SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Nov/21/22 12:11:37 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Madam Speaker, rising yet again on a time allocation debate, I am reminded of when, in previous Parliaments, the Conservatives under Stephen Harper used time allocation again and again and again. I sat in that corner with the Liberals when they were the third party. Consistently, every time, they said that if we allow this to happen, eventually Parliament and democracy will be diminished and time allocations will become so routine that they are used over and over again in future Parliaments. I think I am the last standing member of the opposition to Stephen Harper's use of time allocations for almost every bill. It has, as we worried, become routine. I will never vote for a time allocation on a bill. Even when, as is the case here, I support Bill C-32, I object to the truncation of time. It diminishes Parliament's work. I do, though, sympathise with the governing party in that because we have ignored our rules for so long, nobody remembers that it is against Westminister parliamentary rules to give a written speech. I maintain that House leaders, when meeting together, should give an honest assessment to each other of how many members they really have who can speak to a bill without a written speech, without notes, and contribute to a thoughtful debate. I lament where we are right now, and this can be regarded as more a comment than a question, because the Liberals have completely forgotten all the reasons they used to warn that the use of time allocation for almost every bill was anti-democratic.

266 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson (Minister of Natural Resources, Lib.)

Nov/21/22 2:22:33 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, since 2015, the government has made enormous progress with respect to fighting climate change. We have one of the most detailed plans that exist in the world, but we were starting from a place where we were following 10 years of Harper Conservatives who did nothing to fight climate change or to ensure a prosperous future for our children. We are working very hard to ensure that life is affordable for Canadians— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

80 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson

Nov/21/22 2:23:41 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, Canada has one of the most detailed climate plans in the world. We are on track to ensure that we are meeting the ambitious targets that we have set. We started from a base where the previous Conservative government, the Harper Conservatives, did nothing to fight climate change for 10 years. We are very much committed and we will achieve those targets. We will do so in a manner that is affordable for Canadians. Eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back when they pay a price on pollution. It should not be free to pollute in this country, and we are making investments, like the announcement we made this morning of $250 million for heat pumps, to ensure that we are moving forward in a manner that is affordable and fights climate change.

138 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Mr. Han Dong (Don Valley North, Lib.)

Nov/21/22 4:04:17 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Madam Speaker, I listened closely to the hon. member's remarks, and he talked about history. The Harper government began with a surplus. The previous Liberal government left, I think, $13 billion at the time. Therefore, it started off really well with a surplus to manage. Also, I checked the record. Under Harper, for the nine years that the Conservatives were in government, not a single year's unemployment rate went below 6%. However, we saw the constant dropping of the unemployment rate under the Trudeau government prior to the pandemic, and now we are seeing five point something per cent as a new norm for Canada. I think we have done quite well. By the way, the real debt-to-GDP ratio for the federal government is 31%, which was just released in the public accounts. Which program is the hon. member proposing to cut, perhaps in an amendment, that he thinks is a waste of money—

159 words

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Hon. Mike Lake

Nov/21/22 4:05:32 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Madam Speaker, I love the opportunity to stand up and talk about the Harper legacy, if we want to talk about that. First of all, we cut virtually every tax Canadians could pay. I think over 60 different taxes were cut under our government. We dealt with a global economic meltdown in a world-leading way— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

62 words

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Hon. Mike Lake

Nov/21/22 4:06:09 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Madam Speaker, I get as equally excited as they do talking about the Harper record. When the world dealt with the global economic meltdown, we laid out a seven-year plan, we followed that plan to a tee, and by 2015, we balanced the budget. In contrast, as this government faced a significant global challenge, what it did was bring out the chequebook and responded by just cutting cheques with no eye toward and no signal in any way that we would ever talk about getting back to balance. In fact, the Prime Minister talked about it being an opportunity, and the Liberals have experimented with all sorts of new things that they never ran on as we went through that.

121 words

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Hon. Mike Lake

Nov/21/22 4:07:53 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Madam Speaker, I have a couple of comments. First of all, during the Harper era, we increased health transfers by about 6% per year for almost every year that we were in government. In the plan that our leader has laid out, he has simply said that, after a 70% increase in program spending over the last eight years, and an endless succession of spending plans and massive deficits, we would have a sensible plan that, for every dollar spent, we would find a dollar of savings. We did that when we were in government. I sat on a cabinet committee charged with looking at ways we could find efficiencies so we could get back to balance in 2015, and that is a sensible way for a government to approach fiscal planning.

132 words

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Nov/21/22 4:08:40 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Madam Speaker, with regard to the Harper era, I had an independent study done by the Library of Parliament on the bringing in of the HST. It was $6 billion in expenditures. That was required for a couple of provinces. If it were to be paid over 10 years, it would actually cost $10 billion. I would like the member's thoughts about that. Was that a good idea, in the sense that we are still paying debt on bringing in the HST?

83 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 131 - Nov/21/22

Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Nov/21/22 5:08:26 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Madam Speaker, I enjoyed working with my colleague on the right to repair legislation. I will take issue with the Harper administration, which, propped up by the then Liberal Party minority, used closure on debate numerous times. The Harper government used it over 100 times when it had a majority. My question is quite simple. Is it the Conservative Party's position to end this practice forever in the House of Commons? Is it the position of the Conservative Party not to have closure of any debates, and why did the member participate in the votes at the time when the Conservatives were propped up by the Liberal minority, with a Conservative majority?

113 words