44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 30, 2023 10:00AM
- Mar/30/23 2:38:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister and his gang of serial lawbreakers were told by the outgoing Ethics Commissioner to take remedial ethics training. Instead, at Sunday brunch, the Liberal cabinet minister turned to his sister-in-law and said, “How about we make you the new Ethics Commissioner?”
When are the Liberals going to take their responsibilities seriously and appoint someone who is independent and can restore accountability to this place for all Canadians?
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- Mar/30/23 2:39:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Ethics Commissioner's role in our democracy is extremely important. Over the last 10 years in which the person they are referring to has been in the office, they have taken a lot of difficult positions against the government, and frankly, against that party. The person was appointed at the time of Stephen Harper, in the number two position. These decisions have been well-received in the sense that the Ethics Commissioner's job is to hold us to the highest possible standard. The idea that a public servant cannot do their job or set aside differences, when they have a screen in place, is not realistic.
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- Mar/30/23 2:39:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the arrogance of the Liberal government is stranger than fiction. Even the writers for the Simpsons could not have dreamed up such satire. The Prime Minister, who has twice been found guilty of ethics violations, has appointed as interim ethics commissioner, the sister-in-law of his best friend, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, himself found guilty of ethics violations for awarding a contract to his cousin.
Is the brother-in-law of the interim ethics commissioner, the minister, going to take advantage of family get-togethers over Easter to ask her if it is ethical for his best friend, the Prime Minister, to appoint his sister-in-law to rule on his ethics?
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- Mar/30/23 2:40:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the person in question was part of the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner when the decisions were made on the matter involving the Prime Minister and on other issues. Clearly, this person is capable of acting independently. She was appointed to the office during Prime Minister Harper's government and has been at that office for 10 years.
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- Mar/30/23 2:40:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we better not be sliding into a recession given that the Liberals have once again dropped the promised EI reform from the budget. In the midst of all this economic uncertainty, they just told 60% of workers that if something bad happens to them, tough luck, because they will not be able to rely on EI or the federal government.
Every economist is wary of the year ahead, so how can the Liberals abandon the only safety net that workers have if they lose their job?
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- Mar/30/23 2:41:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know Canada's EI system is complex, and that is why we are focused on improving it. In the past two years, the minister led more than 35 virtual, national and regional round tables with workers, employers and academics. EI reform is a priority. We are on it, and we will get it done.
At the same time, we are making historic investments in skills training and in support like child care to help more Canadians re-enter the workforce, and it is working. Over 830,000 more Canadians are working than before the pandemic. On this side, we will always, always have workers' backs.
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- Mar/30/23 2:42:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised to overhaul EI in 2015, then in 2019, then in 2021, then last summer at the very latest, then before Christmas, guaranteed. They always push it further down the line, always later. Even now, the Liberals are completely abandoning that reform in the budget.
If the Liberals cannot keep their promise to working people today, when economists are worried there is going to be a recession, when are they going to do it?
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- Mar/30/23 2:42:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question because it is a very important question.
We have always been there for workers across Canada. We have promised EI reform and we will deliver.
In this budget, we have demonstrated once again that we are there for Canadian workers across the country and we will continue to be.
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- Mar/30/23 2:43:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is absolutely nothing. Here is what seniors will find in the budget to help them deal with the cost of living: absolutely nothing.
We still have two classes of seniors. Pensions for those aged 74 and under have not increased. Seniors receiving the guaranteed income supplement who want to continue working are still heavily penalized. Others who also want to help mitigate the labour shortage have no incentive to do so.
In a 300-page budget, why did the Liberals not spare a single thought for people aged 65 and over?
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- Mar/30/23 2:43:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, budget 2023 continues to grow our government's plan to support seniors, but do not take my word for it. FADOQ, the largest senior-serving organization in Quebec, said it “welcomes the financial support offered to seniors in the federal budget, notably with the one-time grocery rebate and the expansion of the Canadian Dental Care Plan.” Our new dental care plan will help nine million Canadians, including seniors, get the dental care they need, and our grocery rebate will put hundreds of dollars back in their pockets.
I hope the member opposite will vote for this budget so she can continue to support seniors in her riding, in Quebec and all across Canada.
