44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 14, 2022 02:00PM
- Dec/14/22 2:24:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I join all my colleagues in wishing everyone a merry Christmas. We recognize that the holiday season will be difficult for many Canadians with the cost of living tied to global inflation. Times are tough. That is why we have been there to invest in families by doubling the GST credit, providing assistance for dental care for children who did not have access to it, providing assistance for low-income renters and cutting child care costs in half. We will continue to be there for Canadians this year, next year and in the future.
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- Dec/14/22 2:25:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all his promises are not working.
We wish everyone a merry Christmas, but it will not be merry for a lot of people. One in five Canadians are skipping meals. There is a 20% increase in the cost of a turkey dinner for the average family. One Ontario food bank CEO said, “clients...are telling us they're considering medically assisted death or suicide because they can't live in grinding poverty anymore.”
This is after seven years of the Prime Minister. He can promise whatever he wants, but these are the results he has actually delivered.
How does he justify the $4.6 billion of waste when people cannot afford to eat?
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- Dec/14/22 2:26:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians are facing difficult times, but we also know Canadians continue to step up for each other. That is why this government has continued to move forward with direct supports for Canadians, whether it was doubling the GST credit for six months, which gave hundreds of dollars more in the pockets of 11 million families, or whether it was moving forward on rental supports and dental support for low-income Canadians.
These are things the Conservative Party voted against, but we are delivering $1,300 over the next two years for families to help with bills on dental. We are delivering $500 on rental. We are going to continue to deliver for Canadians through this tough time.
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- Dec/14/22 2:26:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what he has delivered is a 40-year-high inflation, the fastest-rising interest rates in Canadian history and one in five Canadians not being able to afford food. What for? According to the Auditor General, there is $28 billion of suspicious spending and another $4.6 billion of outright waste, money that is driving up the inflationary prices Canadians are paying right now. He gave cheques to dead people and prisoners.
When will he recover the $4.6 billion of wasted money the Auditor General identified?
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- Dec/14/22 2:27:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians will remember that when we hit the challenge of the pandemic, we needed to be there for each other. The government made the decision to move quickly to support Canadians, to support families, to support workers, to support seniors, to support youth and to move forward on supporting small businesses.
This was not only so that people could get through the pandemic and the health crisis that it was, but also so we could weather the economic storm that came with it. That is exactly what we did, and we saw our economy come back faster than most of our fellow economies around the world.
We are going to continue to support Canadians and make those investments that keep a better future.
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- Dec/14/22 2:28:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is where the money went, though, according to the Auditor General: 1,500 prisoners got the money, dead people got the money, $60 million dollars of the money is under criminal investigation and $4.6 billion was wasted altogether.
The question was very simple. On what date will this Prime Minister and his government recover the $4.6 billion of waste identified by the Auditor General to date?
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- Dec/14/22 2:28:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians, like the Canadians in Mississauga—Lakeshore, recognize the rhetoric from the Leader of the Opposition for what it is. The Conservatives are proposing cuts in Canadian pensions, proposing cuts for EI and proposing to do less for Canadians who need it. They voted against supports to make sure that families could send their kids to the dentist this year and next.
These are the kinds of things the Conservatives continue to propose in their “cuts and austerity” approach. On this side of the aisle, we will continue to be there to support Canadians who need it, because that is who are we are as Canadians. We support each other.
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- Dec/14/22 2:29:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is from a Prime Minister who is deliberately driving up home heating bills this winter. Home heating bills are expected to double right across the country. Forty per cent of Atlantic Canadians live in energy poverty. Rural Canadians in northern Ontario who are forced to heat with oil will have to pay more as well. Now the Liberal-NDP plan is to raise prices further by tripling the carbon tax.
Will the Prime Minister tell us exactly how much his carbon tax will cost the average Canadian family in higher home heating bills this winter?
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- Dec/14/22 2:29:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the carbon price in Atlantic Canada does not kick in until the spring, so it will not cost them any more this winter. If he had actually paid attention, instead of sharing disinformation with Canadians, he would know that.
