44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 17, 2023 02:00PM
- May/17/23 2:23:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. It is a day that recognizes the tremendous contributions of the 2SLGBTQII+ community to freedom, equality and justice.
However, thousands of gender-diverse Canadians are still denied access to the gender-affirming health care they deserve. They are denied access to the public spaces that make a community; many times, they are denied their very right to exist. Even worse, this is happening in broad daylight. Far-right extremism is organizing and propping up hatred. We are witnessing horrific levels of scapegoating, threats and violence targeting the queer community, particularly the trans community. This antifreedom hatred amounts to nothing less than a plan to eliminate the rights and freedoms of others.
However, my friends, I know we can build a better and freer Canada, where no matter who someone is, where they live, how much they make or who they love, Canada is their home. We will not stop until everyone is free.
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- May/17/23 2:24:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I learned, that we learned of the passing of historian Frédéric Bastien yesterday. He was just 53.
An outspoken historian, a debunker of reheated myths that do not stand up to scrutiny, cool yet merciless before adversaries of the Quebec nation, Frédéric was keen to ask uncomfortable questions even at the risk of being the target of those who feared him for his reading of history.
A harsh critic of hypocrisy, Frédéric ferreted out groups funded by Ottawa to denigrate Quebec, create and spread a false narrative to put us down. He shed light on the wavering impartiality of judges on Bill 21. He stood up against Toronto when it attempted to fund the legal challenge against Bill 21 before the Supreme Court.
Frédéric Bastien also published works such as La bataille de Londres, in 2013, on the coup by the Supreme Court against Quebec during the patriation of the Constitution. The impact of that book earned him the title of patriot of the year from the Société Saint‑Jean‑Baptiste. In other circles people came to fear his truths and demonize him.
His kindness will be missed by all those who knew him, and his intelligence, sternness and courage will be missed by all of us Quebeckers. His passing leaves a cruel void in the heart of his family. His discipline and powers of reflection now extinguished, it will be up to us to pull together and carry on his work.
On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I offer my condolences to all those who loved and respected him.
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- May/17/23 2:25:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, six times this year, the Prime Minister has been away on planes, trains and automobiles, while Canadians' actual planes, trains and automobiles are not working.
To fix this problem, Picton Terminals, which would be the first Great Lakes shipping container entry, could be approved. This would alleviate supply chain shortages and drop inflation. This requires no money, just CBSA approval, but it has been sitting on the minister's desk for three years. VIA Rail train 651, which takes workers making powerful paycheques from Kingston, Belleville, Trenton, Napanee and Cobourg to Toronto each morning, could be reinstated. It has not been working for three years because the trains are broken. The carbon tax could be axed, which would add 41¢ a litre of fuel to Canadians who only want to get to work or, God forbid, take a vacation. We do not have to go as far as South Korea to fix these problems. We can find a way to fix them right here at home.
A Conservative government would bring common sense to the common people, to my home, to everyone's home and to our home. Let us bring it home.
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- May/17/23 2:27:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Crimean Tatars are the indigenous people of Crimea. On May 18, 1944, the Soviet Union began the “Sürgünlik”, which was the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars. This was meant to destroy the Crimean Tatar people.
The Sürgünlik led to hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars being deported and tens of thousands dying en route and afterward. It was a genocide.
On May 18 last year, here in this House, I had the honour to introduce a motion that received unanimous consent to declare May 18 as a day of commemoration and to recognize that the Sürgünlik was a genocide. Today, on Parliament Hill, with leaders of the Crimean Tatar community, we commemorated this genocide.
Unfortunately, as we speak, history is repeating itself. Russia invaded Crimea in 2014. Since then, Crimean Tatars have once again faced human rights abuses at the hands of the Russian regime, just as they did during the deportation and genocide.
Today, let us honour the victims by ensuring that Crimea is liberated from Russia's oppression and becomes part of Ukraine again, so that Crimean Tatars and all Ukrainian people can live in freedom in their homeland once again.
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- May/17/23 2:28:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that doubling our national debt would not be a problem because interest rates were low, but his spending has increased inflation and interest rates.
Yesterday, at the finance committee, the minister was unable to say how much interest we are paying on her national debt. If a mortgage broker could not tell someone the interest payment on a loan, they would be fired.
Should we not fire the finance minister?
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- May/17/23 2:29:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the person unable to answer a simple question is the leader of the Conservatives.
My question is the following: What is his economic plan? Where will he make cuts? Will it be in health transfers? Will it be in the $200 billion that our government will invest in health care? Perhaps it will be in the $30 billion that we will be investing in a national day care system.
[Disturbance in the gallery]
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- May/17/23 2:30:30 p.m.
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We will allow people to do their job and then we will proceed.
