44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 20, 2022 10:00AM
- Oct/20/22 2:31:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have been very clear that greater affordability, competition and innovation in the Canadian telecommunications sector are important to us as a government, as they are to all Canadians concerned about their cellphone bills and connectivity. Our government will ensure that consumers are protected and that the broader public interest is served. These goals remain front and centre as we analyze the implications of this proposed deal.
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- Oct/20/22 2:31:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the finance minister had an epiphany after listening to the new Conservative leader's plan for ministers to find savings if they want to spend any new money. The only problem is that before COVID her government ran up $110 billion in debt, and before the Russian invasion added a half-trillion dollars to the debt. Of that, $200 billion was not even COVID spending. The government would rather blame everyone else than take responsibility for its homegrown inflation issue.
How can any Canadian trust the government to fix the inflation crisis it created?
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- Oct/20/22 2:32:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to address that member's question. For weeks now, the Leader of the Opposition has considered our pandemic spending frivolous. I respectfully disagree. I think the millions of Canadians who kept their jobs and stayed employed because of the CEWS disagree. I think the millions of Canadians who were able to feed their children because of the CERB disagree. I think the hundreds of thousands of businesses whose doors are still open today because of our investments would disagree.
Thank goodness we were here, because the Leader of the Opposition does not want to lead.
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- Oct/20/22 2:32:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals will continue to blame everyone else for their homegrown failures, and these failures are driving Canadians deeper into debt. They cancelled good Canadian energy projects, attacked our farmers and hit Canadians with a job-killing carbon tax. They drove up inflation and made groceries, gas and home heating more expensive, driving more Canadians to food banks and homeless shelters at an alarming rate.
How can anyone believe that the same government that is pile-driving more Canadians into insolvency will give this economy a soft landing?
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- Oct/20/22 2:33:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the context of a country where fires, floods and hurricanes are already devastating and in the context of a time when there is a scientific deadline and timetable to when we must address climate change, we must make sure we take these actions so that we do not put future generations of Canadians at risk.
I call on that member and the entire opposition to come with us, together in this place, and figure out a plan, like we have, to grow the economy, create jobs and fight climate change.
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- Oct/20/22 2:34:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government increased the debt by over $100 billion before COVID and then increased the debt another $500 billion during COVID, half of which it did not even spend on pandemic measures. Now we are supposed to believe the government has a new-found religion called fiscal restraint.
If the government has not shown Canadians any fiscal responsibility in seven years, why should we trust it now?
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- Oct/20/22 2:34:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are a fiscally responsible government. Every single year over the last seven years we have been in government outside of the pandemic, the debt-to-GDP ratio has gone down. That is while we have invested in Canadians. In fact, the poverty report came out in October. We have lifted millions of Canadians out of poverty. Today, 25% fewer seniors live in poverty than when we took office in 2015, and that is because we are supporting Canadians.
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- Oct/20/22 2:35:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the government wants to run on its record, it is going to have to own up to its spending having helped drive inflation to 40-year highs. Canadians are having a hard time putting food on the table. Even the Bank of Canada says that inflation is a homegrown problem.
The Liberals promise to keep spending increases to 2% a year. Has the Deputy Prime Minister told the rest of cabinet about this new fiscal plan?
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- Oct/20/22 2:35:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that inflation is a global problem. Inflation in Canada has come down from its peak to 6.9%, but we know it is 8.2% in the United States. It is over 10% in the euro area. It is over 10% in the OECD.
It is important that we continue to focus on affordability measures that are going to make life easier for Canadians, like we did by doubling the GST benefit, which is going to 11 million Canadian families that need it and over 50% of our seniors.
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- Oct/20/22 2:36:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to our great surprise today, the Minister of Finance is now taking inspiration from the Leader of the Opposition's speeches. She realizes that budgets do not balance themselves and is asking ministers to find savings before proposing new programs. Hallelujah.
The problem is that she should have listened to the member for Carleton much sooner.
