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Context: House Hansard - 135 - Nov/25/22

Mr. Irek Kusmierczyk (Windsor—Tecumseh, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:08:35 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago I hosted in Ottawa a constituent, Ryan Hooey, and his dog, Joe. Ryan is one of the 750,000 Canadians living with diabetic retinopathy, one of the leading causes of blindness in Canada. Despite the strong link between diabetes and sight loss, Ryan told me about the challenge of using insulin pumps safely and independently, because they are not accessible to Canadians with sight loss. Can members imagine trying to manage their diabetes safely, but being fearful of accidentally causing self-harm, because the insulin pump does not provide accessible feedback for the visually impaired? November is Diabetes Awareness Month. In the spirit of Sir Frederick Banting, let us show the world again just how innovative we Canadians are. Let us work together with manufacturers of insulin pumps to make sure they are accessible to people with diabetes and sight loss here in Canada and around the world.

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Mr. Chandra Arya (Nepean, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:09:35 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize and thank Barrhaven Food Cupboard for its service to our community. I wish we lived in a society where there was no need for organizations like food banks or shelters, but the harsh reality is that dependency on food banks is increasing. The fact that we have some working Canadians dependent on food banks should be a wake-up call. Increasing demand for food bank support means more work for the volunteers. Fortunately, we have many Canadians who generously give their time for the greater good of the community. On behalf of the residents of Nepean, I would like to recognize and thank the team at Barrhaven Food Cupboard, led by its president, George Macdonald, for doing great work in supporting our community.

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Mr. Gérard Deltell (Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:10:31 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has lost a remarkable artist, the distinguished Jean Lapointe. It would be an understatement to simply say he was a versatile artist. In fact, as Stéphane Laporte wrote, he was an entertainer, a comedian, a singer, an actor, an impersonator, a juggler and a magician who made everyone happy. His career spanned more than 60 years, from small stages to large venues, and he and Les Jérolas, with Jérôme Lemay, will not be forgotten. They also found success abroad with appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show and at the Olympia in Paris. Beyond his life as an artist, he was also committed to social causes. At a time when everyone knew it but no one talked about it, he was one of the first stars to publicly talk about his addiction problems. He was such a great man who showed so much humility, and what an impact he had. The Maison Jean Lapointe will save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. Jean Lapointe will always be remembered as the extraordinary Maurice Duplessis of the Radio-Canada television series. I see that some of my colleagues remember him. What an extraordinary character and what a magnificent performance. I will not repeat his lines about the Liberal Party because this is not the time, but it was very inspiring. We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

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Mr. Mike Kelloway (Cape Breton—Canso, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:11:58 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, November is Diabetes Awareness Month, a time for us to reflect upon the struggles of our fellow Canadians who live every day with the disease. There are over three million people living with diabetes in this country, which is why I am proud to be part of a government that introduced our nation's first-ever framework for diabetes just last month. Steps such as these will hopefully go a long way toward improving the lives of Canadians, Canadians such as Jacob Ellsworth, an elementary school student in my riding of Cape Breton—Canso, who lives with type 1 diabetes. Like many his age, Jacob enjoys being active through sports like hockey, but unlike many people his age, Jacob and his family bravely cope with hurdles each and every day that no child should ever have to worry about. Jacob is an advocate, an inspiration and a champion of his own expression, saying, “I have diabetes, but diabetes does not have me.” We must continue our action to make diabetes a more livable disease for Jacob and for all Canadians who are affected.

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Mrs. Anna Roberts (King—Vaughan, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:13:10 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, seniors are the lifeline of our country. The Liberals need to respect our seniors, show some compassion and understand that, with the cost of inflation and the tripling of the carbon tax, we will see more and more families struggle to survive. Daily, I continue to hear stories of struggling seniors forced into shelters because they cannot afford housing costs or their heating bills, or forced to go to food banks because they cannot afford their groceries. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister stays in a hotel at $6,000 per night, while taxpayers pay the bill. There are seniors who are homeless or who are living in poverty while he continues to live in luxury. High taxes from reckless spending by the Liberal government has made Canada a country that Canadians can no longer afford. The Liberal government must stop wasting money, stop the tax increases and start putting the lives of Canadians ahead of its political agenda.