The reality is that we are delivering a price on pollution that makes sure we are not only protecting our future against climate change but we are also putting more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians to support them through this transition. That is what a price on pollution does. That is what it will continue to do. It will support Canadians while we fight climate change.
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- Dec/14/22 2:30:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, how about a little holiday spirit? The Prime Minister got a generous invitation from the provincial premiers. It is like a family gathering. Maybe they will talk to him about an old aunt who is sick. They will talk about how expensive it is. He will find it tedious, but one does not turn down that kind of invitation. It is simply not done.
In the spirit of the holidays, will the Prime Minister accept the invitation of Quebec and the provinces?
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- Dec/14/22 2:31:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no other prime minister in our country's history has met with the provincial premiers to discuss a health crisis more than I have.
I will continue to meet with the premiers regularly. I am looking forward to sitting down with the Premier of Quebec in a few days to talk about Quebeckers' concerns and discuss how we can continue to work together. We know that our health care systems need improvement. The federal government will be there to support the provinces while they make those improvements. We know how important this is to families across the country.
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- Dec/14/22 2:31:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is confusing a party with a face-to-face meeting, and I am not sure which would be more difficult. I am certain he is more gracious than that.
Premiers have a lot to say when they talk amongst themselves. They have cousins on stretchers in hospital hallways, an uncle waiting for kidney surgery, a friend named Guy who has pneumonia and is afraid of catching COVID-19, and my son, or his son, or someone else's son who may be grappling with a serious mental health issue. Soon, the premiers will be getting angry.
Is the Prime Minister really sure that he does not want to meet with them?
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- Dec/14/22 2:32:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know how much Canadians need improvements to our health care services. Too many people do not have access to family doctors. Too many people have to wait months, even years, for appointments for their mental health emergencies. People continue to wait on waiting lists for far too long.
The federal government has invested an additional $72 billion in health care systems in recent years, and we will be there to invest more money. Quebeckers and all Canadians know that it does not just take money, it takes results, and that is what we are working on with the provinces.
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- Dec/14/22 2:33:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have a crisis in our health care system that is impacting children. Children are suffering. The Prime Minister says that because of an impasse with the premiers, he cannot do anything. I want to remind the Prime Minister that he promised, in the last election, to hire 7,500 more nurses and doctors. It is a promise that, if it was kept, would absolutely help in dealing with this crisis.
My question is this: Did he mean what he said?
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- Dec/14/22 2:33:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have all heard from across the country how Canadians need access to family doctors, how Canadians need access to better mental health services more quickly and how Canadians need to see shortened wait times and an end to surgery backlogs. That is exactly what we are committed to.
We have been working with the provinces. Our health minister has been directly engaged with his counterparts over the past many months to ensure that, as we invest more in health care across this country, we are delivering results and outcomes that Canadians can count on.
That is what Canadians want. That is what we are going to be delivering.
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- Dec/14/22 2:34:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when I am Prime Minister, I will keep my promises.
Another promise—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Dec/14/22 2:34:32 p.m.
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Order. I know everybody is excited that Christmas is coming. It is a week and a half or two weeks away. I would ask everybody to calm down and take a deep breath.
The hon. member for Burnaby South.
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- Dec/14/22 2:35:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for the folks over here, when I am Prime Minister, I will keep my promises, absolutely.
There is another promise that the Prime Minister made that would certainly help the crisis in our health care system. He promised a guaranteed—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Dec/14/22 2:35:44 p.m.
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Order.
The hon. member for Burnaby South. We will try one more time.
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- Dec/14/22 2:36:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know there are some people in this chamber who like the number three, so when I am Prime Minister, I will keep my promises.
There is another promise the Prime Minister made that would certainly help in this health care crisis. He promised a guaranteed wage of at least $25 an hour for long-term care workers. This would help free up spaces in the hospitals so that seniors could go into long-term care homes and get the proper respect and treatment that they need.
Did the Prime Minister mean what he said, or was he hoping that a fight with the provinces would mean that he would not have to deliver on this promise either?
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