SoVote

Jun/5/23 7:28:43 p.m.
Watch

Quoting from Tupac was awesome. I thought that was great. Questions and comments, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

23 words

Mr. Chris Bittle (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Lib.)

Jun/5/23 7:28:53 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the member talks almost exclusively in bumper sticker slogans that the Conservative Party recycles. Recycling slogans is the only environmental plan it has. Why does he not mention anything about climate change, in terms of affordability, and its impact on food prices and impact on Canadians? However, I will not ask him that. My question is this: Before standing up in this House and ignoring climate change, did he even go outside today to see the smoke in the air in the nation's capital from forest fires elsewhere, or is he just going to put his head in the sand and continue with the old ways of the Conservative Party?

113 words

Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan

Jun/5/23 7:29:41 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of smoke and a lot of hot air coming out of that member's mouth. The member fails to realize that all these events are taking place. How much has the Liberals' carbon tax actually helped? How many fires or climate events has it stopped from happening? The Liberals do not even have an environmental plan. We looked for it everywhere. Can anyone say they found the Liberals' environmental plan? Mr. Speaker, have you seen it? I have not seen it yet, and I looked for it. I did not find it anywhere. What we found was a tax plan that made gas, groceries and home heating more expensive, and the Liberals doubled down. Their failed carbon tax scam 1.0 already made the cost of everything go up, and now they are going to pile-drive another one, with carbon tax scam 2.0. They need to get serious, actually present an environmental plan and stop the hypocrisy.

165 words

Mr. Martin Champoux (Drummond, BQ)

Jun/5/23 7:30:48 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-47

Mr. Speaker, on another note, I would like to talk a bit about the monarchy with my colleague. The monarchy is a subject that the Bloc Québécois is particularly fond of talking about. As members know, the Liberals included the recognition of Charles III as Canada's sovereign in Bill C-47, which we find a bit far-fetched in such a bill. However, the Bloc Québécois still wanted to give the Liberals the benefit of the doubt. Since it is only fitting, and generally proper procedure, we asked that Charles III be invited to appear before the Standing Committee on Finance so that we can assess his skills. That seems fundamental to me. We asked Rideau Hall if it was possible to invite him. We were told to ask Buckingham Palace, which we did. Buckingham Palace told us that we had to send a request in writing on fine paper, no less. They are fancy at Buckingham Palace. Obviously, it was a lost cause. Charles III will not appear before the Standing Committee on Finance as we would have liked. The Conservatives are proposing to remove clause 510, which proclaims Charles III as Canada's sovereign. I think that is worthwhile, and I would really like to hear my colleague's thoughts on that.

229 words

Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan

Jun/5/23 7:31:58 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, it is sad to see that while Canadians are facing the worst cost of living crisis in the history of Canada, the Bloc wants to talk about the monarchy. Conservatives are going to continue talking about how we are going to bring better investment, better jobs and better Canadian paycheques to Canadians. Once the member for Carleton becomes the prime minister of this country, those who put in the work will be able to see the fruits of their labour once again.

84 words

Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Jun/5/23 7:32:30 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I want to hone in on an aspect of the member's speech that I think is really important for Canadians to attempt to understand. I believe the member often presents a goodwill solutions to the many things that are affecting Canadians from coast to coast to coast, particularly on affordability. I commend him for offering, what I believe, is an attempt at a solution for the affordability crisis. The reality is that there will be a place that the Conservatives have to cut from. They are talking about austerity. They are talking about reducing the budget. Where will they cut from? Will it be dental care, care for children or clean water for first nations? What would he cut beyond slogans? That is the part I am really nervous about in terms of offering a response. Is this going to turn into a “cut the carbon tax triple, triple, triple” thing? I seriously want to know. An hon. member: Oh, oh! Mr. Blake Desjarlais: Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are heckling me right now because they do not want to actually answer the policy question. Which area would they cut? Is it going to be dental care or child care?

204 words

Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan

Jun/5/23 7:33:35 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, it is simple. The member is from Alberta. We will cut what Albertans voted for. We will cut the carbon tax. In 2019, Albertans overwhelmingly voted in the Conservative government. Its number one priority, and first bill, was to cut the carbon tax. Once again, last week, we saw Albertans overwhelmingly support and vote in a Conservative government that is against the Liberal-NDP failed carbon tax scam. To the member for Alberta, we are going to stand with Albertans and axe the carbon tax, just as they asked for when they voted in the UCP government and gave it that mandate.

