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Hon. Omar Alghabra (Minister of Transport, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:03:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, talking down vaccines does not help Canadians, nor does it help our health and safety in Canada. Many Conservative Party members were against vaccines when all doctors were saying vaccines were the right thing for Canadians. In fact— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/26/22 3:03:34 p.m.
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Order. Are we ready? The hon. Minister of Transport.

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Hon. Omar Alghabra

Apr/26/22 3:03:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the Conservatives' noise, I am going to tell members that we are going to continue to do whatever we can to protect the health and safety of Canadians, travellers and those who work in the travel sector. We are always reassessing these decisions. We do not make these decisions lightly. We know that they are important, and we will continue to be guided by science.

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Ms. Viviane Lapointe (Sudbury, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:04:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, the government supported the Nature Conservancy of Canada's Boreal Wildlands project, the largest single private conservation project in Canada. The Boreal Wildlands is a project of global importance and a rare opportunity to have a direct impact on biodiversity loss and climate change. Can the Minister of Environment and Climate Change tell the House what a crucial step this is on our path to conserving 25% of Canada's lands and waters by 2025?

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Hon. Steven Guilbeault (Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:05:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sudbury. Protecting and conserving nature is one of the most important measures we can take to slow biodiversity loss while fighting climate change and advancing the reconciliation process with indigenous peoples. Nature is what ties all these important causes together. This project will protect 15,000 square kilometres of critical habitat for species at risk such as caribou. Last week on Earth Day, we celebrated the Boreal Wildlands as the largest single private conservation project in Canada's history. This is another important step as our government works toward conserving 25% of our land by 2025.

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Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC)

Apr/26/22 3:05:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over the last two weeks I have received call after call after call from angry constituents about the poor service they have received at Passport Canada offices. Our constituents are regularly lining up at four or five a.m. just to see an agent. The Government of Canada knew there was going to be a surge in applications, yet it did nothing about the expected demand. Why is Passport Canada offering such poor service, and why does it not get its ducks in a row and give Canadians the service they expect from a key government office?

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Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:06:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are travelling again, and a significant increase in demand for passports has resulted in long lineups and wait times for in-person service. We understand that this is difficult and stressful. We have, in fact, hired an additional 500 passport officers to help process this. We have made Service Canada available to ensure that individuals who need to travel on a non-urgent basis can deposit their applications. We will continue to work very hard right across the country to meet this increased demand.

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Mrs. Shelby Kramp-Neuman (Hastings—Lennox and Addington, CPC)

Apr/26/22 3:07:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, passport processing delays are hitting Canadians across this country, and rural Canadians, like people in Hastings—Lennox and Addington, are no different. One constituent, John, posted about his experience with his mother, trying to book an appointment. Phoning in resulted in a disconnection, the website constantly crashes, and there are ridiculously long delays at in-person offices. If this was the private sector, it would be shut down. This is unacceptable in a first world nation like Canada. When will the government do its job and get passports for Canadians like John and his mother?

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Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:07:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we understand that after two years, Canadians are interested in travelling. Many people had their passports expire during this time. Unfortunately, we have a huge surge in demand. We have hired 500 additional passport officers to help process this. We have a simplified process to replace expired passports of up to five years. We have opened more client counters in passport offices. We are operating extended hours, into the evening. Passport officers are working around the clock and on weekends to do their very best to serve Canadians.

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Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)

Apr/26/22 3:08:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Dr. Roopinder Kharay went to the passport office to get expedited service for her family's passports. Passport Canada made her wait four hours. It took all of the family's passport applications, but not the application for her husband, Amandeep, because he was not there in person. Amandeep was working a full day shift as a radiologist, despite having stage four colon cancer. The passports were for a final family vacation, which is now cancelled. To the minister, government is about people, not process. Is this level of service acceptable for Roopinder and Amandeep?

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Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:09:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to say to my colleague that that is exactly why passport officers are working around the clock. They are working late hours. We have hired additional officers. We have opened up more Service Canada centres to meet this rising demand to renew passports. We are ensuring that passport officers are working through the weekend. We have an incredible surge in demand, unlike anything we have seen before. Despite all of that, passport officers and Service Canada personnel are working around the clock, because their number one job is to serve Canadians, and that is what they are working hard to do.

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Ms. Valerie Bradford (Kitchener South—Hespeler, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:09:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know how important child care is for families in our economic recovery, but we know how expensive it has been for families. Parents in Ontario have been paying some of the highest fees in the country. We also know that we need to grow the number of spaces available, so that all families can benefit. Could the minister please update the House on the government's progress toward building a Canada-wide early learning and child care system and what it will mean for Ontario's families?

