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Mr. Alain Rayes (Richmond—Arthabaska, Ind.)

May/1/23 3:10:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, except for the Americans and the Swiss, Canadians pay more for patented medicines than anyone else on the planet. Despite the reform passed last July, its implementing guidelines led to squabbles and a series of resignations from the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, which caused further delays. To this day, nothing has changed, and Quebeckers and Canadians are still paying higher prices than the rest of the world. Can the Liberal government tell us what steps it is taking to fix this problem once and for all?

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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos (Minister of Health, Lib.)

May/1/23 3:11:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague for raising this important issue. He is quite right that the cost of patented medicines in Canada is too high, especially in relation to comparable countries. That is why, as he also mentioned, we enacted new regulations on July 1, 2022, that will allow us to compare our prices to the prices charged in comparator countries, excluding the U.S. and Switzerland, to make patented medicines more accessible and affordable across Canada in the coming years.

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The Speaker

May/1/23 3:12:13 p.m.
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I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the Hon. P. J. Akeeagok, Premier of Nunavut. He is accompanied by several cabinet ministers for Nunavut: the Hon. Pamela Gross, Deputy Premier and Minister of Education; the Hon. John Main, Minister of Health; the Hon. David Akeeagok, Minister of Justice; the Hon. Joanna Quassa, Minister of Environment; the Hon. David Joanasie, Minister of Community and Government Services; and the Hon. Margaret Nakashuk, Minister of Family Services. Some hon. members: Hear, hear!

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Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC)

May/1/23 3:13:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, from your home, my home and all our homes, let us bring it home with direct flights to Amritsar. Petitioners in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon are calling on the Government of Canada to amend the air transport agreement with India to allow for direct flights to Amritsar to serve the one million-plus Punjabi Canadians who are looking for this flight. It makes economic sense. It makes cultural sense. Let us get it done.

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Ms. Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné (Terrebonne, BQ)

May/1/23 3:14:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to present petition e‑4296 regarding the repatriation of the Saint-Maurice firing range. The petition, which I have been sponsoring for nearly two months, has already gathered 1,500 signatures in just a few weeks. The petitioners are calling on the federal government, and more specifically the Department of National Defence, to do the following: 1. Transfer the Saint-Maurice firing range to the Government of Quebec and/or the City of Terrebonne; 2. Expedite the assessment process to determine the amount of unexploded ordnance on the land and the time needed for decontamination work; and 3. Ensure that the site is decontaminated at federal expense as soon as possible. The petition also points out that the piece of land measures 650 hectares and is one of the largest lungs of the Montreal Metropolitan Area. This petition is receiving a lot of support, including from the City of Terrebonne, the Town of Bois-des-Filion, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie Les Moulins, the Conseil des bassins versants des Mille-Îles, the Société de développement et d'animation de Mascouche, an organization called Génération OUI, and the list goes on. It is therefore high time for the Department of National Defence to make a clear commitment, relinquish the site and start cleaning up the contamination it created, with the ultimate goal of protecting the area from any real estate development.

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Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)

May/1/23 3:15:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present a petition today on behalf of Canadians who are very concerned about the unprovoked and illegal war Russia is waging against Ukraine. They are concerned about those Ukrainian refugees who have come here seeking asylum and are being shut out of the Canada summer jobs program. A lot of the youth who are over here are not eligible to apply to the Canada summer jobs program. The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to open it up to the children of those Ukrainians who were authorized for emergency travel to come here, work and be safe, as their children should be given the same opportunities.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

May/1/23 3:16:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, many concerned petitioners from Saanich—Gulf Islands have filed this petition asking the government to consider the following: indigenous people have rights, are entitled to traditional territories, and have been stewards of land, which includes old growth forests across Canada. We know the climate crisis demands of us that we do more to protect old growth forest. Valley-bottom, high-productivity, old-growth ecosystems in British Columbia are particularly endangered. There are many specifics to this petition, but in summarizing, the petitioners call on the Government of Canada to ban the export of raw logs, as the federal government does have control around trade issues, and to ban the use of whole trees for wood pellet biofuel production, a practice that is, unfortunately, funded in the recent budget. The petitioners ask the government to take seriously the critical importance of protecting indigenous sovereignty and old growth forests, as well as engaging first nations leadership in climate action.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

May/1/23 3:17:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this petition was signed by people in my riding, many of whom have taken significant steps to support newcomers to Canada from Ukraine, people who have come to Canada for the time of the illegal, unprovoked, full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian newcomers are hard-working. They are committed to contributing to Canadian society while they are here, but petitioners are concerned about how young people who come here under the emergency authorization for travel are not able to occupy positions associated with the Canada summer jobs program. The summer jobs program funds many positions that young people might apply to, and this exclusion prevents Ukrainian young people from accessing summer jobs that are available to all of their peers and almost everybody else in Canada. This is unjust and unreasonable, according to petitioners. Folks who are here in Canada should be able to work and contribute alongside everyone else. Therefore, the undersigned call on the Government of Canada to allow Ukrainian youth under the Canada-Ukraine authorization of emergency travel to apply for jobs under the CSJ program.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North, Lib.)