104 words

The Deputy Speaker

Jun/5/23 7:34:12 p.m.
Watch

I was hoping there would be another Tupac quote. Continuing debate, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

21 words

Tupac
Quote

Mr. Chris Bittle (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Lib.)

Jun/5/23 7:34:23 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I am the wrong person to look to for a Tupac quote. However, in the rest of my speech, I will try to educate, enlighten and entertain members of this chamber. I asked about this in my question. It was troubling this morning when I got a warning on my phone. I think we all would have if we looked at the weather. It was an air quality advisory in Ottawa, which was related to forest fires elsewhere. It is shocking to me that members of the Conservative Party could go outside this building, see it with their own eyes, and then go to their ridings. They stand from Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. They see these forest fires; they see the impacts of climate change so directly. It is impacting lives. I know they are passionate about their constituents. They get up, talk and ask what the government is doing, but they do not talk about the impacts of climate change on their residents. The Conservatives do not put two and two together, despite scientists across the country, Nobel laureates and every credible scientist saying that these things are connected. However, the Conservatives stick their heads in the sand, even though they all, every single one, ran on a price on pollution during the last election. They can see it. We can see it with our own eyes. The hon. members can see, with their own eyes, the impacts of that. What will these forest fires and floods cost Canadians? What do droughts cost farmers? The members talk about the impacts on Canadians, and that is the right thing to be talking about. What are the long-term impacts? What are the impacts going to be on our kids? If it is tens of billions of dollars now, what is it going to be for our kids? My kids are about to turn seven and five. What is it going to be like in 20 years? We are seeing the planet get warmer. The Conservative Party of Canada is going to throw its hands up in the air and say, “We've tried nothing, but we're all out of ideas.” I do not know how they can look their kids and their grandkids in the eye. There is a lot more work that we have to do. That is fair enough; there is not necessarily one way to get to a particular path, but the Conservatives are offering no solutions. We can see smoke in the sky outside. What do the Conservatives have? They have absolutely nothing but bumper sticker slogans. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, the only part of the Conservative environmental plan is recycling their slogans. That is all they have. When it comes to actually working for Canadians, the Conservatives talk a good game. All these slogans sound great; they are going to do this or that, all these things straight off the bumper sticker. However, where have they been in the last seven and a half years? The Liberal government and other parliamentarians have worked hard to help lift Canadians out of poverty. There are 2.7 million fewer Canadians living in poverty, than there were in 2015, when the Conservatives were in power. Where were they when the Canada child benefit was discussed? They voted against it. They were against increases to the guaranteed income supplement and increases to old age security. The Conservative leader is fervently against day care, which means thousands of dollars in the pockets of families who are having a difficult time. The Conservatives were against the Canada worker benefit and the rental benefit. Time after time, Conservatives talk a good game, but that is all they have. There is no policy plan, only cuts. We have seen this story before. They say, “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. The government will not be there for you.” There would not be anything that the Conservative party would do to help Canadians, except make it free to pollute. The cornerstone of their policy is that those who pollute the most will get the biggest tax break. They will cut the benefits to Canadians, cut the green rebate to Canadians, the climate action incentive, and transfer that money to the biggest polluters in this country. That is unbelievably shocking. There is no ambition. There is no fear for our children on that side of the House, and there is no desire to do anything better for our kids. There is no view in terms of what the long-term costs are going to be on this because, again, they will do nothing. Let the fires burn. Let the floods happen. The Conservative Party of Canada will do absolutely nothing on climate change. We have heard from economists, from the insurance industry and from national security experts, who have said the greatest threat to this country is the impacts of climate change. The Conservatives do not care. It is really that simple. If they cared, there would be some kind of plan. They talk about having technology. Where is this magic box that the Conservative leader has that is going to solve this crisis? There is no plan. They talk a lot about food banks, again, rightfully so. There are a lot of Canadians who are having a difficult time, despite the supports. Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan: I wonder why. Mr. Chris Bittle: The hon. member who is heckling me talked about food banks, but I am not hearing from my food bank that we should cut the price on pollution. That is not what they are talking about. Conservatives are laughing. They think it is hilarious that there are 30,000 Canadians who have been evacuated from their homes. They do not care. They are laughing. Mr. Damien Kurek: How shameful. Mr. Chris Bittle: That is right. It is shameful, as the hon. member said.

