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House Hansard - 111

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 17, 2022 11:00AM
  • Oct/17/22 2:05:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart, along with my colleagues from Barrie—Innisfil and Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, to honour Constable Devon Northrup and Constable Morgan Russell, members of the South Simcoe Police Service, who tragically fell in the line of duty last week. These brave men gave everything they had to protect their communities and ultimately sacrificed their lives doing so. Their incredible courage and their commitment to duty and service will not be forgotten by the grateful residents of Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil, and by all Canadians. Though we cannot imagine the heartbreak and grief their families and colleagues are going through, I hope it gives some solace to know that Constables Northrup and Russell will always be remembered as heroes. This senseless tragedy is a sobering reminder of the debt we owe those who wear the badge and the very real risks of their calling. I ask all members on behalf of Canadians to join me in showing gratitude for the sacrifice made by Constable Northrup and Constable Russell.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:06:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is Small Business Week, and I would like to highlight two small businesses in my riding that I visited last week. Yoga-Tastic 4 Kids is a heart and mindfulness business owned by Sandra and Rich, providing various yoga and mindfulness programming that caters to children and adults in their beautiful Burlington studio. Crepepresso is owned by Mohe and Farah, who moved to Canada as Syrian refugees in 2015. In September, they opened their family owned and operated business in north Oakville, welcoming all sweet tooths and those who love crepes and coffee. I would also like to acknowledge the support provided by the Burlington and Oakville Chambers of Commerce to small businesses, and in particular my friend France Fournier, whose leadership and inclusion efforts have not gone unnoticed since her appointment as president and CEO of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce in January of this year. I thank the small businesses and those who support them, this week and every week.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:07:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is indeed Small Business Week and it is a great time to salute those small and medium-sized enterprises that truly are the foundation of Canada's economy. It is just as great a time to recognize the people who work so hard to support those business, including people like Dean Barbour of our Fleetwood Business Improvement Association or Baljit Dhaliwal and Anita Huberman of the Surrey Board of Trade. Their tireless work has been backstopped by our government's pandemic supports, the Canada child benefit and so many other programs. Our government's focus on supporting people who really need some help works, because that money is spent close to home at our local businesses. That is why, unlike the previous Conservative government, we do not send cheques to millionaires and that is why we have more small businesses open for business in Fleetwood—Port Kells today than before the pandemic. All in all, we are a great team making a big difference for families, small and medium-sized businesses and a strong community.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:08:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative leader will put the people first: their paycheques, their savings, their house and their country. He will put farm families first, which have been busy harvesting in the fields. Rain or shine, hail or snow, these folks measure their time in acres and not hours. Farming is not a job; it is a way of life, it is a heritage, it is a calling. From before the sun gets up until long after it sets, they ensure that when the rest of Canada when people head to the store, there is food on the shelves for them. It is simple: Farmers feed families. For those farmers who are listening, I thank them. I thank them for giving up the meals at their table so that my family can have a meal at ours. I thank them for being a wonderful example of hard work, faith and dedication. I thank them for being stewards of the land, keeping it healthy now and for future generations. When the Liberal government belittles them and thinks that it can tell them how to do their job with carbon taxes and fertilizer reductions, farmers know that on this side of the House they are and always will be heroes. We will never stop fighting for Canada's farm families.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:10:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely outraged and furious. The anti-feminist hashtag used by the leader of the Conservative Party is a portal to some of the darkest, most hateful material on the Internet. Users of the hashtag support terrorizing women, banning homosexuality and legalizing rape. It is not a common hashtag. It is the hashtag of a dark Internet subculture. Its use by the Leader of the Opposition was deliberate, strategic and dangerous. Now under scrutiny, he pretends to have no recollection of the hashtag's use and its consequences. Really? This is beyond locker room talk. This is violent misogyny. I hope Canadians recognize that this is not leadership. This is reprehensible behaviour that is dangerous, is divisive and is not welcome in this country, let alone the House.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:11:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, inflation is at a 40-year high. Thanks to the Liberal government's plan, the cost of food, the cost of transportation and home heating is skyrocketing. Now we have learned that home heating prices will go 50% to 100% more this winter. In my city of Saskatoon, we have seen a dramatic increase in the use of food banks, from 13,000 a month to over 20,000 people a month. Seniors in my constituency are already grappling with day-to-day expenses. The Liberal plan to triple the carbon tax in the new year will only make it more difficult for families and seniors to keep up with the cost of living. Our new Conservative leader will put people first, will protect their paycheques, their savings, their homes and their country. We will continue to fight this dismal Liberal carbon tax.