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Mr. Dane Lloyd (Sturgeon River—Parkland, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:14:21 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in November 2019, we learned that Supermax, a PPE manufacturer, was exploiting migrant workers at its glove factory in Malaysia. The Liberal government went on to buy gloves from Supermax, costing taxpayers $231 million. The U.S. government found that these workers faced abuses such as deception, restriction of movement, forced isolation, physical and sexual violence, intimidation and threats, withholding wages, debt bondage, abusive working and living conditions, and excessive overtime. The Liberals claim that they stopped shipments from entering Canada as soon as they heard about these violations against human rights. That is hard to believe since global distributors still ship these products into Canada, despite not shipping them to Great Britain or the U.S.A., where they are banned. We have even found boxes of Supermax gloves here in the parliamentary precinct, a direct violation of Treasury Board rules. I was shocked. Shame on the government for claiming to stand up for workers and human rights while purchasing products produced through abuse.

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Hon. Greg Fergus (Hull—Aylmer, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:15:33 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in 2002, I was working as an assistant professor, which is how I met Giscard Allen Alexandre. He was one of my most brilliant students. Thirteen years later, during my first election campaign, my party sent its best field organizer to help us. It was Allen Alexandre. The student became the teacher. He has been one of my best friends ever since. In his career, Allen has served ministers and the Prime Minister. Recently, he made the leap to the private sector. In his free time, he continues to pursue his passion, working for the public good. His work promotes Canada's Black communities, especially in Montreal, his hometown, and fosters their prosperity. For the past year, he has been fighting cancer and he will soon undergo major surgery. Knowing him, he will come out of this stronger. I invite all members to keep him in their thoughts, as I do, so that Allen can get through this difficult period and continue to make our society better.

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Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Nov/25/22 11:16:53 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the first day of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. I call on the government to do more, and to support organizations, such as the Elmwood Community Resource Centre, which has been integral to the support of women, men, gender-diverse folks and youth in our community. The centre has done a great job at recognizing its strength while addressing the impact of gender-based violence. In Canada, in 2018, 44% of women self-reported experiencing some form of psychological, physical or sexual abuse in the context of an intimate relationship. Unfortunately, we know that the pandemic, sadly, only grew that number. We also know that, of the 44% of women who self-reported, indigenous women were 61% more likely to experience intimate-partner violence. The government has to do more today and every day. Paying lip service to the 231 calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report is simply unacceptable. The government must act on all of them. Delay costs lives.

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Mr. Luc Thériault (Montcalm, BQ)

Nov/25/22 11:18:01 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, the government will announce that it is improving EI sickness benefits. I would like to remind all parliamentarians that we would not even be talking about this were it not for Marie‑Hélène Dubé and her “15 weeks is not enough” campaign and Émilie Sansfaçon, who spent the final moments of her life fighting so that people who are seriously ill will never again be abandoned by the government, as she was. Every little bit of progress that is made on the sickness benefits file is thanks to courageous women like these two. However, more needs to be done. Before Émilie Sansfaçon passed away, she met personally with the Prime Minister. She explained to him that sick people need 50 weeks of support. We will continue the fight for 50 weeks of benefits, because the only thing that people with diseases like cancer should have to worry about is healing, not financial concerns. Let us continue, in memory of Émilie.

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Mr. Brad Redekopp (Saskatoon West, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:19:08 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are hurting. They look around at what has happened to this country of ours over the past seven years and realize that everything seems broken. Canada is caught in a broken experiment of woke NDP-Liberal policies that remove prison sentences from violent offenders, flood our streets with illegal drugs and increase homelessness, crime, overdoses and death. Downtown in our city, I see the hopelessness on the faces of people every day as they take their next hit. They know that they are broken, but they have no place to go. One in five families are skipping meals, there were 1.5 million visits to foods banks in Canada in just one month, and there are over 30,000 overdose deaths since 2016. When will it get better? Who is here to fix everything that is broken? I know a guy who is here for Canadians. The leader of the Conservative Party has a plan to put Canadians back in charge of their lives. It is time for Canadians to let our strong Conservative team fix everything the Liberals have broken.

