44th Parl. 1st Sess.
January 30, 2023 11:00AM
- Jan/30/23 2:30:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to be back here with you and all my colleagues.
As my colleagues know, the Prime Minister made an appointment of his own, choosing Amira Elghawaby. He surely looked into her statements and positions prior to her appointment, which many perceive as very insulting to Quebec. Nevertheless, he went ahead with the appointment.
Here is my question for the Prime Minister: Does he really think this appointment will bring people together and build bridges rather than be divisive?
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- Jan/30/23 2:31:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday evening, I was honoured to be at the Quebec City mosque with the community that was the target of a dreadful terrorist attack committed six years ago by a person motivated by hate, intolerance and ignorance regarding the Muslim community in Quebec and across the country.
We must all stand up every single day to recognize and fight Islamophobia. We must see it as our duty to be there for our fellow Muslim citizens, and we will always be there for them.
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- Jan/30/23 2:32:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Ms. Elghawaby, who has described Bill 21 as Islamophobic, was unfortunately there, too. Her presence was commendable; her remarks, not so much.
Rather than simply condemn her remarks out of hand, I asked to meet with Ms. Elghawaby so that we could try to understand, as parliamentarians, as elected officials, as those responsible for passing the budget that will fund her position.
Can the Prime Minister tell me whether he supports such a meeting, whether he wants to see it happen and maybe could even facilitate it?
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- Jan/30/23 2:32:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would truly love to see this meeting happen. It would be a great conversation. I think Ms. Elghawaby would be able to explain how systemic racism and Islamophobia are a reality for people across the country.
We all have a duty to listen to one another and understand how hurtful bills and words can be, even if that is not our intention. We have a duty to understand the impact of what we are doing on vulnerable communities in our country.
Yes, I will certainly facilitate that meeting, and I know that Ms. Elghawaby would be delighted to meet the Bloc Québécois leader.
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- Jan/30/23 2:33:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the last election, the Prime Minister criticized the Conservatives for proposing to increase for-profit private health care in our system.
Now, Doug Ford is doing the exact same thing and the Prime Minister is calling it innovation. Why this big flip-flop?
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- Jan/30/23 2:33:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party has always been very clear: We will stand up for our public health care system.
We will continue to defend the principles of the Canada Health Act. This is non-negotiable and over the past few years we have taken back money several times from provinces that did not abide by the Canada Health Act. We will continue to stand up for our public system.
In the current negotiations to improve health care for Canadians across the country, we will continue to be there to stand up for the public system.
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- Jan/30/23 2:34:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the Prime Minister says one thing and does another. In the last election, the Prime Minister made a really big deal of calling out the Conservatives for proposing the idea of bringing in more for-profit private health care, but now when Doug Ford is doing exactly that, he is calling it “innovation”.
I am not surprised the Conservatives support this approach as they believe in for-profit private health care, but I am surprised at the Prime Minister. Why the flip-flop?
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- Jan/30/23 2:34:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I and the Liberal government have always been very, very clear that we stand for a public health system that fully abides by the Canada Health Act. This is something that matters to most Canadians, that certainly matters to us, and that we will continue to defend.
We know that even as we negotiate with the provinces to ensure we are delivering more family doctors, better mental health supports, moving forward on backlogs and supporting Canadians who need emergency care, we will ensure that the Canada Health Act is fully respected. In the past, this government has pulled back money from provinces that have not respected it. We will continue to do that.
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- Jan/30/23 2:35:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of Liberal mismanagement, one in five Canadians is saying they are completely out of money, skipping meals and accessing charity services just to meet their basic needs. The Governor of the Bank of Canada said that the interest rate hikes were because of out-of-control wasteful Liberal spending. Even former Liberal finance minister Bill Morneau had it right when he admitted that the Liberals overspent in the last eight years.
When will the Prime Minister and Canada's worst money manager in Canadian history stop breaking Canada, rein in his spending and stop making the price of everything go up?
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- Jan/30/23 2:36:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that many Canadians are facing real challenges, and that is why our government is there to help with a plan that is compassionate and fiscally responsible. Here is what we are doing: doubling the GST, providing $500 to people who are facing challenges paying their rent, providing dental care to Canadian kids, eliminating the interest on Canada student loans and improving the Canada workers benefit. The Conservatives voted against all of those essential measures.