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:12:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative leader will put the people first: their paycheques, their savings, their homes and their country. Small business owners are the unsung heroes of the Canadian economy. These entrepreneurs employ nearly two-thirds of workers across Canada, providing meaningful paycheques to millions of Canadians. However, right now, under the Liberals, small businesses are being punished with higher payroll taxes, leaving them with higher costs for every person that relies on that business for a paycheque. They are also being punished with a carbon tax. Small and medium-sized businesses have to pay the whole thing and have no choice but to pass those costs along to consumers. This has made it more expensive for Canadians to buy local homegrown products than goods that have been flown, trucked and shipped from other countries. This Small Business Week, the Conservatives will keep working to turn hurt into hope for business owners. We stand with these risk takers and job creators. We will keep fighting the Liberal-NDP coalition planned tax increases and call for a cap on government spending.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:13:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while governments are grappling with many challenges such as war and inflation, I want to make the House of Commons aware of yet another crisis facing the people of Haiti. Haiti is in the midst of a multidimensional crisis, specifically a political crisis in which the lack of credible authority and democratic institutions has given rise to heavily armed gangs that have been raping women and terrorizing the Haitian people, even before former president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated; a humanitarian crisis fraught with even more misery and the resurgence of cholera; and an economic crisis spurred by oligarchs who continue to squander Haiti's resources. Corruption in Haiti is unprecedented. The diaspora is very concerned about the situation. As an MP of Haitian origin, I urge all members of the House to show their support for the people of Haiti.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:14:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. I want to remind all members of the House that poverty is a political choice. It is the choice of governments not to fund and support people. It is a choice not to ask corporations and the ultrarich to pay their fair share. It is a choice not to prioritize the crisis of poverty that is putting people on the streets, fuelling a mental health crisis and forcing people to use food banks to survive. We must make different choices, including by implementing a guaranteed livable basic income that ensures everyone can live with dignity. Poverty is a violent human rights violation, and it is time to stop picking and choosing which human rights we uphold. Nelson Mandela said, “overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity...While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.” Let us remember his words and work to end poverty once and for all.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:15:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the inflation we are currently experiencing is hard to deal with, but it is worse for those who were already in a precarious situation. As we mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, let us remember poor seniors, seniors who were already finding it difficult to pay for groceries before prices skyrocketed, seniors for whom every rent increase means they will have another basic need they cannot meet. Those people must receive support. As we speak, there are three million seniors who have been abandoned by the federal government as prices increase. There are three million people who are not entitled to even the smallest increase in their pension because they are unfortunate enough to be between the ages of 65 and 74. On this International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Ottawa should finally realize that this king of age discrimination has the opposite effect: It does not eradicate poverty, it exacerbates it. On this day, let us push for the government to finally address this profound lack of compassion.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:17:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this weekend, residents of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland cast their ballots in municipal elections and the results are in. British Columbians rejected and repudiated left-wing politicians for the mess they have made of our cities, including kicking NDP mayor Kennedy Stewart and all his city councillors out of office in Vancouver. Voters sent a clear message that there is too much violence on our streets and the cost of living is too high. Vancouver, Surrey and White Rock residents elected new mayors who will get serious about violence in our communities and remove gatekeepers to build more homes. Congratulations to B.C. voters. They are taking back control of their lives. In the next federal election, they can count on the Conservative leader and our team to put people first, restore safe streets, build more homes and make life more affordable in British Columbia.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:18:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as part of Small Business Week, I want to welcome our Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce delegation: Rory Ring, CEO; his wife Michelle, who is also a small business owner; and Randy Schuran, secretary. Let us take a moment to reflect on the obstacles small businesses had to face during the pandemic and how we were able to adapt together. We promised to do whatever it took to support them and we did. Now we are going to continue to work with and support small businesses by cutting taxes for growing businesses and by helping them move their services online and improve their e-commerce. We are investing in strengthening supply chains are are making it easier and better to export. We are also increasing immigration levels to help fill the worker shortage. I give a special shout-out to all Canadian small businesses. They are the lifeblood of our economy. They create jobs, grow our communities and make us a better country. Welcome to all Canadian delegates.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:19:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the cost of government is increasing the cost of living. The $500‑billion inflationary deficit is driving up the cost of the goods we purchase and the interest we pay. Inflationary taxes are increasing costs even more. The Royal Bank of Canada reported last week that inflation and higher interest rates will cost every Canadian family $3,000 next year. Will the costly coalition finally realize that Canadians cannot pay any more? Will it cancel its plan to raise taxes?