May/1/23 3:19:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over the last number of years, we have seen a great growth in our Indo-Canadian community. Along with that growth, we have seen a considerable demand with respect to additional international flights, as expressed earlier, to Amritsar, New Delhi and Chandigarh, many international airports in India. Residents, in particular in the Winnipeg, in the capital region and in other areas, are hoping to see more direct flights, whether through Air Canada, Westjet or other international airlines. The idea is that we try to get more international direct flights. Ideally for me it would be Winnipeg to Amritsar, but the bottom line is that whatever the members of Parliament, the House, the minister, the different airport authorities and different stakeholders can do to enhance air service to India would be seen as a positive thing with respect to the petitioners.

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Mr. Colin Carrie (Oshawa, CPC)

May/1/23 3:19:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the House knows, Haiti has experienced a dire political, economic and humanitarian crisis comparable to Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. According to the United Nations, gangs have taken over Haiti and cases of sexual violence and terrorism have increased, including kidnapping, which is up by over 105%. Homicide is up by 35%. We all know that Canada's compassion is well known as the strength of or nation's fabric and must continue to be shown to all people facing humanitarian challenges. I have a petition calling upon the Government of Canada to create a Canada-Haiti humanitarian visa program, allowing citizens and permanent residents of Canada to help their Haitian family members to find temporary safe residence in Canada in dignity and grant them the ability to work and study while in Canada, and provide Haitians who are already in Canada a temporary residency status option to acquire or extend their work and study permit so they continue to live, work and study in Canada temporarily.

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Mr. Ted Falk (Provencher, CPC)

May/1/23 3:20:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a petition here that is signed. It recognizes that the risk of violence against women increases when they are pregnant. Currently the injury or death of a preborn child or the victim of a crime is not considered aggravating. It also recognizes that Canada has no abortion law and that this creates a void in our legal system that does not recognize the preborn child as a victim of violent crime. Justice requires that an attacker who abuses a pregnant woman and her preborn child be sentenced accordingly if the sentence should match the crime. The petitioners ask that the House of Commons legislate that the abuse of a pregnant woman and the infliction of harm on her preborn child be considered an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing under the Criminal Code.

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Hon. Ed Fast (Abbotsford, CPC)

May/1/23 3:21:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am tabling in the House three similar petitions in which the petitioners firstly note that the risk of violence against women increases when they are pregnant. It is very important to note that currently an injury to or the death of a preborn child as the victim of crime is not considered an aggravating factor. Justice calls out that an attacker who abuses a pregnant woman and her preborn child be sentenced accordingly. Really, the sentence should match the crime. The petitioners therefore call upon the House to legislate the abuse of a pregnant woman and/or the infliction of harm on a preborn child as an aggravating factor in sentencing under the Criminal Code. The three petitions all ask for the same thing.

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All Topics

Mr. Arnold Viersen (Peace River—Westlock, CPC)

May/1/23 3:22:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I too am rising today to present a petition signed by Canadians from across the country. The petitioners are concerned about the lack of protections for the preborn human. They point out that the risk of violence against women increases when they are pregnant and that currently there is no protection for the preborn at all. Therefore, justice requires that an attacker who abuses a pregnant woman and her preborn child be sentenced accordingly and the sentence should match the crime. The petitioners call on the House of Commons to legislate the abuse of a pregnant woman and/or the inflicting of harm on her preborn child as an aggravating circumstance for sentencing under the Criminal Code.

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Mrs. Carol Hughes (Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, NDP)

May/1/23 3:23:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise once again to table a petition that highlights the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. The petitioners state that Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that consists of meditation exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. They note that practitioners are the victims of various forms of persecution in China, including forced organ harvesting and trafficking. They once again call on the government to pass a resolution to establish measures to stop this crime by the Chinese Communist regime of systematically murdering Falun Gong practitioners for their organs, amend the Canadian legislation to combat forced organ harvesting and publicly call for an end to the persecution of the Falun Gong in China.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

May/1/23 3:24:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time. The Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Stand

Ms. Marie-Hélène Gaudreau (Laurentides—Labelle, BQ)