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- Jan/30/23 2:36:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of Liberal mismanagement, the only people getting help and ahead are the Prime Minister who gets lavish $6,000-a-night hotel rooms, his buddies over at McKinsey and the WE Charity who get hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of contracts, racists like Laith Marouf who gets hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of contracts, and prisoners and dead people who get free CERB cheques. It has never been so good for those people, but Canadians have never had it so bad. Recently, Canadians were just uppercut with another interest rate hike because of out-of-control Liberal spending.
When will the Prime Minister stop rewarding his Liberal cronies and actually start helping struggling Canadians?
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- Jan/30/23 2:37:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk for a minute about what the Conservatives would do to Canadians and the Canadian economy. The Conservatives are proposing to eviscerate our essential EI system. The Conservatives would endanger seniors' pensions and the CPP. The Conservatives would make pollution free again. The Conservatives would deny Canadian families climate incentive cheques. Those are all Conservative policies, and they would all hurt Canadians in their pocketbooks.
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- Jan/30/23 2:38:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, Canadians have never found it so hard just to keep a roof over their heads. Rent increases have gone up at a record pace and the national average is now over $2,000 a month. Young adults are finding it virtually impossible to pay these rents and families are being squeezed.
When will the Liberals reverse their inflationary policies that are driving up inflation and making it harder for everyday people to even just stay in their homes?
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- Jan/30/23 2:38:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives really believed in supporting those Canadians who are having the hardest time paying their rent, they should have supported our plan to give those people $500 to help. The best way to pay one's rent and to pay one's mortgage is to have a job, and that is why our government has been relentlessly focused on job creation. There were 100,000 jobs created in December alone. Today we have recovered 121% of the jobs lost to COVID compared to just 106% in the United States.
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- Jan/30/23 2:39:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, rental inflation is up 12%. Food inflation is up more than 11%. Any of these government programs will just get evaporated. We know that the former governor of the Bank of Canada said that Canada's inflation was “homegrown”, and the current governor said that inflation is as high as it is because of all of the extra spending that these Liberals have done.
After eight years, when will the Liberals finally get their inflationary spending under control?
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- Jan/30/23 2:39:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives continue to talk down the Canadian economy. That is reckless and that is irresponsible. We know Canadians need support. That is why we have a plan that is compassionate, but it is also fiscally responsible. That is why just hours after we tabled the fall economic statement, Moody's reaffirmed our AAA credit rating.
Canada has the lowest deficit in the G7, the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio and, in 2022, Canada had the strongest economic growth.
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- Jan/30/23 2:40:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Prime Minister, the reality is that Canadians are suffering more and more, despite the fine words and promises made to the middle class.
I visited the food banks in Thetford Mines, Lac‑Mégantic, Plessisville, Princeville and Disraeli. What I heard broke my heart. Demand for food bank services skyrocketed by over 30% in December. That is the result of eight years under a Liberal government.
Will the Prime Minister finally realize that these measures have led more and more people to use food banks? When will he put an end to this?
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- Jan/30/23 2:41:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this government has an impressive record when it comes to eliminating poverty in Canada. Over one million Canadians have been lifted out of poverty thanks to the measures that we put in place, including the Canada child benefit and the increase in benefits for seniors. The Conservatives voted against those measures.
In fact, the Conservatives wanted to raise the retirement age for seniors. We did not let that happen. We will be there for Canadians at every stage of their lives, and I hope the Conservatives will support us.
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- Jan/30/23 2:41:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the cost of food has increased by nearly 12%. I am very concerned that this Prime Minister, after eight years of promising sunny ways, has completely lost touch with reality.
Day care centres are no longer offering meat on their menus because it costs too much. Food banks do not have enough fresh food because grocery stores no longer have any, since the middle class cannot afford to buy it.
How could the Prime Minister allow things to get to this point?
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- Jan/30/23 2:42:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, right after we formed the government, 450,000 fewer children were in poverty than when the Conservatives were in power. It is because of our programs, such as the Canada child benefit or the child care and early childhood program, that fees have dropped by 50% across the country.
Families across Canada tell me how much these programs have helped them reduce the cost of living and how this is changing their lives. It is a shame that the Conservatives do not support these measures.
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