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  • Oct/17/22 2:20:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by saying that we are well aware that Canadians are dealing with a major increase in the cost of living. That is why we put measures in place to support Canadians, but the Conservatives decided to vote against them. A few days ago, the Conservatives did a U-turn and finally decided to support our tax relief proposal to double the GST credit for 11 million Canadian families. Will they do it again and support Bill C‑31, which we are studying today?
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  • Oct/17/22 2:20:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the radical policies of the Prime Minister and the NDP mayor in Vancouver led that city to more violence, to be on track for a record number of overdose deaths and to be among the most overpriced housing markets on planet earth. However, voters in Vancouver have said “enough”. They have fired the NDP mayor, rejected the radical policies and instead voted to remove the gatekeepers, build more affordable homes and bring in common-sense laws to restore safe streets. Will the government in Ottawa finally get the message?
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  • Oct/17/22 2:21:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the leader's interest in the mayoralty campaign in Vancouver, but here in Ottawa, I have a very specific question for the member across. We have an opportunity in Bill C-31, and I ask him whether the Conservatives are going to agree to provide dental care for Canadian children across the country. It is bad enough that they will not support it. Why will they not just let members of this House, the majority of whom support it, be there for Canadians and be there for children who need dental care?
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  • Oct/17/22 2:22:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is true that Vancouver already has its own provincial carbon tax, but now the costly coalition of the NDP and the Prime Minister wants to force B.C. to triple that tax. We already have gas prices nearing two dollars a litre in British Columbia. People voted in the Vancouver elections to reject these inflationary policies. Why will the costly coalition not get the message from British Columbia that people cannot afford these taxes, and cancel its plan to triple the tax?
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  • Oct/17/22 2:23:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just last Friday, thanks to the climate action incentive payments, a family of four received $208 in Manitoba, $275 in Saskatchewan, $269 in Alberta and $186 in the member opposite's province. This will happen four times a year. We can fight climate change and support Canadians, and that is exactly what we are doing. The Conservatives have no plan to fight climate change and no plan to help Canadians.
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  • Oct/17/22 2:23:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have no plan to fight climate change. What they have is a tax plan, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer has concluded that the majority of people who receive these rebates, which is not even all Canadians, get less in rebates than they pay in taxes. For example, 40% of east coast Canadians are living in energy poverty. The Liberal Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador has said that the Liberal government in Ottawa should not triple the tax on home heating. Home heating prices are expected to double this winter. Will the government get the message that heating a home in Canada is not a luxury and cancel the plan to triple the tax?
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  • Oct/17/22 2:24:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, we are helping households transition away from dirty and expensive home heating oil to more affordable and greener heating sources. We are doing that, and have committed to doing that, with our partners in Atlantic Canada. We are working with every single province in Atlantic Canada to support programs that they have put in place, with $250 million to help tens of thousands of Canadians have access to cheaper and greener energy. We can fight climate change and help Canadians. On those two fronts, the Conservatives have nothing to say.
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