999 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Jun/5/23 7:41:42 p.m.
Watch

Order. I think now we are getting into cross-debate. I would ask members, if they have comments or questions, to wait until it is time for questions and comments, which will be soon, in two and a half minutes. The hon. member has two and a half minutes, and I would ask him not to engage in cross-debate. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

64 words

Mr. Chris Bittle

Jun/5/23 7:41:55 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I wonder if those members will go to food banks in their ridings and tell them that they will cut affordable day care. What would that do to parents, single parents especially? They will cut GIS perhaps, cut day care and cut the CCB. There would not be a rental benefit. They would not have stood by Canadians during the pandemic. Those seem to be the talking points from the Conservative Party. I do not think that is what they are going to hear or that they will gain much support from food banks across the country with a message of “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. It is the Conservative way.” Again, as droughts, fires and floods ravage agricultural areas of our country and those of our allies, what is the cost of that? They are silent on that, consistently silent. The final thing I would like to discuss, and the one that is the most shocking of all they are opposed to, is dental care. Each one of us, every member of this chamber, has taxpayer-funded dental care for themselves, for their family, for their spouse. What are we hearing the Conservatives tell their constituents? They say, “You don't need that. You don't want that. We will cut it. That is the Conservative way.” They can talk a great game about balancing the budget, but that is going to be the cornerstone of it. We do not hear the other side of what the Conservative Party is talking about: “We will balance the budget, but it will be on the backs of Canadians and, by the way, we'll give a tax break to the largest polluters in this country.” If pollution is made free again, the one thing that I think we can all guarantee is that there will be a lot more pollution. There will be more fires. There will be more floods. There will be more drought. That is the one guarantee. It is very sad, again, that Conservatives can go outside, see the smoke in the air and say they do not care.

361 words

Hon. Mike Lake (Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, CPC)

Jun/5/23 7:44:29 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, it was interesting to listen to the Liberal member fearmongering about cuts, as many Liberal members do. If we take a look at actual history and facts, we will find that the last government to significantly cut transfers for health care, social services and other important programs was the one of finance minister Paul Martin's budgets of 1995-96 through 1997-98, where we went from $18.4 billion in 1995-96 to $14.7 billion in 1996-97 to $12.5 billion in 1997-98 because of the absolutely disastrous economic policies of the last incompetent Trudeau government, a government that racked up deficits in 14 out of 15 years. We now see another incompetent Liberal government doing the same thing. Does that not concern the hon. member in the least?

135 words

Mr. Chris Bittle

Jun/5/23 7:45:29 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, the hon. member goes outside and sees the smoke in the air and talks about 1995. I think I was in grade 11. Let us get real. Let us get real about today. Let us get real about the future. If he wants to talk about history, let us talk about history. Let us talk about Brian Mulroney, a Conservative prime minister who put a price on pollution. Guess what? It worked. It helped solve the acid rain problem that was endemic during the 1980s. It was a Conservative idea. If it worked then, why will Conservatives not at least embrace something?

104 words

Ms. Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné (Terrebonne, BQ)

Jun/5/23 7:46:08 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-47

Madam Speaker, we recently learned that the government has agreed to lend an additional $3 billion to Trans Mountain. Meanwhile, we have learned that the government took $2 billion from the employment insurance fund. My colleague opposite talks about forest fires as though Bill C-47 is going to somehow contribute to Canada's fight against climate change. He says one thing, but his government does the opposite. How does he explain that?

77 words

Mr. Chris Bittle

Jun/5/23 7:46:39 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, we said it at the time. It is about transitioning the economy. Oil is still going to be produced. Energy is still going to be relied on. I know that when the leader of the Bloc Québécois was minister in the provincial government, he was seeking to engage in oil exploration in Quebec. Again, this is about transitioning. It is an existing pipeline that is going to be doubled to get the same amount of oil to different markets. Let us talk about climate change while the Conservatives are doing nothing.

97 words

Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

Jun/5/23 7:47:33 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, one of the things that, of course, I am most proud of in this bill is the dental care and the expansion of dental care. Obviously, dental care is something that New Democrats have been fighting for, for a very long time. It is very good that the Liberals have come on board. This bill expands that to be for more than just children. It expands it to those under 18 and to seniors. I am wondering if the hon. member could talk a little bit about what dental care will mean in his riding and perhaps comment on how on earth he thinks the Conservatives justify to their constituents why they think dental care is not reasonable for Conservative constituents.

