44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 29, 2022 10:00AM
- Nov/29/22 2:50:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government absolutely is committed to ensuring that everyone in Canada pays their fair share. In fact, we have brought in a COVID windfall tax. It is called the COVID recovery dividend. It is levied at 15% on financial institutions and insurers. We have also brought in a permanent 1.5% tax on banks and insurers. We have introduced a luxury tax of 10% on private planes, luxury cars and luxury boats.
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- Nov/29/22 2:51:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while Telus has celebrated its highest ever second-quarter profits, shareholders are getting richer at the expense of Canadian workers by outsourcing 11,000 of its jobs overseas, and this is grotesque. Canadian workers are fed up. USW Local 1944 has reached a 97% strike mandate, and the current government is giving Telus millions of dollars in federal procurement contracts.
Will the current Liberal government stand up for workers by ending lucrative contracts with companies like Telus that use taxpayer dollars to ship our Canadian jobs overseas?
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- Nov/29/22 2:51:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are concerned that Canadians pay some of the highest prices in the world to stay connected. That is why our government is taking action to make services more affordable and to hold the big national carriers accountable, and our plan is working. In 2020, our government announced a historic program to reduce mid-range cellphone plans by 25%. I am happy to report that our government reached this ambitious target ahead of schedule, but we know more work remains to be done. That is why we will continue to push for lower prices for Canadians.
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- Nov/29/22 2:52:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know how important EI sickness benefits are for Canadians who are impacted and have to be able to leave the workforce as a result of injuries or sickness. That is exactly why our government, in budget 2021, extended the EI sickness benefit, to make sure those Canadians who face an income gap between the time their benefits expire and when they are able to get back to work are protected.
Can the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion provide an update to the House on the work of that extension and how we are protecting Canadians?
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- Nov/29/22 2:52:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Kings—Hants for his tireless work on behalf of his constituents.
We know many workers face a stressful income gap between when they exhaust their EI sickness benefits and when they are able to return to work. That is why I am pleased to announce that, as of December 18, we are permanently extending EI sickness benefits from 15 weeks to 26 weeks, which will benefit approximately 169,000 Canadians each year. This extension to 26 weeks will give workers more time to recover from serious illnesses or injuries before they rejoin the workforce.
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- Nov/29/22 2:53:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have made life easier for criminals in this country.
After seven years of their soft-on-crime approach, violent crime has increased 32%, gang homicide is up 92%, and the overall incidents of violent crime in 2021 were up 124,000 compared to 2015. For a government that claims to make evidence-based decisions, it appears to be wilfully blind to the evidence.
Will the government stop its soft-on-crime policies?
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- Nov/29/22 2:54:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for the first time in Canada's history, we have repealed mandatory minimum penalties, giving judges the flexibility to impose sentences that fit the crimes.
We have repealed the MMP that contribute most to the overincarceration of indigenous, Black and racialized people. The adoption of Bill C-5 means prosecutors and police can dedicate more resources and time to fighting serious crimes.
I want to thank all those who supported us, including members of the opposition, as well as senators, in getting Bill C-5 through royal assent.
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- Nov/29/22 2:54:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government's misguided approach continues with Bill C-5.
Bill C-5 reduces the mandatory minimum sentences for numerous violent crimes, including crimes with firearms. Bill C-75 made it easier for criminals to get out on bail. Now, rather than going after the illegal guns used by criminals and street gangs, the Liberals are targeting law-abiding hunters, farmers and sport shooters with Bill C-21.
When will the government stop its soft-on-crime approach and get serious about public safety?
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- Nov/29/22 2:55:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, of course the hon. member is entitled to his opinions, but he is not entitled to the facts.
The fact is that the Conservatives cut $390 million from CBSA, further weakening our borders. In addition, the Conservatives are comfortable with attacking Bill C-5, which comes from the first government to tackle the issue of the massive overrepresentation of indigenous and Black Canadian people in our prison system. That is a scandal and the Conservatives should not fight that.
We are trying to fix the systemic discriminatory effects of mandatory minimum sentences that have not improved community safety but have led to a massive increase in overrepresentation of disadvantaged groups.
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- Nov/29/22 2:56:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, violent crime has risen 32% since the Liberals formed government in 2015.
This is a fact across all of Canada, including in my riding where I am reading local headlines, titled “Arrested again” for “participation in a criminal organization”, “Failure to comply with a probation order”, “Eleven counts of knowledge of possession of a firearm while prohibited”, “Two counts of disobeying a court order” and “Two counts of breach of a weapons prohibition”.