May/1/23 3:25:11 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-47

Mr. Speaker, now that question period is over, my text is truly up to date. Earlier, we were talking about employment insurance, and we are extremely disappointed that it is not part of the budget. The Bloc Québécois members are the ones that can actually stand up for Quebeckers. I often hope that the Liberals from Quebec will bring the government to its senses. If they did, we might not have the budget we have now. Employment insurance is an economic stabilizer. Those are not my words. In fact, the Governor of the Bank of Canada said that on April 16, 2020. We were in the midst of a pandemic, and I was on the Standing Committee on Finance, and I asked Mr. Poloz a question about the need to make the EI system cover a greater number of workers than it does now. Here is what he said: Certainly. We've known for a long time that automatic stabilizers aren't very sensitive to the economy. In another era, one study estimated that automatic stabilization was almost equivalent to a change of less than 1% in the interest rate. Very recently, we talked about the renewal of our target and our agreement with the government on inflation targets. We live in a world where interest rates are already lower than usual. [This was in 2020.] The tax authority doesn't have many stabilizing powers. In this respect, it might be better to have more automatic stabilizers in the system, or at least something more sensitive. Today is May 1, 2023. It has been three years since Mr. Poloz appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance. I still remember his testimony, but what I remember more is the fact that the government failed to take action. It did not undertake a reform. It did not even listen to the experts. I feel rather discouraged. With regard to seniors, the Liberal government likes to repeatedly tell us that it is generous, so generous that it is taking care of citizens and seniors. However, in the budget, we once again see that there is nothing for seniors. My Bloc Québécois colleagues have asked the government hundreds of times to make massive investments to increase the old age security pension as of age 65. This winter, my colleague from Shefford organized a consultation on the needs of seniors with representatives of the FADOQ, community organizations and round tables. Everyone unanimously told us that the government should do away with the two classes of seniors. Once again, the government is dragging its feet and slow to act. I would have liked to be able to tell my constituents in Laurentides—Labelle that the government cares about them. That is what we wanted. I hoped that the government would hear what we had to say about our concerns regarding seniors' income. We even made recommendations. However, once again, the government chose to ignore Quebec's demands. The Department of Finance decided to perpetuate the discrimination that started in the 2022 budget, which increased old age security only for seniors aged 75 years and over. According to the OECD, Canada's program is one of the worst in terms of income protection for seniors. The government needs to stop leaving seniors to struggle. They are the ones who built our society, yet the government thanks them by marginalizing them. This is preposterous. Inflation affects everyone. Mortgage rates are going up, gas prices are going up, the cost of groceries is going up, the price of everything is going up, but old age security is not going up for seniors aged 65 to 74. This is preposterous. I will now talk about social and community housing. According to a report released on March 8, the Laurentides RCM is trailing, along with the Pays‑d’en‑Haut RCM, which is in my riding of Laurentides—Labelle, when it comes to the state of the rental market. I will provide some statistics. The vacancy rate in the Laurentides RCM is bordering on 0%. I worked in community services for a long time. This is unheard of. The rising cost of rent has seen one of the most significant increases in Quebec. As I was saying at the beginning of my intervention, an hour and a half ago, in a region where nearly half of the economy is tied to tourism, people are struggling to find housing. Prices are going up because the region is beautiful and the riding of Laurentides—Labelle is a great place to live. According to the same report, nearly one in four people spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and 30% of those people are in single parent families. That is unacceptable. In closing, it comes as no surprise that I will be voting against this bill. As members can see, the needs of Laurentides-Labelle have been completely ignored by the Liberals and the Deputy Prime Minister. We are a proud, dynamic and strong region. We will not be taken for fools.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

May/1/23 3:32:01 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-47

Madam Speaker, it is unfortunate that the member does not recognize the degree to which the government has been listening to seniors. Not only have we been listening to seniors, but we have been supporting seniors. Whether it is the huge increase to the GIS in 2016, the one-time payments during the pandemic, the budgetary measures that are meeting an election platform commitment of a 10% increase for those 75 and over, the grocery rebate or dental support for seniors, these are all supports that the government is providing to seniors. We can contrast those to the previous 10 years of the Harper regime. It is incredibly different, yet the Bloc members do not recognize the benefits and continue to vote against initiatives that are supporting seniors. Why do you not respect the seniors? You say you do, but your actions say otherwise.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/1/23 3:32:59 p.m.
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The hon. parliamentary secretary knows full well he is to address all questions and comments through the Chair, and when he was making his speech, I do not think he was actually doing that. The hon. member for Laurentides—Labelle.

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Ms. Marie-Hélène Gaudreau

May/1/23 3:33:12 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-47

Madam Speaker, when we say that there is nothing, there is nothing with respect to the recommendations made, there is nothing to meet seniors' specific needs. What should we say to a 66-year-old worker who returns to work and wants to contribute to society? After earning a few thousand dollars, there are no tax measures to help him out. He is told he will receive a little help to pay for groceries, but that he is too young for the other measures because he is not yet 75. He is told he will get the same amount that the government is giving everyone, based on critical mass. Seniors between 65 and 74 are being isolated. That is just one example of what I spoke about.

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Mr. Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay, NDP)

May/1/23 3:34:04 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-47

Madam Speaker, one of the really important things for Canada is to position ourselves right now in response to the climate crisis, but also to the massive investments that Joe Biden is putting into the Inflation Reduction Act. The American president has said that within nine years 67% of all vehicles are going to be EV, which is going to lead to a lot of stranded assets for those who are still betting on oil and gas. We do have this TMX pipeline that has cost us over $30 billion. The total charges on that will go to the taxpayer, who will have to pay for 78% of every barrel of unrefined bitumen. I want to ask my hon. colleague, given the fact that the U.S., China and Europe are moving so dramatically far in advance on digital and clean technology, why does the government continue to pay for TMX, leaving the threat of serious stranded assets in the oil and gas sector?

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