123 words

Dental

Mr. Chris Bittle

Jun/5/23 7:48:34 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I have been advocating for dental care since before my election in 2015, as the chair of a community health centre in St. Catharines that established a volunteer dental clinic. To see the look in people's eyes when they can smile is monumental. It is monumental in their lives. The Conservatives may say that they are not going to do it because it is right. Maybe it will appeal to them as an economic plan. One cannot get a job if one cannot smile at a job interview. To see someone be able to go into life without pain is significant. Again, it is shameful that they would look away and not support that. They will have to tell their constituents why they want to take away dental care from them.

134 words

Mr. Maxime Blanchette-Joncas (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, BQ)

Jun/5/23 7:49:30 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-47

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise this evening to speak to Bill C-47, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 28, 2023, introduced by the government. The budget is a key exercise in our democracy. It is the time when the government decides how and where it will spend the hundreds of billions of dollars that it controls. The government does not pull all this money out of thin air. Each of these dollars comes directly out of the pockets of individuals from the four corners of Quebec and Canada who worked hard to earn that money. That is why the government has a duty to use that money responsibly and reasonably. Most of all, it has to spend so as to meet the needs and priorities of the public—because, again, it is our money. The government can also use the budget to implement its vision for society, the vision it has for the future. We saw that in Quebec with the construction of hydroelectric dams, which continue to make the Quebec nation an ambitious, visionary and decidedly green nation. I will say, however, that if we want to find a vision of the future, then we need to look somewhere other than this Liberal budget. If we take a close look at the budget, we see that the government's priority is more about saving its faltering marriage to the NDP than meeting the needs of Quebeckers and Canadians. While the Prime Minister plays political games and uses the treasury as his personal piggy bank to stay in power, everybody else is tightening their belts and wondering how they will pay their mortgage. We are talking about inflation, recession, the economic slowdown and skyrocketing interest rates, but the government has not seen fit to implement preventive measures to prepare the economy for the possibility of rough times ahead in the coming months and years. This government is completely out of touch with the economic situation and its day-to-day impact on the lives of real people. Since these ministers are chauffeured around and do not often take the time to look beyond Ottawa and the greater Toronto area, I will use the rest of my time to explain what is happening in areas such as mine, the Lower St. Lawrence, and how their inaction is making life difficult. The first urgent issue is housing. It is not complicated. There is virtually nothing available on the market in my region. According to the most recent data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC, the vacancy rate in Rimouski is 0.4% this year compared to 0.2% last year. That is a slight improvement, but it is nothing to write home about. To give members an idea, a healthy real estate market usually has a vacancy rate of about 3%. We are nowhere near finding a balance between the current vacancy rate of 0.4% and the average of 3%. That imbalance is having unprecedented consequences for my region. I held a housing summit in my riding in March to better understand and identify those consequences. Here are some of the things that the organizations and people on the ground shared with me. There is no longer any such thing as affordable housing. The housing units that are available are unaffordable or not fit to live in. Requests for emergency assistance have tripled since the beginning of the pandemic. Obviously, there are not enough resources to help all of those people and many are being left to fend for themselves. Emergency shelters, particularly in Rimouski and the surrounding areas, are full to overflowing. It is unprecedented. People were homeless in Rimouski in the middle of winter. Spending the night outside in the Lower St. Lawrence area in the middle of winter is far from pleasant. I have heard some extremely disturbing stories. Students looking for housing are being approached by older men offering to put them up in exchange for services. That is completely unacceptable. Staff at addiction treatment centres have even told me that people cannot leave their facilities because there is nowhere go. Given all the precariousness and the distress people are feeling, one might think the government would have made it a priority to tackle the housing crisis, but no. The Liberals have completely dropped the ball. There is nothing at all for housing in the latest budget—zero, nada, niet, not one penny. The government members are patting themselves on the back and quoting data from the 2022 budget. It is unbelievable. How can this be happening? A crisis is going on, but no investment is being made to find solutions that could end it. The disconnect is staggering. However, the demands of the Bloc Québécois and community organizations were fairly clear and specific. For instance, the government was asked to permanently renew the rapid housing initiative and to increase the rent supplement transfer. The need to speed up the transfer of funds between governments was also discussed. With each day that the federal government holds on to funds instead of passing them on to Quebec to send where they are needed, construction costs keep rising and our students, families and seniors keep growing poorer. How much longer do we have to wait for action? Urgent action is needed now to resolve the housing crisis. Another area where we hoped the government would deliver on expectations is employment insurance. This issue has been a topic of discussion for a long time. When the Liberal government came to power in 2015, it was one of their election promises. When it came back to power in 2019, it did not keep its promise then either. In 2021, it made the same promise again. We were told that consultations were being held to find out what was going on, but they know what is going on. They know the problems and they know the solutions. What is missing is the will to act, the action. I have not forgotten the Liberal promise of 2015, and I can say that the rights groups advocating for the unemployed have not forgotten it either. The unemployed men and women who are waiting for the government to deliver real reform have definitely not forgotten it. Currently, six in 10 workers who pay into employment insurance are not eligible for it because the eligibility criteria no longer reflect the reality of the labour market in 2023. These are not people who hope and pray for an unemployment cheque, they are people who pay into the fund. It is not complicated: this program was set up many years ago and has not been updated. There has been no reform. Naturally, it no longer reflects reality. I hope that the government will take action on this for once and for all. As mentioned, on reading budget 2023, we learn that the government is not planning for any reform before 2030. The Liberals promised reform in 2015. During the 2019 election, they said they would do it. In 2021, they called an early election. We all remember what a good idea it was to change government and call an election in 2021. What is more, they did it in the middle of the pandemic, when they were telling people to wear their mask and maintain social distancing. Then the government and its Prime Minister, the member for Papineau, went out and took photos with babies. They acted like the pandemic was over because they wanted to win the election. They did not want to change things for people. They wanted to return with a majority government. It is not easy to be in a minority government. Every day, this government shows us that it does not care one iota about democracy. We know that it entered into an alliance with the NDP, which has been doing its bidding for some time. This is not new. The NDP also serves the government by supporting its gag orders. There have already been a dozen gag orders since the government and the NDP, which calls itself the New Democratic Party, struck a deal. Let us come back to the budget. My colleagues will understand that it is quite difficult to just go along with it. I hope that the people listening to us at home will realize what is happening in this democracy. It is now operating under multiple closure motions to allow the government or an opposition party to save face. That is what we are currently putting up with in a G7 country. I will repeat that six out of 10 workers who pay into EI are unable to access it. In the Lower St. Lawrence area, back home, seasonal work is a large part of the economic activity and the lives of workers. A strong EI system would help build solid regions and ensure that people keep living in our regions and do not leave. The EI reform is urgent. It is part of the support measures that are necessary for seasonal work, which is an economic driver in our regions. I am thinking mainly of tourism, agriculture and the fishery. We can discuss that. All of these sectors rely on seasonal activities. It is not because people do not want to work in certain seasons. Potatoes cannot be planted in the middle of winter. Some government ministers do not seem to grasp how it works. People are still wondering about this in 2023. Another issue I absolutely must address has to do with seniors, specifically the inequity suffered by people aged 65 to 75 who are not getting an increase in their OAS benefits. The government is completely out to lunch on this. It is yet another broken election promise. I hope the government will do something once and for all.

