I would just like to point out in passing that eight out of every 10 pandemic dollars were spent by the federal government, in part because the fiscal situation of the federal government is arguably the strongest of any G7 nation. We used that fiscal firepower in order to alleviate the suffering of Canadians, largely supported in the House may I say, but it did contribute to the rise in debt. Provincial governments, on the other hand, had no significant rise in their debt to GDP, so the financial burden of the pandemic thus far has largely rested on the shoulders of the federal government.
The fifth point is the interesting contradiction with the low unemployment rate in Canada. I know this was subject to some discussion during question period. Members will recollect that, as the pandemic began, the rate shot up to, I think, 13%. It is now below 6% and in some jurisdictions even lower than that.
I know, Madam Speaker, that you and I and everyone else in the House are fairly fresh off asking people questions at the door and getting responses, but businesses are desperately looking for workers. Every time we talk to anybody who is an employer, we hear that their biggest problem is just getting qualified workers. In fact, all kinds of incentives and all kinds of training are needed just to get workers. Hence, that has led to a significantly low unemployment rate.
The seventh point has been this discussion about supply chains. There is no question that the supply chains have been disrupted. This is actually a pretty significant problem because the policy of all governments, all western nations, has been that they will go to the cheapest possible supply source. That, in turn, has led to vulnerabilities in our supply chain, and those vulnerabilities in turn have been shown to be very serious during a pandemic crisis. We will hear a lot of conversation about reshoring, shortening the supply chains, etc. I would encourage that.
While we are encouraging that, I would put in a plug for my private member's bill on modern-day slavery, and we will have the opportunity to eliminate slavery from our supply chain.
I see from your body language, Madam Speaker, that you seem to think that I should be finishing this speech. Because you are the Speaker and because I respect the traditions of the House, I will yield and I look forward to the members' questions.
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- Feb/1/22 3:31:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member mentioned a concern that we have in Guelph as well, with employers having a lot of trouble finding employees, quite often in the lower-skilled or in the factory-type jobs versus the higher-skilled jobs, which we are also focusing on.
Could the hon. member maybe suggest some ways we can, through immigration or other ways, help fill the workforce?
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- Feb/1/22 3:32:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague will take note, as will members of the House, that the Minister of Immigration recently announced a significant increase in financial allocations in order to speed up the processing in the immigration system. I, like many members of the House, have a riding that is multi-ethnic, multireligious and multiracial, and is highly influenced by the speed of processing when it comes to immigration.
I am hoping that the announcement by the Minister of Immigration in the past day or two will really address that issue and that this part of the supply chain, at least, can be dealt with.
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- Feb/1/22 3:33:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would simply ask the member if, in the spirit of non-partisanship on a very important issue, he would be interested in sharing more about the private member's bill regarding the elimination of modern-day slavery.
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- Feb/1/22 3:33:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in 2018 I introduced a bill that said, in effect, that all major companies in Canada, along with governments, had to examine their supply chains on an annual basis and certify to the Minister of Public Safety that those supply chains were free of the scourge of slavery and of child labour.
I am still pursuing that bill. I take some comfort in the fact that the House, through its foreign affairs committee, has told the Government of Canada to do something. I am also encouraged by the fact that four mandate letters have been issued to four separate ministers to initiate legislation. I am also encouraged by the fact the bill is actually being discussed in the Senate as we speak.
I appreciate the question and I look forward to some success with the House moving that initiative forward.
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- Feb/1/22 3:34:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague opposite for his two-part speech. I was present for the first part, and we just heard the follow-up. I commend him for his patience and congratulate him on his speech in general.
Since the subject of slavery and forced labour came up, I would like to hear his thoughts on the Olympic Games set to begin in Beijing this weekend and on the fact that genocide is being committed against the Uighur community. We cannot ignore that; we cannot sweep it under the rug.
There were proposals to relocate, postpone or delay the games, not necessarily cancel them. However, given the forced labour issue and the ongoing genocide in China, I would like to hear my colleague's opinion on the fact that the Olympic Games are being held in Beijing this year.
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