44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 14, 2022 11:00AM
- Nov/14/22 2:30:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously we are very grateful to the member for that question.
Indeed, our children, our seniors and our families are having a difficult time. Respiratory viruses are spreading at a startling rate. COVID-19 is not over yet. Approximately 10% of hospital beds are filled with people who have COVID-19 and, on top of that, there is the respiratory syncytial virus and the flu, which is going to be very severe this year.
We have an obligation and a responsibility to take care of each other, and we do that by getting vaccinated and implementing public health measures.
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- Nov/14/22 2:31:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, parents do not want to hear excuses; they want to know their kids will be taken care of when they get sick.
Across Canada there are shortages of children's Tylenol and Advil, and now hospitals are dealing with a lack of pediatric antibiotics. It is a scary time to be a parent, and there are things the government can do now.
Instead of giving vague promises and pointing fingers, the Liberals must ensure our kids get the medicine they need. Parents are desperate for help. Where is the plan to care for our children?
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- Nov/14/22 2:31:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, families and children are indeed living through stressful times, and that is why we were pleased to announce just a few hours ago that there will be a special importation of additional analgesics, the equivalent of several months' of normal supply, in addition to the increased domestic production of these analgesics, so that children and their families can have access to those drugs in a very short time. We will keep working on longer term solutions to these shortages.
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- Nov/14/22 2:32:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, temperatures are dropping across Canada, and Canadians are needing to heat their homes. Home heating prices are doubling this winter, and Liberals will add to the pain by increasing the carbon tax. The finance minister's advice to families, though, is to cancel Disney+. That $14.99 a month will not do anything for the one in five Canadians skipping meals. The minister is out of touch, and Canadians are out of money.
Why will the Liberals not give Canadians actual relief and cancel their plans to triple taxes on gas, home heating and groceries?
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- Nov/14/22 2:33:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about some really terrible advice that was offered to Canadians in the spring by the Conservative leader. He urged Canadians to invest in crypto as a way to opt out of inflation. Now, Bitcoin has crashed by 21% over the past week and by more than 65% since the Conservative leader first gave Canadians that reckless advice. The Conservatives should apologize today for this reckless policy and admit that investing in crypto would have bankrupted Canadians.
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- Nov/14/22 2:33:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what a delusional response from the minister of Netflix. Maybe, instead of advising Canadians to cancel their $14.99 Disney+ subscriptions, the minister could do the right thing and cancel the government's greed.
Their government told us the whole point of the carbon tax was to lower emissions. They have spent over $100 billion since 2015 on the environment, and despite what the Prime Minister says, emissions are up and Canadians are out of money. Why will the Liberals not give Canadians some relief and cancel their inflation tax?
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- Nov/14/22 2:34:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what should be cancelled is the reckless advice that the Conservatives offered to Canadians, for which they have never apologized, which was to invest in crypto. If a Canadian had invested $10,000 in crypto when the Conservative leader told them it was a good idea, today they would have less than three and a half thousands dollars. If they had invested in a crypto exchange platform, they would be totally wiped out. What should happen is that the Conservatives should apologize and withdraw that reckless advice.
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- Nov/14/22 2:34:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the private jets have landed and the limousines are idling in Egypt for a UN climate change conference, where the minister is claiming to save the planet. Meanwhile, in Canada, struggling Canadians are paying record high prices for the Liberals' costly plan, which has not even reduced emissions. This means private jets and limousines for Liberals and higher prices on gas, groceries and home heating for Canadians.
When will the Liberals admit that their plan is not working, park the jets and scrap the carbon tax, which they plan to triple?
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- Nov/14/22 2:35:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that eight out of 10 families will be better off under our price on pollution and the climate action incentive. The hon. opposition never talks about the costs of climate change. There are many members from British Columbia on the other side. There has been a $9-billion impact from the floods, fires and droughts experienced last year, and 600 people died under the heat dome.
We have a moral imperative and an economic imperative to do something about climate change. The hon. members of the opposition have no plan. They never did, and they never will.