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Ms. Jenna Sudds (Kanata—Carleton, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:20:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today marks the beginning of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Since 2015, our government has taken action across the board to address gender-based violence, from strengthening the Criminal Code, to creating dedicated housing for women and children escaping violence, to developing our new national action plan and so much more. These actions have helped more than 1.3 million individuals experiencing violence find safe haven and access vital support in the face of gender-based violence, but our work is not done. On December 9, organizations across Canada will be able to apply for new funding from Women and Gender Equality Canada to help organizations on the ground continue their important work. We will never accept gender-based violence in our country.

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Ms. Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:21:30 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada's bank governor, Tiff Macklem, confirmed that, if the government reduced its deficit, we would have lower inflation. Inflation now costs every Canadian $3,500 more every year. These are his words, not ours. Now that we know the Prime Minister's continued extravagant spending spree is the cause of it, will they give Canadians a fighting chance and stop the spending so they can pay their bills?

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Hon. Randy Boissonnault (Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:21:57 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once upon a time, all members of the House respected Canada's institutions. Conservatives of that era must really be lamenting the state of their party today, a party that tells false narratives about our economy, attacks our institutions and systematically refuses to support Canadians in their time of need, just when they need it the most. The Conservatives do not have a plan. We do. Thankfully for Canadians, we are on the job.

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Ms. Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:22:30 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is not story time, it is question period. The plan that the member is talking about has driven 1.5 million Canadians into a food bank in a month. That is nothing to be proud of. To make matters worse, he believes that $3,500 a year more is not enough. They are reaching even deeper into the pockets of Canadians to pay for their plan to triple the carbon tax on gas, groceries and home heating. They know the plan has not worked. Why push a costly failed carbon tax on struggling Canadians?

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Hon. Randy Boissonnault (Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:23:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the story that the Conservatives do not want Canadians to be told is that, since 2015, the Conservative opposition has voted against tax reductions for Canadians not one, two, three, four or five times, but six times at a minimum. In 2015, when we reduced taxes on Canadians in the middle class, the Conservatives voted against it. When we reduced taxes on workers, how did they vote? They voted against it. When we got the child care program in place, how did they vote? They voted against. Just last week, when we reduced taxes on small businesses, how did they vote? They voted against it.

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Ms. Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:23:42 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government is raising taxes on Canadians. It is tripling the carbon tax. The Parliamentary Budget Officer says that 60% of Canadians will pay more than they ever get back. That is a tax. It will cost an Albertan more than $2,000 after the rebate. In Ontario, it will be almost $1,500 after the rebate. It is all on page 13 of the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report, and the minister should read it. Therefore, I want to know if they calling the Parliamentary Budget Officer a liar, or is today the day they will finally be honest with Canadians about their tax plan?

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Hon. Randy Boissonnault (Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:24:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us share the facts about where we are in fighting climate change. Albertans lived through the heat dome. We saw the atmospheric river in B.C. We just lived through the worst natural climate disaster in the history of our country with hurricane Fiona. Our economists and people all the way back to the founder of the Reform Party, Preston Manning, said that the best market mechanism to make sure that we fight climate change is to price pollution. We have done just that. Albertans get $1,100 more than they spend. Those are the facts.

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Mr. Gérard Deltell (Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:25:00 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, inflation is devastating Canadian families, and the rising cost of food, an essential good, is brutal. Just last month, 1.5 million Canadians visited food banks here in Canada. That is the real consequence of inflation. However, it does not seem to have curbed the government's insatiable appetite for taxes. The Liberals want to triple the carbon tax next year. Is there a government minister who can stand up and say, with a straight face, that raising taxes during a time of inflation is a good thing?

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Hon. Randy Boissonnault (Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Nov/25/22 11:25:39 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us state the facts clearly. Over the past seven years, the Liberal government has steadily reduced Canadians' income taxes. The Conservative opposition voted against that every time. When we reduced income taxes for the middle class, they voted against it. When we reduced income taxes for workers, they voted against it. When we cut the price of child care by 50%, they voted against it. Those of us on this side of the House are voting for Canadians; the Conservatives are voting against them.

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Mr. Gérard Deltell (Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC)

Nov/25/22 11:26:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. The Liberal government has been running the country for the past seven years, and it brought in the Liberal carbon tax. Seven years later, here are the facts. Canada ranks 58th out of 63 countries in the fight against climate change. If a carbon tax worked, we would know it by now, but it does not work, as we have seen. Still, the government wants to triple the carbon tax next year. Once again, can the minister stand up and clearly say, with a straight face, that raising taxes during a period of high inflation is a good idea?

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