44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 28, 2023 10:00AM
- Apr/28/23 11:31:06 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it takes a special kind of incompetence to ramp up federal spending on the public service by over 50% and end up with the largest public service sector strike in Canadian history. The Liberals are spending $22 billion more on employees and wages but taxpayers are receiving fewer services, in some cases no services, from government workers.
When will the Liberal government get its employees back to work and protect Canadian taxpayers from more debt and high taxes?
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- Apr/28/23 11:31:48 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, first of all, it is really important to state that both parties are at the negotiating table. The federal government is negotiating in good faith.
I know that my receding hairline might give an indication that I am a little bit long in the tooth, but I have a bit of a memory and I do remember when those on the other side of the aisle were in government. What did they do every time workers tried to have a collective agreement? They legislated them back to work.
We believe in having a negotiated settlement that is fair for workers and reasonable for Canadians.
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- Apr/28/23 11:32:30 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the largest public strike is happening not because of the Conservatives. We delivered on our promises. We did not have a general strike of federal workers while we were balancing the books and cutting taxes for families and businesses. We were able to manage the federal government and keep delivering services to Canadians. The Liberals had two years to come to an agreement with the public service. Now 150,000 workers are out on strike.
Again, when will the Prime Minister and the government get back to work?
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- Apr/28/23 11:33:08 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the only thing the Conservatives did when they were in government was that they balanced the books on the backs of Canadians. They did nothing when it came to helping Canadians get out of poverty. In contrast, what we have done is help lift 450,000 children and a total of 2.7 million Canadians out of poverty. At the height of the COVID crisis, do members know what we did? We were there for every single Canadian, whether through wage supports or through services.
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- Apr/28/23 11:33:57 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals could not organize a birthday party. We have seen it time and time again with inflation, passports, airports, cost of living and housing. Now there is the largest public service strike in history, despite increasing spending on the bureaucracy by $21 billion. There is no planning ahead. There is no leadership and no respect for taxpayers.
Canadians just want their government back to work. Why is it that the Liberal government never knows where the puck is going?
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- Apr/28/23 11:34:33 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from that side of the aisle. Did members see what happened when President Biden was in the House? When the president spoke about women, they cowered. When the president spoke about unions, they would not even stand up. Not only do they not respect collective bargaining, but they ran a government that had economic stagnation for nine years.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Apr/28/23 11:34:55 a.m.
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I am going to get the hon. minister to restart his answer and hopefully there will not be any interruptions this time.
The hon. minister.
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- Apr/28/23 11:35:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we should roll the clip back to when President Biden was in the House and the Conservatives would not stand up when he talked about a gender-balanced cabinet. The Conservatives would not stand up when he talked about union rights. The Conservatives do not believe in collective bargaining; we do. We are going to get a deal that is fair for Canadians, a deal that is fair for the federal public servants. Why do they not like the fact that we have more public servants? I cannot say, but the public servants helped us get through the pandemic. The Conservatives do not like it; Canadians do.
We are going to get a good deal.
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- Apr/28/23 11:35:44 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canadians are getting their lunch eaten and being told it is good for them. Under the Liberals, everything is broken. Canadians are being denied basic government services once again, because of the largest public service strike in history. It is said that Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned. The Prime Minister is now doing the same, but, knowing him, he is playing dress-up.
When will he fix the mess that he made?
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- Apr/28/23 11:36:20 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canadians deserve elected representatives who come to Ottawa with solutions, not just cheap shots and slogans. Triple-triple is a coffee order at Tim Hortons, not a policy solution. It is not a valuable contribution to the debate in the House. However, budget 2023 invests in solutions like dental care for uninsured families, investments in mental health and more doctors and nurses to reduce wait times and make sure that Canadians can get the procedures and the surgeries that they need.
When will the Conservatives propose some solutions instead of just these childish slogans? We need some solutions, everyone. That is what Canadians need.
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- Apr/28/23 11:36:54 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we will propose solutions when we form government.
In Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, schools in Shannon and Valcartier are closed and parents are having to take time off work because traffic is being disrupted. Canadian citizens have unanswered questions about their tax returns. There are delays in issuing passports to young people who have invested all their savings in their year-end trip, and families will lose thousands of dollars without those passports.
The government is solely responsible for this strike. Where is the Prime Minister when it is time to negotiate, find a solution and get the country out of this crisis?
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- Apr/28/23 11:37:39 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I have said many times, we are still at the bargaining table with the union. We are there to negotiate in good faith. I am confident that when the parties are there and decide to negotiate in good faith, we will come to a solution.
There are certainly situations where we want to avoid doing what the Conservatives do: Whenever there is a problem, they always blame the public servants.
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- Apr/28/23 11:38:15 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think my colleague has missed the point of what we have been saying for the last 10 days.
The bureaucracy has increased by 50% in terms of costs paid by Canadian taxpayers, who are receiving fewer services. Now 155,000 Canadian public service workers are on strike. It is the largest strike in Canadian history.
This government's inaction over the past two years is what created this dispute.
When will the Prime Minister come back and fix this problem?
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- Apr/28/23 11:38:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the point my hon. colleague has missed is that this increased spending was to serve Canadians during the pandemic.
I know the Conservatives have forgotten that there was a pandemic that sent big shock waves through the economy and the health care system, but our government was there for Canadians during the pandemic. We made sure they received income supports, and we were there for Canadian organizations.
We will continue to respect the bargaining process with the union.
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- Apr/28/23 11:39:35 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, at this point, the ties between the Prime Minister and the Trudeau Foundation are clear. His family, his friends and his staff are involved, as we heard in committee this morning.
The ties between the Chinese government and the foundation are also clear after a $140,000 donation was made. The Trudeau Foundation is a collection of Liberal Party friends, and that is why it is of interest to China. All Quebeckers understand this.
One question remains: Who can trust anyone from the foundation to investigate Beijing's attempts to get close to Liberal circles?
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- Apr/28/23 11:40:11 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, where I agree with the member is that it is very clear. The Prime Minister has had no direct or indirect contact with the Trudeau Foundation for over 10 years now. That is well established and is very clear.
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- Apr/28/23 11:40:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Ottawa must clamp down.
This was the warning given last week by Raphaël Glucksmann, chair of the special committee on foreign interference in Europe, who stated that what made it possible for these repeated attacks to take place was first and foremost the absence of sanctions, adding that there were no sanctions in the European Union.
That is why the Bloc Québécois is calling for three things: first, an independent public inquiry; second, an independent and permanent investigative body; and, third, a criminal law on foreign interference to equip police services. No one will settle for an already-discredited report by the Trudeau Foundation.
When will the Prime Minister realize that?
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- Apr/28/23 11:41:14 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from the Bloc Québécois knows full well that our government strengthened legislation to deal with foreign interference in our democratic institutions. He knows full well that we have taken several measures—which were definitely not in place when we formed the government in 2015—to strengthen our institutions and to counter foreign interference, which had already been a factor for 10 years.
The good news is that we are continually working to strengthen our measures. We look forward to reading Mr. Johnston's recommendations on this issue.
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- Apr/28/23 11:41:57 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, by using the Trudeau Foundation, a Beijing influence operation was successful. For $140,000, Beijing had access to the Prime Minister and to the man the Prime Minister picked to investigate and report on foreign interference in our elections. What did that report say? It said there was nothing to see.
Is $140,000 the cost to influence our democracy under the Liberals?
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- Apr/28/23 11:42:30 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, let us talk about bending the truth. The reality is very simple: At the end of the day, the Prime Minister has had no direct or indirect contact with the foundation for over 10 years now. The member knows that.
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