The Liberals added $100 billion to the national debt before COVID-19, and they added $500 billion to the national debt before Russia's war on Ukraine, $200 billion of which was completely unrelated to COVID-19. How can they be trusted to manage the inflation they themselves have created?
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- Oct/20/22 2:36:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that the Conservative member is so interested in the correspondence between the finance minister and her colleagues.
There is no question that our plan is based on fiscal responsibility. We delivered a budget that has been recognized by all the experts as fiscally responsible and we are seeing the results. Our inflation rate is much lower than that of our partners around the world.
We will continue to make sure we spend responsibly.
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- Oct/20/22 2:37:33 p.m.
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Yes, Mr. Speaker, let us talk about fiscal responsibility.
The Prime Minister said in his inaugural speech that interest rates would remain low for decades to come. I remember that the Liberals promised to run small deficits because we had the means and said interest rates were going to remain low and that it was no big deal to continue to rack up debt. The Liberals added $100 billion to the debt even before COVID-19. That is the reality.
Today, they are asking Canadians to take them at their word when they say that they are going to manage inflation and lead them out of this crisis. No, Canadians no longer trust them. The Liberals are not capable of managing the crisis.
When will you abandon your plan to hurt Canadians by raising taxes yet again?
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- Oct/20/22 2:38:21 p.m.
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I would remind members that they need to ask their questions through the Chair not directly to the Chair.
The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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- Oct/20/22 2:38:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think my Conservative colleague is too excited about attacking the Bank of Canada and the independence of our financial institutions.
We, on this side of the House, believe in the independence of our institutions. It was a Conservative government, led by Brian Mulroney, that set the Bank of Canada's targets. We think that was a good idea.
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- Oct/20/22 2:39:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister gives the Governor General a pension. I do not know one Bloc member who would not give up their pension. Tomorrow, we will bring about independence.
Now that the minister is here in the House, he could also act accordingly. I will remind him that he swore an oath to the British Crown. To whom is he loyal? To Charles III or to the public?
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- Oct/20/22 2:39:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as an MP from Quebec and a proud Quebecker, I am here to fight and to work for the well-being of Quebeckers, as are all my Quebec colleagues. That is why, on this side of the House, we are focusing on the rising cost of living, access to housing, assistance for child care and health care. Those are our priorities. If the Bloc members want to debate that, so be it, but as long as we are here, we will tackle the real priorities of all Quebeckers.
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- Oct/20/22 2:40:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be a Bloc MP. It was not just a lack of coordination between governments that allowed the trucker convoy to stay in Ottawa for 24 days, it was a lack of leadership. The request from the City of Ottawa was simple: It wanted 1,800 police officers, from anywhere possible.
How many did the federal government send? It sent 250 RCMP officers out of the 1,800 that had been requested. The majority of those officers were deployed not to the streets of Ottawa, but in front of the Prime Minister's house and Parliament.
If the Prime Minister truly believed that the situation was serious enough to warrant protecting his home, did he not think that it was equally justified to protect the public?
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- Oct/20/22 2:41:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, during the illegal occupation last winter, people across the country were hurting, not just in Ottawa but across the entire country. Canadians' freedom to feel safe in their homes was threatened. That is why we invoked the Emergencies Act. It was the right thing to do, and it worked to end this illegal occupation in Ottawa and across the country.
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- Oct/20/22 2:41:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government sat on its hands for three weeks before finally invoking the Emergencies Act.
Today we found out from the commission that all of its excuses for using the most extreme of last resorts were false. Yesterday, CSIS testified that there was no foreign funding behind the convoy. The Ontario Provincial Police demonstrated today that there was no credible extremist violence. Every government excuse was false.
Is it not true that the federal government's lack of leadership for three weeks was the only reason for invoking the Emergencies Act?
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- Oct/20/22 2:42:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member has forgotten what it was like during that time and what the federal government was doing. We were working with the provinces, including the province of Quebec, as well as working with the Ottawa Police Service and police services across the country.
Even the premier of Ontario, the Conservative premier, has said that he was standing shoulder to shoulder with the Prime Minister. We invoked the Emergencies Act to keep Canadians safe, and it worked.
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