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Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:10:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in just under a year, we have signed child care agreements with every single province and territory. Right here in Ontario, that means that families will see, by the end of this calendar year, savings of up to $6,000 per child in licensed child care. That is incredible savings for a family. It also means that we are going to increase the number of spaces in Ontario by 86,000, because we know that it is not just about affordability. It is also about accessibility. We have hired more ECEs to deliver quality child care for families in this province.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

Apr/26/22 3:11:10 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I spoke with Qajaq Robinson, who was a commissioner for the MMIWG. Robinson continues to advocate for the implementation of the calls to justice, which demand greater transparency and accountability from our government and institutions. However, the 2022 budget was silent on new commitments to protect indigenous girls, women and two-spirit people. When will the government take real action on reconciliation and fund transformative action?

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Mr. Jaime Battiste (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:11:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member that there is $2.2 billion in a federal pathway for missing and murdered indigenous women. However, when we look at the budget, we also have to look at the investments we have made toward housing, the investments we have made toward Jordan's principle and the investments we have made toward mental health. These will all help indigenous women. Just because it is not a line item in the budget does not mean we are not helping indigenous women. We are out there making sure that they are safe and supported, and we will continue to do so as a government.

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Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Apr/26/22 3:12:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister said Afghans cannot get their biometrics completed in Afghanistan, yet he is insisting that it must be done. The lives of the family members of Afghan interpreters, collaborators, human rights defenders, women and girls are at risk every minute of the day, and the Liberals are immobilized by red tape. The government can collect biometrics upon arrival, yet it is refusing to act on this viable solution to get people to safety. This is my question to the minister, who has the power to help: What is more important, paperwork or saving lives?

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Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:13:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her advocacy for vulnerable Afghans. It is, indeed, the vulnerability of the people in Afghanistan that has justified such an extraordinary response by the Government of Canada, and I remind her that we have committed to making one of the most substantial resettlement efforts of any country in the world, with 40,000 Afghan refugees destined to be settled in Canada. To date, more than 11,500 are already here. As part of that process, we want to maintain the integrity of the process, so that Canadians continue to support these massive efforts that we are making to resettle some of the world's most vulnerable, including with a rigorous security screening process. We are going to continue to do whatever we can to help these vulnerable people. It is the right thing to do, and I am proud to be a part of this effort.

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Mr. John Nater (Perth—Wellington, CPC)