1657 words

Mr. Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby, NDP)

Jun/5/23 8:00:30 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleague very carefully, as always. Over the weekend, I went door to door to hundreds of homes in Montreal. I spoke with Quebeckers who mentioned that the NDP was able to bring in a dental care program that will help the people of Quebec. People in Montreal were thrilled that this program in being established. The NDP forced the government to introduce legislation on pharmacare this year. There are so many holes in Quebec's pharmacare program. As we know, the major unions are calling for a public pharmacare program that covers everyone, just as the New Democrats are proposing. I see then a bit of a gap between what the Bloc Québécois supports and what the NDP has proposed, which seems to really resonate in Montreal.

137 words

Mr. Maxime Blanchette-Joncas

Jun/5/23 8:01:47 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I listened attentively to my colleague's question and his comments. First of all, neither the NDP nor the federal government invented the dental care program. Of course Quebec's current dental care program is not perfect. However, I will say one thing. It is not a secret. We can see in the government's current budget that there is no allocation for the so-called dental care program. There is nothing until 2023. I will make a wager on what will happen after that. It is possible that there will be an election in 2024, if the agreement with the NDP is not honoured. I guarantee that the Liberals will put that in their election campaign. They will ask people to elect them again with this promise. I do not believe it right now. There is another very important thing I would point out to my colleague, and that is that the government's dental care program penalizes Quebec families. That is unfair. Quebec families will receive less money than other Canadian families, because we already have dental care programs with Quebec's current employment conditions. There is therefore nothing to boast about, quite the contrary. The House should be condemning the fact that the federal government's dental care program is creating a certain inequity between Quebec and the rest of Canada.

226 words

SoVote

House Hansard - 206