Why are the Liberals removing mandatory minimums on repeat offenders? When will they repeal their soft-on-crime policies?
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- Nov/29/22 2:56:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, serious crimes will always have serious consequences.
Bill C-5 is about moving past the failed policies of the Conservatives that clogged our system and filled our prisons with low-risk first-time offenders, time and resources that should have been devoted to fighting serious crimes.
In fact, former Supreme Court Justice Moldaver, whom no one could accuse of being soft on crime, recently stressed the need for a different approach to less serious offences. In the past decade we saw the impact of harsh, ineffective policies on indigenous and racialized people, and on those who suffer from addiction.
These are smart criminal justice policies.
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- Nov/29/22 2:57:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us make sure talking points do not get in the way of the facts.
Ten of the 12 mandatory minimums the Liberals are removing were introduced by previous Liberal governments, i.e., the senior Trudeau and Chrétien governments. What did the previous Liberal governments get so wrong?
As violent crime continued to increase in the last seven years under the Liberal government, why is it so focused on helping criminals and repeat offenders instead of standing up for the victims?
When will the Liberals repeal their soft-on-crime agenda?
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- Nov/29/22 2:58:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the opposition is defending those failed policies because it is defending itself.
The member and his party opposite have been in the forefront of the Harper era implementing policies targeting indigenous, Black and marginalized people. Those policies did not protect our communities. In fact, even Conservatives in the U.S. are abandoning mandatory minimum penalties and recognizing that they do not work.
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- Nov/29/22 2:58:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in a Radio-Canada interview on Sunday about the invocation of the Emergencies Act, the Minister of Public Safety defended himself, stating that the act has some shortcomings and needs to be updated.
That was a candid admission that his government knew it had not met the threshold for invoking the act, but did so anyway. In a country governed by the rule of law, the end does not justify the means.
Do the Liberals acknowledge and take responsibility for the fact that the precedent they set now authorizes any future government to suspend individual freedoms as it sees fit?
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- Nov/29/22 2:59:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I respect my colleague opposite, but no matter how many times he says something that is not true, he cannot make it true.
Nothing our government did suspended Canadians' rights. We made an important decision in order to protect Canada's economy and keep Canadians safe. We were transparent at every stage of the decision-making process, including before the commission last week, and we look forward to Justice Rouleau's report, which will provide answers to all these questions.
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- Nov/29/22 3:00:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows full well that all the criteria were properly met. We respected the rights of all Canadians in an important process. We also thought it was a good idea, when we established the criteria with the Rouleau commission, to ask the commission for suggestions and opinions on the possibility of modernizing the Emergencies Act, to listen to the experts. That is why we are looking forward to Justice Rouleau's recommendations.
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- Nov/29/22 3:01:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first the Liberals promised not to raise the carbon tax, and then they tripled the tax. Then they said Canadians would get more money back when they paid the carbon tax. That was proven false. Then the Liberals promised the carbon tax would lower emissions, but emissions went up.
When will the Liberal government stop misleading Canadians and cancel the failed carbon tax?
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- Nov/29/22 3:01:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have said in the House a number of times, affordability is extremely important to all members of the House. This government has taken very significant actions to address that, but I would also say that eight out of 10 Canadian families actually get more money back from the carbon tax, from the price on pollution, than they actually pay.
In terms of misleading the House, I would ask the hon. member who asked the question about what he campaigned on in the last campaign, which included putting a price on pollution. I am not sure exactly how he explains that to his constituents. Misleading? Yes, that is very much misleading.
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- Nov/29/22 3:02:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have no compassion for workers struggling to make ends meet. They are going to make things even harder for small and medium-sized businesses in January when they raise taxes. Worse still, Liberal policies are hurting businesses in Beauce that hire foreign workers and spend thousands of dollars recruiting them with no certainty that they will be able to keep them on for the duration of their contract.
When will the government realize it has to help our small and medium-sized businesses by fixing this problem and by cancelling the tax hikes?
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- Nov/29/22 3:03:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would say on this side of the House that every day we think about what we can do to help Canadians and to help those small businesses. We have cut taxes for small businesses throughout the pandemic. We have helped them keep their staff on staff. We saw many businesses pivot to being e-commerce friendly so that they can help their customers.
On this side of the House, every day is about helping small businesses. We will keep doing that.
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