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- Mar/30/23 2:44:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what a surprise. The Liberal carbon tax is not revenue-neutral and actually costs Canadians thousands of dollars a year. It is only going to get worse when the Liberal-NDP costly coalition increases the carbon tax on Saturday. We know when they triple the carbon tax, it will cost Canadian farmers $150,000 a year, but every single Canadian will pay the price when they buy bread, pasta, fruit, vegetables and milk. Higher carbon taxes mean higher inflation and higher food prices.
How high does the price of bread need to be before the Prime Minister realizes Canadians cannot afford it anymore and axes the carbon tax?
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- Mar/30/23 2:45:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of good news in budget 2023 for our farmers, starting with the vaccine bank for foot and mouth disease. This was a request made by the various meat sectors in Canada and it was very important to them.
In addition, the advance payments program has been increased, which means we can offer interest-free loans up to $350,000. This is very important to our producers.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, despite the Liberal Party, this House passed Bill C-234, which exempts farm fuels, grain drying and farm heating from the carbon tax. However, the carbon tax does not just apply to the farm. It applies to the entire food value chain, from the mining and manufacture of fertilizers to the delivery of farm inputs to the delivery of farm production to the packaging of farm inputs, farm production and groceries, at every step of the way. The result is that now a family of four is going to pay $1,100 more for their groceries in 2023.
When is the costly coalition going to get the facts and stop the tax?
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- Mar/30/23 2:46:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, our government is always there to support our agricultural producers in different ways.
We signed the sustainable Canadian agricultural partnership, which will give $3.5 billion to the agricultural sector.
When the Conservatives were in power, they cut funding for science and risk management programs. We are there to help producers in several ways.
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- Mar/30/23 2:47:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the carbon tax will increase on April 1. Unfortunately that is not an April Fool's joke.
The carbon tax increases the cost of food and the cost of fuel for truckers. It also directly impacts our farmers and our producers.
According to Canada's Food Price Report 2023, if the tax triples, a 5,000-acre farm will pay more than $150,000 in taxes.
The Liberals have until tomorrow night at midnight. Will they stop it? Will they cancel it?
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- Mar/30/23 2:47:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for my colleague, but I think he skipped part of the budget yesterday.
One of the key measures will help Canadians with the cost of living. The much-discussed grocery rebate will help more than 11 million Canadians across the country.
For those watching at home, the Conservatives are going to vote against assistance for Canadians. That is what is shameful.
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- Mar/30/23 2:48:04 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, while the federal government had many wins for some Canadians, indigenous peoples were again neglected in the federal budget. Promises for long-term funding while delaying its rollout is not good enough. For years, urgent and unmet housing needs have been spoken about in this House, yet indigenous peoples will continue to live in homelessness and in overcrowded and mouldy housing, forcing indigenous peoples to leave their lands.
Why does the government continue to put indigenous peoples at the bottom of its priority list?
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- Mar/30/23 2:48:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member opposite that we cannot take our foot off the gas pedal when ensuring that every single indigenous person in this country sees themselves as having the same access to success as every other Canadian does. That is why our government has made historic investments in infrastructure, with over $7 billion committed in budget 2021.
We are going to continue to make those investments with indigenous communities to ensure that kids can get to school in healthy schools and that we can have indigenous people living in healthy houses. I am excited about the $4 billion of urban, rural and northern indigenous housing money in the budget, which I welcome the member to work with us on.
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- Mar/30/23 2:49:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians need to know their government is using public money responsibly, especially when it comes to their health. However, the Liberals are refusing to tell taxpayers how much money they lost on a failed $200-million vaccine factory in the health minister's own riding, a scheme that did not produce a single dose of the COVID vaccine.
When will the Liberals do the right thing and invest in a public drug manufacturer instead of no-strings-attached giveaways to big pharma?
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- Mar/30/23 2:50:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a bit rich for my colleague to criticize this government when, at the time, what we did was the responsible thing. The responsible thing we did at the time was to invest in a different family of vaccines. Why? It was to protect the lives of Canadians.
Since that moment, we have invested a record amount of money in Canada to make sure that we have onshore biomanufacturing. Do members know why? We did not choose to have a pandemic and we are not going to choose to have another one, but we choose to be better prepared to save the lives of Canadians.
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