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- Nov/14/22 2:36:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me tell the House what is really out of touch. It is an economic plan which would eviscerate the EI system, endanger seniors' pensions, make pollution free again, claw back climate cheques from Canadian families, leave Canadian children without dental care and deprive low-income renters of the support they urgently need.
Our plan is responsible and compassionate. The Conservative approach is neither.
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- Nov/14/22 2:37:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the Liberal government takes money from the pockets of Lac-Mégantic's citizens and puts it in its own pockets, that is called a tax. When the government wastes this money lining the pockets of Liberal friends like Frank Baylis or creating an app like ArriveCAN, that is called a scandal. When the costly coalition wants to triple the carbon tax on gas, groceries and heating, that is called making families poorer.
When will the government finally show some compassion and scrap its plan to triple the carbon tax?
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- Nov/14/22 2:37:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our plan is both compassionate and responsible. The day we released our economic update, Moody's affirmed Canada's AAA credit rating with a stable outlook. The next day, Canada released an excellent jobs report, with Canadians adding 108,000 jobs in October. Canada has now recovered 116% of the jobs lost compared to 104%—
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- Nov/14/22 2:38:32 p.m.
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The hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable.
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- Nov/14/22 2:38:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a mother of six told me she can no longer afford to feed her family. The Minister of Finance suggests she should make a choice: Disney+ or Netflix. In reality, she has to choose between hamburger and bologna. That is the reality of life in Canada.
This costly NDP-Liberal government is attacking the least fortunate. Why does it want to force this family to pay more tax next year?
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- Nov/14/22 2:39:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what my hon. colleague said is absolutely false. Our government is actually supporting Canadian families. Thanks to the Canada child benefit, that mother of six gets thousands of dollars a year to support her children.
What is the Conservatives' plan? Cuts. What will they cut? They are not telling, but it will no doubt be something that will hurt Canadian families.
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- Nov/14/22 2:39:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health insulted Quebec and the provinces by saying that their demand for increased health transfers was futile. That is outrageous. Quebec spends more than 40% of its budget on health care. Allocating forty percent of a budget is not futile. That is not futile, especially when we know that, even with 40% of the budget, our system is depleted and out of resources because his government is not contributing its share. When will the minister realize that the only thing that is futile is his stubborn refusal to give money to our hospitals?
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- Nov/14/22 2:40:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member ended with “giving money”. Giving money is what we have been doing for several years now. We certainly did that when we invested $72 billion to fight COVID-19. Those investments continue because COVID-19 is unfortunately still around. In the last budget, we invested $2 billion to reduce the backlogs in surgeries and diagnostics. We also invested $3 billion in mental health, $3 billion in long-term care and $3 billion in home care. I could go on and on, but I know I do not have much time. If the member wants to know more about the money, another question would be helpful.
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- Nov/14/22 2:40:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, why not just increase transfer to 35%, then?
I will quote the minister. When leaving the meeting on health transfers, the minister said, “My job is not to send dollars to finance ministers. My job is to make sure that whatever we do helps my colleagues, health ministers, do the difficult and important work that they are doing.”
Quite rightly, all his health minister colleagues clearly told him that the way to help them do their difficult work is to send money. If the Minister of Health cannot send money, why does he not let the Minister of Finance take over instead of wasting everyone's time?
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- Nov/14/22 2:41:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations to the member for another excellent question.
My responsibility, as Minister of Health, is to not send money without conditions to the finance ministers. I like the finance ministers, but my job is to help the health ministers. Sending money without conditions to the finance ministers may please the finance ministers, but that is not what the health ministers need. What we are going to continue doing is focusing on what the health ministers must do amongst themselves and in co-operation with one another.
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- Nov/14/22 2:42:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health's fight against funding comes at a cost. It is not just the patients who are paying the price, it is every taxpayer in Quebec.
Quebec invests more than 40% of its budget in health. Even with 40%, we know that expenses are going up in a hurry. All that money is money that is not going to our overflowing classrooms, it is money that is not being redirected to the less fortunate in the social safety net, and it is child care spaces that will never exist.
There is a major hole in Quebec's social safety net. Does the minister know that he is the one making it bigger?
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