The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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- May/17/23 2:32:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said there was no problem doubling our national debt, adding more debt than all previous prime ministers combined, because interest rates, he claimed, were low.
His same spending has actually increased inflation and interest rates. Yesterday, the finance minister was unable to answer how much Canadians are paying for interest on the debt that she has racked up. If a mortgage broker could not tell someone the interest payment on a loan, he would be fired.
Why is the finance minister not fired for her inability to answer that basic question?
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- May/17/23 2:32:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is someone whom we do not intend to have fired after the 2025 election, someone who I actually think should keep his job as leader of the Conservative opposition. One of the reasons he is going to keep his job is that he cannot answer a simple question for Canadians, and that is, what is his positive plan? What does he actually propose to do for the Canadian economy?
The only thing we know is that he is going to cut. He is going to cut the $200 billion we are investing in our health care system. He is going to cut the $300 billion we are investing in—
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- May/17/23 2:33:21 p.m.
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The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
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- May/17/23 2:33:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, one thing we are going to cut is the carbon tax.
Speaking of that tax, we know that the Prime Minister plans to raise it to 41¢ per litre or $1,500 net, after rebates, per family. What most people do not know is that there is a second carbon tax he plans to stack on top of the first one, a sneaky tax he calls a “fuel standard”, which would hit home heating, gas and our factories, and create countless other higher costs.
How much will Canadians pay in higher gas and diesel prices because of the second Liberal carbon tax?
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- May/17/23 2:34:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the Conservative leader actually talking about climate, because the reality is that the biggest challenge our planet faces and the biggest challenge our economy faces is building a clean economy.
That is where the jobs are. That is where the jobs will be. We have invested $120 billion in our green industrial plan. It is creating jobs today. It will create jobs in the future. The Conservatives would wreck all of that.
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- May/17/23 2:34:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the question was about carbon tax 2. We already know about carbon tax 1. The Prime Minister has put in place a 14¢-per-litre tax that will rise to 41¢ per litre. This raises gas, heat and grocery bills. Now the Liberals are sneaking in a second carbon tax called the “fuel standard”. It has no rebate whatsoever, but will apply in every province and territory across the country.
If the minister is so proud of her second tax, why will she not tell us exactly how much it will cost in higher diesel, gas and household costs per family?
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- May/17/23 2:35:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader obviously does not understand that what every industrial economy needs is a plan to build the clean economy of the future. However, I will tell members who does understand that: an electrician named Jeff, whom I met in Mississauga in March. I was there to talk with him about the investments we were going to make in electrifying the Canadian economy. He knows that means, for him, jobs. He told me, “I have the skills to pay the bills.” Thanks to our plan, those skills will be put to work, and the Jeffs across the country will pay their bills.
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- May/17/23 2:36:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what the minister wants is for Jeff to pay her bills. With a higher carbon tax, Jeff will have to pay more tax on his vehicle, more tax on his home heating and more tax on the food that the farmers and truckers, who are taxed by this scheme the Liberals are putting forward, bring to him. I have already said that the first carbon tax is 41¢ per litre and $1,500 net per family. Now the Liberals promise a second tax.
Therefore, I will ask the question again. How much will carbon tax 2 add in extra diesel, gas and household costs per family?
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- May/17/23 2:36:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what I want is for people like Jeff in Mississauga, people who have the skills, to be able to pay their bills today, tomorrow and 10 years from now. Jeff's wife, by the way, is an emergency room nurse, and our investments in health care are helping her pay the bills too. That means investing in a green industrial plan. Our focus is relentlessly on Canadians and jobs, and we have added 900,000 more jobs than we had before the pandemic.
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- May/17/23 2:37:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the residents of Kanesatake and Oka and people living on the shores of Lac des Deux Montagnes are experiencing a major ecological crisis. Lac des Deux Montagnes, the water table and the soil are probably all contaminated.
These are indigenous lands, but they belong to the federal government. My colleague from Mirabel has been sounding the alarm since he was elected in 2021. Nothing has been done.
What is the government doing?
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- May/17/23 2:38:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.
This is a very serious and difficult issue. As my colleague said yesterday in response to the same question, she is working closely with indigenous leaders.
We know that we need to work with indigenous leaders to resolve this issue, which is very serious and critical.
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- May/17/23 2:38:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is an ecological crisis as well as a safety crisis.
The government is the only one that is unaware of the crime, the threats and the violence that prevented a legal solution. More than 2,000 indigenous people are living in fear, as are the non-indigenous people in the surrounding area.
After years of turning a blind eye to the situation, when will the government act with the resolve this situation warrants?
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- May/17/23 2:39:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with the leader of the Bloc Québécois that this is a serious situation. It is a serious and difficult situation in terms of the environment and safety.
I want to assure the House and all Canadians that my colleague, the minister responsible, and I are working closely with indigenous leaders to resolve the situation.
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