Apr/26/22 3:15:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is, as always, a privilege to rise in the House to share the concerns of the people of Perth—Wellington and bring those concerns to this place. This year's budget was the third opportunity the Liberals had to address the real concerns of Canadians. Since the election, they could have addressed the concerns of Canadians in the fall economic statement, in the implementation act for the fall economic statement or in this budget. Sadly, the issues I am hearing about every day in phone calls, emails and conversations at community events were not addressed by the Liberals in this year's budget. Canadians are feeling the impact of inflation. I hear from families who have lost hope on ever owning their own home, and I hear from others who are struggling to find rental housing that is not only affordable but also large enough for their families. I hear from seniors who have worked hard their entire lives and who are now struggling to pay the bills. They are on fixed incomes that are stagnating while the costs of groceries, utilities and housing keep going up. Their costs keep rising, but their incomes remain that same. That is the cruelty of inflation. No one saw any humour in the government’s April Fools' Day joke to once again raise the carbon tax, which is a tax that impacts the people in the lowest income spectrum the most. These are the people who can least afford to pay it. The government had options that could help Canadians. It could have taken the advice of our Conservative motion to temporarily remove the GST portion of the HST to give all Canadians a temporary 5% reduction on the cost of gas. Any Canadian who has filled up their tank recently knows the impact of $1.84 per litre and the impact it has on families commuting to work or taking their kids to soccer practice or baseball practice. The government did not take our advice and our modest, common sense proposal was voted down by the Liberal government and the other opposition parties. I am very proud to represent a strong rural and agriculture-based community. Here in Canada, one in eight jobs is linked to the agriculture and agri-food sector. This generates 140 billion dollars' worth of economic activity each and every year. In Perth—Wellington alone, agriculture is a billion-dollar industry, with grain farmers cultivating some of the most fertile farmland in the world. Dairy, beef, pork, egg, chicken and other farmers provide high-quality food to feed our communities, our country and the world. Anyone who tuned in to hear the Liberal government's budget speech would be sorely disappointed to know that this economic powerhouse of agriculture was not even mentioned in the finance minister's budget speech. In her 3,000-word speech, she did not once mention agriculture or agri-food, farmers and farm families, or food processing and rural communities. Not once was this economic powerhouse of agriculture and agri-food mentioned in the Minister of Finance's speech. When a speech is used to highlight the priorities of a government, what is left unsaid is awfully telling. Farmers and farm families quite literally feed the world. They work hard, and they innovate each and every day. Thousands of farmers are up early every morning, while most of the country is still sleeping, making sure the food supply chain remains intact. Agriculture has always been a challenging field. There are unknowns no one can predict. What farmers do not need is the uncertainty caused by their own government. Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fertilizer costs and supply issues were a problem. This included the ongoing efforts of the Liberal government to limit the fertilizer farmers use on their crops. On March 2, when the government announced sanctions that were supposed to target Vladimir Putin and his thugs, it was Canadian farmers who were left feeling the greatest impact. As we approach the spring planting season, farmers and agribusinesses still do not have certainty from the government on whether the 35% tariff will apply on fertilizer purchased pre-March 2, but delivered after that date. In a case like this, the farmer and only the farmer is feeling the impact, not Vladimir Putin and his thugs. No one is disagreeing with the need for sanctions against Putin, but those sanctions should not penalize those who prepurchased fertilizer last fall and now are being left with the bill. The budget was an opportunity to provide clarity on this issue and, once again, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Minister of Finance failed to do so. The cost of fertilizer is not the only challenge facing Canadian farmers. There is also the cost of the carbon tax, as I mentioned earlier. For farmers there are very few, if any, alternatives to the use of carbon-based fuels to dry their grain or to transport grain to elevators for export around the globe. However, the Liberals continue to unfairly and punitively charge the carbon tax in situations where there are simply no alternatives, and the cost simply accrues to those who feed our country. Canadian farmers have long used the most sustainable measures to protect and preserve our land and national resources, but while they are doing the work necessary, they do not get the credit, and they are actually penalized for their work. Once again, there is an easy solution. My friend and colleague, the member for Huron—Bruce, wisely introduced a private member's bill that would exempt farmers for the responsible use of fuel on their farms. Bill C-234 would achieve this. In fact, a year ago, a bill similar to this one, Bill C-206, passed through this House and was well on its way to passing through the other place when the Liberals dissolved Parliament for the unnecessary summer election. In a perfect world, we could have passed Bill C-206 a year ago, but the next best option would be to pass Bill C-234. The budget could have done this. Sadly, it failed to do so. Farmers and farm families deserve better than what they are receiving from the Liberal government. For the sake of our food sovereignty and food security, they must do better. In the six and a half years I have been in this place, at almost every opportunity in almost every budget, I have raised the concerns about rural broadband in my riding and in rural communities across the country, but these past two years especially have shown the necessity of reliable Internet service. The Liberal government has been slower than dial-up. Every day I hear from constituents who cannot complete their education, grow their businesses, communicate with loved ones or even access mental health services because the high-speed Internet infrastructure is not there. Let me highlight that point. They cannot access mental health services because they do not have high-speed Internet. I have heard from constituents who have had to drive to a Tim Hortons parking lot to use its Wi-Fi to access services. In 2022, this is not acceptable. In fact, yesterday in the House, we heard the Minister of Rural Economic Development highlight their plans to get Canadians connected by 2030. Eight years from now is not good enough. It is not good enough for the families in Perth—Wellington, and it is not good enough for the rural communities across this country who need reliable high-speed Internet for their families, their communities and their country. I know my time is running thin, but I must highlight the issue of housing. In my community and in communities across Perth—Wellington, housing has simply become unaffordable. In some places we have seen an increase of 30%, 40%, 50% or more in the cost of housing, year over year. In a single year this has driven up the cost to where families are just priced out of the marketplace. There are things we could do. We could use the advice of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association and its efforts. It has stated that one million new homes need to be built in the next 10 years. We need to work toward that outcome. We need to remove the red tape blocking communities and home builders so families and communities can grow. Sadly, this budget has left out rural communities. It has left out rural communities in Perth—Wellington and across the country. That is why I will be voting against this budget.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/26/22 3:25:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in so many ways, the member was wrong in what he stated. The fact is that this government has invested more in rural broadband expansion than the previous Harper government did in its 10 years. We continue to invest significant amounts of money, recognizing how important getting those connections to our rural communities is. I am a little confused about the Conservative approach to Ukraine and the sanctions there, so I am wondering if this is a Conservative Party position. The member, on one hand, says that we need to do whatever we can to support Ukraine and the Ukraine war effort. We are seeing the world coming onside, and Canadians as a whole want to see that. Is the Conservative Party officially saying that the fertilizing industry should be completely exempt from having to pay any tariff, specifically with respect to Russia?

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Mr. John Nater

Apr/26/22 3:26:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously the member for Winnipeg North did not listen to my speech. What I am requesting is clarity from the government for fertilizer purchases that were made pre-March 2, before the sanctions were announced. These were purchased, and paid for in many cases, before March 2. The purchases were already made. There would be no impact on Vladimir Putin with that tariff. The only ones who would be impacted are the farmers who have paid the price for those fertilizers. Therefore, I asked for clarity from the government. Will the tariffs apply to purchases made pre-March 2? We have heard all kinds of answers from the government, but no clarity on that. As of March 2, all Canadians are in favour of the sanctions that had to be made to combat Vladimir Putin's unprovoked, unnecessary, unlawful, illegal aggression against Ukraine. However, it is for purchases made pre-March 2 that clarity is needed from the government, and it is simply not there from the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

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