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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 114

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 20, 2022 10:00AM
  • 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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  • Oct/20/22 2:42:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, more than 60% of Canadians are struggling to put food on the table, and food bank use is up by 20%. Housing prices have doubled under the Prime Minister, and now he wants to make it more expensive for struggling Canadians to heat their homes by tripling the carbon tax. Families will struggle to keep the heat on in February in Canada. Will the Prime Minister show some compassion for those struggling to heat their homes and cancel his plan to triple the carbon tax?
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  • Oct/20/22 2:43:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote from the Parliamentary Budget Officer's last report on pricing, not what the Conservative Party is saying about it, but what the Parliamentary Budget Officer actually said. He said, “we project most households will see a net gain, receiving more in rebates from federal carbon pricing...than the total amount they pay in federal fuel charges”.
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  • Oct/20/22 2:43:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, these are the falsehoods and failures of a tax plan disguised as an environmental plan. In four provinces, Canadians pay more in carbon taxes than they get back, and in the rest of the provinces, they do not get anything at all. Worse, the government has not hit a single environmental target. Emissions have gone up. If it were serious about making life more affordable, instead of freezing seniors, it would scrap the taxes. When will it scrap the carbon tax?
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  • Oct/20/22 2:44:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, maybe it is time for the Conservative Party of Canada to come clean with the House and Canadians and admit to all that the fuel charge that will come into effect in 2023 will not come into effect before April, at the very earliest. This is April of 2023, so it will have no impact whatsoever on the cost of heating our homes over the winter.
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  • Oct/20/22 2:44:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the situation in this country is pretty bad. Food prices are up 11.4%, houses are unaffordable and young people are sleeping in their parents' basements. Winter is coming, and we know how harsh winter is in Canada. Heating our homes is not a luxury. Today we are calling on the government to exempt all forms of home heating fuel from the carbon tax for all Canadians Will the government support us?
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  • Oct/20/22 2:45:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to enlighten my colleague on the other side about the difference between federal carbon pricing and the Quebec government's cap and trade system. The Quebec government has no planned increases because the Quebec system works on a cap and trade basis, and the cap is the part that goes down. It is not related to the price. I would be pleased to explain the difference between the two to my colleague.
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  • Oct/20/22 2:46:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Pakistani government is cracking down on Afghans with threats of deportation and imprisonment by the end of the year. As they wait for the special immigration measure application to be processed, many Afghans' 60-day visas have already expired. For others, they will expire soon. Processing delays and the arbitrary cap that limits the number of Afghans who served Canada who can get to safety are going to cost lives. The situation is more urgent than ever. What action is the government taking to ensure Afghans who served Canada are not thrown into prison or sent back to the Taliban?
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